Well, at this rate, it looks like my daddy is going to get a job before I do. Yes, my daddy is applying for a project manager job to oversee the completion of Phase 2 of a Chinese cultural centre. It's most likely in Markham or something. It was funny listening to him grumble about making a résumé. It's been DECADES since he's had to make a real one. This will be interesting if he gets it, because for one thing he'll have a full plate again, and, as a result of his involvement, we may be thrust back into the Chinese community after...how many years? I can't remember.

In other news, I don't know what it is with the birds in my neighbourhood, but they've taken up the hobby of slamming into my living room window. A couple of days ago I was sitting there and WHAM!! The blue jay staggered around on the ground in a spastic kind of way but after a while he took off. The next day a smaller brown bird was not so lucky. I thought my brother had taken care of the body but laziness and inclement weather has meant that the poor thing is still lying on our patio.

"I will go down with this ship, I won't put my hands up and surrender"

Another Arthur Encounter:

For those who aren't familiar with Arthur, he's a friend of mine who I bump into in the most unusual places. The first was in a line-up at Canada's Wonderland a couple of years ago. The next was near the Mr. Greenjeans restaurant in the Eaton Centre. Tonight, it was when I was coming out of the Isabel Bader Theatre after watching my final festival film, and Arthur was sitting in the line waiting to go in to see the next movie. It's really weird how that keeps happening.

Speaking of line-ups, the film festival, and encountering people randomly, I had another celebrity sighting, and quite an impressive one in terms of difficulty and somewhat low level of celebrity. What I mean is that Boni and I were waiting outside the theatre while people were exiting from the previous film. Of the people who were filing past us, one person caught my eye, simply because he was wearing a shirt that said "Eat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts". I thought to myself, "Hey, cool shirt." Then I looked at who was wearing it. It was Bob Blumer. Okay, like I said, the level of celebrity is quite low given that you're probably asking, "Who's Bob Blumer?" Anyone who watches the Food Network like I do will know that he's also known as The Surreal Gourmet. If it hadn't been for his shirt, I wouldn't have even looked at him in passing. His face was partially obscured due to his sunglasses, but his hair is very recognizable. And, as further evidence that it was most likely Bob Blumer, he came out of a screening of "Go Further", that movie about Woody Harrelson touring around America endorsing hemp and yoga and organic living. He seems like the type.

"If it's over let it go and come tomorrow it will seem so yesterday"

Rest in peace, John Ritter. He was a genuinely funny guy.

So, here's a classic example of how funny my life is sometimes: I got a call from a recruiting agency, and the woman tells me that there's a position available at a food processing company and that she would like to talk to me about it so would I please come around on Thursday to meet with her. Sure. I write down the address, the time, and her name. It isn't until after I hang up that I realize I don't have her phone number. My call display is of no use since the number is blocked. I attempt to do some internet snooping, and finally I figure out which agency it is and discover that I had applied to this job at the end of July. Okay, no problem. I get to the place, talk to a different representative for a while, fill out some paperwork, then then woman (Christine) comes in and we have one of the fastest interviews ever. I swear, the woman was talking a mile a minute. Then I discover who their client is: Effem. For those of you unfamiliar with the confectionary industry, Effem is the one who makes M&M's, Mars, Snickers, etc. (I have probably gained a few new best friends at this very moment) Coincidentally, my friend Rehmat had worked there previously for one of her work terms. Coincidentally, she had just left last week for a six-week vacation in India. So much for insider information.

I spent the entire day downtown. No point in coming home and then going back again, especially after I found out about the interview. I killed time with Boni in the garden at Osgoode Hall, talking about heavy stuff like politics and the world at large. I think our consensus was that the world is in extremely poor shape, and that we both hoped that we would be around when the American empire finally collapses and the Chinese take over the world.

"Come and knock on our door..."

I Was THIS Close...:

Okay, first of all, I want to say that although I do enjoy the occasional celebrity moment, I don't use that as my sole reason for going to the film festival. Honestly, some of the movies they screen are really really cool, and will probably never see the inside of a Famous Players. Like today, Howie and I saw "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", a documentary about the military coup that happened in Venezuela last year, coincidentally on my birthday. To quote Howie, "I've never been inside a coup before...that was cool."

