Karma Police

I knew it even before he stepped out and pointed at me. Heck, I probably would have pulled over either way. The karma police had finally caught up to me, and I got my first speeding ticket.

Here's where the irony just piles on: I was driving within 10 km/h of the speed limit all the way home. I was running out of gas, and I didn't want to stop, so I tried to drive as efficiently as possible. With the moderate traffic on the highway, I maintained it with minimal braking. Then I got off the highway and turned onto the street with the notorious speed trap - four lanes of traffic and 40 km/h. The silly thing is that he's parked in the most obvious way at the top of the hill. I normally take a glance up there after I make the turn, but this time I didn't. And then I got distracted when I was trying to beat the yellow light at the next intersection. As usual, I saw him way too late, but this time he saw me. Everyone in front of me kept braking, and he just waved them along until he got to me. I wasn't just over the limit, I was substantially over the limit (due to my racing the light), but he was nice enough to lower it so I wouldn't lose any points. And I didn't have to dig around for my insurance either. I'm sure he just wanted to write this up quickly so he could catch the next fish.

I'm not too upset about this. First of all, I totally deserved it. Secondly, I've dodged many a bullet over the years, so if you average it out, it really isn't so bad. Finally, she might be a slow and calculating bitch, but karma will get you every time.

"This is what you get when you mess with us"

While I Still Can

No time for chit-chat, we've got a lot to cover here.

My 29th was quite the affair. Of course, it didn't go quite as planned, but it went anyway, as these things tend to do. My three-parter, "It's Not Too Late" bash began by having dinner with a fantastic mish-mash of friends from all areas and eras of my life. Iranian cuisine was not only tasty, but provided a great opportunity to wield peer pressure on my male friends to get them to try lamb testicles. It baffled me as to why they were making such a big deal about it...they don't taste like anything. But now not only can they say they've tried it, they'll have a reference to fall back on. Such as, "This tastes like lamb testicles" or "This is nothing compared to lamb testicles". I'm sure they'll thank me for this experience later (much, much later).

Part two turned out to be a bit of a bust, as most people bailed out on going to the night club. It wasn't a bad idea on their part, but it proved to be challenging for me, since I arrived after the designated time when the guest list was in effect. Naively, I thought that being a single girl would allow me easier access, but I would soon find out that I wasn't pretty enough for the bouncer to pay any attention me. Or, as another friend put it, I wasn't "skanky" enough. I had to resort to calling in my "connection", just like everyone else. Inside, it was an impressive space, except that the ceiling was leaking and the music was less than conducive to dancing. Not to mention the multitudes of skanks. At least it satisified my curiousity about the place, and I'll never have to wonder about it again.

The third part was a bit bumpy, since there was a scheduling mishap and we didn't get to do it the day following the dinner and the night club. But, as always, things worked themselves out for the better. It was a beautiful day, a few more people were able to join us at the circus school, and I wasn't dead tired from the night before. It was an incredibly fun time! We were able to try the mini double trampoline, the trampoline, the aerial hoop, the static trapeze, and...the flying trapeze. Unreal. I suppose a lot of people might think that I was crazy to do something like that, but to be honest, I've never felt more safe. Here's my tip: if you're going to do this, and you need corrective eyewear, DON'T wear your contacts. Bring your glasses, and when it's your turn, take your glasses off. Although I was half blind climbing up the ladder, by the time I got to the top I couldn't see the ground, and therefore couldn't tell how high up I was. Consequently, there was absolutely no fear with regards to the height. The only other challenge was hooking my legs up onto the trapeze while I was swinging. It took three and a half tries, but I finally got it. It was exhilarating, and worth the three days of total body soreness afterwards. I can't wait to go back.

Someone asked me, "Are all of your birthdays going to be like this from now on?" Of course not...only the ends and beginnings of each decade. And maybe the halfway points too. So thanks to everyone who participated this time around. Pencil me in for next year, because plans are already in the works...

"No need to worry 'bout everything I've done, live every second like it was my last one"

Which Way to Look

I really don't know which way to look. With so many things going on, I've hardly had time to blog about my trip! And I've been home for two weeks already.

First things first. South America was awesome. Can't believe how much fun it was. The good news is that my brother and I actually do get along. The bad news is that there are so many stories, I can't think of which ones I can tell here. A lot of spectacular nature and wildlife, some interesting characters that we met, plenty of adventures, and a little hindsight when it came to packing. I've decided that I really like cruising. You spend the day somewhere, you get back on the ship, you go to sleep, and the next day you wake up and you're somewhere else. I think we travelled more than 6,000 km in two weeks. There's food everywhere, but if you take the stairs instead of the elevators, you won't balloon too badly. The only slight downside was that it was definitely an older crowd. But we made the most of it, and it all worked out in the end since, as my brother put it, "Old people seem to like me." I think next time, we'll try something closer to our demographic. (My brother is already planning the "next time". Good sign.)

