money talk

after a night-long research, i've decided to try out Porter Airlines with Daemon.
mainly because i have an audition the day right after Hyogo's.
sigh...
$288 for a round trip, staying in HI Chicago for about $35 a night, commuting from Midway to and fro HI for roughly $5. adding on minimal food intake, i can budget at around $380 for the entire audition trip... this is for auditioning Hyogo in Chicago.
if i leave Feb 9, then i just have to stay one night. do the audition on the 10th, then head right back to Toronto for the New World audition on the 11th.
now i just have to book my flight before Jan 10 to get that 30% discount.

PC is really fucked. if i deposit more than $500 per day, only a portion would be available and the rest is on hold for 5 days.
now i gotta go to Loblaws to deposit the stupid cheque so i can pay my mastercard.
the release is not till a day after my mastercard bill is due. that's retarded!
fuck you, PC Financial!

可以去 Chicago 了~

今天一起床非常刺激.
先要跟時間競賽, 因為要教學生.
開 email 見到 Hyogo 的... 只有 2 個結果. 1, 收. 2, 不收.
戰戰兢兢的開這個 email... 被收了~ yeah!
在吃東西的同時等著 expedia on hold. 最後成功幫阿母補好機票上的姓.
現在要快速的洗澡然後出去學生的家.

今晚回來要好好的補償自己~
讀還沒有讀完的小新~ *淚*

friendships

Even though the set up didn't work out, but I still wrote a friendly email to him.
It is Christmas afterall.
If he doesn't reply, then I guess even a friendship isn't worth it.

On a totally unrelated matter, it's always nice to get an email update of Geronimo's life.
He has such a lovable, friendly personality!
I don't think I've seen him since ScotiaFest, but it felt like yesterday when I just returned home.
Time sure passes fast.

premonition of the dw xmas special?

Another weird dream last night.
This one is not so weird though, just sci-fi.
I was in this building that had these spectacularly humongous glass doors, but there was trouble brewing.
I was helping out in this wedding room and heard people screaming about these abnormal conditions outside.
So I went out and saw a lot of people fanning the doors - like opening and closing the doors to the maximum stretch.
I tried it for myself: when the doors are opened it looks like it's raining, once it gets really close and the doors are shut it turns into ice.
At the last occurrence it was tsunami waves turning into sand.
These door actually can't completely close, so if a huge wave really comes in, people would die.

Then scene changed to a mall.
I was at this booth returning this video I rented overseas.
The clerk made some terrible excuse and said he'll need to contact me for something.
Turns out he's trying to ask me out.
I was reluctant at first but then I gave in.
He was surprised I didn't say yes immediately because girls would usually ask him out boldly.
(The guy was Matt Smith, the actor who starred as the current Doctor Who.)
I told him that I'm a busy musician, classical. And he seemed impressed.

So I returned home (looked like my HK's apartment) and told my mum. She's like, stop being so obsessive about Doctor Who... I left home and went back to that glass building.
This time I knew something's coming for me.
To avoid any casualty, I went out the doors alone to greet this figure with my left hand held out. He formed into a godly (Greek style) figure and kissed my hand. He's here to take me away as his bride.
I told him I'm going out with Matt, so I don't want to go away with him. He got mad and I ran inside where Matt just arrived.
Then I woke up...

Why do most my dreams end in the middle??
So anti-climatic!!!

series of related dreams

Last night I had a terrible series of dreams.
First I was venturing out in a familiar cold and iceberg filled shore when I found myself and a group of people escaping from something.
Then I was running around in some university campus and train stations looking for a girl. Yes, I was a guy in the entire sleep. The girl happened to be a vampire whom I've declined to be turned.
Later I was in such danger that she had to fly me home where I was resting in the elegant courtyard.
When I came to (I was knocked out before), I immediately had to hide from my mother and the housekeeper.
No, this dream mum didn't look anything like my real mum.
I somehow got into the house to one of my youngest sister's room. She woke up and was so happy to see me. I told her that I'll be going away for a while so I asked her to take care of other siblings for me, then I headed for the door.
And for some unknown reason, there's a peep hole on her bedroom door... I looked out - it was mother outside waiting for me.
I took a breath and confronted her. She told me to kill all my siblings as planned and handed me a pair of serrated scissors. I instantly dropped them on the floor and ran for the door.
I knew my mother will finish the job and then come after me, so I ran to a warehouse where I could find help. When I got there, it was empty.
Not long after, mother and housekeeper found me and I was mortally wounded. They took me into the car and told me they killed everyone to make a portion for me so I could permanently stay evil.
I sense the vampire girl knew I was in danger and was driving around to find me. So I stuck my bloody arm out the window to let her smell my presence.
I fainted before knowing the end... and good afternoon. I woke up at 2:30pm.

Android entry

First time using my new HTC Desire to blog!
This is nice. Although it would be better if there is a fully developed free app instead of through the browser.
The problem with a touch screen phone is that when I'm out on the street with gloves on, I can't answer a call without taking off my glove! Which, in this kind of weather, is a torture.

Still missing a gift or 2 here and there.
It's so hard to shop when there is no extra money in the bank.
I hope I'll get a job soon.

Apparently it's bad for rooster this coming rabbit year.
Gotta find out my counter charm.
Guess I'll be wearing my pendant with vervain inside a lot next year.

But it's not all bad.
Not too long ago today I just got an email from Hyogo that they have officially registered me for audition. That means my package arrived to the right department. Yay!
Let's keep those good vibes going!

Early nights from now.
Can't sleep at sunrise anymore...
Good night!

signs of goodness

今天有幾個好消息!
1) 最先當然是我憂心以久的速遞, 已經到達日本的 office lady 的手中了!! *樂~*
2) 收到 New World 的 email, pass 了 prelim round, 可以去 live audition~ *勝利!* (^o^)Y
3) number porting 順利, 舊號碼配新電話! *暈了...*
4) 上個月幫爸在 warranty 期限前一天拿去 futureshop 修理的 printer 修不好, 下個星期等它回到店裡就可以 process exchange - 那就是選一部新的 printer! *unbelievable!*

報告完畢.

如願以償

星期日唯一開門的速遞只有 FedEx. 雖然真正運輸過程是星期一才開始...
其實它的國際速遞服務比我預期的還要便宜, 幫忙的 staff 也很友善.
可能以後我都用 FedEx 了.
不過失敗的是我竟然沒有發覺 woodbine/hwy 7 有一間 FedEx Office (@ Kinkos, 所以 24/7 的!).
匆忙的找就去了 yonge/eglinton 那間.
不過也蠻順利. 先到 dollarama 買 padded envelop, 然後人龍出現前極速付錢.
之後離 FedEx 門口 3 間舖位前的 yonge 街找到一千零一個停車位置, 然後看見前面那部車正在被人發告票 (原因是沒有 paid ticket).
妙的是其實那個 block 的 machine 壞了, 所以我到下個 block 的付, 逃過一劫!
到了 FedEx, 那個友善的 staff 告訴我原來只要 $68, 預計星期四 (16 號) 我的 application 就可以到日本. deadline 可是 20 號哦~
太多太多的幸運, 太多太多的感謝!
pinky 還是很酸痛. 不過真的很開心!

其實自己能在短短的 2 個星期內把 2 個 audition application 都完成是我最感恩的地方.
始終之前沒有錄過 video playing, 也很久沒有錄過 audio playing.
但是未雨綢繆, 還是要把 concerto 從新的錄過.
等 pinky 調養好後再去努力練好 Stamitz.
方便以後的 audition, 也方便灌錄過.
我會努力加油的! 請油價不要再這樣的瘋狂漲價下去! 感謝!!!

不解...

其實包青天在 6:30am 左右已經看完, 可是到一個小時以後的現在才去睡.
以往積來看, 可能我在逃避一個日子, 如今在拖延著 (感覺上) 每一天度過的速度.
但我在逃避些甚麼呢?
其實我在期待呀!
在期待新電話的來臨呀!
那甚麼理性告訴我是逃避呢?

現在很想要做的事:
1) 卡拉 ok! --- 去慶祝終於錄好了!!!! (≥▼≤)
2) 跟朋友們聚一下 --- 太久沒有社交生活了! 好掛念我的朋友!
(記得我的字典中 "朋友" 和 "friend" 的定義不一樣哦~)
3) 每天去做運動 --- 經過連續一週 3 天的 routine, 突然有恆心去運動了! 可是每天工作太累而鬆懈了...

任務完成... 一半...

終於錄好了! 今晚有很多的 discoveries.
先發現原來錄錯了 Brahms Haydn Variation 8! 要的是 7!!
等 Bobo 他們走了才錄過.
然後燒碟的時候發覺 Tchaikovsky 6 聽到 metronome 的跳聲 --- 畢竟 08 年錄的時候用的是不隔音 headphones. 然後用隔音 headphones 再錄 (這幾天都在用).
燒好後發覺原來我的 concerto 超走音. 不過我實在不想再錄音了.
我的 pinky 現在很痛. 這幾天我都不會練琴的了, 不然可能會把它弄傷.

明天去 dollar shop 買 packaging materials.
再去運輸公司格價, 看看誰可以用最便宜的價錢給我最快送過去日本.
好像 J town 有黑貓宅急便. 它網頁的價錢看起來最便, 但不知道是否可靠.....
還是花多 $20 用普通公司? choices, choices!

好!
包青天好像下好了一半. 先看幾集來輕鬆一下~

nearly there

spent the entire day recording.
now my pinky is in pain... yes, it's a bit over used...
i'm actually quite proud of it. it didn't whine until the last 3 hours and i've been recording all day, so that's a good 9 hours of work out.
so there's Tchaik 6 and Midsummer.
i'm thinking of re-using the old Tchaik recording, since it sounds much better than what i've been trying to do all day.
and Midsummer is just a bitch. i'll get it done tomorrow.
Don Juan is somewhat recorded. i didn't like it, but it's better than nothing.
the old one is missing C to D, simply can't use it.
now i better go rest my body before the last assault... i meant attempt.

錯中覺悟

ahhhhhhhhhhhh.....
幾經辛苦用 2 個小時錄的 4 個 excerpts 被我一按... 全部消失了...
都怪自己多手. 按一次 erase = erase 1 track, 按兩次 erase = erase all tracks...
應該看好 option screen 才 confirm 的我卻沒有.
不過卻要多謝自己多手. 不然我不會跑去換了整套線.
然後換了才發覺應該早就換了.
現在 Daemon 的聲音回來了, 我也不用折磨耳朵, 更好的是發覺之前因為舊線的啞音而把聲音都壓死了.
所以還是要重新灌錄.
太好了! Daemon 有回音了~ 原來他的 C string 本來是這樣的!