So, the second movie we went to see today, "Casa de los Babys", was very closely timed to the first, and so we had to hustle out of the theatre and head down the street to the other. Since we arrived later than most, we had some side seats that were not too bad. About five minutes before the film was to start, a lady came up and asked if the two seats behind us were taken, and then asked if the seat beside me was taken, and I said no. She continued up the aisle asking if other seats were free, and Howie turned to me and asked, "Isn't that Fran Drescher?" Damn right it was. If nothing else, the voice was pretty much a dead giveaway. So Fran Drescher saved the two seats behind us, and two seats that were a couple rows ahead of us, and called to her friends. One of those friends came up and happened to be Kim Cattrall. So I was sitting there, in a theatre in Toronto, with Fran Drescher behind me and Kim Cattrall in front of me. Incidentally, neither of them were in the movie we were about to see (that, I guess, is actually kind of obvious, because if they were, they wouldn't have been trying to find their own seats).

Yeah yeah, I was star-struck. I didn't say a word to either of them, but then again, I don't think anyone else did either. We Torontonians are just too cool for that. Like, two nights ago I went to see "My Life Without Me", which was a nice film dealing with dark stuff, mainly cancer and death. A young married mother finds out she's going to die in two months, and sets out to do everything to prepare, like recording birthday messages for her two young daughters until they turn 18, and finding them a new mother, and visiting her dad in jail, and having sex with another man just to see what it feels like. You know, warm fuzzy stuff. Anyway, it stars Sarah Polley and Scott Speedman, among others (like Deborah Harry!! Okay, I said that to each of my friends and none of them had heard of Blondie...honestly!!). During the question/answer period, someone asked how Sarah and Scott developed the intimacy that they displayed so well on screen. Scott was visibly embarrassed, and Sarah simply mentioned that she and Scott had gone to high school together and had been friends for a long time. My friend reminded me later that they had gone to Earl Haig, and suddenly it was like they became more familiar. Not because I had gone to that school (I didn't) or really knew anyone who went there, but just because here were two people from my hometown, who had gone to high school just like I did, and were now doing what they loved to do, and I got to see them do it. I don't know if that makes any sense at all. I guess it just further reinforces the idea that they're normal, just more well known than the rest of us.

In other news, I GOT LEAFS TICKETS! So very exciting. I'm going to see some pre-season kick-ass action against the Senators, as well as a regular season game in February against the Hurricanes. And yes, it does seem like I'm buying tickets for everything under the sun these days, but if I didn't get on board for the hockey tickets now, I wouldn't be able to see anything live for the whole season. My mother was on my case about it, especially about the hockey tickets. No doubt she still has that $300 playoff ticket fiasco firmly in her memory. But this time they are much more reasonably priced (I mean, I've got the cheapest tickets in the house). "You're buying tickets to everything all the time...why are you spending all that money??" So I have varied interests...what's wrong with that?

"The last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the cup"

The first thing that I saw when I picked up my paper this morning was a reference to bananas. The funny thing about that is that the article was using the banana reference for people, not fruit. Those readers out there who are remotely Asian-Canadian will know what I'm talking about.

Here's a thought that has been on my mind for the past several days. It was discovered maybe a week ago that West Nile has hit a number of the local mosquitos. However, I have been bitten by various insects more times this summer than in the past couple of summers combined. I've been aware of the situation this whole time, but I haven't done anything to protect myself from the prospect of becoming ill. Weird that I'm not more concerned about my own health and safety.

Lesson of the day: If the platform is empty, the subway door guy will not sound the 'sol-mi-do" chime and will close the door almost as soon as it opens. (This lesson was learned while riding the rocket at a ridiculously early hour on a holiday Monday)

"Senorita, I feel for you, you deal with things, that you don't have to"

I am going to have a heart attack.

I am never renting a dwelling from anyone ever again.

My father said this to me: if you're not willing to be cut-throat and just a tad bit slimy, don't get into business. I'm just too nice for this shit (oh, he didn't say that last part, I said that to myself).