What else? Trying to organize the photos has been keeping me busy. And I didn't stay put for very long. The week after I came back I packed another bag and spent the weekend at my friend's new house in Brantford. We were even able to take part in Earth Hour, which is something we should be doing more often, in my opinion.

Reality set in pretty quickly once I got back to work. It's almost like they were saving the craziness for when I got back (they weren't, but the illusion is there). It's not all work and no play though. We've celebrated two birthdays already, and look at this, mine is coming up. Which is something that is also taking up a lot of my time. This is the first and likely not the last time I've organized my own birthday party. Well, I'm sure I've hosted parties before, way back in the day, but it's been a long time. And it's never been quite so big before either. Definitely a trial by fire, but if it's successful, I'll be looking forward to doing something like this every year. And so can you.

My list of things to do continues to grow ever longer. I'm back to my original problem: which way to look?

"Head underwater, and they tell me to breathe easy for a while"

What, Already?

Wow, not only has February blown past us, but we're even into overtime. Happy Leap Day everyone!

And before I know it, I'm going to be on a plane, bound for South America! That's right friends, the adventure this time is a two-week cruise around the end of South America, starting in Buenos Aires, Argentina and ending in Santiago, Chile. This will be the first time my brother and I travel together on our own. It will be interesting, for sure.

A lot of recurring patterns are starting to crop up as I continue my travels. First, I acquire the region's alcoholic beverage (I'm generating a very diverse collection). Next, I tend to visit a volcano or mountain (I don't know why I have the desire to climb something while on vacation). And finally, I'm either rushing to or from a wedding (if anyone's getting married in July, please let me know).

"All through my wild days, my mad existence, I kept my promise, don't keep your distance"

Where is the Love?

I have some rather exciting news to share: I've started the application process to become a volunteer at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. As can be expected, it's rather lengthy, and will require a screening process, interview, RCMP background check, etc. But to have the chance to see the Olympics from behind the scenes? In a word: AWESOME.

But that leads me into a topic that I've been meaning to talk about. Last year, one of my coworkers was on vacation out in the western provinces, and she told me that she did her best to hide the fact that she was from Toronto. When, on one occasion, her origin was revealed, the attitude of the person (who was a retail employee) changed dramatically. She was no longer smiling or friendly. She simply finished the transaction and gave my coworker her purchase.

It's a fairly well known fact that a lot of people in other parts of this country have a strong dislike of people who are from Toronto. My biggest question is: WHY? The most common answer is that they believe people from Toronto think that "Toronto is the centre of the universe". In my entire lifetime, I've never encountered anyone from Toronto who has ever uttered those words, let alone believed them. Other Canadians think that people from Toronto are rude, full of themselves, and unfriendly. Lately, I've heard that they think Toronto has become too much like an "American city": crime-ridden and polluted.

It breaks my heart to hear this kind of thing, because it's come to the point where Canadians are openly prejudiced against other Canadians. Are we not from the same country? Don't we believe in the same principles and values? Aren't we known, as a people, to be open and unbiased? Don't we condemn people who are intolerant of those who simply come from another part of the world, or believe in different things? So why are we treating each other so poorly? I don't understand it at all.

If I were to go to another city, such as Vancouver, and ask someone from that city if they think Vancouver is the best city in the world, what do you think would be the response? But if I say the same thing about Toronto, I would be considered snobbish and arrogant. Personally, I love Vancouver. And Montreal. I really enjoy travelling around this country, and have already visited six of the ten provinces. I've also been to many parts of the world and I love cities like London and Paris. But to me, Toronto will always be home. I can't imagine living anywhere else. Why is that considered a bad thing?

So on this Valentine's Day, I ask everyone to let a little love in, for people from every part of this country. There's just too much hate as it is. Let's start small, and we can figure out the secret to world peace later.

"Now's the time that we need to share, so send a smile, we're on our way back home"

Mission: Implausible

My brother and I went to the mall last weekend to have lunch, pick up a birthday present for my aunt, and generally browse around. On our way home, we stopped to get gas for his car, which we've dubbed "The Beige Beauty". It's falling apart on all sides, most of the interior electronics are fried, and you can hear it coming from blocks away.