未來的準備

看著日子一天一天的接近, 我還是把新電話 order 了.
還好 internal site 裡面有 student plan. 可以收益一下那個 $55 全包套餐.
雖然要付 $10 activation fee, 可是送一張 $50 未來店 gift card~
希望新電話不會先自己 activate... 因為舊 contract 要到 15 號才完.
如果之前給我轉過去的話可要付 $100 罰款呢...
但我還是會很期待新電話的來臨 =)

Hyogo 那邊的 audition cd 還沒有灌錄. 明天起來要加把勁.
原來之前考 PMF 已經錄了 unaccompanied concerto, 找到了我才鬆一口氣.
現在只要錄下那幾個 except 就可以寄去日本了.
之前錄過的 except 都不是很見得光. 不錯的幾個卻不夠長.
反正要錄, 我就全部把它錄好了.
那以後就可以用新的. 希望會順利!

last whine

why are coffee shops so cold in the winter?
maybe it's time they start considering to invest on a wind blocking door like an enclosed area at the entrance?
that would save so much heat (money in the end), and keep the customers nice and happy.
the longer a customer sit, the higher chance of ordering more stuff, isn't it?
both the Starbucks and the Williams Coffee Pub (WCP is where i'm currently sitting in now) are freezing cold.
WCP is a little better because it's a bigger place so i can situate myself away from the entrance, but it's still cold. i hear the vents are working, but no hot air is blowing in my face.
i kind of miss not being in the hostel. i would've saved a lot more food money and energy because i can take a nap in there before a concert.
with the hotel, i have to check out in the morning and spend the 6 hours between the dress rehearsal and concert wandering about town, feeling like a hermit.
oh well. this is my last run. just have to take it up the ass for a few more hours.
CAN'T WAIT TO GO HOME!
but before that - gas up in Ingersoll!

looking ahead

got my response from San Francisco Ballet.
i'm officially regarded as an under qualified musician who's too inexperienced for their liking. but if i still insist on auditioning, i can pay the deposit by the 20th.
"150 applicants and a lot of them have major orchestra experience", i paraphrased.
i guess they never thought about anyone faking their CV's, or people who play in non-major orchestras are complete idiots.
i'll spend a couple days to think and see if i want to spend that $400 to fly there for a 4-day vacation.
most likely not. need to save for Japan and other auditions in closer proximity.

plan went pretty well this week not spending a ton on shopping for myself.
bought 2 gifts and they're both under $20.
now there's 3 more to get before i'm done.

job search

made the december 1 deadline for New World.
it got me very confused. the audition info page says the $50 cut off deadline is dec. 1, but when i go to the application page it turned into dec. 10.
dec. 1 would make more sense, since the increment to the next level should be half a month apart.
so dec. 1, then dec. 15, then jan. 5 would make sense.

i managed to do the last step (paypal $50) at the very last minute.
hopefully the application gone through. took me 4 tries to get the 33mb of video uploaded and i wasn't even sure if it's fully intact.
sent an email asking about the completeness of the application. hope someone will reply me in the morning.

i was so disappointed at dad's laptop.
it's a few years newer than my macbook, but the sound quality is just horrid.
can't believe my macbook's iMovie HD does a lot better with the sound.
i was worried at first because all the individual .mov are quite big in size. the solo one is especially large at 113mb. and the upload limit is apparently at 60mb, 1 file.
so i somehow made the clips into one mp4 file using the export function. finally got it under the 60mb limit (at 33mb).
my half day worth of recording yielded not too shabby results!

what surprised me most was the essay part.
i totally forgot about it. i remember Ann once told me about writing essays, but i didn't expect myself to BS all of it within 2 hours.
took me that much time because the first time i wrote 2 essays and it didn't save properly. stupid programmers.
word of advise - write and save the essays in a word processing programme first, NOT on the application page.

i'm glad that they have Toronto in the audition tour.
if i get accepted to the live audition, i don't have to travel far.
originally i didn't see Toronto as one of the locations, until i checked it off the application page. that'll save me some gas money driving to the states.
now i gotta find Brahms Sym. 3, which i think is the only excerpt that i don't have.

heading out to London for my last run there.
i'll be out of a job starting next week.
that should give me some time to practise for auditions.
and also make that audio recording for Hyogo.
HKPO is also hiring, but fuck them! they ask for the Bartok, which is the only concerto i haven't learned. what the fuck!

december nightmares

december is coming in awfully fast.
this is when reality hits me... time to pay the bills.
and i didn't have much income the past month, neither will i for the coming months.
still got a few gifts to get too. why do people have to get new places all at once?

worse comes to worst, i'll get a job at Starbucks.

遺忘了的故事

下午無聊看 blog, 才發現原來幾年前開始寫的故事已經 1 年多沒有更新.
然後更驚訝... 因為已經找不到故事大綱!
印象中的細節很模糊, 很多人物關係都忘記了.
不過還是很想寫下去... 可能下年 1 月再延續吧.

今晚的 Sinfonia 沒有預算中的差.
可能我的 EQ 高了, 忍受能力也提高了!
也可能昨晚睡多了, 所以腦袋比較清晰.
期待著明晚的 Rehearsal + Concert~ 很快就可以拿到工錢!!

開心日本 3 人遊

前幾天成交了機票. 現在是努力賺錢的時候...
畢竟 $4000 的旅費在現下沒有工作的情況乃是一個很重的負擔.
不過我沒有後悔!
10 年前沒有機會真正的遊日本 - 在彩排和表演的時間表裡沒有太多的自由空間.
還是少些 "團友" 會比較容易掌握時間 + 行程.

3 月 9 日至 31 日. 3 個星期!
現在的行程還是計畫的階段.
想像中會這樣:
多倫多 -> 東京 ... 2 天
東京 (普通火車) -> 札幌 ... 1 天
札幌 (租車) -> 函館 -> 札幌 (還車) ... 5 天
札幌 (過夜火車) -> 大阪 ... 1 天
大阪 (租車) -> 京都 -> 名古屋 -> 富士 -> 伊豆 -> 東京 (還車) ... 6-7 天
東京遊 ... 5 天
東京 -> 多倫多 ... 2 天
還剩幾天 buffer days~

對... 很密, 很貴的行程...
所以要密密賺去花!!! XD
我想 3 個人去分擔旅費應該不會太貴 (起碼租車方面).
其實在我的預算中機票最貴, 然後是吃的...
在多倫多沒有很多地道的日本菜, 尤其是海鮮, 所以要用命去拼!
還好現在吃葷, 有較多的選擇.
回來會努力減肥的... i think.

我想 Barrie 那邊應該會談不成.
那我 1 月的 audition 好好考 (如果他讓我去考的話).
不過也沒有太擔憂, 反正路是上面舖好. 不能往外闖就在這邊混.
路走的不平坦我也不會太嘮叨, 反正急也急不來.
只要 pk 時不太傷就 ok! ;)

不錯的一天

之前在 London 的 Roots 付款買郵託, 今天終於送來了~~
我可愛而且減價的包包, 原來是 Made in Canada 的!
本來還以為是 Fabrique en Chine. heehee~
它在幾個當眼位都大大的寫 Made in Canada~ 太爽了.

這幾天都在找 90 年代看過的台劇. 真的非常非常懷念!
現在在下包青天 (93年). 以前都沒有完全看過全部單元.
這次可以好好的重溫 + 重頭看了!

好!
回到 good routine.
現在去 ZZZZzzzz 了.
晚安!

xmas shopping in november

arriving at home 1am last night did throw me off my regular schedule.
but i did get gas at 104.5 in Ingersoll taking that small detour, when gas is 111.3 in Toronto!

woke up by mum this morning.
dad cut his pinky pretty bad from a small fiasco.
but still managed to get a 7 hour sleep considering i slept at 4am last night.
stopped the bleeding, we think.

now i can take my sunday easy.
2 gifts down, 6 more to go.
i love Sea Jewels! so many neat stuff and didn't cost me an arm and a leg!
and Tribal Mountain Trade too, they have really neat stuff there!
i'll be going there again for another run during my last stay in London.

continuing to do good!

hoping to get myself ready for the San Francisco Ballet audition in January.
that is, if i pass their resume screening.
well, regardless of being able to go or not, i'm going to devote these coming months to nothing but practising and exercising.
now that i have most of december available, it feels like i've got so much time on my hands.

already started working on the excerpts, some of them anyway.
there are some very unfamiliar ballet music that i'll have to research a bit at the library.
wonder if i could access the naxos collection at the library's computers. hmm. =\
that's for later, i guess, when i've got the notes under the fingers.
it feels so satisfying being able to figure out solutions to the problems i created. XD

gotta say thanks to the PM who sent me the audition info and excerpts.
they have the best audition package ever - with all excerpts with markings! even the chamber music piece is included!
the only thing that's not included is the own choice solo stuff.

做個乖孩子

這幾晚都 2am 前睡, 果然體力好了點.
可是到了 11pm 就開始想睡了...
好幾晚都沒看過 Supernatural... it's piling up!
昨晚一次過看了 3 集, 爽!!!

頭痛痛痛!!

