University? What is this "university" you speak of?

Am currently ignoring the chaotic mess on the floor of my room. Instead, I'm digging in the basement, looking for suitable packing boxes to store all my stuff. I'm actually at my friend's house right now (well, my mom's friend's daughter that I get along with very well). She has Rogers cable and three computers, so all the kids (well, the older ones) are sitting at different terminals ICQing each other. I'm asking Alice what I need to pack on a trip to her bathroom.

me: How was your trip?
Alice: What trip?
me: To the Land of Toilet
Alice: Oh. It was great.
Alice: Amazing. Exhilarating. Breathtaking.
me: Hmm... Maybe I should visit someday. Maybe get a tan.
me: A snowglobe. A nice fridge magnet.
Alice: Hee hee. Yes, you should.
me:: Do they accept traveller's cheques over there?

LOTR at Queen's University?!

Just looking at the Queen's website, and apparently, there's a place called Elrond College!

It's now known as Princess Towers. Built in 1972, it was named after the LOTR character because Rivendell, Elrond's home in the books, is described as "a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness".

If they wanted it to be cozy, they should have just named it Bag End.

Gimme something good!

Find out what anime character cliche you are.





Cute Baddie

Find out what anime character cliche you are.

Mug shots of the little criminals

Boh-boh, caught stealing food.


Looking for a hiding spot.


Dookie, caught by surprise...


...and making a run for it!

Hamtaro, the furball from hell.

Recently, YTV, the Canadian kids channel, started to broadcast Hamtaro, a show about 11 (or is it 12?) hamsters wreaking havoc and their daily lives. Unfortunatly, hamsters in real life aren't quite so innocent. So far, Boh-Boh and Dookie have escaped a grand total of 5 times. The last time (yesterday morning), my two cousins forgot to close the cage properly so Dookie got out and had a night on the town. He managed to jump down from the shelf where his cage is, climb up the couch and chew off all the buttons on the remote control. Homing sat down to watch The Wrath of Khan yesterday only to find that there weren't any buttons left on the remote. So he looked under all the couch cushions and caught him red-handed, chewing on God knows what else. So now we're just waiting until my dad finds out and the scat hits the fan.

Internet is back up.

Went to the Ex (Canadian National Exhibition) the day before with Jen, Gen and Tiff. It was our last day together before we dispered to university, so we went nuts Bwa ha ha! We all bought winter hats even though it was 29 Celsius outside and spent tons of money at the midway. Darn Birthday Game. Found a stall that sold beef sticks (giant sausage) and returned for samples three times (Jen ended up buying one for $20). Rode the Ferris Wheel and the Polar Express ("Faster! Faster!") and ate disgustingly unhealthy things, like hotdogs, deep-fried candy bars, a chocolate dipped banana, cotton candy, fries, fries and more fries. Forgot to get Tiny Tom's donuts. Watched Inferno, the lights/laser show (sensory overload). Went to Gen's place half deaf and still hungry. Made popcorn, ate sugar (candy) and watched Geobreeders and Gunsmith Cats.

High speed. Huh.

Four days of blissfull downloading, and BAM! No more internet at all. Apparently, something is wrong with the network.

Network. Huh.

They said it would be reconnected by the 20th.

Reconnected. Huh.

Cheeky cheeky.

Double-doubles, expert navigation and "French money"

Finished fun-filled family roadtrip to Mt. Tremblant and Montreal (alliteration, ho!), where I learned to savour double-doubles (double cream, double sugar) and give directions to my brother without alarming my parents:

me: "Stay on 20 until exit 43"
dad: "43? There's no Highway 43!"
mom: "Keep going straight! Straight!"
me: "I know. I said exit 43."
mom: "Aiyah! What exit did we just pass?"
me: "We're not going to miss the exit, mom."
mom: "We're going to miss the exit!"
homing: "Calm down, mom! Geez!"
dad: "Don't speak to your mother like that!"
me: "RRRRR!"

And so on. For the three hours to Kingston, three hours to Tremblant and three hours to Montreal. And then back again. I'm surprised Homing's veins didn't burst. Had fantastic dinners at Tremblant (Auberge la Porte Rouge, Village Mont Tremblant), did some shopping in the town and realized that eleven years of French classes failed to drum any knowledge of the language into my head at all. Well, not really; can still understand quite well, but speaking is out of the question.

At the Biodome in Montreal (at the Olympic Park), we ended up sitting next to a very loud, very old, very annoyed group of Americans. One, an elderly man, was especially upset over the amount of small change he received from the cashier:

"Look at all these coins! Now I have to go get more French money! We still have three days here and I have no more French money left!"

I guess he didn't notice the word "CANADA" written all over his French money, nor the Canadian flag out front.

Huh?

I'm home! Mu-ah, mu-ah, mu-AUGH! Where's my luggage?!

