Well, while we are on the topic of coffee shops, I have to say that one of the cutest (and most relaxing ones) I’ve ever been at is Our Town Café. Located at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway, Our Town Café is the epitome of relaxation. I wouldn’t recommend you to come to OTC if you really like to have an ebullient atmosphere.
There are few things I love more than coffee. Real coffee. The stuff that makes you smile when you wake up in the morning to the smell of a dark, freshly brewed concoction. Unfortunately, my tummy has begun to be slightly sensitive (please replace that with VERY sensitive) to irritants, and therefore coffee is now more or less off grounds.
The problem with this is that my daily routine does involve coffee. Even if I work from home for about one or two hours before heading to the office, that’s the first thing I do: I wake up, barely conscious, stagger until I reach my coffee maker and turn it on. However, I’ve recently had several episodes of stomach ache that are associated with dairy consumption (cheese, of all things!) and caffeine consumption.
Therefore, what I did today (as an innovation) was to make a pot of English breakfast tea, and start working. The kick wasn’t enough, I got to tell you. So, when KP said that she wanted to meet for coffee downtown, I jumped at the possibility. Particularly since we haven’t seen each other (and I totally missed her birthday!) and so she suggested Café Artigiano.
Now, to the uninitiated, this could be just any other coffee shop. But no, don’t be fooled. This is Café Artigiano. The one and only. This is gourmet coffee, even the Americano is amazing. The atmosphere is extremely warm. And the staff… not only are they beautiful (physically speaking), they are so incredibly sweet. *swoons*
I have been to Café Artigiano many a time, but had never actually had the time to sit down and write a coffee shop review, so now that I’m waiting for KP to show up, it’s the perfect occasion.
As I write this review, I’m looking at the baristas (both male and female) and they keep smiling. How do they do that, particularly after a really long day at work? I don’t know, but those smiles are beautiful and I feel so welcome at this place, it’s going to be kind of hard to leave. Of course, the incentive to get out of here is that I’m heading down to CBC Studios to see a live performance of Delhi2Dublin. I’ll tell you all about it afterwards.
Small inconvenients of Café Artigiano:
Overall, I still would come to CA (Hornby and almost Robson, near the Vancouver Art Gallery). Just accompanied with a nice book though 😉
Normally, I work from home on Fridays (I used to do this to avoid being dragged out for a pint, but then I caved in and it has become a nice tradition). Anyhow, I’m working from home today as my building is not going to be well-heated and thus I preferred to be here. While I can’t complain (I’m getting lots of natural sun light through my windows), I think it’s a waste of a beautiful day to work at home. So I’m going to take my laptop and go somewhere to do work (and take this opportunity to take some nice photographs).
Suggestions for good locations to work? All I need is wifi 🙂 Was thinking of hitting the Lonsdale Quay (I know of a fairly secluded spot where I read lots of research papers related to work). But other suggestions accepted. I’ll have online access so I’ll know what you suggest 🙂
I was kind of expecting my good friend Nomade Moderne to do a review of “Shoot ‘Em Up” (he has a great sense of humor and would probably have written a very witty description of the movie) but I know for a fact he’s up to his eyeballs in work, so you’ll have to do with my review.
If you have seen anything with Clive Owen, Monica Belucci or Paul Giamatti in it, you know that they’re pretty serious actors. So when you see a movie where a British hit-man, all-around assassin becomes the unlikely nanny to a cute baby (whose destiny is to become a bone-marrow donor for an ailing politician), you know that you’re in for a laugh.
Said British nanny (played by Owen) is trying to save the baby from Giamatti’s thugs, and in the process, making extensive and very creative use of carrots (you have to see the movie). Since he is incapable of feeding the baby by himself, he seeks a working woman to help him out (Belucci). The rest of the movie is so over the top that we couldn’t stop laughing.
Why would these actors choose to do this movie? I don’t know. But I can tell you that the Wikipedia summary doesn’t do it justice. You *have* to watch it to really get it.
And while we are at it, you should really check the most recent post of Nomade Moderne, where he published some of his photography (he recently purchased a Digital SLR, so he’s making good use of it).
And here is the YouTube trailer for the movie:
Very quick pre-sleepy time post, just to answer a question that was raised at today’s Green Drinks, and at last night’s Third Tuesday. The question was – what do you blog about? And my long winded answer is always “well, I’m interested in environmental issues, so it started like that, but now I blog about very random things“.