談的來的朋友, 身體有多不適都好, 每一秒都過的開心.
話不投機的朋友, 就算體魄健康, 每一秒都是煎熬.
今晚, 我很開心~
但身體真的越來越差了!!
該是需要自律的時候, 控制一下放甚麼進肚子.
還要多點運動筋骨...

just not my week

here's an interesting story from yours truly.
after hearing from London that i'm out of a job, today i'm met with more movie-like omens.

took the Rav to do regular oil change.
first off, when i made the appointment last night, i fell into the trap of speaking to a weird ass receptionist.
somehow she talked me into using a much more expensive synthetic oil, which scientifically does nothing different than regular oil.
good thing i did a bit of wiki look-up this morning.

so i went in. saw the notes that she left for the crew at the dealership.
fortunately i was able to just told the crew right out that i didn't need the synthetic oil.
then fuck me. the drug high receptionist never bothered to ask if my snow tires were on rims or not. so she initially put in a regular install tires request, which could've cost me 4 times more.
if i never read the crew's screen, i would've been fucked in the wallet.
the crew's not so bright either, couldn't even find the job codes on her screen when it's right in front of her.
she also failed to give me the tag before i left. if i hadn't reminded her, i would have had no tag.

the only good thing that came from today was the shuttle to hillcrest, which i didn't have to wait for.
but i did spend $90 in RW alone. good deals though.

anyway, so when i'm back in the shop, paid my services and all...
i'm also supposed to get a brush for the wind shield. the coupon's only good if i used the service there. and guess what? they're out of brushes.
i mean, there were literally angry customers waiting for the damn thing.
after waiting 5 mins, i just had to leave.

then went to the bank and found out the current GIC interest is half of what my old GIC rate was.
what the hell?
still have to go with it. what other choice do i have? i can't take out my RRSP, nor store it in my other low interest accounts.
and i locked down a lot for the tax-free account too, which i've just opened.
i'll let my future self worry about that later.
at least i can just let it sit in the bank.

and here's the best part.
i was reloading all my change back into the car after the servicing.
and i dropped a few quarters into the hand brake box cavity.
i freaked and used a screw driver + sticky putty trying to lift one visible quarter out from a very very small opening.
of course not only that didn't work, i also dropped the screw driver into the cavity.
then when i try to pry open the box frame, i cracked a little bit of it.
that's when i realized i could use the hook from a hanger (a hooker in short, yes, i'm a genius).
finally go the screw driver out. but left the now disappeared coin in there somewhere.
i hope they won't cause any major screwing up on the mechanics.

fuck this.
i'm outta here.

lesser income, greater fun!

fuck.... 5th chair is back in London.
i'll be out of subbing in December...

but yay! that means vacation!!!
see if Bobo booked their Disney stuff yet.
i might wanna gooooooo~

upward and downward at the same time

looking forward to december. that's when i can upgrade from a dumbphone to a smartphone.
should be sleeping early to make the days pass by quicker, but i'm still sleeping late, prolonging the process of night.
i think it has to do with knowing that i'll be playing with Sinfonia. the stress is kind of strong for this group.
although it's not the usual conductor, i'm still pretty tensed. it's just not the right vibes i normally get with other friendly orchestras.
maybe it's a good thing that i don't play there too often.

alright, now my body and mind is truly exhausted. time to hit the hay.

good things will come

just when i thought i needed more work...
got a call this morning from Huronia SO's board of director asking me where to drop off the music for next week's concert.
and he also asked if i'm interested to play there as principal. that's when i found out the toronto scale is going up 30% next year and that's why he's asking me if i'm willing to play under scale.
for the moment, i don't think i'll mind. even at this year's scale it's still better than London's scale =P
we'll see how that goes. Barrie is a lot closer (like half the time) than going to London, with smooth traffic.
it's also by Lake Simcoe so i can work on my water photography~
life is good when you can do the things you enjoy.
keep sending those good vibes out!

the lavender/vervain/chamomile mix in my sleeper pouch is working its magic.
so far i've been having dreams for the past 2 nights, and getting into sleep easy.
the only thing that needs improving is sleeping in normal hours. last night was around 3:30am...
gotta stop watching too many Supernatural episodes!!!

new frontiers

all of my choices for election won out. this would be so great if they were horses.
but the sad reality is that they're politicians.
wow, i just made a political joke there. that's a first.
i feel bad for my toronto friends. they'll have to live with that oversized fiasco for a few years.

anyway! not my concern!

went to Ambrosia and bought some dried organic lavender.
it's starting to smell very relaxing in my room right now with that little 1 oz bag.
i'll head downtown to look for dried vervain on queen west. apparently it's also a one-herb-does-all.
wonder where i can find another herb store like that up town.
really don't feel like heading there just to get herbs.
will keep looking... not heading there till thursday anyway.

much to get done

wow, didn't realize how out of shape i am.
yesterday i only went out to the trail for half an hour and felt so exhausted.
maybe it's because i had no food in my stomach and the wind was crazy?
anyway... much more building up is needed.
but the bike is acting well on this off road trail. thought i burst a tire, turned out the wheel snapped a twig. phew!! *wipe sweat*

now i'm semi-awake, going to hit the shower.
then i'll pick up Thea's bow at Soundpost and then do some poison pendant hunting.
hopefully i can find a nice bag for my mum's birthday as well, before i head out to London in the afternoon.

after a week of turmoil with some unmentionables, i'm definitely staying at the hotel from now on.
good thing with the hotel is that it's close to the mall.
so if i wanted to do some shopping i could do it easily.
but then it's also a distance away from the hall so i'll need to drive there =(

magic at hand

yes, Piggie, i do believe in magic!
hahaha~
i asked to get a hotel room rather late, but special forces worked for me.
now i'll be able to stay for the night without driving back and forth.
time to do some thanking.

now i'm out to that trail i spotted near my home.
wish me good riding!

more nature intended

it was a very fun filling trip.
although i was tired to my bones, i still stuck around till the last minute.
well, that's also because i was the organizer and driver.

got lots of good pictures taken.
now i'm relying others to take my pictures.
i don't really like self portraits when i'm in outdoors. i'd rather spend the space on nature than me.

we had hot pot for dinner.
Dow's Noodles Restaurant (稻香) at Commerce Gate is definitely not a good place to go.
the waiters were so slow and rude.
maybe i'll try out that one across 黃金商場 (Hipot).
it's practically the same chain, but looks much bigger inside with newer decor.
they just opened not long ago.

if i could wake up in the morning, i'll revisit Twickenham Park with my bike and camera.
see if there's any leaves left.
it's such a nice place with paved trails.
then i'll check out that trail just east of Leslie on 16th.
apparently it leads to a small pond around Mural St.

the unmentionable

has been a bad week at London.
maybe i should stop wearing the chicken pendant. i'm totally jinxing myself here.
my right ankle is now swollen from multiple bedbug bites.
there's also one on my left forearm, one on my back, and a few on my chin.
i'm already quite lucky, i guess, that i didn't bring any bugs back with me.
i did a very thorough check on all my luggages and everything.

so the story was...
a colleague and i went to the hostel.
every time i'm in the ground floor room i always use the bed closest to the door.
that night the colleague took my usual bed so i took a nap in another one.
woke up and went to rehearsal and felt fine.
later that night when i was checking emails with my macbook on the bed, getting ready to sleep, i saw something moved on my keyboard. it was a freaking nymph.
then i saw a few adult bugs crawling on the blankets.
that was when i was glad that i had previous knowledge of what the bedbugs behaviours are.
killed some bugs, took my stuff as far away from the bed as possible, shook out and cleaned everything.
and the rest is history.

the story is just too long. i really need to get to sleep and go hiking tomorrow.
gotta reduce that swell first.
finally finished washing everything in hot water.
zzzzzzzz........

still searching

last night was way too long.
or maybe because i was having a headache.
but it was a touching moment when they made the speeches.

i couldn't find the pendant i was looking for.
it's called a poison pendant (for witches to wear to protect themselves in older times).
similar thing would be a celtic locket.

i found it on ebay, but i don't really wanna get it there.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/VINT-STERLING-GOLD-GARNET-POISON-BOX-PENDANT-NECKLACE-/350402460016?pt=Vintage_Fine_Jewelry&hash=item51959d3970
maybe i'll have more luck in London.
or maybe i'll go to the states to look for it. much easier to find stuff there.

long journey

last "night" i slept around 6:30am.
it was worth it. got a few reductions and a couple arrangements done.
and most importantly, got the trio folders re-organized and repaired.
felt like a librarian. maybe i should consider doing that library science degree in mcgill.

lots to do tomorrow.
in the morning, i gotta go do some quick grocery shopping and make korean pork bone soup for a family pot luck dinner at night.
then off to downtown to find that locket pendant i've been searching for. need it to match my black dress for DV's wedding on sunday. it's such a journey...
and then the dinner at aunt's place. (yes, my real aunt!)

i've been looking around for a nice locket. hated the heart shaped ones.
i have a pretty good idea what i want. it's quite specific.
oval or circular shape. cavity large enough for herbs. no holes in the back plate.
pretty much either a celtic locket (most preferred) or a medicine locket.
i have been thinking what kind of herbs i can put in.
for now, lavender for sure, and roses. mostly floral herbs.
maybe i'll try some perfumed pads too.

it's a sign

i set my browser's homepage to google.ca, which goes automatically into igoogle with my daily horoscope.
today it reads:
Today's New Moon in your 5th House of Love and Creativity is an auspicious sign and it's best to get as much accomplished as you can now. Although you can enjoy yourself while being productive, you will want more free time later on for pleasurable pursuits. Remember, the weeks ahead could bring new romance or rekindle an ongoing relationship, but the intimacy won't likely come without being accompanied by increased responsibility.

yup. time to start doing those many arrangements, now that i'm awake.
should really sleep earlier last night, only got 3 hours of light sleep and my neck hurts.

to do

ate too much!
it's been a while since i had that taiwanese hot pot at commerce gate.
good thing i still remember how much food the individual pot stuff u with, so i didn't order anything else.
then came dessert.
boy, was i full!
it was nice to see Yuko again. it's been SUCH a long time!

still yet to finish those arrangements.
maybe i'll spend most of tomorrow morning doing that after making breakfast for Bobo, Potato, and Nikki.
they're spending a few days over 'cause their place is running out of space with visiting relatives. XD

Nikki is certainly growing really fast.
i love to have her help out at the kitchen. she LOVES to play chef.

see if i could squeeze in any treadmill time tomorrow.
belly fat is still existing... and growing...

hoping for the best

i have now saved enough money to get an unlocked phone.
but new development is that Bobo's sis-in-law can help me get the telus family/friends discount.
so i might get the telus version and get it unlocked later.
keeping my fingers crossed that it's unlockable!
that'll save me lots. we're talking about $80 vs $580!!

gotta get those arrangements done this week.
not much time left before sending off everything.

and more exercise is needed.
gotta fit into that dress for DV & Peggy's wedding on Sunday.
wish me fat luck... i'm gonna need it...
or else there's no room for food at all.

battle of the companies

after price hunting for the phone, now is the headache part...
carrier hunting!
so far this is what i've gathered:

1. Virgin
$50 (student plan)
200 mins
unlimited evening + weekends 6pm
500 mb
unlimited text
voicemail 10 + call display
TOTAL: $50

2. Telus
$55 (student plan - yes, they'll let you join regardless of being a student or not)
200 mins
unlimited evening + weekends 6pm
1 gb
unlimited text + talk to 10 numbers
voicemail 3
+ $8 call display
TOTAL: $63

3. Koodo
$25 (Build your own plan)
150 mins
+ $12 Voicemail + call display + unlimited evening + weekends 5pm
+ $25 Data for $0.05/MB (which means $25 for 500 mb)
TOTAL: $62
*You can use pay-per-use which is cheaper than monthly data*

4. Fido
$50 (student or normal voice + data plan)
100 mins
unlimited evening + weekends 7pm
500 mb
unlimited text
+ $10 voicemail + call display
TOTAL: $60

i'm thinking of switching to virgin mobile.
the only thing i'll have to check is which company can i join with an unlocked phone.
koodo most likely can't get my business because they run on cdma, so a gsm phone wouldn't work.
so virgin, which uses Bell's cdma and gsm networks, might be workable.
looking forward to less dropped calls.

material girl

after a week of searching, finally found a black dress.
$75 at pacific. it's $25 over budget. just don't wanna shop for dresses anymore.
i'll be wearing this for the next 10 years in all the weddings i attend and concerts that require a dress.
yay!

the Desire is $580 on average at pacific. 1 week to order.
maybe it's better to get it with telus, since i might be switching phones again after 3 years. and if telus is good enough for me to stay, i'll just use the same locked phone.
apparently people aren't able to unlock the phone from telus, and it's a telus exclusive phone.
o well. we'll see what happens around december when my fido contract ends.