Great. Now I'm going to be wound up all night.

"And I need my anger not to control, and I want my anger to be me"

Did anyone see that lightning storm last night? Damn cool. Every few seconds there were giant blinding flashes, but very little thunder. Most of the time the flash was too brief to see, but sometimes the bolt just stayed there in the sky for a couple of seconds, and once or twice there were a few bolts close together at the same time. If only we could somehow...harness that energy. But then where would I get a flux capacitor? =)

The summer is rapidly grinding down, and I'm beginning to feel like I should be doing something productive. Like work. On the other hand, my social life is picking up again. CNE this weekend, baseball game on Monday, and then the ever pleasant task of figuring out what movies I'm going to see at the film festival. As someone who's had some experience in organizing things, it wouldn't be asking a lot to ask the good people at the Toronto International Film Festival to allot a little more than 48 hours for people to choose their films. But I guess they have their own deadlines to meet, and hey, I thrive in a logistical challenge (or go totally insane...one or the other).

"Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by"

This summer has been all about family. My cousin Charles threw a party to celebrate the birth of his third child, a son they named Avery. Cutest little guy, he never made a sound during the entire thing, and when I was saying goodbye to him, he smiled at me. Charles's other kids were really cute too. Lauren is a 7-year-old who is the living definition of 'precocious'. Aidan is a really shy 3-year-old. The majority of my mom's side of the family was present, which is a rarity. The only person missing was her youngest sister, my Aunt Shirley whom I visited last month in BC. I hadn't seen Charles in a really long time, or my cousin May (his younger sister) who has a new baby too, a daughter named Delaney. Terry joked that they named her in honour of her Irish heritage (she's Asian all the way). Annie (Charles's older sister) and her family flew over from Vancouver, which really made it a family reunion, and it was nice to see them again so soon. On our way home, I asked my mom and my Aunt Betty when was the last time the whole family had been together like that. They started naming the various funerals that had occurred in recent years. How sad is that? My aunt made a good point that for happy occasions, people have no problems making excuses not to make the trip ("Maybe next time"), but for tragic occasions, people find a way to be there to support the family.

Last night, I was by myself as the rest of my family went to a Beatles tribute show at Stage West in Mississauga with Annie and her family. So I drove over to Ellen and Michelle's house to hang out with them, since they're alone at home with my grandpa while their parents are in Europe. My grandpa was very surprised to see me there by myself, and I guess I don't blame him, since I don't think I've ever done that. I only go over to their house with the rest of my family, and usually on the weekend. Howie showed up too (after getting a little lost), and we were able to chat for a while and make fun of each other (we may have made fun of Howie more than anyone else).

Lesson of the day: Don't wait for the tragic occasions to reunite with family.

"I waited 'til I saw the sun, I don't know why I didn't come"

So...funny story.

There I was at Cloverdale Mall, about to enter the Dominion to find my parents. *Click* No power. People kind of glanced at each other like they do when something weird happens. I did the same. Then I saw my dad and just walked over to him. Within a few seconds, some emergency lights came on, and...get this...every cash register started working again. Well, the important thing is that the money was rescued. Riiiiight.

My brother called me on my cell to tell me he was going to go out into the mayhem. "Power's out at our house," he informs me. Okay, whatever. We drove home fairly easily thanks in part to the convenient stretch of highway located close by, allowing us to bypass every intersection that has been transformed into a four-way stop during rush hour. It isn't until my brother comes home soon afterwards that we find out that this was bigger than we thought. "Did you know that the whole eastern seaboard is out of power?" Uh...no. Listening to the radio, it turns out that it isn't just our little part of the city that's powerless. It was a great throwback to the 1940s, sitting around as a family, gathered around a radio. The stories started coming in. People on the street who took it upon themselves to help direct traffic not just downtown, but virtually everywhere. People helping other people out. Awesome. One of the many reasons why I love this place.