The general response I got was (with the exception of a few individuals particularly at Third Tuesday) … “so, say you wake up thinking about something, you just blog about that?“. That got me thinking about a shorter way to respond. I blog about what peaks my interests, what I have on my mind or what I want to articulate for future reflection. That may be a very complex issue, or just a song that I want to find and keep here.
So, for example, I got very light-hearted and non-reflective pieces like the ‘music reviews’, but I also have some fairly complex analyses of Vancouver-related or environmentally-related issues. For example, I think one of my best pieces is the discussion around Al Gore/IPCC winning the Nobel Prize. Another one that I liked was my comparison of Vancouver’s and Mexico City’s transportation systems. Ah, and lest we forget… my discussion about the meaning of ‘forever’ in relationships.
So, in short – my blog is titled “Random thoughts of a student of the environment” for that reason: because I want it to reflect whatever random thoughts cross my mind. I am still interested in environmental issues, and I can write reflective and analytical essays. However, that’s not the end of it all. I am here to have fun, and hopefully, so are you.
Sorry guys, but as it turns out, in my intent to be as “non-specific” and “protecting everyone’s privacy”, my photographs turned out horribly and thus I don’t want to post a detailed, non-pictorial recap of Green Drinks. Suffice it to say, it was fun and I had a really delightful time. I think I actually need to bring my business cards next time. And perhaps ask people in advance if they mind photographs, because the ones I got are hideous and really don’t show anybody’s face.
While reading Morning Brew this morning, I came across a commentary from John Martin (published by The Province). Up until now, I had never heard of Martin, truth be told. But the commentary (provocative and somewhat shocking) made me think that people aren’t really aware of what green restaurants (or sustainable restaurants) are, and that in a very similar fashion to carbon offsets, the public is criticizing the idea before really understanding it.
So I went back to the Green Table website to see if they had put up something newer that could help educate the readers (and perhaps Martin himself if he comes across my blog) about the concept of greening a restaurant. They now have an educational video that might be of some use. You can see it here (I copied the original link from Green Table’s site).
It is clear to me that being oblivious to the reality that global environmental change is happening is just a demonstration of what I’ve called the “ostrich technique” (otherwise known as putting your head in the sand). Admittedly, I am one of the advocates of not putting all our eggs in the climate change basket. I want the public to know that there are many pressing environmental problems other than just climate change (e.g. wastewater, hazardous waste, e-waste).
The way Martin frames his article is very much that of the opinion of someone with limited exposure to the idea of sustainability in the food industry, and that’s ok too. There is one basic fallacy though, that should be rebutted. Being a sustainable restaurant does NOT mean being a lousy restaurant. That’s something people should be very well aware of. The idea of greening a restaurant which is already high quality is important, and I would hope that good restaurants will want to transition to becoming greener restaurants.
Take the list of Green Table members, and tell me which one you think is NOT a good restaurant. Hard to do, right? So, it’s not that hard to be greener AND high quality. There will be some trade-offs, for sure. And there are products for which solutions are harder to find (I dare you to pack a steaming curry with basmati rice in a non-styrofoam container).
I can understand the frustration of Martin if the restaurant’s efforts aren’t legitimate or true. He clearly says in his article that he doesn’t want ‘pseudo-green gimmicks’ confused with real efforts to be energy efficient or water efficient. That’s why you have third-party certification and audits. That’s why you enter in an eco-labelling scheme. That’s why you make sure that restaurants comply with industry codes of conduct. That is precisely the reason why we have an organization like Green Table: to avoid restaurants with poor environmental performance to use green marketing to position themselves without actually making real efforts to improve the environment.
Just my $ 0.02 …
So I went to Third Tuesday Vancouver (brilliantly organized by Tanya and Tod) which was held at The Network Hub. The gracious hosts at TNH offered wine to all attendees and were extremely personable and sweet. The venue was phenomenal. TNH provides office space (all the back end for new technology-based startups) and they also may be able to fund some entrepreneurial ideas.
The speaker was Jeff Young, an intellectual property lawyer with a great personality and a fantastic wit. He made the evening absolutely enjoyable. Some of the familiar faces I saw, in addition to Tanya and Tod, were John Biehler, Monica Hamburg, and in addition, some new friends were made (shout out to Vern, Chris, Dario, Ryan, Rastin, Jennifer)
After the event a smallish group moved down to Century (pretty much next door to TNH), a very nice restaurant that I’ll have to check next time. I was somewhat surprised at the Mexican food choices that their menu presented, so I’ll have to see how well they work. It was a very pleasant evening, and I learned lots about intellectual property (and actually Jeff would be proud of me, as the post previous to this one makes a political opinion, yet it is within the proper boundaries of IPL!)