問題中女

decided on the HTC Desire.
it's not that big of an expense, if i join Telus.
i'm starting to do the right thing at shopping, especially these bigger expenses.
just walk away first and think more, weigh the balances.
thrown away way too much money this year already!!

sore throat is still there!
but the runny nose is subsiding.
what the hell is going on with sore throat these days?
lots of people got it.
flu? cold? change of weather? allergies?
maybe i'm just more puzzled why my antibiotic treatments didn't kill all the viruses.

decisions

it's that time again...
time to get a new cell phone.
it has been a wonderful 3 years with my current k810i, but i need a smarter one now.
in between the Motorola Backflip ($400) and HTC Desire ($450).
$50 price difference, with the Desire being more slick and more loaded with features.
however, i do like the physical keyboard of the Backflip. and Motorola does run quite fast based on my previous experiences.
Telus has both, but locked.
i'm gonna go touch them when i'm in Fairview tomorrow! XD
maybe Alberto can get a cheaper unlocked one for me from HK/Macau?

so nice to be able to not think about prepping gig music for sunday, since it's not my own gig.
i think my brain likes it so much more now that i'm not teaching in that school on mondays.
nothing depressing to anticipate during the weekend, so i can truly enjoy my weekends even if i'm working.

now work.
just applied for the music library shelving job to get more regular income.
$12 for UT music library per hour, 5 hours minimum per week. not bad.
it is repetitive work, but at least i don't have to interact with people. =P
plus i could get some exercise.

anyway, finally no more thunders tonight. i can fall asleep easier!
let's hope i won't get that weird dream tonight.
last night it was fraud, advancements, and porn. XD

need more rest!

the 6 antibiotic pills is now finished. my throat still feels sore =(
my tongue also feels very thickened and my jaw muscles are sore too.
maybe i just need to sleep earlier and drink more fluids, especially milk?
start to get this toothache too.
sigh.... i'm getting old. everything is busted.

can't believe i only used a few hours to fully copy Larysa's new piece.
but she has tons of corrections.
oh well, i'll do it tomorrow!

i travelled a lot less this year, especially in the summer.
maybe it's a weather thing?

gosh, feel so bloated lately.
getting so fat fat fat!

work and more work

half way there to arranging a slower version of Fly Me to the Moon.
i'm transcribing Nat King Cole's version because it's just so damn beautiful.
gotta make another fast but easier version of it for the trio.
so many arrangements to do, so little time!

i'm also looking for some latin quartet music.
and another reduced set for trio as well.
but that's for another day.

patience

throat is still extremely sore.
i finally made an appointment with my family doctor for wednesday.
thought i could fight the virus naturally, but i guess it's too strong.
antibiotics it is then.

been re-addicted to super mario world. just got into world 5.
long way to go~!

feeling fine

wanna get a wide angle lens...
guess that'll be my next year's gift to self, maybe next xmas.
budgeting at around $800 after tax.

i feel so accomplished this morning!
was able to get my Bell modem upgrade fee waived.
well, it's already waived when i first talked to technical support for that wireless problem, but they still charged me on the bill.
so i called - waited 15 mins. then i use the online chat - only waited 5 mins.
a nice rep re-waived the fee for me. i seriously think it's a Bell scam/trap.

and Piggie is back~ yay~
certainly put me into a happy september mode even though it's chill and rainy.

冷.......

為甚麼???
為甚麼秋風起還要我們在外面奏???
冷得我騰~ 騰震呢~~

tv tv tv

this post is mostly a reminder for myself when shows resume =P

shows i'm currently following:
Vampire Diaries (resumes September 9)
House (resumes September 20)
Fringe (resumes September 23)
Dexter (resumes September 26)
Lie to Me (resumes November 10)
Doctor Who (resumes with Christmas special)
Primeval (resumes January 2011)
Being Human (resumes early 2011)
True Blood (resumes summer 2011)

just started watching Vampire Diaries.
i know it's a teen show, but it's vampires. there's no rules on watching anything vampires ;)
it's a pretty "new" show, only 1 season has been aired, so not too much to catch up before the new season starts next week.
plenty of time since i'm mostly home bound from allergies.
these puffy eyes... these very very puffy and sore eyes... and itchy sinuses!
sigh...

much work done

not quite sure if i have allergies or a cold.
throat still hurts like hell, and bumpy little things at the top too. gross!
and deep congestion, which is also giving me a headache and muted ears.
eyes continue to itch, which is the only indication that it could be an allergy.

maybe it was offset by my crazy cleaning today.
and the lack of sleep from before, of course.
had a long day today, and the moment i got home i went straight to cleaning the interior of the car.
it was filthy!!
i think the last i cleaned it was last summer...
now it's near sparkling clean.
3 hours of non stop wiping and dusting, and all that jazz.
ended up delaying our dinner to 9pm.
when we got home, i crashed on the sofa and woke up at 4am to write up those stupid student reports.
now i'm done. yay!

tomorrow will be a happy day!
last day at the music school, and a new episode of True Blood =)

march on

the world will not defeat me.
bring it on!!!!

felt good to be able to bike to and fro my house and my bank.
only took me 40 mins for the entire trip.
wonder how long it'll take to get to the mall? probably under an hour?
storage indeed is a problem, unless i carry a backpack.

toe tapping fun!

finally! most of everything is ready on my bike.
i'm planning to get some more bags for longer rides, but that's in the future.
now i'll spend some time looking for a good trail to test out the bike and see how things will stay on.
thinking of going back to Twickenham Park near Richmond Green. part of the trail there is unpaved, which is great for my beginner mountain bike.

we had a full blast today at the Distillery District.
Nikki is totally burnt out on the ride home, so she didn't wake up in time for Times Square for the chinese fest.
got some stinky tofu, fresh opened oysters, and lamb skewers. the tofu was horrible, the oysters were very fresh (from Diana's), and the gang finished all the lamb skewers so i guess they're pretty good.
totally street food!

i'm burnt out now.
gotta go have some newly bought campbell's grape - so much fun to eat! and then watch the new True Blood episode.
then call it an early night!
gotta get back to a better sleeping schedule.

learning about myself

so i got the bottle cage and the lights.
they're not the best in the world, but they work.
however, the seat bag didn't. it's too big.
i'm bringing it back tomorrow to maybe get a refund or exchange for a smaller one.
we'll see.

finally caught up with all Fringe episodes.
now i'm just eagerly waiting for season 3 to come out!
it's such a fantastic show! Joshua Jackson is SO CUTE~

i think the revelation was that dream with all the chicken in there.
my subconscious must be craving meat in the system. so i'm gonna satisfy it after the one year mark of lacto-ovo-pescetarianism.
it is real hard to keep on the diet. actually, not hard for me, i just need to read all the ingredients and ask my servers.
but it is hard for the people around me, like my family and the cooks who make my meals. gotta admit, those chinese restaurant chefs and workers must have no respect for other people's beliefs.
so to make things easier, i'm gonna keep the option open by letting meat in.
still hate to eat bovine. we'll see how that goes. maybe i'll still stay away from it more.
having a no meat diet did make me feel healthier in body and mind. although the uncontrollable desire to have lots of carbs, sugar and fried food kept my weight pretty high still.

also started to realize one thing.
i don't consume a lot of alcohol because of the intolerance, but i do sleep really late.
and the connection is that when i sleep late, i get the same effects of being intoxicated.
so when i'm stressed, unhappy, or unsatisfied in life i would sleep late.
get very burnt out to a point that i would fall asleep right away.
at the same time, i'm building up a tolerance level of staying awake physically and mentally, so it takes longer and more time to burn me out to sleep.
i haven't been able to make this connection until this week, when i kept passing by LCBO and not going in to buy alcohol. (aside from the very fact that i'm totally broke.)

it's great to make all these discoveries, but horrifying at the same time... knowing how much i'll have to change.
1/3 life crisis?

mildly disappointed

the date on sunday has been cancelled - he got a deadline to meet.
i'm so glad i don't work a normal job.
wonder if Bobo and Potato still wanna go with me to Centre Island.
it'd be nice to finally break into my new bike.
if they don't go, then i'll go find an unpaved trail instead.

still looking for those lights and bottle cage.
the Cyclepath in Woodbridge is about $5 more than the Markham store.
guess i'll just pop downtown tomorrow to MEC and get that japanese one i just found.
$4.50 compared to $15. although not as fashionable but it'll do the job for cheap.

looking forward to free dinner!
yay!

here and now and then

going on a third date this sunday.
well, a double date really. Bobo and Potato are going too.
breakfast, then biking at Centre Island and end with dinner.
let's see how this will go.

my bike is still lacking lights and bottle cage.
maybe i'll go to the Cyclepath in Woodbridge before teaching tomorrow.
prices are a bit steep with plastic cages. sigh... light weight comes with a price tag.

helped Deno get a bootleg version of Finale 2010.
now i'm getting a free sushi buffet dinner! yay!
can never say no to free food ;)
this guy has achieved so much in a few years.
果然當年我沒看錯人.
he has great potentials to become something amazing.
i'm really proud of him as a friend. guess we've both grown up a lot.
and the most haunting thing is... i can still think like him.
just now, i gave him exact points in his piece where he needs to fix. and those are the exact points he's trying to fix without telling me beforehand.
i've only listened to it twice.
coincidence?