Had a realization in the early evening. The annual Perseids meteor shower is happening this month, and Toronto is dark. So, I grabbed a beach towel, spread out on my picnic table and looked up. I have never seen so many stars in my backyard before. A little while after I started looking, there was a small dot that was crossing the sky in a steady straight line in front of me. Took me a couple of seconds, and then I said to myself, "How cool was that?!? I just saw a satellite!!" I was out there for about an hour and was ready to give up when suddenly a huge bright streak passed overhead. That totally made my night. Then the weird night noises started to freak me out, and since I didn't want to be attacked by the local raccoon, I headed back indoors.

I kept dreaming different scenarios where the power had been restored. Each time, I woke up, looked at my clock, said to myself "The power is still out", and then went back to sleep. This happened about three times. How weird am I?

In the morning, despite what Mayor Mel had told us the night before, power had not been restored to our neck of the woods. I took a dark cold shower, then headed over to Howie's house. We hung out, annoyed each other for a while, then (cue heavenly music) the power came on. I headed home soon after to help with the aftermath, but found that it seemed to be only a very local phenomenon. My house was still in the semi-dark (there was natural light, after all). I went out in search of lunch, and found a place that was open and selling food products. The guy made me sandwiches by candlelight, but still kind of gouged me ($30 for four sandwiches and a half-dozen bagels). Ah, whatever, he was at work in the dark, after all.

Finally, 22 hours after the lights went out at the supermarket, a big 'whirrr' started up in the kitchen. Things started up instantly. Dad started charging every battery that we owned. My mom started making dinner (it was 2pm). As luck would have it, things in our freezer were still mostly frozen (we hadn't opened the door once, which could be why).

So, we survived the Blackout of 2003. I wonder if I'll remember these details 40 years from now (my dad remembers the blackout of '65).

"One thing I know about the rest of my life, I know that I'll be living it in Canada"

Maybe I'm not up to date, or maybe I enjoy clinging to old traditions. Or maybe it's just because I haven't been to weddings for a long time up until this year. The bride doesn't throw the bouquet anymore. I've been to two weddings this summer, and both times flowers were not flung into a throng of desperate single women. Which I suppose is a good thing. I guess the other point would be that the groom wouldn't have to remove the garter of his new bride and toss it into a similar throng of men. The only time I remember witnessing this custom was at my cousin May's wedding, which was at least a decade ago if not more.

As for the wedding itself, it was a nice affair. My cousin Karen married her long-time boyfriend (8 years), short-time fiancé (10 months) Hilen. It was interesting in that her brother Humphrey was the one who performed the ceremony. He made a joke about telling his friends back in Calgary that he's going home to Toronto to "marry my sister...". Nobody seemed to hear the second part of the sentence, "...to my best friend."

I guess my name is very popular in my extended family. After all, Karen's (the bride) cousin Karen was there, and I was sitting next to a Karen (who's related to me VERY distantly, I think), and one of the MC's was a Karen (although I don't think we're related at all). Five distinct Karens in one room. Look out, we're taking over the world!

"Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?

I Wonder If The Acoustics Are Good...:

Taste of the Danforth is an event that I've heard many things about in the past 10 years, but this was the first time I'd ever gone. The hope that I would experience it with a familiar group of people was unfortunately dashed early on, and so Boni and I made the best of it. The food was amazing and, best of all, cheap. I was able to spend less than $10 and be satisfied, thanks in part to the abundance of free stuff.

The big lure for the both of us was to see Melanie Doane play live. I had missed a number of opportunities to see her in the past. We got to the stage early, and just as the rain started, so did the "opening ceremonies". A bunch of people were there: the chairperson of the event, the mayor, the mayor wannabes (namely the two Johns, Nunziata and Tory), the Greek Ambassador, and others. Laugh of the day occurred just when Mayor Mel was being introduced to speak. Mother Nature didn't seem pleased about it and so she cracked open the sky and poured it down on everyone, prompting Mel to keep his speech brief.

The sky cleared up once Melanie Doane hit the stage. The first thing you notice is the most obvious: she's very very pregnant. Apparently she just had her first child and went straight into the second. The change in body shape did not prevent her from rocking out. After watching her play a plethora of instruments (guitar, bass, violin, piano, and ukelele), I began to wonder how this was affecting her fetus. I mean, if my own internal organs were vibrating as a result of some very heavy bass, what could the child be experiencing. My guess is that it will come out either very musically inclined or slightly hearing impaired.