Recently, it started making a "new" noise. One would describe it either as rocks tumbling or a drummer persistently playing the high hat. The new noise started up after we filled up, but then abrupted stopped. I didn't think anything other than it was nice to stop drawing attention to ourselves from pedestrians and motorists who had this look on their faces like we were here to destroy them. But then my brother looked down and said, "Um...the engine temperature is quite high." We both looked and saw the needle climbing slowly and steadily higher. Then, as if on cue, the "Check Gauges" light started to flash. We started to get fairly alarmed. Next thing we knew, the "Check Engine" light started to flash urgently. As a stop-gap measure, we cranked up the heat to try and draw some of it from the engine. All we got was really cold air.

So, what do we do here? We were pretty close to home. Stopping on the side of the road for a few minutes wouldn't really do much to cool the engine down. If we tried to speed up to get home faster, it might only serve to overheat the engine faster and we could blow up in the middle of the road. If we slowed down, we might not heat up as quickly, but then we could still blow up in the middle of the road before we got home. We decided to plow onwards, with me on the edge of my seat saying "Please don't blow up" over and over.

We made it home and my brother turned the car off quickly. We popped the hood and looked around. Strangely, nothing was smoking, and the radiator was ice cold.

In the end, it turned out that the fan belt had fallen off somewhere on the road. Most likely at the point when the rocks stopped tumbling. Oh yes, and the water pump had crapped out. Amazingly, my father got both of them replaced at a shop where they didn't try to get him to fix every other thing that was wrong with the car. And so we've breathed new life back into the Beige Beauty. One thing to be said for the cars in my family: all of them end their lives at the dump.

"Stop and stare, I think I'm moving but I go nowhere"

Things Are Looking Up

It's been an interesting year, I think. Lived and learned, laughed and cried, and most recently noted that the world (at least my little part of it) lost quite a number of fathers.

But things are really looking up. The six-month move-out countdown is on (again). I've begun to realize that I am slowly being suffocated here. Not entirely due to parental restrictions, but because I can no longer move around my room on account of the ridiculous quantity of stuff that has accumulated around me. Some of this stuff is old and sentimental, some of it is complete junk that I haven't gotten around to disposing, and some of it is recently acquired for my impending move. Getting out of here will be like getting out of a tightly binding dress...unzip and then I can breathe normally again. Hopefully I can hold it in until then.

The most significant change in my life this year happened recently. There was a person with whom I had corresponded since I was a little girl. More than seven years ago, the correspondence stopped, for reasons that I can't really mention here. Every year since then, and at around the same time, I considered contacting this person - not to pry into their life, but to see how they were doing, and to ask if they would be willing to talk to me again. A couple of weeks ago, I decided, with little to no expectation of success, to write to this person and ask these questions. To my complete surprise and delight, I received a response. I am happy to say that some things were explained, and now we're talking to each other again as we used to do. Out of everything else I did this year, I was so glad that I did this one thing. My philosophy these days is that life is far too short, and there are some things that are just too important to let go.

All this heaviness aside, I'm optimistic that it's really going to be a happy new year. Some extensive travelling might be on the horizon. I'm crossing my fingers that it goes ahead as planned. But what I'm most looking forward to is the part that is completely unanticipated and unknown. The next chapter will start in a moment.

Good luck to all of you, friends and well-wishers, in 2008.

"Watching the whole world wind around and round, I'll be coming home next year"

A Plethora of Emotions

It's been an emotionally draining week.

Excited and Disappointed:

My company's United Way campaign was pretty competitive this year. The challenge of being the department that raises the most amount of money with the Change Jar was compounded by the "Amazing Race" challenge that was open to any team of four people. The campaign officially ended last Wednesday, but we had to wait until Friday to find out who won both competitions. (Fast forward - my team ended up winning the Amazing Race, but my department lost the Change Jar challenge)

Shocked and Infuriated:

On Hallowe'en, my director, who's also a good friend, got the call that her father had had a heart attack. She raced out of the office, and I had never seen her this emotional. The next day, we found out that not only had her father passed away, but the father of the director of Technical Services also passed away the same day. Due to his customs, the funeral was held within 24 hours. However, upper management decided to restrict the number of people who could attend, which made some people rather upset. How could one person, just by virtue of being in the same department, represent other people who have known the director for years and who eat lunch with him every day? In the case of my director, the visitation was held at two different times on Friday, the first of which was from 2pm to 4pm, and the second from 6pm to 8pm. Again, management made it a point to say that it wasn't ideal for the whole department to go at the same time. Who's to say that you can't go and support a close friend and colleague in their time of grief? In the grand scheme of things, life is a little more important than work. And it wasn't as though they were taking advantage of the company. Some of the people decided to go to the earlier visitation and then came back and stayed late to make up the time. There was even some direct confrontation about this subject. I wasn't as involved in this as some of my coworkers, but it was sad to see where certain people set their priorities.

