I started blogging in April of 2006 (wait, I already used that opening line…)… ahem, here we go again…
Every year, I do a “Year in Review” kind of exercise where I toast to the New Year (in this case, 2008), and speak with my loved ones about what I have learned throughout the past year: about myself, about themselves and about life in general. My 2007 has been a rocky one, yet I don’t regret a single thing. I just wish it hadn’t gone by so fast. And faster than I thought, my 500th post arrived. Therefore, this post is both a celebration of 500 post, as well as as a preliminary “Raul’s Year In Review”.
I had given a lot of thought to how I would celebrate my 500th post, so I asked Meg, Rebecca and Tanya to loan me a bit of the concepts they have popularized in their own blogs: the Friday Love List, the Mid-week Socializing Game and the Miss604 Poll. It was complicated to try and merge such unique styles and fuse them with my own, but I came up with an idea: Your own year in review, side by side with me. So you will not be alone, I’ll be there with you!
Here’s the deal: You can do one, two or the three elements that are involved in this post. The key is to have fun. However, everything in each one of the elements you do, should be related to YOUR own year in review.
The poll:
I have chosen four of what I think are the best essays I wrote in 2007. If you want, you can read them and vote for the essay that has rung closer to you (or that you have felt most associated with, or the one you like best). The poll will be located on the right hand side of my blog, just before the archives (I have to go out and can’t create the code right now). Thanks to Rebecca for letting me borrow her idea!
Links to what I think are my four best essays here:
Below you can see a list of the things I loved this year. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to re-shape my list with your own. You might have loved some of the things I did, or just have loved your own. Post your love list in the comments section. Thanks to Meg for letting me use this unique concept!
My love list for 2007 (in no particular order). This year, I have loved…:
UBC cinnamon buns.
Dhiwali at BS’s house.
Friday night dinners with CG, BX, LB and JN.
Gin and tonics at JH’s.
Chocolate fondue in Montreal with SF.
Brunch with LF, KG and RT (any location will do).
Crepes at La Bretagne Creperie with AF.
Ethiopian food at Red Sea Cafe.
Impromptu brunches with LMT
Sunday nights with JT.
Volleyball (Saturdays and Sundays).
Discovering new African places with SK.
Salsa dancing with AF.
Bumping into NE at the Black Door and having her over for orange juice the other night.
American Thanksgiving dinner with HZ, CS, M and K
Coffee with KP at Delaney’s.
My iPod, courtesy of HZ, and my iPod case, courtesy of LF
Coffee at Continental with ML.
Spending time with my friends, both in Canada and in Mexico.
Re-creating my memories of Victoria and Vancouver Island.
Curry with basmati rice
Canadian Thanksgiving hosted by HZ and CS
Summer with Mom and my brothers
Rhizome, The Cascade Room, Sodas Diner
Friday night cocktails with DMcN
Wednesday movie nights with BS, HZ, JN and BB.
My birthday celebration at La Bodega
…. and many more things
The socializing game:
I will pose the starter question (which is directly related to the year in review) and you will answer it in the comments section, and then pose a new question. I may answer in the middle of the game, but most likely, I will do so only if I don’t see a lot of action happening. Thanks to Tanya for allowing me to spin her game in my own way!
So the starter question is: “Q. – Describe one challenge that you have overcome in 2007?”
I am sure that those of you who have followed my blog know that I’m rather popular for my restaurant reviews (I think I’ve got more than 43 restaurant reviews at Urban Spoon). However, with time I’ve gained more readership when I blog about other things, such as life in Vancouver, the music I listen to, thoughts about environmental issues. And I think that Tanya summarized it very clearly in her latest comment on my blog (LB had also mentioned that recently): I value my friends and family dearly. I am very appreciative of the great friendships I have formed, both in real life and in the blogosphere. Thanks to you all for reading my blog and for helping me achieve this milestone!
I started blogging in April of 2006, primarily as an outlet for pseudo-scientific thoughts I had. Then I realized that I enjoyed writing more than I thought I would, particularly writing up about stuff that makes sense to me. Initially I read blogs just for the fun of it (and to keep up with what my good friend LM had been up to). Now I blog because I enjoy disseminating my thoughts to a broader audience.
JT2 equated my blog to Facebook. However, I indicated that I could see four types of people who read my blog:
Those who know me in real life, and who know that I have a personal life beyond work. Those friends of mine enjoy reading my adventures and my comings and goings. For them, my blog is a way to keep into a facet of my personal life that very few people see in my work life.