UPDATE – Oh my God, Warren and John were faster than I was in blogging about it! Click on their names for their recaps of this evening.
One of the things that really irks me is the announcement of a new budget, because it usually brings the associated element that the Finance Minister wears new shoes. Nobody really knows the origins of this tradition, but I’ve seen the BC Minister of Finance unveil new budgets and wearing very expensive shoes. As noted in local newspapers, the current BC Minister of Finance, Carole Taylor, will be wearing ‘green shoes’ to go with her new ‘green budget‘.
There are several ironies here. First, shoes are very expensive (particularly in Canada). Wearing new shoes when you are about to hit taxpayers with new taxes or to speak about budgets doesn’t really reflect very well on you. Second, shoes’ manufacturing process is not really environmentally friendly (I do know this for a fact, and if you want to challenge me on this particular area, I dare you). Therefore, to say that you’re wearing ‘green shoes’ is somewhat of a contradiction (yes there are more environmentally-friendly materials for shoes, but I saw a photo of Taylor’s and they don’t seem to be manufactured in that way). Third, shoes are often the commodity that homeless and poor people can least access. Thus, it’s somewhat ironic that Taylor spends a few hundred dollars in a new pair of shoes that could very well be spent on feeding a few homeless people.
Wouldn’t it be better if (even if just for PR purposes), every time a new budget was tabled, the Minister of Finance actually auctioned his/her shoes and all proceeds went to charitable causes? Or that the actual money that they were supposed to spend on new shoes goes to those charities? Oh, no… That might actually require to have some degree of sensitivity for the poor and marginalized, something that it is clear, politicians in this province, city and country don’t seem to have that much of.
In a very recent post, Stephen Rees links to an article written by Erick Villagomez (a Vancouver-based architect, and I might add a very fine writer) on the actual urban densities in Vancouver. Making use of really nice visualization tools, Villagomez shows that East Vancouver is highly dense (despite whatever people’s perceptions may be).
Since Rees asked the question “do you think EcoDensity(R) will make a difference)?” I figured I’d answer with a short essay of my own. Furthermore, I wanted to express some ideas that relate to the concept of urban density and the realities of sustainable urban form.
First off, we need to think about what we define as urban density. The statistical figures offered by Villagomez are in dwellings per acre. While one could criticize his data for not actually including the number of people in each dwelling, these data shed some light on whether there has been an increase in urban density (as measured by dwellings per acre) or not. Let’s accept his data for the insights they provide – there are more physical units in more denser areas than there are in less dense areas. We don’t know if there are more people there, but we could safely assume that it is the case (imagine 10 houses per acre with 4 people each house, vis-a-vis 10 buildings per acre with 10 apartments each with 2 people – the ratio is 40/200 or 1/5)
Clearly, from Villagomez’s map (which you can find here) the Downtown core is the most dense area. There are some surprises with areas like northern Kitsilano having a comparable density to that of downtown (or at least so would appear from Villagomez’s map). What I find interesting is that there is now evidence to support the statement that the West Side of Vancouver needs to increase its density.
Villagomez’s point seems to be that we should look at homogeneous densification processes (e.g., achieving the same densities in East Vancouver and the West Side). That would be a good idea. The problem is that it would go against the realities of heterogeneity in urban form in Vancouver.
That is the point I am making in this essay: That we should recognize the heterogeneity of communities and populations in Vancouver. The West Side has been traditionally considered affluent and wealthy. The East Side houses more middle-income (and in some areas, low-income) population. There are natural heterogeneities in Vancouver’s urban form that have been in place longer than I’ve been on this planet. We should find rational and smart ways to address these heterogeneities, and first of all, we should recognize them.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that recognizing this heterogeneity means that we should just keep our arms crossed. Not at all! I think what we ought to do is to call things like they are and tell the politicians that we are aware that there should be a middle-ground where some single family homes may need to remain. However, that doesn’t mean that densification shouldn’t occur. The chasm between the East Side and the West Side can be bridged with smart densification strategies.