以前, 很想擁有愛情.
現在, 還是很想.
不過已經不懂得愛情.

new and old

got a bit overwhelmed by last minute stuff.
but it's all good. makes me feel busy and wanted.

went out with parents to McCowan/Elgin Mills to see the meteor shower.
we saw 3 meteorites but i couldn't take any pictures because of the speed.
of course, i'm not very experienced in night shoot so the pictures didn't turn out well.
should really get contact lenses so i can see the view finder clearly without obstructions from my glasses.
but it was nice being in the dark. however it's not nice when mum was being paranoid thinking about other people trying to mug us - NOT.COOL.

briefly reconnected.
we're so different, yet so in sync.
i never fear the lack of communication.
because i know we'll be back on track right away.
i guess that's why we kept on being good friends for all these years.

new love

loving the new bike!
i was looking around to find a bell and a head/tail light.
everything seemed overpriced, so i ended up just relocating my old ones to the new bike.
still missing a good tail light, and possibly need to replace the head light.
LED is the way to go! the old ones are way too heavy with C batteries.
still need to get a kick stand, carrier rack, reflective adhesive, water rack, and a reliable lock.
maybe i'll pay another trip to Cyclepath again to pick out some accessories.
not too much of a price difference from big stores. heck, they might even install the stuff for me for free!

haven't truly tested out the bike yet. planning to do so after a lunch meeting in 9 hours. that is, if i can wake up.
tonight has been screwed by baking pudding.

talking about the future

i have earned just enough to cover the remaining amount for the bike.
planning on getting the bike on tuesday.
if weather permits, i'm going to test ride the bike on the paved trail behind the house and see how long it takes for me to get to dad's place.
and on thursday i'll take it out for a spin on a real bike trail.
so exciting!

just sent an email to the music school's director last night about me quitting.
can't wait to get out of that place!
it does feel like a hindrance every time i make a trip out there.
makes me feel gloomy every monday, which is NOT good.
from september and on, i can utilize mondays and use it as a website day - a day when i stay home and update the 2 websites.
time for that long planned makeover for both sites!

surprises

the date went well.
i think the most surprising thing was the vegan restaurant!
never knew vegan food can be so filling and mind opening.
oh yeah, and him having a twin brother was also quite surprising.
hahahaha

recently hooked on Fringe.
now i'm pacing myself. don't want to run out of episodes and catch up to the current season too early, because the new season is not out yet.

and off i go to a wedding.
wishing no rain with this cloudy day...

busy bee

out for a second date wednesday night.
first AGO, then vegan dinner.
before all this... go do some stuff with parents in the morning - forgot what i have to do, but i'll need to do it anyway.
then trying out the Norco Bush Pilot in my size at the Cyclepath in Markham.
and then go home and teach.
sounds like a long day ahead.

just done a horrible R&B song arrangement.
please don't make me do another one any time soon.
i'm totally gonna throw up while arranging.

one more arrangement to do for this week, which is the reduction of the Nutcracker march.
hopefully i can just eliminate the entire part instead of rewriting everything.
however, it's still better than pop music.

couldn't see any aurora borealis tonight.
wonder if it'll ever show up in the sky... it's so orange from all the light pollution.

o yeah, i still have to make that dessert...
gosh, got a million things to do this week.

full day of sweat!

absolutely knackered!
Websters Falls is a beautiful place, if there's not so many people in it.
it felt like we've arrived to the Ganges river. i mean, literally.
of course, except the water doesn't have any of those germs/virus killing micro organisms.
next time i'll definitely go much earlier and not on a holiday.

going to try out the last bike tomorrow.
then it's deciding time.
i'm leaning towards buying from the Markham store, mostly because of the location and friendliness of the sales dude who looks like a younger version of Mark Fewer.

oh, and how do you handle a situation like this:
friend of a friend inquiring about your service. this potential client is part of a dual-level marketing company that eventually will ask for you to buy their products. the product in question contradicts your choice of standards in life. he/she invites you to information sessions that relates to the nature of the products, but didn't attach itself in the propaganda.
my reply - i didn't answer to the invite, but i feel that it's going to come up sooner or later. guess i'll have to face it when that comes up.

can't bear it, gotta sleep early tonight.
zzzzz.........

180 change

everything is gooooooood now.
Bell's modem/router arrived in a day, and i got that set up within an hour.
dad returned the tp link router and we're all wirelessly connecting now.
a month worth of pain resolved in 2 days, just by giving a simple phone call.

got most of the arrangements ready for the coming gigs.
now i just have to do 1 more for next week and then worry about a piano trio gig's music getting to me rather than me getting them together.
what a relief not having to deal with music i'm not familiar with.

the next couple days i'm gonna be planning a family trip to see a waterfall in Hamilton.
it's gonna be nice weather, so things should run smoothly.
i'm starting to like hiking a lot.
maybe i should really invest into a mountain bike.
i dunno... choices choices!!

full of hate

after a week of trying to figure out the wireless connection problem, it's still bothering us.
the newly exchanged router is still not connectible by wireless, but we can connect with cables.
dad likes to continue to give me more useless work to do by constantly trying to get the wireless function back.
he's been my source of frustration for over 7 days now.
i hope i can survive till Bell's upgrade modem gets here.
apparently they have a modem that has a built in wireless router function as well.
so in a week, we should get it in the mail and then i'll have to mail back our current one.
i officially hate routers.

how much i miss

playing with people on par with me is very valuable.
tonight and tuesday night i was reading some chamber music with amateurs.
taught me again and again how important is a strong cello player, and musicians who don't emphasize on every single beat, a.k.a. the head banging.

i miss my sensible friends.
where art thou?
we need to jam!

by the way, i just found out what collagen is made of.
i'll have to refuse it if they're using that at the spa place where i get my facials from.
i hope they don't use facial products that's also derived from animals.
that's just plain wrong.

taken by surprise

OMG!! they killed off a major character in the second series of Primeval!!!!
what a surprising season finale!
and double OMG on the third series!!!!!!!
i'm only half way through and they killed off the most major character.
that's just plain sad.
maybe they really feel their axe coming?
anyway, i'm glad the show's coming back.

i'm ready for more arrangements.
ok, not tonight. i'll start tomorrow.
today is my last day of freedom.

found a place on Main Street Unionville where they sell Garibaldi biscuits.
but i think i'm gonna go back to the shop on Donlands because it's 60 cents cheaper and they have much more to offer.
not to mention it's also a few doors down from a nice bakery where i can get fresh bread.

the usual discoveries

sigh... another monday.
but it's good in a way. when it comes, i'll just have to endure it and i'll be left with 6 days of bliss until the pain comes back again.
there, i've just made myself slightly less unhappy.

been watching Primeval.
it's a british sci-fi show, pretty neat stuff.
i think it could be a kid's show, like Doctor Who, 'cause u don't hear any swearing, but it is highly violent. i guess it has to be violent considering it involves pre-historic beings.
nonetheless, it's an addictive show.
just began watching season 2. can't wait to see more.
it's one of those shows that they considered cancelling and got brought back to life recently. so 2 new seasons are being filmed and won't be available till 2011.
but i can wait!
if i can wait for a new Doctor Who episode that comes when it's x'mas, i think i can wait a lot more.

yes, i'll slowly get back to the routine.
right now it's still sleeping late because of these addictive shows!
off now.
ciaos.

spending day

decision:
LG E2350V-SN 23"

result:
very happy!

good thing i spent the gas and time to a scarborough cc store looking for a floor model of the acer, and i found it!
the product was much worse than i have anticipated. i mean, reading the bad reviews is one thing, but it coming into reality is truly another.
i guess those reviews were quite accurate.
or maybe it's just first impression from lg. it was so stunning that i was so attracted to it right after i saw it, and thus bought it in the end!
much more reliable than samsung. at least no dead pixels yet - fingers crossed.

also bought a generic memory foam mattress topper from zellers. it was like $80 off, but regardless it's my throat cutting $100.
still, better than my first scouting which would've cost me $170+taxes if they had the size i needed. i was very close to paying a deposit to get it ordered!

took me so long to just scouting and reading up on these 2 things i bought.
well, they ARE NOT CHEAP!
i think i've got my money's worth.
will find out about the topper after tonight's sleep.
if my back pain is totally gone, then there's indeed some magic in memory foam.
wish me luck!

p.s.
new layout! not bad for a template.

more money to be spent

another all-nighter.
this one is for figuring out which monitor to get because my current one is dying.
with a dead pixel ever since i got it, and a now near dead capacitor, i think it's time to do the upgrade.

just found out that Heroes has been cancelled.
o well, after last season's fiasco - i really don't like Samuel, such horrible acting and character/plot design; it is time to let go.
wasn't that much of a shocker to me.
now, if Doctor Who gets cancelled... touch wood... i'd be mad - for a little while.

i also managed to get through 2 books worth of guitar method.
wonder how much of it will actually stick.
the steel strings are hurting big time. but they do give me some thick callus.
i can pretty much read notes in the first and second positions now.
hurray!

time to get a power nap for a few hours and off to look at actual monitors.

my picks based on specs:
(by the order of choice)
1. LG E2350V-SN 23" Led backlight LCD
2. Acer S243HL 24" Led backlight LCD
3. LG W2361V-PF 23" LCD
4. Acer T230H 23" Touch screen LCD (maybe)

yes, i'm staying away from my current Samsung crap and embracing something more reliable. Dell would be nice, but it's out of my $300 budget range.

another late nighter

can't believe i spent the whole night arranging Pirates of the Caribbean.
i know it's gonna take long, but i didn't expect to linger on throughout the night...
178 bars worth. i don't think we can even sight read it. well, not for those who are not familiar with the rhythms.
oh well, it'll be in the vault.

got about 16 more that i'm interested to arrange, on top of the 20 or so that i've accumulated a while ago.
don't think i'll be able to sleep much if i continue to be too obsessed.
time to sleep earlier starting tomorrow and exercise more vigorously.

still no luck on finding a new bike.
which is good, the money is still with me.

week of madness

spent $160 on a new power source, a new wireless n router, and a new 500G external hard drive.
not bad considering i'll get to keep my current hard drive's information all in there without doing tons of backing up.
well, i'll soon due for a back up now there's a new drive.

i managed to watch all True Blood episodes up to the most current one in 7 days.
that's 12 in the first series, 12 in the second series, and 3 in the third series.
so proud of myself.
indeed True Blood is much more interesting than the Twilight saga.
maybe i'll go find the books on an odd day. must be expensive though... 4 books in Twilight, and The Southern Vampire Mysteries (True Blood) has 10 so far.
wow, that's a lot of reading... could be better just borrow a copy from the library.
strange how both main vampire actors are both British. lots of parallels in the plot lines. coincidence?

couple weeks ago i told the music school director that i'll be quitting at the end of the contract, which is September 1. luckily for me that's a Wednesday, so the last day is August 30.
he tried so hard to give me reasons to stay. but i just can't!
it's too freaking far and out of all the students only 2 would really practise.
oh well. won't be my problem. i have my own privates to worry about.
they don't pay me enough to make me care.
i do plan to spend more time expanding the wedding music business, and keep auditioning for a contract job.