Those friends of mine who live far away and whose only method of knowing what I am up to. These friends really cherish seeing my “life abroad” through the lenses of my blog.
Local (Vancouver and surrounding areas) bloggers whom I’ve met through my blogging. These bloggers have become good friends and I really do cherish the opportunity to get to know them through the blogosphere (shout-outs to Keira-Anne, Rebecca, Paul, Keith, Jark, Erika, Jennifer, Darren, Tanya, Corinna, Meg, Marcela and Lino, Beatriz, Ana Laura, Carolina).
Random people who reach my blog by way of Google and then become hooked on my stuff. These are the ones I need to grow. I want more people who come to my blog and then decide “this kid writes good stuff” and then become hooked.
I am going to take a page of Meg’s, Tanya’s and Rebecca’s books and do something fun for my 500th post. Not sure what just yet, but stay tuned. Since I’m not in Vancouver right now and won’t be back until the first week of January 2008, I might not do an actual celebration, but I’ll think of something.
In the mean time, I’ll ask you all to tell me – what have you learned about Raul by way of reading my blog (and in the case of my outside-the-blogosphere friends, that you didn’t already know)? Comments absolutely welcome.
When I lived in residence, this song was my anthem. I used to listen to the standard version by Sarah McLachlan in my room, at night, while pondering whether it was worth to fight to maintain a relationship that seemed doomed from the start (and perhaps the first relationship where I felt I was truly, madly and deeply in love). I became addicted to this version by Paula Cole and Sarah McLachlan after the Lilith Fair tour. I found this videoclip on YouTube, hope you enjoy.
I’ve spent about ten days here. Last week I had to give talks and do some work-related stuff. This week, I’ve managed to sneak in a few hours of work here and there. But OMG I have been able to sit down and completely veg on my couch! I apologize if this post is completely inane, but I am so shocked at my ability to spend a full day doing pretty much, absolutely nothing!
One of the most traditional events in the past few decades has been the “Mañanitas a la Virgen de Guadalupe”. As a predominantly Catholic country, Mexico has many festivities that are associated with religious figures. The Virgen de Guadalupe is the Mexican version of Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe). I would expect that Vancouver-based Latin American (primarily Mexican) Catholics would attend services on December 12th, which is is observed as the anniversary of the apparition of our Lady of Guadalupe .Actress and singer Lucero has sung to Our Lady of Guadalupe since a few years back, here is a video of one of her performances.
I have praised my Mom in my blog before, but tonight I was reminded of how lucky I am to have the Mom I have. As we were driving from my brother’s place towards hers, we were chatting about that night when I called her at 3:00am to let her know that I had broken up with my ex.
Our conversation went something like this: – Mom : “Hi sweetie, how are you?” – Raul: “Hi Mom…” … (starts sobbing uncontrollably for 45 minutes straight) – Mom: “Sweetie… you broke up, didn’t you?” …
And then she proceeded to try and console me. That was the saddest night in my entire life, and I can tell you, the only person whom I could talk to was my Mom. I knew she would understand how I felt. Both my parents love me and support me, but that night, I realized the magic relationship that Moms have with their children. She knew that we had broken up (my ex and I) even before I told her. How do they do that? How do they know what to say to soothe our pain? I think it’s a miracle. And I am extremely grateful for that. Gracias Mamá.
Last night I was talking to a friend of mine about things I would accept if I were forced to live in a specific country (in this case, Mexico). I think I can deal with people trying to take advantage of me. I can be ok with people who don’t have a sense of time and forget to be punctual and on time. I can live with a society that is complex and complicated.
But I can’t live within an intolerant society. I heard some of the “most educated minds” in this country speak about homosexuality as though it is a sin, as though it is “something that people didn’t ask to be born with”, as though it is an illness. People whom I admired in the past have come out of the closet as being complete homophobes. I have also heard people saying nasty things about indigenous peoples, spitting out racist comments. I honestly can’t deal with this. I am ok with a society filled with problems and issues, but I can’t live in an intolerant society. Not now, not ever.
Beatriz has insisted that I see the good side of things and that I should relax and enjoy Mexico during my brief visit, so I figured I’d post something about the nice things I’ve enjoyed so far.
Family-owned businesses:
I discovered a super cute hotel in Zamora, Michoacan. It’s called Hotel Ram-Val. Best hotel ever. It’s small, cute, clean, and has wireless internet. The cafeteria is amazing. The level of service is above and beyond the call of duty. If I had to return here, I would seriously stay here. Inexpensive too, less than 50 dollars a night.
