...

funny how the rather unfortunate circumstances are the same circumstances that make you realize what's really important in life.

you know you're getting old when your body just doesn't want to stay up as late as it used to...

4am used to be early for me. 1am, and my laptop keyboard all of a sudden looks like an inviting place to pass out on.

current mood:


the past few days have been quite productive yet completely draining as result of the following:

1) attemping to rekindle my love for clubbing after 2 years of clubbing silence... i have no idea how it happened, but my body's just not as limber as it used to be, and doesn't move and groove the way it did four years ago.
2) reuniting with long lost high school chums (and discovering that not much has really changed in 5 years).
3) saying goodbye to one too many friends and easily losing track of time.
4) driving long distances between scarborough and oakville, making my toushkin feel rather numb at times.
5) causing ruckus all over brampton while filming our first church camp commercial, making the self-affirmation of how much of a ham i really am in front of the camera (yes, "ham" and "am" do rhyme).
6) coming to terms that my life will probably never ever be at a standstill.

man. who knew that continuously coming home at 4am in the past four days could actually do more damage than good. never thought that it would take a toll on my body this early in my life. *sigh*

... and as i repeatingly un-kink the tension in my muscles from the excessive battery i put my body through these past few days, i come to realize how much my body truly hates me right about now.

oy. while i'm at it, someone pass me the polident? it won't be long before my teeth fall out... *double sigh*

a message in song...

If You Want Me To
Ginny Owens

The pathway is broken and the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

'Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise
You're not through with me yet
So if all of these trials
Bring me closer to You
Then I will go through fire if You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley

If You want me to.

i love my cousin.

when you're bored, it might be a good idea to stay away from the webcam.

this is why we could only be family:

atlantic canada pictures [part I]

erin et moi green gables, cavendish, PEI


me at lover's lane, green gables


moi et erin in front of cow's ice cream, PEI


erin onlooking confederation bridge, PEI


a PEI sunset...


which one of these is not like the other? :o)


... yes, we're geeks.


on the coast of port au port, newfoundland


erin "al paca" dwyer


estelle "llama" gonzales

where do i begin?

well, hello there. long time no type, i suppose. since i've last blog, a lot has happened - heck, just in these past few days my life has somehow turned upside down. but thank you to all those who showed concern for my lack of bloggage over the course of these past few weeks - yes, i'm still kickin'. just haven't really been around or in the right mindset to blog until now.

and thus begins yet another lengthy but hopefully somewhat entertaining blog entry:

monkey-cat and monkey-fish take over atlantic canada: for 10 days, the charmingly crazy erin dwyer and myself enjoyed ourselves while romping all over atlantic canada. the "totally-played-by-ear" excursion found us trekking through the wonderful climates of new brunswick to the lovely and manic-like climates of newfoundland, briefly stopping through PEI and nova scotia somewhere in the middle.

ya know, strange things can happen when you're (im)patiently waiting for your flight at the airport, like coming up with random nicknames for each other and just bursting out into ripples of girlish giggles and slightly disrupting the peace of the other waiting passengers around you. this is how monkey-cat (me) and monkey-fish (erin) were born. it all had to do with an innocent canadian who had a stuffed (plush) rainbow squid on top of his backpack and a certain dare to steal it from him... and instead of going into full-detail, let me just say that you really had to be there to experience the true vital essence of the monkey-cat and monkey-fish. :oP perhaps if you ask nicely, we may be able to provide you with a very effective and realistic dramatization ;o)

first stop: moncton, new brunswick - where 110k is the maximum speed limit and "The Big Stop" dominates the highway pitstop chain. first meal in new brunswick: a $3.79 pre-packaged pizza sub courtesy of "The Big Stop". first couple of days we stayed at erin's sister's place and met up with the rest of her family (who are thankfully just as amusing as she is :oP). memorable highlight: before flying over, my dad pointed out that it was essential for me to visit "Magnetic Hill" while i was in new brunswick. when we got there and realized that it was also part of an amusement park under the same name, we ambitiously drove all around in a determined search for the frigging magnetic hill, and eventually found ourselves back on the highway. to say the least, we were not impressed - we were expecting our car to be magically pulled down by high magnetic forces when we drove up that hill, but nothing happened. it wasn't until later that night that i called my dad and found out that "Magnetic Hill" was nothing but an optical illusion. yeesh.

but on a more positive note, PEI was beautiful. it definitely left a lasting impression with me. and being the tourists that we were, we managed to make the most of our visit by seeing green gables (including dressing up like anne and posing for some very ridiculous pictures that included fake flowers and a very ugly purse), indulging ourselves with COW'S ice cream (mmmmoooooliciious!), and spent the night at my first-ever bed n' breakfast that left me far from disappointed. note to self: must definitely consider moving to charlottetown sometime in the near future.

... and then there was newfoundland. among many firsts on this trip, it was also my first time taking a ferry ride. prior to this, the only ferry i've ever really been on was the one coming back and forth from harbourfront to centre island in toronto - and that one lasted about 15min - 30min. the ferry ride from north sydney, nova scotia to newfoundland was a whopping 6 hour-long boat ride! but thankfully erin and i were able to amuse ourselves with arcade-shooting action and hunting for free/unused blankets and pillows from random sleepers (which in turn was rather unsuccessful). it was a great feeling when we finally docked in port aux basques - there was such a noticeable contrast between the small quaint fishing village and the insanity of the big city of toronto. and i would just like to say that i love newfies, especially their accents! erin thinks i'm totally daft for having such an infatuation with it, but even though it took a while to process what they were actually saying half the time, i just wanted to hear more and more! and i'm also jealous of the fact that while my backyard in mississauga solely consists of a deck and a fence, erin's backyard on the other hand is the atlantic ocean! the scenery was gorgeous, and the water was clear enough that you could see the bottom... *sigh* and yes, we had lobster, and it was delightfully scrumptious (and yes, erin's granny was so right. cooking them in fresh saltwater really does make all the difference :oP).