Rewind: Left camp armed with red eyes, two camp t-shirts covered in autographs, and a page of email addresses. Went to live with my auntie until I left HK, about three days. Major shift in surroundings; went from an isolated building on a mountain near Sha Tin, to the 37th floor of a fancy condominium in the Mid Levels (Huh? #1). Felt really bad because her son gave up his room for me even though he just got back from a month's stay in Boston the day before. Ate at a ton of fantastic restaurants (recommended: Ye Shanghai, Pacific Place, Central).

Hours spent staring at Hong Kong's skyline: 3

Visited Festival Walk (Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon) and did some shopping (Gorillaz, G-sides), watched little kids and scrawny teens skate around the indoor ice rink (Wha-? Huh? #2), dressed appropriately in tank tops and shorts. Imagined a hockey team suddenly appearing into thin air and bulldozing through the crowd. Heh heh.

Visited Stanley Market on the south side of HK Island with my auntie; bought some cheap ties and hats and sat down in a restaurant at Murray House (sp? It was in Amazing Race 2! Hee). Went out with Maggie (whom I haven't seen since October...?) on my last night in Hong Kong. To Mongkok (gasp!). At night (GASP!). We ate at a Japanese restaurant and walked around the stores (Lady's Street?). Went home by myself on the subway and took a taxi up home. I'm so proud. :P

Flight home was okay; only one Gravol pill left (Huh? #3 There were four left before!). Watched Big Fat Liar, Ice Age, Spiderman, The Scorpion King, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Unfortunatly, my flight from HK to Chicago was a little late, so I barely made my connecting flight to Toronto. BUT. Since I arrived at Terminal 5 and needed to get to Terminal 1 (apparently as far away as Quebec City and Mars), my one piece of luggage didn't make it (Huh? #4). Wasn't worried when I found out, since it was only late, not lost. Until I remembered my mom's (expensive) electronic translator was still in said luggage (Why? Huh? #5). Two days and 11 frantic calls later, it finally arrived, bursting to goodness with my entire wardrobe, presents for others and my dirty, muddy, steenkin' running shoes. Oops.

When arrived at home, found a brand new Bell Sympatico High-Speed internet connection waiting to be installed (Huh? #6). Although had been nagging dad about it for months, never really expected him to get it. Also, found a brand new decent looking shiny van emblazoned with the Fubar logo sitting on the driveway (Huh? #7). Apparently, my brother won a contest with MuchMusic (the nation's music station); prizes included the guitar, drumset and van used in the movie, a whack of gift certificates for HMV, and the movie soundtrack (my innocent ears).

Found out my aunt got a hamster. (Huh? #8) Just two months ago, my grandmother got a scorching rebuke from my uncle for offering to buy one for my cousins.

Oh, and we're going to Quebec tomorrow.

Huh?

F12

Today is Day 5 of the camp I'm attending (Breakthrough). Summary of what we've done so far:

Day 1: Arrived at shuttle bus with aunt and uncle (both worried sick that I would get lost in the 5 meters between them and the bus). Put into group "F-fu" (a.k.a. "F-jou"). Found a fellow canuck. Ming sick, coming tomorrow.

Day 2: Don't remember. It's all a blur. Played games in our groups, I think.

Day 3: Went rock climbing in the gym (or maybe that was yesterday). Spiffy! Made it up surprisingly fast the first time round. Was blindfolded in the second try and only made it halfway. Achy arms and shoulders.

Day 4: Did pushups with everyone else in the camp because someone was late. Final day of the 'Face-Off' simulation. My group was placed as Pakistan for every single day (meaning we had to open doors during dinnertim; no perks). Today, we finally got a chance to be in a group with some rights (be served by another group, get dessert, etc.), but ended up as India instead. As a result, we had to eat 'third world food' (i.e. plain rice with soy sauce), while the American group feasted on a buffet, served by various camp counselors (dai see). It was fun, pasting ourselves against the windows to see what America got to eat, but we also had to hike up a mountain that evening. Very hot and exhausting. Made it to the top in the dark, at around 9 PM.

Day 5: Spent the night on the mountain (meaning, sitting on a rock until dawn, protected from the elements and insects by a giant garbage bag and poncho. We were supposed to meditate on our "I.D. Plus" and finish some assignments, but the latter required a flashlight, which only attracted more bugs, so I just tried to sleep. On the rock. Did I mention my shoes and socks got soaked three times while crossing three brooks? I'm glad I did it though, becuse the views were amazing. Who would have thought that Hong Kong could have so much wilderness in it? We got back to the camp building at about 9 or 10 AM and did some cleaning up. I'm writing from the library (Xyber Cafe) during the only free time we have scheduled for the week we're here. I think all my roommates (six of them) are all asleep in our room, L1-04.

That's about it...so far. It feels weird to be writing in English after hearing so much Cantonese and Mandarin for so long. I'm beginning to understand a little Mandarin, too. I was confused in the beginning because everyone here calls Mandarin po tong wa (common speech?). Okay, off to take a nap now. More later if I can find time to use the computers again.