an electrically cursed day

last night my desktop tower suddenly switched off while i was watching True Blood season 2 episode 6.
then i can't turn it back on.
i really can't smell any electrical burn. is my sense of smell really that bad???
or maybe it's just my power source?
i hope it's the power, much easier and cheaper to fix.
shit... haven't backed up for a while....
time to go see the computer doctor.
sigh...

my dad's CRT monitor died too yesterday morning.
and then we saw a lot of CRT monitor outside of homes at the curb.
we're suspecting there's a town-wide electrical curse happening on Canada Day, and it big finished with mine dead.
or it could be a True Blood infection.
muwahahahaha
ok, off to the doc.

things not to do

note to self:
do not eat left over chinese battered fried fish.
and if there's no choice, eat it with a cold can of coke or highly steeped black tea.

what happened?
i think i ate a whole bowl of them for lunch and got really sick.
the quickest solution i could think of was to make some very steeped tetley. no sugar, no milk. just black.
and thanks to my smartness, it worked. well, less regurgitating.
totally ruined my day.
and when i told this to my dad, he's like, "oh yeah, i've had one of those before. same thing with battered fish leftovers."
gee, thanks for telling me now, dad. that was real helpful.

hate a girly girl's night out

u know the feeling that a party should've ended 2 hours ago, yet u can't leave because of ur obligations?
and add a splitting headache in the mix as well.
oh, plus hunger and thirst and lack of sleep.
yup. had one of those.
i think i'll do better as a guy next life.
just go out and drink and pass out. so much easier.

now i finally finish getting stuff ready for tomorrow's gig day.
time to take a 4 hour sleep.

zzzzzzzzz...

must dos

got a few of my gazillion tasks done.
now the killer part - arrangements.
oh, how i dread through the process.
let me get a screwdriver mix going.

i figured out why i'm so bloated now.
it's the snacks... the never ending snacks...
i love them!!!
maybe i'll just give up thoughts of going in shape and just go with a supersized me.

more complains

i'm getting fatter and fatter!!!
gotta resume exercising... been slacking and putting off routines.

all these weddings are making me tired.
maybe it's time for me to get a vacation or something.
i miss the mountains and trees of the west, but i also miss the frenchies of the east.
but most of all... i miss not riding a proper bike!
maybe i should just go ahead and buy a brand new bike.

point of view

guess i'm the working type.
that's it. don't even need to collaborate on that.
i find it hard to share my mind now. the open period has passed.
might as well just keep it brief.

no, i don't think i've changed at all.
always been this obnoxious lying introvert since day 1.
i just have really good acting skills and many masks to go with it.

just watched Legion.
it's a crap hole, but the graphics look alright.
can't expect too much from a shooting fancy film.
totally american.

long whine

WON the bike at $800!
ok, that was a bit too much. plus i'll have to get other accessories as well.
sigh...

the Brahms 5tet was going very well. pulled it off with a week of rehearsals and a 4-hr coaching that's generously given by (all hail to) Peter Longworth.
it definitely feels strange playing the piece with Daemon. i was used to playing it on Tiger, but then if i were to go back on it it'd feel strange too.

the heat is not helping with my tiredness.
especially with all that driving last week, i need to sleep non stop for a day to recover.

finally watched the last episode of Lost.
it does need some time to chew on. maybe i'll rewatch the entire show in a year's time or something.
i'm just glad it's finally finished. such a long cliffhanger!
imagine never finding your favourite, perfect pairs of jeans for a few years. that's how it felt to me.

ok, off to teach at the fucking music school.
GRRRRRRR
hope that rolled over cement truck will not get in my way at 427/407.

expenditures up ahead

it was a fun day trip yesterday to Elora.
i think i'm an alright leader for hiking, at least i didn't lose anyone at the end.

let's see.. this week is hectic, like any other week. hope i can survive it.
it's also the closing week for my police bike. let's see how much i'll need to spend in the end...
then i'll start looking for bike racks.
pretty sure will go with the Toyota ones, or ones that go on top.
don't feel like strapping things at the back door, which might scratch the paint on both my door and the bike.

lazy day off

i have decided to replace my current steel frame bike with an aluminium alloy frame bike.
coincidentally, they have some police bikes available on government auction. i believe they are near new condition.
my budget was originally $300 max, now it's $500 minimum!
considering these are german Stevens bike, which start from at least $1000+, i'd say it's a good bargain.
plus it says "Police Special Edition" on the frame!!! how cool is that??!
just have to allocate some money for a tune up and a bike rack for my Rav.

boy, but i'll have to go with my parents again because my dad has some stuff he wants.
so it'll be another Ottawa day trip... that means 11 hrs of driving in a day.
this time maybe we'll have the time to go to Parliament Hill again and check out the Rideau Falls.
my battle scars from the last Ottawa trip - 3 big mosquito bites.
itchy itchy itchy!!!

just finished arranging On the Lake, from The Notebook.
it's a conventional pop song, nice but boring musically.
still took me a while to finish it... i'm too distracted nowadays. this is something that i can finish in an instant... but i've decided to catch up on my tv shows first!
oh, what shame!

things of interest

i'm kissing the ground.
only 3 hrs of sleep, woke up with these big red demonic eyes at 5am this morning.
then drive to Ottawa, pick up 80 pairs of army boots with my parents, spent some time at Prince of Wales Falls, then drove home, have dinner with Bobo, Potato, and Nikki, and my parents of course.
then came 4 hours of email replies, personnel arrangements, and a short hot shower to wash away the sand and dirt from today's trip.
haven't even got to the song arrangements yet, and the earliest one is for this sunday.
sigh...
i need some snooze...
and exercise...
and good vegetarian food.

george brown's Vegetarian Cuisine Certificate costs around $2000.
it's a general interest programme, not professional. hmm... that seems too much to spend.
o well. guess i'll just have to ignore that part of me for now.

sorry... still the same heartless log.
don't really feel like emotional sharing these days.
trying to get better though, one small step at a time.
hopefully by xmas i'll be able to feel the joy of owning an iphone.

*THUD*
(drop dead on bed)

cough

cough cough cough...
cough...
cough cough...
COUGH!!!!!

i'm not sick. just very irritated throat.
either i have a very strong allergic reaction to something, or i'm extremely 熱氣.

this could be true, or this could be just a made-up.

i find it more and more difficult to connect to people. i'd rather keep digging the hole than keep my head up. i just don't feel the affect that should've been there.
lately i realize that i talk to myself too much... so i'm muting the conversations to keep up the sanity level. well, keeping it solely in the mind. the correspondence is still happening, just not verbally.
maybe all i need is a pet? or someone i can really talk to? i dunno, feels like i've lost the other half of myself.
it's a weird feeling. i used to think my other half is somewhere out in the world. but these few years i don't sense it any more. maybe it has died or gone off somewhere else.
maybe that's why i'm picking up hiking and photography? i'd rather face something non-human than interact with a human. how obnoxious is that?
let me put my mask back on. it's better that way. i would appear more human.

dislikes

2 big things i don't like in orchestra:
1. obnoxious trumpet players who blast at the viola section, and
2. old ladies who couldn't play and couldn't turn pages but continue to make unintelligent comments that they think is cool.

indulgence

Hilton Falls is absolutely beautiful.
i'm dead tired now, but got lots of hiking done today!
i think i'm getting very much addicted to it.
it's such a nice sound to hear swaying pine trees, running waters, and not a single human sound... well, until they appear 15 minutes later. it is a public area.
the only thing i don't like is the $5.50 per person entrance fee.
o yeah, and the annoying insects that kept flying around my head area non-stop from beginning to end.

just my Rav4, my Nikon and i.
good times.

then for dinner, i went to Olde London for the usual fish n chips + coke.
sigh... was craving for it too long. guess i'll have to say goodbye to it for now.
the monster has been released and recollected.

whining

last night i had a weird dream again.
it has something to do with Harry Potter, 萬綺雯, a grand escape of some sort, and me having some sort of a terminal disease. oh yeah, of course, i could fly.
i like this kind of dreams because every time i wake from it i felt refreshed.
as if my brain needed that kind of entertainment.

next week is finally sorted.
gosh, i should've never double booked myself!
but i can't resist expanding my Toronto work opportunities.
to really think of it, i have no obligation to anyone because i have no contract except this one fucking music school that i'm going to teach today.

just got a call from the court.
apparently the judge cancelled the second summons.
so now i don't have to show up next Monday either.
this is fucked up, made me worried what to do with next week's engagements.
the law is absolutely bull shit.

London update

the cookies turned out a bit too dry, almost bread-like.
o well, it's courtesy food, what do you expect? =P

it was indeed a very long day on thursday.
i almost fell asleep in the rehearsal.
and then the next day i was overran by allergies so i took 2 benadryl pills.
shouldn't have done that... i was sooooooooo high for the entire day.
hahahaha
guess i could always take benadryl if i wanna get high again.
works better than marijuana. no hallucinations though. bummer =P

this time i forgot my toner/cotton pad/moisturizer/cotton swab bag.
still way better than forgetting the makeup bag though.
now i just went to Shoppers to get the missing stuff and they are forever staying inside the suitcase.

i'm addicted to Clover Leaf's flaked light tuna mini cans.
great source of convenient proteins.
though i've got to admit, it does feel like i'm eating cat food out of a small can.
and a couple flavours even smell like cat food...
but hey, they taste great!

what's ahead

i finally took the time to bake those carrot oatmeal cookies.
they turned out pretty well! we'll see how they taste tomorrow at the night rehearsal break. right now they smell really nice all over the house.
needless to say, this threw me off my sleeping schedule.
hope i can wake up in time.

taking a detour out to Elora in the morning.
my schedule is:
9-11am drive to Elora
11-noon quick walk around town
noon-1pm lunch
1-4pm light hike, pictures
4-5pm drive to Guelph, pick up a viola player
5-6:30pm drive to London
6:30-7pm quick dinner
7:30-10pm rehearsal
10:30pm get to hostel and fall on the bed by 11pm

it'll be a looooooooooong day.
better go to bed now.

sigh...
i hope they have the tv and internet service back on...
it'll really suck if i have to drive to starbucks to get my emails checked.
ok ok... sleeeeep.

being bad

yes, i've stayed up tonight.
it's now 3:30am... and i'm finally going to bed.
at least i'm now all up to date with House!
tomorrow i'll be seeing my chinese doc to find out why i have so many breakouts on my face.
then i'll go do some crazy photocopying for a student.

today i didn't do any exercise at all.
still very sore from yesterday's long treadmill and yoga combo.
will catch up tomorrow night.

yes yes yes, i will definitely send emails out regarding gigs for the summer.
sheesh! i'm such an air head!

good start

7:30am woke up, breakfast (slim fast shake, home made granola bar), rest
8:45am treadmill
9:30am rest
10am yoga x
11am shower
noon updating here, uploading pictures from nikon
12:30pm shake & granola
12:45pm out the door to get stuff

running out

can't believe i dozed off to sleep on the couch without brushing!
and i had a huge maple syrup lollipop right before that!!!
it's tasting very bad right now XP~~~

errrr, another monday.
at least today i'm getting my March pay cheque.

tonight i'll have to get off my lazy ass and start emailing everyone about gig dates.
i've delayed it too much!

and i still have a lot of episodes to catch up!!
ahhhhhhhh!!
need more days in the week!!!

revealing session

a very eye opening practise today.
i was revisiting Clarke and Bloch, both i first studied when i was still using the undersize viola, Tiger.
SOOOOOOOOOoooooooo different!
everything was easier, and everything was harder.
i finally understand why Scott said i was pressing... it's because i had this real viola sound in my head but Tiger's not able to give it to me.
so now with Daemon, everything sounded just right.
but then the spacing is larger, and i'm using old habits. so chords are definitely harder to produce with Daemon.
i'll have to relearn all my old pieces.
tomorrow i'll look over the Brahms sonatas and see how bad they are.
sure they'll sound great though!

still waiting for my musafia case. it's been 6 months and counting.
sigh...