One of the problems I see with urban planning consultations is that they are very prone to problems of NIMBY-ism (Not In My BackYard). Sometimes, communities even go as far as to go BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone). We should try to make it clear to the people living in areas that are potential targets for densification that the intent is not to bring crime to a certan area, but to reduce car trips, build vibrant communities and strengthen social capital. These would all be good objectives of an EcoDensity strategy. And to respond Stephen’s question – no, I don’t think EcoDensity is making a difference right now. But I would like it to. So, here’s hoping…
If you grew up in the era of funk, you’ll immediately recognize this song, which remains one of my all-time favorites! Since I’m planning to get my close friends to go out and do karaoke in the not-too-distant future, I am browsing through my old archives of awesome music, to decide which tunes I think I can sing and which ones I want to see them sing. This is definitely one of them.
I’ve reached the 600 posts mark way faster than I thought! If you think about the fact that I am not a geek, don’t do this for a living, and I reached 500 posts in December (and it’s only February now), this is an important milestone for me.
So I thought I’d celebrate it with some music. The song featured here is “Everyday People” by Sly and the Family Stone. Admittedly, this tune has been listened to much more in Anglo-Saxon North America than it has elsewhere (for obvious cultural reasons).
I just heard it for the first time in the first 3 minutes of the movie “Definitely, Maybe” which I just reviewed. Again, I insist… The song sounds so much better in a movie theater with surround stereo sound. Great choice of song to begin the movie (you have to see it to understand what I meant).
Video from YouTube. This is not the actual video of the song, but I couldn’t find a rendition that sounded similar to the one I heard during the movie.
Last week, I scored free passes to the advance screening of “Definitely, Maybe” thanks to LaineyGossip.com, so I invited my good friend HZ to join me (this could potentially be seen as a Valentine’s Day movie, or a chick flick, but he didn’t mind the movie, even though it was fairly cheesy).
First of all, for the Ryan Reynolds lovers out there (ladies and gentlemen alike) – he does NOT show his abs in this movie. He does NOT take his shirt once. Not ONCE. So, if that was something you were hoping to see, you’re watching the wrong movie (see Blade: Trinity, Buy the Cow, or The Amityville Horror if you’re looking for Ryan showing skin).
However, he does what he does best: make people laugh. The basic premise of the movie is a single father who tells a story to his daughter about the three women he loved: the girl’s mom, a journalist who ends up being a lover and a free-spirited young woman. While I won’t spoil the ending for you, I sort of expected this movie to be a bit more Hollywood-esque.
Don’t forget that you’re reading my review – I’m a fan of Ryan Reynolds, have been for a long while. So, I have to admit that I did like the movie. It made me laugh considerably, and it had some moments where it demanded a bit more range from Ryan. That being said, as HZ rightfully pointed out, I should watch “Smoking Aces” if I want to see Ryan in a totally different light.
If you have a chance to go see it, leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it.
Normally I don’t do two reviews of the same restaurant even if I’ve been there for dinner AND brunch. I went to Arms Reach Bistro for brunch a few months back, but I hadn’t been there for dinner, and it was a whole new experience. First of all, we were lucky because even though it was a Sunday night, they were completely full. They only had one table for two, which was the one that we got. Phew!
The staff is extremely nice and very friendly. The service is top-notch, although maybe slightly slow (I am not sure if it was the fact that they had full house or maybe we were just super hungry as we had just done the Baden Powell trail hike – I wanted to take photographs from the wonderful view of Indian Arm).
I ordered a dukkah crusted B.C. salmon with crisp madras potatoes and yogurt which was very well prepared, and the main course (while not inexpensive at $ 25) was very good.
The desserts are to-die-for: the chocolate torte ganache and the tower of power cheesecake were by and large the nicest cakes I’ve had in months. I would seriously recommend Arms Reach Bistro for dinner. They do have more affordable entrees [if you are on a budget]. You may want to go for the pasta, which also looks very tasty.
The view at night is wonderful, the food is great, the staff is impeccably trained and on top of everything, they provide you with small blankets in case you are cold (yeah, the restaurant can get a bit chilly – and since I’m always cold, I would say this is one of the most thoughtful ideas I’ve seen in a restaurant). Will definitely be back.
In general, my planning background comes handy when I have social engagements in my calendar. The past few days have been lovely in regards to having some opportunities to spend time with friends (although I have not had a chance to see others). Thursday was a wonderful Valentine’s with dinner and a movie.