I found a family-owned enterprise from San Julian, Jalisco that makes dairy-based products. This family manufactures “ate” (a kind of jelly) and cajeta (sort of nutella). I make a point (whenever I am in Mexico) to only buy Mexican products, so it was nice to find my own supplier of cajeta.
I have been able to drink a litre of carrot juice for $1.50 Canadian. Where else can you do that?
Friends
I got the chance to spend an evening having drinks with PT. He’s one of my very best friends here, and we had an amazing time. I even got to do karaoke! It’s been so long since I last sung. Ahh, good times 🙂
I’ll be seeing other friends this weekend, I hope. PT and I had plans to hang out tonight, so we’ll see how that pans out. He is so laid back and relaxed, I am sure we’ll end up doing something low-key.
Ok, time to start cleaning up my room (well, my former room)…
After my initial cultural reverse shock, I had a chance to hang out with Mom and my brother. We went for dinner and had a “caldo tlalpeño”, which is one of my top favorite Mexican dishes. Top of the top. Greatest food ever. I just had a chance to drink carrot juice by the litre. Papaya and other fruit is super inexpensive here. Ok, now I’m starting to see the perks. Plus, I love hanging out with my family. So maybe it’s not so bad after all 🙂
I am looking forward to seeing very good friends of mine who live here. My very good friend PT picked me up at the bus station when I arrived, but we haven’t had a chance to really hang out. But we will soon. Now, let me tell you, there is something about the pace of life here that absolutely mesmerizes me. I’ll have to explore more…
I landed in Mexico City and no later than 10 seconds after the plane door had opened, I had been swarmed by more than 10 people trying to get past me. That’s something I am not that used to even though I use public transit in Vancouver. But it really shocked me.
I have been here for only a couple of days and I want to fly back to Vancouver ASAP. I miss my friends, I miss my apartment, I miss my life there, and more than anything, I have mixed feelings in regards to being here. I love seeing my parents but I really do not like the negative sides of this country. I guess I have to learn to deal with this.
In the mean time, my laptop died so I might be posting content only irregularly.
I am well known for being way too sweet and a tad too mushy for a guy. I’ll add one more thing… I love Disney movies. Enchanted is a great production. Starring Amy Adams, James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon, this is a wonderful and uplifting movie. Combining special effects, animation and great music, Enchanted is a fairy tale that oozes sweetness and “feel good”, warm fuzzies.
You can read Wikipedia’s description of the movie, but if you want to get a general feeling for how good the movie is, listen to “That’s How You Know” (the main musical performance in a park, of all places). Do yourselves a favor and treat yourself to a viewing of Enchanted. Preferably with someone you love a lot.
I had a wonderful Friday evening with K and R (see bar review), followed by appetizers and drinks at RC’s place. My volleyball team was having a party to celebrate the end of the term and begin the bonding for the following term. Everyone in my team was there, which was very fun. We danced, ate, drank, laughed, did the “worm” hip-hop/breakdance move, some salsa, went to Public (it was empty), went to Honey/Lick/The Lotus and the line-ups were super long. So we ended up heading back home. And of course, you can believe I had a horrendous hangover on Saturday morning.
I had brunch on Saturday with colleagues and friends and my day on Sunday was looking quite busy with dinner with J, brunch with C, B, JN and L, showing up at SK’s brunch as well (two brunches and and on top of everything, I had to arrange for a conference call with the high command – e.g. parents).
Breakfast at SK was awesome, I got to see her place and spend some good times with her and JT1 (there are two JT’s). Brunch with C, B, JN and L at Rhizome was amazing. I felt a little bit guilty because L and JN are stressed out now with work (and I added a couple of errands on my behalf to their list). However, it was (as always is) very nice to see them again. I will miss them tremendously, particularly now that L is having a birthday party.
Then I went to see Enchanted (the movie) with JT2, and then dinner at Red Sea Cafe. I’ll do a movie review soon enough, but I just wanted to say that the movie rocks. Simply awesome. JT2 drove me to the airport (as he usually does) and we both know we’ll miss each other.
I always say this on my blog and in person. I am very privileged. I have amazing friends in different countries and it’s nice to know that, no matter where they are (or where I am), we’ll always be there for each other. That’s what friends are for.
The past couple of weeks, I have been feeling myself again. That meant of course taking the time to rekindle old friendships that had been dormant for a while. K and R are two close friends of mine with whom I hadn’t had the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time.