失望的一個電話

是朋友就不要利用我. 既然知道了我的意願就不要再強逼.
難道弄到臉都翻爛了才明白?
你走你的陽關路, 我走我的獨木橋. 那樣子不就好了嗎?
其實過了那麼多年都沒有聯絡, 再次找我都知道你是為了找利益才想到我.
那... 你還算是一個朋友嗎?
這令我很無奈.

slave away

found a nice, no-shit recipe from cityline (again!) to make some granola bars to add to my healthy routine:
http://www.citytv.com/cityline/food/recipes/breakfast/article/59832--homemade-granola-bars

if this goes well, i'll make it into bite size to bring to orchestra rehearsals.
that should feed 50 people!

slim fast shakes are not filling!
i'm feeling hungry already... gotta pull through (T_T)...

had an interesting dream last night.
i was invited to play *cello* in a concert.
and i rocked.
hahahaha~

newness

tomorrow will be the first day to my new routine.
basically it's composed of me sleeping early and waking up early.
two 30 mins exercises per day, and 4 hour practise time on a free day.
tomorrow being a semi-free day, i'll have an easy start of a 2 hours practise instead.
also starting a reduced calorie intake diet with 2 Slim Fast meals and a normal meal.
this is my new audition mode routine. we'll see how it goes!

late happenings

i'm determined to quit the music school when the contract is up.
i'll need the time to restart my audition routine.
it'll be my 3rd time auditioning at London. funny how after all these auditions i still get to play in there.
must've done something impressive yet still not good enough.

all these late nights and constant driving is giving me lost memory.
yesterday in particular i could've killed someone on the road - i was driving at 130 while being under the influence of sleepiness. made it from London to home in 1 hrs 30 mins, which is normally a 2.5 hours drive!
how i stole 1 hour?
i have no idea.

finally got my book! (Waterfalls of Ontario)
now i have to thoroughly read it and then plan some solo hikes to check out those trails.
then i'll plan some family hikes that can involve all of us doing something healthy on a holiday.
have a concert in Peterborough in late April, maybe I'll do my first hike of the season there.
it is quite nice in the Kawartha Lakes.
can't wait! this summer is gonna be awesome with lots of good pictures, now that i've got my CPL filter!

what's happier than getting out of teaching in that fucking school?
i've got a jury duty notice on a MONDAY!
hurray!
let's make it a 3 weeks case so i'll get 3 consecutive mondays off!!

still didn't get the massage that i granted myself.
after sleeping on the couch last night, my muscles miraculously feel much better.
maybe all i need is a couch rather than a bed in my room?
o yeah, still need to go check out those FatBoy bean bag chairs.
gotta go downtown for that.

after missing out from the Naruto and anime scene in general for over a year...
i'm finally resuming my downloads.
slowly for now.
got lots to burn on discs to clear out some space first.
not only this, there's a few series i have to catch up on too.
sigh... an addiction restarted.

alright. gotta pick up myself and go to that fucking music school.
hang in there... a few more months and i'm free!!

update

i've decided to go get a massage.
it's been a long while since my last one, so it's time to give myself a little bit of "reward".

i'm totally addicted to Lost in Blue 2.
but i'm getting better at turning the DS off and get my mind to something else.
i used to be so glued to it that i didn't realize i was playing for hours. of course, my arms would start to go numb and my butt felt like it's somewhere else.

got a healthy flow of emails going in asking about wedding prices.
still like more for this year though, it's not that well.
people are as cheap as always.

hopefully tomorrow will be a nice blue sky with some clouds.
i really want to experiment with that new CPL filter.
and it works best with blue skies and contrasting colours in the picture.
well, hard to find colours right now... most of everything is still, rather, brown.
maybe i'll go shoot some street views with the sky in it.

my face is now riddled with lots of breakouts.
i've been trying to figure out if they're from hormonal changes, or if i didn't clean off all the makeup properly.
maybe i should first try a new makeup remover, and at the same time sleep a little earlier.
ok, i'm sleeping now.

here and there and everywhere

i now truly appreciate coming home after what felt like a long week of endless driving.
and especially after tonight's 3hr drive from London.
those moronic truck drivers should all be shot. they were in the center lane, create a huge amount of wind disturbance at crazy speed.
it was 80km/h wind speed with wet snow in the middle of the night.
dude, have some respect for other drivers.

anyway.

happy to have finally got my circular polarizing filter! i couldn't find it cheaper than $52 after taxes anywhere else, so i bought it while i was in London.
well, i've been eyeing it for a long time, just didn't have the determination.
now i do!

Emilie told me about this place called Yoyo's Yogurt Bar.
it's a self-served "cafe" that lets u pull ur own frozen yogurt (real, yogurt) and add whatever toppings.
when u're done, u cash out and they just measure the weight of the cup with ur stuff for price.
(it's not that cheap, but it's fun.)
mine was fresh fruits + some kind of kashi crunch + caramel syrup + green tea yogurt.
it was alright. i mean... i was expecting a huge amount of green tea flavour, but it's very much watered down.
well, at least there's no gelatin in their yogurt!
and they list out the ingredients of each yogurt so u'll be more informed. i dig that. i think all chinese restaurants should do the same on every single fucking dish.

London's programme is pretty cool.
Glinka Russlan and Ludmila Overture
Tchaik Piano Concerto in a gazillion flats
Dvorak Sym 7

the pianist was simply AMAZING.
and she looks a whole lot like Cecilia with that short haircut. hmm....
and Dvorak 7. oh boy.
i just realized the house of ghosts in super mario brothers is oddly similar to the 4th movement.
find it out yourself:
Mario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1mouFU8Cvc
Dvorak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TirkVXPGBM

gosh, my neck is killing me.
must've twisted something somewhere...
zzzzz i go.

happiness comes with the sunshine

another random finding today.
i was looking for the mp3 file of the JC Bach Viola (Cello) Concerto in C- for my student.
after some twist and turns, I was about to give up and tell her to buy the Suzuki recording of it.
then i came across a Turkish website with the complete recording, AND a Hoffmeister recording for myself within that CD!!

i also found the 3rd movement of the JC Bach, which was missing from my Suzuki book.
wonder why they only include the first 2 movements in there?
probably too long to print and too hard to teach at Suzuki level 6?

anyway, i'm gonna try out the 3rd movement now and maybe try out the Waxman Carmen Fantasy later tonight.
i kept finding all these goodies, but no time to try them on!

random findings

today is babysitting wednesday.
went to take Nikki home from montessori, and we went shopping at the supermarket across the school.
my mum found and bought this bag of dried 草菇, which is SOOOOOO different than the canned ones.
imagine the soft canned version with an ever lingering scent of preservatives.
now imagine a fragrant mushroom like taste with a crunchy-chewing texture.
it's just sooooo different!

i also found this herb called 紅景天.
i think it's a part of the flower, Rhodiola. it works almost like ginseng, except not so expensive and in depth.
it's anti-inflammatory and also helps to lower blood pressure.
that's just what i found by googling.
now i'm gonna go look it up on my 本草綱目 while i whiten my teeth, getting ready to bed.
good night!

locked out

did i mention last monday i got locked out of the music school in Woodbridge?
it was the day with the heavy snowfall.
apparently they had a sign at the door saying they'll be closed at 7:30pm, but i missed it when i arrived because they had the door opened for ventilation. the sign was on the other side of that door.
oh ya, and the inside was renovating, so it was all toxically dusty. thus, the open door.
i had the last student at 8:30pm, so i went out for a juicy Wendy's fish burger combo.
for some reason, i decided went back to the school at 8pm after the fries are eaten so i could enjoy the burger in the school.
that's when i saw the pitch black school with no lights and a locked door....
with my stuff inside...
fortunately the 2 receptionists were still in the parking lot, they just done digging out their cars.
i blanked out at the door looking at the missed sign when one of the receptionists honked at me.
the other came out of her car and unlocked the door for me to get my stuff.

apparently the receptionist marked my last student as cancelled, but i didn't look at it when i head out to Wendy's for dinner.
what a day!

sleep is overrated

been in and out of towns for 2 weeks, thought i'd get a day off tomorrow but my plan was changed by 1 email i've got a few days ago at 3am.
was contracted to play at the Jeff Beck/Eric Clapton show. i think it's only the Beck part. without a doubt, i said yes to the email at 4am.
then the next couple of days i had to reschedule my students and a client meeting to next week.
this gig better pay well. or else i'd lose so much money, and sleep.

thought it wouldn't be a pleasant trip this time, but i felt renewed.
first off, i left my foundation kit at home. so spent $65 in shoppers to get replacements. turns out the Vichy stuff is pretty good. i think i'll keep on getting it. it's cheaper than the mismatched shade i got from mac.

then the rehearsals were tiring. i didn't look at the stuff beforehand, and found out we're playing Symphonie Classique... first thing in the morning after a 2 hr drive.
good that i've had my breakfast this time.
Alain Trudell was guest conducting. he's such a nice person and conductor to work with!
we were all confident about our entrances, the concert sounded awesome!
normally that doesn't happen, with... yeah. this place is too public to name names.
only positive stuff goes on my blog about work.
back to Alain.. he made me miss Andre! hope he'll be in Montreal in june when i visit. but i highly doubt it. must be either extremely busy with students or off to festivals.

k, now i gotta figure out how to get to the ACC without costing me an arm and a leg.
leaving in... 6 hrs?
that'll give me 5 hrs to sleep.
hurray!

day off freedom

showed up at the hall for a coach bus pick up half the orchestra for the Chatham run out concert last night.
there was no coach, only a mini airport bus and 3 limousines waiting.
but i saw some orchestra people loading into the minibus, so my carpool and i went to the driver.
he seated us into one of the limos before discovering that they don't have enough limos for people who are still coming.
it was about 15 mins pass our normal departure time when we left London.
ended up with 1 minibus and 6 limos.
it was nicely warm in the car, roomy, and luxurious.
except it was only a luxury sedan, not those stretchy ones.
we still don't know why there was no bus.
heard 2 versions:
1) from our driver - that some 300 odd people got stranded somewhere at a greyhound station so they needed to reroute our bus to transport those people.
2) from others - they don't have enough buses to transport crew and athletes at the olympics, so our bus is on route to Whistler.

either way, i'm totally fine with riding in a limo for a 1.5 hrs commute.
as long as i don't have to pay for it.

today is my day off.
i was looking forward to being a couch potato in front of the tv and maybe catch some of the olympics.
but the hostel is changing from rogers to bell, so all of their digital cable and internet services were cut.
not only i have no tv, i also have no internet.
so i'm now being cold at Starbucks, enjoying a green tea latte and my 3 hrs free wifi.
i wondering when they upgraded from 2 hrs to 3 hrs...?
and why is it always cold at Starbucks, no matter which one u go to???

anyway, gonna go back and watch 2 more episodes of 彊屍2. should've brought more episodes.
and maybe i'll go catch a movie or something tonight.