Friday was JH’s birthday which we celebrated with dinner and a movie as well (HZ, ML and myself). Now, this is when I explain what’s behind this post’s title. I generally do not disclose that I am lactose-intolerant as I love ice cream, yogurt, milk and other dairy products with the exception of cheese (which I, luckily, hate to the bottom of my heart).
Whenever I go on a dairy binge, I start taking my medication well in advance so that my tummy can take it. Well, stupid me, I did not take it on Friday (nor early in the week) even though I figured we might end up ordering pizza in at HZ’s apartment. Quite obviously, the logical result is that my stomach gave me cramps all day today, and they got to the point tonight where I am in pain right now.
That was a very stupid idea – I should have planned better to just not eat dairy, period. Or simply take my medication. Better luck next time, because right now I am in pain. I’ll have to deal with this tomorrow. For now, I’m just going to go to bed very happy as it was a lovely evening at JH’s (cheese fondue – which I did NOT touch – and chocolate fondue – on which I binged on). Come to think about it, maybe there was some dairy in the chocolate fondue as well, because my tummy really got in extreme pain right after that. Oh well, who cares. It was a great evening, in my books.
Rice is tough. Rice is very tough. It’s hard to make rice the right way the first time around, I find. So when I score and end up having a great bowl of basmati rice with curry chicken, I feel like I am in heaven. The only drawback is that when I save the rice for later, I need to add more water and microwave it for 3-4 minutes before it has the same consistency and texture.
And this is so wrong on so many levels, but as soon as I tried to modify the code for the caption of my photograph, it hid it (see what it did to my Mount Pleasant clock photo). I am not keen in having my own photographs captioned as “Originally uploaded by Raul”. Those are MY photographs, not only did I UPLOAD them but I also TOOK them!
Grrr… I think I’m going to get serious about the Blogger to WordPress transition.
Given the number of entries I’ve posted on this blog (nearing 600!), you’d think I’m more of a geek than I admit to be. Well, not really. My good friends are usually the ones I run to, asking for advice on “how should I sync my iPod with my computer?” or even the super lame “I can’t get my GMail to talk to my Flickr“.
Anyhow, I have managed to link my Flickr to my Blogger pages and now I can blog a photograph directly from my Flickr photostream. Nomade Moderne suggested in a recent comment that I should find a way to add the Creative Commons license to my site and to my Flickr account so that people can use my photographs and content and link back to it. I think that his idea is pretty smart and I have started doing that, now that I have a bit more time. I am not 100% sure I have the right license on my Flickr account, but I think that the right one is here in my blog.
I have also increased the number of photographs on my blog posts, not only to make them look pretty (although they are nowhere near as pretty as some of my fellow bloggers!), but also to start transitioning from Blogger Padawan to Blogger Jedi. And yes, I know… that transition may require WordPress! 🙂
I am a very loving guy, and most people would agree that it’s really hard to make me angry or mad. That being said, I was over at Meg Fowler’s blog, and with my newfound freedom, I proceeded to take the time to actually reflect on the things I hate. All my friends know that I hate cheese and Chinese food, but … did you know I also hate this rainy weather?
So, without further ado, here is a list of the things I hate. You may find some surprises, you may share the same hate for some things, or you may actually love the things I hate. Everything is fair in love and war! By the way, the list has expanded from what I commented on Meg’s post …
The original list of the things I hate…
And more recently (e.g. within the past few hours) I remembered other things I hate…
Wow. That was a long list… But honestly, I swear, I love lots of things 🙂
I have been so insanely busy that I have missed many of the most recent Green Drinks events. However, this coming Wednesday I am NOT busy and thus will definitely be going to Green Drinks. This is a gathering of enviro-minded folks from ENGOs, academia, industry, etc. Yes, there are actually ‘green drinks’ on tap.
From the Green Drinks Vancouver website:
There’s no agenda or other formality – it’s just a chance to meet regularly to chat, debate, socialize and connect with others in Vancouver who are passionate about environmental and sustainability issues. Whether you’re keen on green building & design, sustainable energy, organic gardening, or something else entirely, you’ll find like-minded people. Please feel free to bring your business cards, brochures, info sheets, magazines and newsletters to put on a table for people to take away with them. Do make sure to take whatever you left on the table with you when you leave.