Delighted and Overwhelmed:

One of my biggest guilts this week was that I wouldn't be able to go to the funeral on Saturday. That was because I would be in Michigan on a shopping trip. My friend knew a group of ladies who were going to Auburn Hills, MI for a girls-only shopping extravaganza. Of course I was in, and in an uncharacteristic moment of spontaneity, we convinced another friend to grab a change of clothes and a toothbrush and come along for the ride. We were headed to Great Lakes Crossing, which is a gigantic outlet mall. The US Customs Officer asked us where we were shopping, and when we told him he commented, "That's hard core." The others were only planning on staying one night and going home after a long day of shopping on Saturday. But my friend and I decided to find another hotel room and stay until Sunday to ensure that we'd make the most of our quota. In a strange and wonderful twist of fate, we were able to score a discounted rate at a nearby hotel by taking a defective room. The defects were that the heating system was a little wonky, the window was jammed open in an attempt to rectify the problem, and there was no desk chair or mini-fridge. But to me, it was a perfectly decent room, and I didn't find it hot or cold at all.

In the morning we headed up to the Prime Outlet in Birch Run, which is just north of Flint. While Great Lakes Crossing was an indoor mall, Prime is not. We had a LOT of ground to cover, and a deadline, since we wanted to hit one more mall before closing time at 6pm. We did our homework the night before and marked all the stores we wanted to go to on the map. Unfortunately, we were a little slow at the start, so we were in a mad rush near 4pm. On our way back towards Flint, I realized that I didn't write down the directions to the last mall. I was going purely on memory and instinct. And a few well-placed road signs. We found the mall and dashed into a couple of stores. Our time ran out and we didn't get everything we wanted, but we were able to go into overtime at the bookstore, which didn't close until 9pm.

Crossing the border at Sarnia was not the nightmare I had envisioned. We were only waiting for about 40 minutes, and the officer asked us exactly three questions ("Where are you from?", "How long were you in the US?", "Approximately how much did you purchase?") and ending with, "Have a nice night."

After a couple of detours for food and gas, and stopping at our Spontaneous Friend's house to talk briefly and to pick up my friend's car, I didn't reach home until about 12:30am. I spent just under the $400 limit. I am immensely satisfied, and yet still have a little craving for more...

"Hold on to what you've been given lately, hold on cos the world will turn if you're ready or not"

Stars and Numbers

Film fest has come and gone for another year. The stats I racked up are really quite impressive. I worked 7 shifts, earned 11 pinks, saw 9 films (only two of which were during/after my shift), encountered at least 12 famous/semi-famous people, all without missing a single day of work. I even managed to attend a seminar.

What did I see:

• Terra - a CG animated film that seems a little too heavy for kids...war, genocide, environmental terrorism, etc. But the little tadpole aliens are cute.
• When Did You Last See Your Father? - a story about fathers and sons and the relationship between the two. Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent were great, and it made my guy-friend a little teary.
• Across the Universe - a film featuring a wide selection of the Beatles' repertoire, which is perfect for me. The beginning was great, the middle was a psychedelic acid trip, but the end was also great. A thoroughly predictable film, but experiencing Bono singing "I am the Walrus" was utterly bizarre.
• The Jane Austen Book Club - it inspired me to continue my current goal of reading all six of her novels. A funny film where the lives of six members of a book club mirror the plots in Jane Austen's novels.
• And Along Come Tourists - a German man serves his mandatory one-year civil service at Auschwitz. It doesn't focus on the camp at all, but rather the people who live in the nearby town in the present day. Very thought-provoking.
• Iron Ladies of Liberia - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa. The documentary follows her during her first year in office. A tough job for anyone after 14 years of civil war. Good thing she appoints other women to help her out.
• Caramel - a surprising Lebanese film. Much funnier than I thought it would be. Four women who work in a beauty salon in Beirut have four very different life challenges.
• Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge - a remake of the classic film starring Juliette Binoche. I still don't get the ending.
• Angel - a poor arrogant girl becomes rich and famous by writing ridiculous romantic novels in early 20th century England. Very reminiscent of Gone with the Wind. But I kept waiting for something to happen.