In a way, I think I (involuntarily) pushed them away because I didn’t want to pretend I was all that well, when it wasn’t the case. I felt like I had to apologize for my behavior. However, both K and R were extremely sweet and understanding, and they said I had nothing to apologize for. It was so nice to have again a chance to just chat and talk about the good old times, like when we used to go for brunch to a different restaurant every Sunday.
I agreed to come downtown to make it easier for K and R, who generously treated me to drinks and appetizers at The Transcontinental. The Transcontinental is an upscale restaurant/bar located in the Canadian Pacific Railway Station. A branch/new location of popular post-work drinks hangout Steamworks, The Transcontinental is much nicer in many ways than Steamworks itself (less loud, more room and better atmosphere, in my opinion).
Not to diss Steamworks, though! I really enjoy going there for a drink after work, but I am not always able to talk to people because it is quite loud. Nevertheless, I show up for Green Drinks @ Steamworks quite often. But I think I enjoy better The Transcontinental.
The service wasn’t as good as I expected it to be (the server was quite bad, actually). The first spiced rum for K was flat, but the second one was better. The appetizers were quite good (when they finally showed up). However, the best part of the evening was spending time with K and R like old times. It was almost like no time had ever passed.
It is very nice to find that, no matter how much you push your friends away (consciously or unconsciously), they always find a way to get back in your life. And I am very happy that K and R came back to my life. Really, I’ll say they never left. They gave me enough space to sort my life out and now that I am back as the Raul I (and they) used to know, they’ve welcomed me back with open arms. So that means that when I get back to Vancouver in the New Year, brunch Sundays will be back with a vengeance 🙂 Yipee!!!!
Since I’m traveling soon, I had to come into my office and ensure that I would not be forgetting some important document (which, luckily, I discovered I was about to forget – MY PASSPORT!… phew, that was close!). As I’m sure you all know, it’s snowing in Vancouver right now, so I had to gear up and head out in the middle of snow showers.
When I first moved to Vancouver, I had no idea about the climate and weather here. I had no idea of the natural beauty. I was completely and entirely clueless. So I packed leather jackets and a couple of light sweaters. And then it snowed… in November… and I was FREEZING!!!
I’ve learned a few things about myself and temperatures/weather throughout my 12 years in this city.
I don’t tolerate rain well.
I don’t tolerate snow very well either.
I am always cold.
I like fashionable winter clothing.
There is no sense of fashion in Vancouver – hence, 4 does not apply.
Corollary: I should get myself winter and rain gear that will allow me to feel comfortable while traveling in the snow and rain, regardless of the fact that it isn’t fashionable.
Knowing how much I hate falling, my brother S kindly bought me a pair of winter boots (with increased traction, almost completely waterproof, great and sturdy support for my ankles). Furthermore, I have learned how many layers I need to wear in order to avoid feeling cold.
So, for example, right now I am wearing winter socks (thermal), thermal underwear (only the pants), a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a wool sweater on top of the sweatshirt, a rain jacket that has another jacket attached (layered), toque, Thinsulate gloves, scarf, winter boots, umbrella and my iPod. And I think this is as prepared as I’ve ever been to walk out in the snow. For someone who loves warm climates, I think I’m doing fine for myself here.
Now, admittedly, I went out last night and dressed quite fashionably and quite warmly, but normally, I won’t care much about how I look (unless I’m coming to the office or going out with friends). Now, I am headed back to the cold…brrrr…
Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss604) is celebrating four years of blogging and I’m taking this opportunity to congratulate her on my own blog. You’ll see… even though we live in the same city, and technically only a short commute from each other (I understand John and Rebecca live in the West End, while I live in Mount Pleasant), we have never met in person.
However, it was Rebecca who encouraged me to Blogathon (I chose the charity, A Loving Spoonful, but basically she gave me the gentle push to join in Blogathoning). She has also provided some really useful, techie, geeky advice and even invited me to be a guest blogger on her own blog, which was a great honour (and a lot of fun, I might add).
Rebecca has also challenged me to think about relevant issues, including the ethics of blogging (and photo credits), the divide between mainstream media and bloggers, and at times, about fun stuff such as “do we need Starbucks at Skytrain stations?”. Here is a toast to her four years of blogging, and to many more to come.
Two of Vancouver’s excellent brunch places (Rhizome and The Elbow Room) are featured on The Globe and Mail this week. The piece is actually quite well written, I really liked Elianna Lev’s style. This article reminded me a bit of the concept of green restaurants, but in this case, I think the keywords would be “socially responsible” restaurants.