I suggest that you check it out. I am not generally a fan of Steamworks, but it’s a great pub for this kind of gathering. Plus, I always end up bumping into lots of friends of mine from the environmental field (kind of the point, isn’t it?). Plus, if you end up going, you’ll get to see my megawatt smile 🙂
Perhaps the best movie of the year (and yes, admittedly it is only February 14th), this is one of the nicest films I’ve seen in a long time. While I admit that Hilary Swank is not one of my favorite actresses (not because I don’t believe in her acting ability – she has two Oscars, after all!), she has had some excellent work (particularly her ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ which gave her the first of her two Oscars).
This is, by and large, the best performance I’ve seen of an ensemble cast in a romantic comedy. With actors of the caliber of Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Gina Gershon, Lisa Kudrow, James Marsters, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Harry Connick Jr., I wonder how much pressure the director felt. Often times, it feels as though there is a risk that the movie will place too much emphasis on just one character and leave the rest underdeveloped. That’s definitely not the case in “P.S. I Love You“.
One word of warning before I continue with my rave review (yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie) … I wouldn’t recommend seeing this movie if you’ve gone through a recent breakup or if you’ve lost a loved one (as the film deals with how Swank’s Holly Kennedy deals with the death of her beloved husband, Gerry Kennedy, played by Gerard Butler).
The movie traces the evolution of Holly’s coping, mourning and moving on with her life after her husband Gerry dies of a brain tumor, a short ten years after getting married. The ultimate slacker, Gerry is a happy-go-lucky, free-spirited man (in contrast to Holly’s uptight, all-around planner personality). However, in a movingly sweet display of maturity and love, he plans (and writes) a series of letters to Holly. Each letter is supposed to help Holly inch forward towards moving on and accepting Gerry’s death. And guess what… without giving away the ending, I can assure you that she ends up being alright, although in a non-Hollywood kind of way.
Admittedly, “P.S. I Love You” can be categorized as a chick flick. I have read some rather negative reviews (one even coming from The Globe and Mail). But the truth is that I spent half of the movie with tears in my eyes. And I can assure you that I wasn’t the only one in the theater who had that reaction.
I found many positive aspects to the movie, some of which I discussed with JT. One of the best elements of the script is that each letter actually does push Holly forward. Holly does not have emotional ups-and-downs during the grieving process (which truthfully may be a little bit of a stretch). Maybe it’s just because I believe in the power of self-awareness. Holly finds out more and more about herself and about the immense love that Gerry had for her. And in the process, she learns to let go of her deceased husband.
Swank delivers a very nice performance, as does Butler. The rest of the cast is phenomenal, and Kathy Bates steals many scenes as the overbearing, possessive yet absolutely adoring and loving mother of Holly. In one of the main scenes, where Swank’s character lashes back at humanity and destiny for having had her husband taken away from her, Bates does an absolutely amazing job of comforting her and explaining that fate isn’t fair.
Of course, some of the climactic moments are associated with the title of the movie. After imparting wisdom, offering reflections on their life together and on how the future should shape for Holly, or simply suggest that she takes the time to go out on the town and enjoy herself with her two best friends (impeccably played by Gershon and Kudrow), he always signs each letter… “P.S. I love you“. I couldn’t help but get goosebumps and shed a few tears every time he read out loud these words.
It is a good movie, despite whatever negative comments some reviewers have. Honestly, I don’t know if the people who wrote the reviews are just jaded or what, but I for one, absolutely loved the movie, particularly because I saw myself reflected in many instances. This movie reminded me that, once in my lifetime, I was entirely, unabashedly, totally and fully in love. For an amazing year, my former partner’s first words every morning used to be “Good morning. How can I make you happy today?“. No wonder why this movie struck a chord with me. I have previously indicated, Amado Nervo was right about me in his poem. Truthfully, yes, “I loved, I was loved, the sun graced my face. Life, you owe me nothing. Life, we are in peace“.
“P.S. I Love You” is a great Valentine’s movie and I couldn’t have asked for a better movie to see on Valentine’s Day. My evening was simply perfect. I hope yours was too.
Trailer courtesy of YouTube.
I know that some people hate this Hallmark(TM) day, but at least in the case of my close friends, Valentine’s is a reminder of how lucky we are to have the friends and loved ones that we do. I have used every opportunity to rave about my friends and family (wherever the country they live in may be).
There have been good times, and not so good times, and in moments of despair, I have always had close friends near by to remind me of who I am and where I am headed. I have had my family and my friends to stand by me, to help me along the way and to keep me sane. For always being there for me, I’m forever in your debt. I love you guys.