Who did I see:

• I nearly saw Viggo Mortensen at the airport. He's apparently much shorter and older than you'd think.
• Danny Glover spoke to me (he said "Thank you"). I just think it's cool because it was completely unexpected.
• I was five feet away from Ewan MacGregor as he got into a car, but I didn't recognize him. His hair was all over the place and he looked surly, but I guess that's because he just got off a plane from London.
• The most surreal moment was when I saw Deepa Mehta (director of "Water" and "Bollywood/Hollywood"), in a beautiful yellow sari, getting in line for popcorn.
• From a fair distance, I saw a huge mob of people outside a toy store near Yorkville, and, without even bothering to cross the street, I was willing to bet any money that Angelina Jolie was in there (I was right).
• I saw Christopher Plummer two days in a row. I still dig him as Captain Von Trapp.

There were two rather humorous trends this year: 1) Four of the films I saw featured a lesbian or implied lesbianism, and 2) at each screening I attended, there was at least one person in the theatre who would say "ARRRR!" when the anti-piracy statement flashed on the screen before the film. Hee hee, pirates...

Final thought: Colin Farrell may not be quite as bad-ass as he seems.

"I'm sick and tired of everybody, thinking they know what's best for me and, maybe I wanted me to be nothing special"

Observations

I originally wrote this blog on August 11 but I never got around to publishing it. Better late than never I guess...

I was walking through a department store, and I noticed that they had set up a huge display of chocolate right beside the swimsuits.

I saw a pedestrian get hit by a car today. I was waiting at a traffic light, not really paying attention to anything, when I heard a "whump!" sound, and looked up to see a woman toppling into the middle of the street on the other side of the intersection. At first, I asked myself if the woman had just fallen out of the minivan that had stopped. But seeing a younger woman jumping out of the driver side of the minivan and checking on the middle-aged woman in the street gave me the impression that the minivan had been turning left and didn't see the woman crossing. It was a low-speed impact and the middle-aged woman was conscious, but it was still a semi-shocking experience. When the light turned green, I was in the right lane and there were cars behind me. It wasn't a hit and run, and there were far more accurate witnesses on the opposite side of the street, so I drove slowly past the scene, where the younger woman was retrieving the middle-aged woman's purse from the middle lane.

I've discovered that I leave destruction in my wake when I pass through Europe. Two years ago, I went to London, and just over a month after I returned, the bombs went off. This year, I went to Greece, and a month later, the worst forest fire in the country's history started and killed almost 80 people. Not to mention the fact that my friend and I narrowly escaped from the tuberculosis guy in Santorini. Maybe I shouldn't go to Europe for a while.

"Hey flathead don't you mean she's the second best killer that I ever have seen"

Denied!

I've returned from Aurora, Illinois. It was fun, despite having to work and not really getting to see the sights. I honestly didn't have many expectations about seeing all the landmarks shown in the movie, for a few reasons:

1) Stan Mikita's Donuts doesn't exist. And the large statue of the hockey player is standing on Richard Dean Anderson's driveway. (Strange coincidence: in terms of the REAL donut shop Tim Horton's, one thing I learned during my trip is that there's a franchise in Toledo, Ohio! Excellent!)

2) The big spike that's impaling the cars (a.k.a. the "Spindle") is actually in Berwyn IL. It's another suburb of Chicago, and I'm sure we passed through it at some point, but I also heard that the sculpture's been dismantled to make way for a Walgreens.

3) Most of "downtown Aurora" was filmed in Covina, California.

4) Gasworks doesn't exist in Aurora or in Toronto (anymore).

Not to mention the fact that we were mostly in Naperville, which is next to Aurora. It's a happenin' place...not!

Oh well, I still got to go to Chicago for a little bit, get wined and dined by the vendor reps, had a big hotel room all to myself, and didn't have to pay for anything. Except the tolls. The guys just didn't seem to have any change on them at any given moment.

"And the man at the back said 'Everyone attack' and it turned into a ballroom blitz"

My Small Part

I have to say, Live Earth was a good idea, and it totally kicked my ass into gear. I thought that I was perhaps average in terms of being environmentally conscious. I recycle everything that I can, I try not to waste anything, and I know that global warming is for real. There is hardly a single light bulb in my house that isn't compact fluorescent. Recently, I decided to offset the carbon emissions from my trip to Greece. I have friends and family who are far more eco-friendly than I, but I listen and learn from them.