"Are you a Wilma or a Betty man? Do you drive a Mercedes or a Trans Am?"

Hey there, loyal viewers. So, it's been a little more than a week, and things have smoothed out. Not so blue anymore, which is nice.

I've been having a lot of really intense dreams lately. Always at the same time, which is after I initially wake up in the morning and then drift back to sleep, so since I'm semi-conscious, that would probably explain why I can remember them so vividly. The funny thing about it is that they involve people and places I've never seen before. Example: this morning, the dream involved being at a restaurant with some family members, but the meal lasted forever. Afterwards, I was in what looked like a high school class, and I was sitting with, of all people, Alexis Kucey, who is someone I vaguely recall from middle school and someone I didn't really hang out with in the first place. The class was stranded in a hellish French class, and for some reason we weren't allowed to leave, even though it was 7pm, and I was going to be late for...something...and Alexis tried to help me get out by reasoning with the teacher, but there were no exceptions, and we had to stay until the lesson was finished...I think. Anyway...yeah...weird stuff.

Oh yeah, if you haven't heard my vacation story, I've got most of it on my website right now, minus the photos. So if you want to see the whole thing, wait a couple of days, and you'll see it all together.

"And oh, my dreams, it's never quite as it seems"

Okay...so just when I couldn't feel any more like a loser, I go and injure myself while walking. Yeah yeah...how dumb am I? Basically, I just turned on my right ankle as I was walking to the car. Unfortunately, I was also wearing heels at the time. It's funny how fast falling happens. I mean, one second I was standing, the next second I was plummetting to the ground, and then in the next second I was on my hands and knees, with a very sharp pain in every part of my body that's touching the ground. Well...what else can happen?

"I'm falling forever, I've got to break through"

It's official. Today I received the letter from Estée Lauder that formally rejects my plea for employment. She did write the letter and mail it on the day that I returned from the West, so it wasn't like it was waiting for me when I got back. But that means my hopes are all shattered, and I've got to get back out there again. Ah well.

"I want a reason for the way things have to be, I need a hand to help build up some kind of hope inside of me"

Greetings, friends! I have returned! I touched down at Pearson at a little after 8pm on Monday night, and I must say that after 10 days of pretty much flawless weather, I was kind of disappointed to see how grey, wet, and relatively cool it was when we landed. If I ever have the chance, I'll have to be sure to tell the good people at Air Canada that it's not the best idea to remind the passengers where the emergency exits are when the plane is about to land. My dad and I looked at each other as the guy was explaining the different locations, and my mom kept asking me "What does this mean?? Why are they telling this to us??" The minor turbulence was a nice touch too.

But what am I doing telling the end of the story before the beginning? Well...it's a bit long, so I'll save the details for the website. All in all, it was a great trip, despite the things that I didn't get to do. I went to the Stampede but didn't see a rodeo. I went to Banff but didn't get to ski (not that I had the opportunity, but you know). I saw many a horse but never got to ride (and, surprisingly, saw more horses in BC than in Alberta). But no matter, it was still really fun.

Barkerville is way more interesting than I had imagined. Chinatown was more than just three shacks, and there were a lot of things to do and see there. Hanging out at the Lung Duck Tong (my aunt's restaurant) was always interesting, because I could see all the behind-the-scenes stuff, and listen to the customers talk about the food and the decor. Speaking of food...good eats! We ate almost all of our meals there, and even my brothers were happy eating Chinese food. The good news is that my aunt will most likely renew her contract next year, and so there will be a good chance that I can go and visit her there again, perhaps with other people in tow.

I can see why everyone who's ever been to Vancouver likes it there. Very laid-back city. Although, the traffic signals are a little challenging ("Flashing red?? What the hell does that mean??"). The best part of it was that my cousin Annie and her husband Michael did all the tour guiding for us, relieving me of that responsibility. We saw sights of the city that we probably never would have seen if I had relied on the CAA tourbook. And it was fun just hanging out with them and their kids.

I seriously can't wait to go back.

"Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach, I feel it in the air, the summer's out of reach"

So, about 12 hours from now, I'll be at the airport. It's been a long time since I've been able to go on a vacation and not have to change my currency. Actually, I'll be enjoying a lower tax rate, so woo hoo! Time for shopping.

Jocelyn, I'll be sure to say hello to the Stampede for you; Ada, I'll say hi to the sheep (?); and Boni, I'll give Alberta a shout out for you.

"Want to leave but I've got to stay, and I'm wondering more everyday"

So, I'm supposed to be doing some sort of preparation for my impending vacation, and what do I do?

I work on my website.

"Stranger than your sympathy, all these thoughts you stole from me"

Summer in the City:

In the ongoing struggle to redeem the reputation of Toronto, along comes the annual Toronto Street Festival. Always a good time to be had. Coolest thing we saw: an Australian troupe called Strange Fruit. Kind of bizarre watching six people standing 4 meters above the ground on bendy poles.

I attended my first housewarming party yesterday. A nice little townhouse in the Queen East district. Three stories with extremely easy access to the roof. There was even a little self-tour of the place, describing in some detail about things such as how there used to be an orange tree in the bathroom, or the large quantity of miscellaneous screws that were removed from the walls. I suppose the more interesting aspect of the party was the people. I knew a number of people from CUTC, so it wasn't too awkward. I was sitting in the kitchen as people were coming and going and I just happened to look up and see a very familiar girl walk by (Cassie Lee!). It turns out that she knew someone who knew one of the guys who lives at the house (Sean, to be exact; I know Kevin). We had a nice chat before the others started beating the crap out of a Spongebob Squarepants pinata. The other interesting person of the night was Jason Yuen, a guy I've known since....I guess we were about 4 years old. He breezed by me about five times without so much as looking at me. I discussed this with a friend (who also happens to be a guy) and he mentioned that guys have really really bad memories. That must be it. Of course, we hadn't really seen each other since Grade 2, but I was able to recognize him on sight...have I changed that much?

Lesson of the day: They make really good strawberry milkshakes at Spring Roll.

"All around, people looking half dead, walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head"

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Strange to be saying that on a Wednesday.

I attended my very first non-Chinese Chinese wedding on Saturday. That is to say, both the bride and groom are Chinese (I sort of know the groom), but the wedding banquet was at the Sheraton Hotel in Richmond Hill, and it was non-Chinese cuisine. Sort of like going to a formal, except with your parents. Food was pretty good, the music could have been better, and the games were a little bit unusual (instead of clinking the glassware, each table had the opportunity to go and pick a topic for Charades, and if they got the answer correct, the couple had to kiss). And of course, my brothers and cousins and I ended up at the "young persons' table". I felt sorry for the one girl, Vicky, who was here by herself and, while everyone else at the table had either graduated from university or was still in some post-secondary institution, she was slightly out of our age range (14, although she completely didn't look like it). But we all had a pretty good time. I have some bizarre photos of my parents shaking their groove thang that will probably haunt me for years to come.

Congratulations to Vancouver! Hopefully when I get there in a few weeks everyone will still be shiny and happy.

"Drive your car all night by just starlight to Canada"

After a couple of months of fishing my résumé out there in the void that is the job market, I finally landed my first post-grad interview. Here's the thing...I REALLY WANT THIS JOB. Not because I'm desperate for cash flow, oh no. The reason why I want this job is because it is almost exactly what I want to do, and it's in an industry that interests me highly (as superficial as it may sound later on). Basically, I would be working for Estée Lauder, more specifically for their sister company, MAC. Product quality control for a cosmetics company. For those who knew what my initial career goals were, yes, this is a slight deviation. And it's funny, because it's one of those things where you apply without the usual expectation of actually getting anywhere with it, and then being told that you are just the person they are looking for. As far as I know, I'm up against 3 or 4 other people, but I think the interview went pretty well. Unfortunately, I was the first person they interviewed, so I'll have to wait a while before I find out if I get the job. It's extremely hard to keep my excitement in check.

Please...please let me get this job...

"Hold your head high, don't look down"