痛

喉嚨痛, 頭痛, 經痛, 背痛, 肩痛, 腳痛....
人老了, 機器都不靈.
最難頂的莫非是頭痛.
是時候去睡覺了, 解痛一下, 希望不會發惡夢了吧...

明天一定要起早, 那就可以去做 facial.
我有 10 次 facial credit, 一定要在那店關門大吉前全用掉.
之前 BoBo 買了 credit, 還剩 2 次它就閉業, 浪費了幾十完...
肉痛哦!!!!!!!

做一個好孩子

今天 Fan 媽媽大出血.
話說 AhFan 接送 Fan 媽媽辦年貨, 到 First Markham 的海味舖買東西給老襯.
只有一個感覺: 乾貨 = 很貴.
我也不甘示弱, 趁火打劫了一點... 只有一點...
我的戰利品包括:
一大包乾菊花
一大罐胎菊花
一大袋紅燒魚柳
3 個髮夾
嗯... 大部份都是吃的.
最近不停的吃韓式烤扁魚片 (自己烤的黑黑), 所以喉嚨痛 (T_T...)
而且睡的晚, Ikea 床褥又開始變形導致我腰酸背痛, 所以今晚一口氣喝了一壺胎菊蜂蜜茶.
好! 今晚早點睡!
明天開始每晚早睡, 再每早跑步!
我要今年好好完成新年願望~

p.s.
剛剛發覺戰利品 #1&2 跟 #3 有很大的衝突...

p.p.s.
不知道 BoBo 今晚在龍宴被人謀了多少...
明晚的團年飯要八些新聞回來.

another dream remembered

must be an invasion.
i was at home packing frantically, trying to gather as many supplies as possible.
the streets were filled with unfamiliar lifeforms, some about my height, some taller than an high rise building.
there were only 2 choices when you meet them: 1. run as fast as you could, or 2. fight like there's no tomorrow. choice #1 being the most common choice. but then, if they outrun you, then #2.
when it first hit the Earth, i was underground. the subway train was torn to shreds and when we come to, there were flying electrics and terrified passengers. we saw the beings and we all ran towards the surface.
that's when we saw apocalypse.

after i left home, i drove for a while until there's no more roads.
looks like they broke a lot of pavement too.
the hills were no safer than the city, not when size matters.
after crossing a river, which took the life out of me, i met with more survivors and we desperately look for a hideaway.

we hopped onto a working train, but was soon caught up by more strong electricity zapping monsters.
just about the last moment, we saw a safe house when the train came to a halt.
we ran into the house, and like magic, the lifeforms seem to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
it's humanity's last refuge.
there are places like these all over the globe, it's just the matter of making it there.
we arrived and immediately people fed us and showed us how the house works.
it neutralizes those monsters if they enter the house, leaving them powerless and mortal.
we killed one of them when it crossed the threshold. my dad stabbed it till its eyes popped out. gruesome, but victorious!

everything within the house can be self replenished. food, water, waste, and even sun light can be recycled.
what surprised me was that this ark can be expanded when more people join in, and eventually it turned into a ship.
when we took sail and departed from the crumpled land we once called home, i was zapped back into reality.

good morning.

a dream writtened down

i was a brilliant, well loved film actor in his early 30's.
after a premier of one of my latest film in Taiwan, i talked to the audience on the spur of moment and told them i'll be forever gone in the industry.
my agent came and reverted my speech and pulled me over and asked me why.
without saying much, i left the theatre, depressed.
i was walking around the streets, there are so many kinds of food and entertainment, but nothing interests me.
all i could think about was different ways to end my pathetic life.

took an elevator up an old tall building, and saw a port near by.
before going there, a couple youngsters were skateboarding and saw me.
"jump! jump! jump! come on, do it, old man!" was what they were encouraging.
when i was ready to take the plunge, my agent showed up some way behind and one of the boys slipped down the edge.
i hurriedly look for the stairs and went to grab him before he made his way down to hell.
"u weren't ready to die, see? u saved him because u treasure life still." said my agent.
"i saved him because... just leave me alone." was my reply.

now i'm at the port. my agent was walking alongside trying to figure out the reason of my depression.
while we were watching some people setting up their inflatable float boat, a man mugged and killed a person from not too far away.
he ran toward us and i grabbed him.
after some short thinking, i've decided to take him out for a dive into the waters.
we sank and sank and sank...

when i woke, i was at a hospital bed.
an inspector spoke to me on the left while his partner looked out the window at the far right. it was eerily quiet - i was used to reporters outside the door waiting for an interview. guess they haven't got wind of this yet.
i was so disappointed that i'm still alive. at that point, i told him the reason.
i had a wife with child, whose lives i accidentally took away. in deep sorrow, i suffocated my first child of 5 years to eternal slumber.
the next logical step would be taking my own life.
sobbing weakly on the bed, i slowly looked towards the inspector eyeing the surgical knife next to him.
after a few minutes, he helped me slit my wrist.
damn inspector, too weak a cut and not deep enough. made me wait for a slow departure.

when i woke once more, i was at home.
long stitches, yet another unsuccessful attempt.
this time i was surrounded by men from the family. men who only wanted to use my fame to get what they want.
yet there is a young man in the midst. his father asks, "can u help out my boy? he has talents. boy, show ur uncle."
i was reluctant to help, but my hands were already gesturing corrections.

then i woke.
i am now a freelance violist who just woke from a dream about a depressed suicidal actor.
all i could think about is how hungry i am because it's way passed my lunch time.

- the end -

bad habits should be bannnnnnnnned

gotta sleep earlier... sleeping too long is making me ache!
on the other hand, i'm recovering from 2 weeks of London.
and during my spare time between students - the school scheduled a 1.5 hrs gap for some retard reason, i'm learning violin concertos at that time. XD
i think i've got Barber first movement under my fingers.
now off to Bruch, revisited.

finished rewatching 殭屍 1, now i'm on 殭屍 2.
and Being Human is back for series 2! so i'm following that whenever a new one comes out. pity to say, series 1 is so much better.
and i'm looking forward to Feb 5! Lost will start its final season!

late happenings

2 weeks ago, i started sleeping really late.
this week my body has started to feel the aftermath, namely stomach, head, neck, and shoulders.
pain everywhere!
good thing i'm going in London today.
it's like flying overseas, whenever i go to London it fixed my sleeping disorder.
because there's nothing much to do there? XD

i've sent Ms. K her trio just 2 days ago.
what a relief!
took me a while to get all that prepared.
i'll have to write up an invoice when i get home later this weekend.
she's going to give me another piano piece to computerize.
although it's not a lot of money, but it's better than sitting at home wasting life away.

o yeah, i'm rewatching 我和殭屍有個約會, at the end of series 1.
it's hard to find interesting plot and acting nowadays with chinese series.

bad karma

last week has been a series of unfortunate events.
it started with losing a short, small brush that fell into the sink when i was applying make up.
then the useless music school that has no working cassette tape recording nor playing machine.
came that fucking recording with an awful song.

and while i was in London, the hotel room was fucking freezing with no heat. didn't sleep much because of the snoring room mate. when i wanted to take a hot shower to beat off the coldness, there was no hot water. when i wanted to use the blow dryer to thaw myself, there's neither heat nor wind coming out.
tap water tastes funny so i didn't get to brew hot tea, so spent money buying a very expensively bad tasting orange blossom tea from starbucks.

the total sleeplessness has the toll of me not doing correct things on Finale so i'm not impressed with my overall performance during Ms. K's dealings.
but at least that's all corrected now, however creating another sleepless night.
then i'll need to do that fucking recording again in a few hours.
it feels like the series is a never ending cycle of bad luck.

late nighter

got quite a lot done tonight.
i must've found, like, 5-7 discrepancies in Ms. K's new movement.
but nonetheless, i managed to put it all into Finale in about 3 hours on and off.
and then organizing the gig stuff for next week.
i would've love to do this gig... if i were in town =(
o well, i did shed some $ off non-Margaritas to reward myself~

i'll need to head downtown again when i wake up, to pick up the newest version of the movement.
and then watch Avatar in imax!!!
shit, scotiabank theatre is at $17.50, while colossus woodbrige is only $14.50!!!!
what a ripoff!!!

now i'm gonna go to bed... it's 7:45am...
wow, nice sunrise!

thinking ahead

i think i'll keep my resolutions simple this year.
figure if there's too many to aim for, then none will get accomplished in the end.
so this year, my target is:
sustaining a healthy 120lbs, at 27-28 inches waist, relatively strong muscles and definitely re-pick up some P90X yoga routines.
i didn't buy my treadmill for being a piece of furniture! XD
maybe i'll warm up with 30 mins of treadmill, then 1 hr of yoga for one day; replace yoga with Wii for the next day. hahahaha~

Ms. K's piece just underwent revisions. well, 2/3 of her piece.
i'll get the remaining 1/3 next week, hopefully by tuesday. then i can start inputting while i'm in London.
i've got this figured out - when there's an afternoon concert, i'll stay at the hotel.
when there's a night concert, which most likely preceded by a rehearsal in the morning on the same day, then i'll stay at the hostel.
that should save me some money on food.