Now, after experiencing 24 hours of environmentalism set to music, I realized that I either consciously or subconsciously took a few actions throughout the day to do my small part. I haven't turned the air conditioner on in the past two days, even though it was over 30°C today (actually, this little step showed me that my house is REALLY well insulated!). When I went to buy groceries this afternoon, I bought a reusable bag. I didn't really turn any lights on during the day. I turned my computer off this morning instead of leaving it on.

I know this all sounds like I'm jumping on the bandwagon or buying into the hype, but I do feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. I'm also kind of ashamed that it took a monumental rock concert to motivate me. But I suppose that was the whole point. And now I'll do one more thing in my new quest to save the world: I'll ask you to help.

As for the concerts, I learned a lot from them too. Sneaky Sound System is a very cool band.

"I'll send an SOS to the world"

I'm Not Worthy

Something exciting is happening at work. It is quite possible that I'm going on my first business trip.

Okay, it's not my VERY first business trip. My first business trip was back in my co-op days, when I was entrusted to drive a rented minivan carrying a rather important and expensive piece of gadgetry that needed to be tested IMMEDIATELY and since our testing equipment bit the big one, the only other place we could test it was in Ottawa. Oh yeah, and I had to drive the technician too. And I had about two hours' notice before I had to run home, pack an overnight bag, and head out into rush-hour traffic.

This time, however, I have about two weeks to prep for it, I'm probably going to fly there (it's in the States), and all I really have to do is watch and learn how the equipment works. It's really cool too...possibly the coolest thing we're going to have at our facility. And yet, that's NOT the part that truly excites me. What is making me stupidly giddy is that the company that manufactures this equipment is located in Aurora, Illinois.

Ex-squeeze me? Baking powder?

That's right my friends, I'm going to Wayne's World!

Party on!

(Stay tuned...)

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

Thoughts on a Summer's Eve

Which would you prefer? Death by shrimp, or death by a flaming log to the head? Death by flaming log to the head would definitely be memorable. People would probably talk about it for ages. But chances are, it'll be unexpected. On the other hand, you could probably enjoy yourself for a while before dying by excessive shrimp consumption. Who doesn't like stuffing themselves with tasty crustaceans?

If you think about all the planes that take off at every airport in the world at any given moment, it'd be safe to assume that there are a lot of planes up there. So why is it that you hardly ever see another plane when you're flying in one? I'm not even talking about near misses (because you KNOW there has to be a few here and there). They don't even pass each other from a distance. Doesn't the captain always say that we're cruising at 35,000 feet? Where's "da plane, boss! Da plane!"?

"Myself and I, we've got some straightenin' out to do"

I'm Still on the Boat

The Greek Odyssey is over. I have returned, a tiny bit tanned and full of olives. Oh man, so many olives...

Overall, it was a fabulous time. Being in the presence of structures that are more than 2000 years old was inspiring. And what they say is true: you can see the most amazing sunsets from Oia. As usual, there were things that I learned, things that made me think a little, and things that totally puzzled me. Among them:

On our plane, there was a series of coloured lights right above our seats that would light up every time we heard a brief doorbell ring. We figured it was a signal to the attendants in terms of what they had to do next, such as serve the drinks or start the movie. In the row of lights, there was a red, yellowish orange, and a green light, but they were flanked on both sides by dark lights. I knew one of them was blue, but I thought the other one must be a colour other than blue, so I asked my friend, "Does the light on the end look like a black light?" She replied, "Maybe. What do you think it means?" "I don't know, death?" I realized right after I said it that perhaps that wasn't the best thing to think about as we were flying 35,000 feet above the Atlantic in the middle of the night. But every time the doorbell rang, we looked up to see which light had turned on, just in case.

After taking three high speed ferries within five days, it took a while for both of us to stop feeling like we were constantly swaying. For me, it happened almost every time we sat down to eat, which is not ideal when you're trying to enjoy your moussaka.

There is no such thing as a "pedestrian street" anywhere in Greece. No matter how narrow you might think it is, if a truck can drive through it, a truck WILL drive through it, even if it has to scrape against the jewelery display rack.

There are a lot of headless statues.

Ouzo is not bad. Even if you don't like licorice, it's quite refreshing. On the other hand, I would not recommend drinking more than 100 mL of raki by yourself. Or while you're in Oia. It's just not a good idea to lose your balance there.

The majority of European taxi drivers are maniacs.

The Parthenon in Athens has been undergoing restoration for years, even decades. As a result, there's scaffolding and heavy machinery everywhere, making it impossible to take a decent photo. Surprisingly and sadly, it looks much better at night.