And the great thing is that, through the blogosphere (and volleyball), I’ve made new friendships… how cool is that?
Given that Valentine’s Day is coming up (February 14th), I figured that a QUESTION PERIOD post should address Valentine’s and how we celebrate in Vancouver. I already gave you a list of the most affordable (and nice) restaurants to do Valentine’s (in my humble opinion), and now for QUESTION PERIOD I’m going to ask you – how do you deal with relationships and dating? This is a question I have been asking myself, but with a recent post by Tanya (aka NetChick), I was reminded of the issue, and thus I thought I’d use this as a lead in to the post.
Having been single for over four years now, it’s kind of interesting when people ask me if I am in a relationship, or whether I’m dating anyone. I have been in complicated relationships before (a term I commonly use for those is situationship — although I did not coin the term itself). Recently, because of conversations with very close friends, I’ve started to reflect and think about the issue. Not in much depth, truth be told. But just began thinking about it again.
I haven’t paid much attention to dating as I’ve been lucky in that I get many of the perks and very few of the problems when I’m in a situationship. Don’t get me wrong. I am a very loving guy, and for sure enjoy the idea of a life partner. There are complications to being in situationships too. But if I were to really buckle down and get serious with dating, there are still a few things that stand in the way, at least at the moment.
First, I need to find myself a job that will pay for the kind of lifestyle I want. Having a romance at this moment in my life is therefore pretty secondary. Second, I want to make sure to be in a relationship for the right reasons. I don’t want to be attached just because I am alone (and trust me on this one, I am NEVER alone — my weekend fills by Tuesday morning and if you are lucky, I’ll book you for next week). Third, I want to ensure that I am not chasing the perfect relationship. I am not perfect by any measure, nor do I want to be. I’m happy to grow with a partner as time goes by.
I’ve always been curious about what people think of the dating process, and particularly, of whether the fact that I’ve been out of practice for so long does make any difference to whether I will be able to find someone or not. Somebody told me that the only way that one can really develop the skills necessary to date is to engage in the process. I am someone who believes in learning by doing. That’s the reason why I took up modeling. That’s how I learned so many languages. I learned to be a bartender just because I thought I might need the skills sometime (I already have put them to good use, so …). Therefore, my question is, should we just plunge in the dating pool just because we need the skill set? How have you dealt with your relationships? Have you faced any particular challenges?
Note – I’ve enabled comment moderation since a short while ago, so if you don’t see your comment posted, don’t take offense. I’m just a bit slow at the moment in getting through comments.
Well, I finally found my donations page 🙂 You can click here to sponsor me. The funny thing is that the message is not mine. I’ll update it with a more personal message (because the reason why I joined the team is not the one on the main page) but for now, it should work. I just think it’s a great cause.
And it should be fun to share these good times with the bloggers I’ve always read but so far, have not met in person!
For the past two years, I’ve been super stressed with work, and in particular, have put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed. So, as an important deadline nears (and since I already have the product ready), I am in the extremely rare position of actually enjoying myself without any guilt or pressure.
While I haven’t written weekend reviews in a couple of weeks (I should do that one soon), I can’t say I haven’t had a chance to relax. Went to a movie recently with Nomade Moderne, did dinner with C, B, J and M (sushi), but still had to do a lot of work. But today, as I arrived home from work, I just prepared a pot of English Breakfast tea, took my bag of Chipits (mini-kisses from Hershey’s) and just curled on my couch to watch TV.
I ended up (not surprisingly) having a fairly long nap, but the most interesting part of it all is that, despite how much I brag about getting really drunk with lychee martinis, I end up having a much more mellow approach to relaxation. I actually do have some vodka at home (and some Kalhua) and I didn’t even want to make myself a drink.
How do YOU decompress? What is your idea of a relaxing, chill evening?
Since I promised Rebecca that I would write a guest blog post on Mount Pleasant, I needed to experiment with my photographs and my Flickr account. As it turns out, I’ve got also a PicasaWeb, and miraculously (for someone who isn’t that much of a computer geek like me) I have managed to link them all.
Since Rebecca and other blogger friends link to Flickr, I figured I should test if my blog links to my Flickr account. So, here is my first attempt. In the photo you can see the mountains and on your right, the new building for the Mount Pleasant Community Centre, at 1 Kingsway.