i totally fell in love with atlantic canada - from the islander hospitality, to the much-appreciated smell of sea-salt in the air, to the laid-back lifestyle of the people. 'twas definitely a trip to remember, and hopefully not my last time venturing the east coast. :o)

pictures will be posted very soon!

random comment: STAR WARS EPISODE III is definitely worth seeing! :oD

and among other significant life-changes, i'm saddened to say that i'm no longer going to be teaching english overseas in vietnam this coming january, which is a poo because i really had my heart set on it. looks like overseen contract issues and business politics proved to be a bigger wrench in my plans than i had originally anticipated, and so now i begin the process of figuring out plan B. i'm thinking along the lines of either taking a few courses to get my TESOL certification, or finding a teaching job at a private school, or falling back on my tech-writing/communication skills as a last resort. ahh well, what can you do? i remain slightly bummed and turned-off, however i am hopeful that everything will eventually work out the way it's supposed to. who knows, perhaps there's something bigger and better out there for me :o)

as for the rest of may and june? birthday/farewell shindigs, a youth-group cook-off, excessive church camp planning, a possible baden-bonfire, a road-trip to michigan, and a convocation somewhere in between.

it could be worse, right? :oP

the high price for being fashionable...fashionably stupid.

feelin' rather


what i learned today:
stilletos were not made for walking on inclined concrete.

yes, i'm a dork.

*sigh*

"ahhhhhhhh!!!! ewwwwwwwwww!!! SOB!"

current mood: flamboyantly girly-girl
(really wish they had an emoticon for this one :oP)

***

I'm a girl, and by me that's only great!
I am proud that my silhouette is curvy,
That I walk with a sweet and girlish gait
With my hips kind of swivelly and swervy.

... I enjoy being a girl!

-- from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song

***

back in the day...

tess, me, karla in 1994: our "jade's house of tacos" stage in life :oP

until today have i truly underestimated how utterly girly i can be. when you combine three girls who haven't spent some serious quality time with each other in almost two years, and let them loose all over the GTA for an entire day; prepare for an overload of estrogen and dim-sum, inevitable movie theatre ruckus, double dosage of caffeine-induced goodness, high-pitched squeals, several holes burned in each of their wallets from excessive shopping (x2), and perhaps a little too much reminiscing than any of them would have particularly liked (which initially accounted for the high-pitched screams as previously mentioned).

... and to think that i used to play house and barbie hair salon with these girls! :oP

now that i'm back home and have had some time to reflect on today's girlish adventures, i remember how truly wonderful it is to let my girliness surface (once in a while, of course) with an amazing group of now-women who i hold so dear to my heart, and reaffirming its sentimental value in my life. regardless of the amount of time and distance that has separated us, it's a fabulous feeling to not have to worry about catching up with every single detail of each other's lives, and even more fabulous not having to worry about how to fit each other in our present lives. i'm thankful that worry has never really been an issue with us, nor with any of my friends at this point; and that even after all these years we can still be as unbelievably loud and crazy as we were 10+ years ago, with not a single care in the world, except to be completely contented in our own element.

*cue happy tear* ;oP

april showers bring may... showers?!

seems like may started off with a couple of rainy spots, but i welcome the new month with a genuine grin on my face and thankful that i can finally spare at least a few minutes to blog a li'l sump'in sump'in down.

the past week i've spent constantly moving - from retiring my keys to 134 columbia and finally moving my shtuff out of waterloo, to seeing a series of amazing concerts and musicals with some wonderful people (including an Evita date with tess at the Princess of Wales Theatre in toronto, which was fantabulous even with the abrupt and sligtly mediocre ending); to accidentally and unexpectedly bumping into snoop dogg at much music (yes, seriously!), to going on coffee dates with even more wonderful people, to directing church camp meetings and thinking of creative ways to inspire the world to attend, to preparing and celebrating my parents' 25th anniversary with over 100 relatives and family friends from far and wide; it was non-stop running/driving/jumping around the GTA. i think the only time i was "inactive" was when i caught a pesky head cold from my immune system not wanting to co-operate with the odd changes in weather. but after a few sips of ginger tea, a few boxes of kleenex, and several (read: a crap load of) movie rentals, i was right back on my feet again to carry on with the busy-ness that had somehow managed to entirely consume my life in these past few days.

and now, as my behind exhaustedly makes contact with the cushion-y goodness of my desk chair, i can say with all honesty that i'm quite pooped - but i'm happy to say that it's a pleasant kind of pooped. :oP whew!

ya know, i was planning on writing something insightfully sound, but i think i may have used up most (if not all) of my insight somewhere in the midst of all the whirlwind-like craziness of the past week or so.

but what i can say at this particular moment is this: i have the most amazing parents in the entire world, and i love 'em to bits and bits and bits :ox

oh, and thank goodness for photo cds :o)

if i can't be insightful with words, i might as well try being insightful through a little visual stimulation :oP


me and the very talented graham colton after the kelly clarkson concert


me and drew nichols (guitarist from the graham colton band)


me and the brother showing some sibling affection


... with the addition of the cousin ;oP (can you say colgate smile?)



me and tess after watching Evita


the hfbc youth group after one too many bubble teas (and for those of you wondering, yes, that really is a toilet - it magically appeared one day outside of our church :oS)

err. i'm not really sure whether that was insightful, but i hope that you at least found some amusement in it, 'cuz we sure did! :oD

... and off to bed i go.