I was flipping channels one night and found the Greek version of "So You Think You Can Dance". I've gotten hooked to the US version, so I watched it for a bit. It's very different, in three ways: 1) All the contestants look exactly the same, 2) the audience does nothing but applaud (i.e., there's no booing and very little cheering), and 3) there was absolutely no way I could tell by the facial expressions of the judges or the performers if they were giving/receiving a good review or not. There was basically no emotion on either side. The lack of booing didn't help either.

You're not allowed to be born or die on the island of Delos. Good place to visit.

For most of the statues and buildings that you see outdoors in Athens, chances are you're looking at something fake. They've taken everything real into museums and put replicas in their place.

Final verdict: Greece is definitely the word. If anyone wants to go, I'd be ready and willing to do it again. I only just scratched the surface.

Lesson of the day: Beware the black light of death.

"Flames to dust, lovers to friends, why do all good things come to an end?"

Jet Set

In approximately 24 hours, two things will happen:

1) One of my high-school friends will be married, and
2) I will be on the verge of landing in London.

The sting has effectively worn off (see previous blog). There's nothing left but excitement and a tiny bit of apprehension as I play the "What Am I Forgetting???" game. Not a fun game, unfortunately.

Does it always feel strange when it's finally time to go on a vacation you've planned for a long time? For me, it happens every time. It's not just a happy anticipation feeling, it's something else that I can't quite describe. And it only occurs in the moments before I leave. The second I get on the plane, it's vacation mode all the way. Maybe the feeling will go away as I continue to go on vacation more often. That's it...I just need more practice.

So, I'm signing off for now. In about 36 hours, I'll be in Athens. Opa!

"Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?"

My Mighty Heart is Breaking

I don't even know if I can write this blog without suffering some kind of emotional breakdown. Just thinking about this is already making me a little teary...

After years and years and years of entering just about every kind of contest out there, today was the day I got the call from a local radio station, telling me that I had won.

And I had to turn them down.

Now, how big of an idiot am I? You tell me: I won a two-week trip for two to the Cannes Film Festival. Why did I turn them down? I'm going to Greece on Saturday, and the trip would require me to leave from here next Wednesday. No alternatives, no substitutes. It was an on-the-spot, take-it-or-leave-it call.

If you're like my coworkers (who, by the way, witnessed me screaming into the phone in the middle of the office), you're probably telling me that I should have dumped my Greece trip and gone on the Cannes trip. There are a lot of reasons why I couldn't do it. Cost, surprisingly, really wasn't the first thing that came to my mind. Even though I would have lost the entire value of two sets of plane tickets, not to mention a lot of hotel cancellation fees, it probably wouldn't have added up to the cost of the prize. I couldn't abandon my friend. It's not that I wouldn't have asked her to come with me (that would be REALLY mean!). There was really no way to adjust her schedule in order fit the prize dates. Otherwise, I probably would have been going on my Greece trip starting next Wednesday anyway.

They say there's a reason for everything. I believe that. Even though there are probably very few people in the world who would have wanted this trip more than I did, I'm sure that everything is playing out in a way that will lead me to where I'm eventually supposed to go. I'm taking the long way, but so be it. I've already entered the next contest in the series, but once again I'm flirting with disaster, because the prize draw date will occur while I'm still out of the country. Maybe that's the trick - entering contests with wild abandon will increase your chances of winning. It could explain why my friend's brother always wins. Anyway, no matter what I say now, the moment is gone and I won't get it back. I'll just have to wait for the next moment.

Until then, I'll be in the humvee.

"My heart is numb, has no feeling, so while I'm still healing, just try to have a little patience"

Everybody's Doing It

I'm being peer-pressured.

Okay, so I can totally understand why Facebook is such a great thing. You can find old friends, keep in touch with new friends, chat, blog, evite, yada yada yada. I've already been invited by people I haven't seen or heard from in ages, and I've been given the promotional speech by at least three close friends. But I'm still resisting.

I've thought about all the member services I've joined in order to be connected to people. ICQ was the first, and at the time that was greatest. Everyone was on ICQ, even my father. My friends and I would ICQ each other even when we were sitting side by side in the computer lab. Maybe the "uh-oh!" was a sign.

Then MSN came along. And I thought, why do I need MSN? ICQ works just fine. But as fewer and fewer people logged onto ICQ, I was eventually forced to move on and get an MSN name, just to continue talking to my friends.

I'm proud to say that I never joined Asian Avenue. That would have been a bit too much. I never really understood MySpace either. But I did join Friendster, which was pretty similar in concept to Six Degrees. I still log on from time to time, and I've had some strange guys contact me, which was...interesting. But it seems like the appeal of Friendster is also waning.

So now here's Facebook, yet another portal that asks for my personal info and needs me to come up with a password. Here's what gets me: all the people who have talked to me about Facebook have said the same thing - the other day they found someone (or were found by someone) they haven't talked to in years. They just showed up and started talking. I have nothing against that, it's just that this means anyone and everyone can find you, no matter where you are. I already have a lot of personal information floating around in the flotsam and jetsam of the 'Net. This blog, for example. But I've become quite comfortable in my general anonymity. And I already keep in touch with the people who are most important to me. I figure that if someone from my past really wanted to find me, they'd find me. Or find someone on Facebook who knows where I am.

My overall feeling about this is that someone, somewhere, will inevitably come up with something better. And then a bunch of people will migrate to that, and then everyone else will follow in order to stay trendy and connected. For now, I think I'm going to sit this one out.

"I've been waiting, I've been waiting for this moment all my life, but it's not quite right"

Catch Up

Hey there. Time for a little catch up. Where the heck have I been? Around, I guess. It's been an interesting April. My brothers and I were on our own for two and a half weeks while my parents were on their Mediterranean cruise. If I weren't going to Greece, I would have been so very jealous. But as it turns out, the first thing they did when they got home was grumble about it! Apparently, each land tour was almost a sprint from one place of interest to the next. My mom lost a lot of weight, which I suppose is a good thing but she looked really drained. My fashion-plate aunt was without her suitcase for the entire cruise because the porters in Rome didn't put it on the boat, and after a couple of rounds of The Blame Game the authorities had the audacity to say that it was her fault for not making sure that her luggage was properly loaded into the hold. One of the members of their group had US$400 lifted from him by gypsies (the distraction was a large-breasted woman feeding her baby). My dad thought the pool on the ship was too small and the on-board entertainment was sub-par. Their hotel in London was pretty much a hostel. In the end, the verdict was that my mom didn't want to go on such a long vacation ever again.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, so many things went wrong within two days of their departure that I thought we would be left stranded on our front lawn by the time they got home. The motherboard of our home computer fried. Two clocks stopped (if I were superstitious I would have been freaking out at this point). A leaky drain in our kitchen sink caused a mini-flood (that I, naturally, had to take care of). My grandfather had a minor panic attack while my aunt and uncle were out, and he couldn't hear a word I said on the phone (his hearing aid can't really pick up electronic voices). I finally had to drive over to my uncle's house in Scarborough to sort it all out. Thankfully, that's was the last of the craziness. The rest of the two weeks went by pretty smoothly.

My birthday was a weird non-event. With my parents gone, it didn't really feel like my birthday. My brothers did take me out for dinner, my parents called me (in the middle of the night, long distance from Turkey, on my dad's cell phone), my middle-school friends put together a hilariously bizarre Amazing Race event for me at the local Ikea, and my university friends took me out for brunch, but it still felt kind of different than in previous years. Oh well, 28 isn't such a big deal anyway.

Some sad news that most of you already know is that my condo has been delayed by eight months. Boo-urns. I've had some time to get over this slight setback. At least I'll be able to save more money. The plan is still in motion.

I think we're up to date now. There have been some thoughts rolling around in my head but I'll put those in a different blog. Life goes on, but it always snows on my birthday.

"On the corner of main street, just tryin' to keep it in line"

The Last Sister

10:40 pm

That was the time at which the nursing home called my dad to tell him that his aunt had died tonight.

We've been waiting for this phone call for about a month. I know that sounds terrible, but it's true. After the first time my great-aunt was rushed to the hospital in late January, it was very clear to everyone that the inevitable was close at hand. She was in bad shape then, and it was only going to get worse. My dad went to see her today. I'm not sure if she knew who he was, because lately she's been unable to recognize anyone. Maybe she didn't even know he was there, because she hasn't been able to open her eyes either. But at least he got to see her.

She was my grandmother's last surviving true sister. It's a complicated story, one that I'm fully intending to write. My family has a really interesting history. I've been thinking quite a bit about that, and about life and death. The idea of writing a story around this experience seemed appropriate. Even as I write this, I'm finding it kind of difficult to articulate my thoughts because there is such a huge backstory.

Right now, my dad is e-mailing the cousins to let them know. I guess the family will be reuniting again soon.

"Far away from the memories of the people who care if I live or die"