The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility is very often associated with sustainability because caring for the environment is just one of many ways in which corporations can be responsible with society, taking into account their needs and wants [the Wikipedia entry on CSR is currently nominated to be discussed for neutrality, but overall, I think it’s ok].
I think Rhizome is at the forefront of socially responsible restaurants. Beyond the idea of the lentils where you “pay what you feel”, one of the key elements that Rhizome brings not only to the East Vancouver/Mount Pleasant community but to the larger Vancouver society is that this is a place where social justice is one of the main themes. In an growingly corporate world, Rhizome is a breath of fresh air.
As for The Elbow Room, I used to be a steady customer for many years, but since it’s downtown and I am now an East Vancouver boy, I rarely have brunch there anymore. However, this is definitely a responsible restaurant. For decades now, The Elbow Room owners have collected donations for A Loving Spoonful (a charitable organization for which I have Blogathoned in the past).
I believe that there is an increasing trend towards corporate social responsibility in the service industry. For example, some coffee shops like Lugz will only serve ethically-produced coffee. Other restaurants will serve fish that is certified with OceanWise. Green Table is an organization that helps restaurants become more green. There is a myriad of additional examples out there (I just don’t know them all).
I would be interested in hearing more stories of socially-responsible restaurants in the Metro Vancouver area, if you have any.
We had heard lots, and lots, and lots of people raving about the sushi that Toshi’s offers. The line-up outside the little establishment (30 seats, 6 waitresses) on 16th Avenue between Quebec and Main Streets can extend at times to the end of the block. We had driven by, a good 60 times (and I am not kidding) and we had never been able to make it there on time to avoid the line-ups.
Thus, we wanted to celebrate M’s birthday there and therefore I ended up standing outside since 4:30pm. M and I had agreed she’d show up at 5:30pm (bad idea since I could have gotten us a table at 5:00pm sharp, since the line was short). By the way, thank you to the guy who loaned me his cell phone to call M’s office (another reason why I need a new cell phone!).
Anyhow, we got to seat at around 5:45 pm and ordered edamame, go mae, a few rolls and some tofu. And I am going to say that I found the sushi not as good as Kaide’s, and certainly not as good as Kishu Mountain. So I’m quite disappointed. For all the hype (and having to stand out in the cold for a good half hour), neither M nor I were impressed.
Would I go back to Toshi’s? No. Definitely not. Maybe they were having an off day, but with two great choices for sushi where I don’t need to stand out in the cold. It was good to know first-hand about Toshi’s though. The guy who loaned me his cell phone was raving about Toshi’s (and funny how it goes, we had already bumped into each other before, but I doubt he remembers) and I was quite underwhelmed. No more Toshi’s for me, please.
I was thinking about the things I will (and will not) miss while I am away from this beautiful city. Some things are associated with Vancouver in general, while some are specific to my life here. So without any specific order, here are my thoughts.
I won’t miss…
The screaming kid that lives upstairs from me and his running around, stomping on my ceiling (his floor) on purpose. I will most certainly not miss his inability to shut up even when his parents yell at him.
The gross weather we have been having. Excuse me, cold and slushie rain? No, thanks. I’m all for warm and dry climates. For a while, anyways.
The lengthy commutes to and from my office, nor having to commute everywhere by bus (ah, the beauties of a small city).
Some incredibly expensive food items ($ 1.00 for three limes? wow, for that money I buy three kilograms where I’m headed!
I will miss…
My friends in the Metro Vancouver area. Each one of them is unique and I value their friendship in and of itself. I am very privileged to have the friends I do, and I will miss them dearly. If it weren’t because I have to go, I would most likely stay for Christmas and the New Year. I am that confident that I would have a great time with them.
My tiny apartment. Even though it is indeed tiny, and my neighbours upstairs are incredibly noisy, this is my own personal space and I am very happy with what I have. It’s a small place, but it’s cozy and more important, it’s my own (I gave up on roomies a long, long, long time ago).
The natural beauty of British Columbia. Especially Vancouver and the North Shore. I often go to Deep Cove, West Vancouver, Lonsdale Quay, Porteau Cove and Stanley Park for relaxation and to gather my thoughts. Some of my fondest memories are associated with these places. I will miss this.
Playing volleyball on Saturdays and Sundays. Both my teams are lovely people and I have a ton of fun with them. And (even though I thought that an old dog couldn’t learn new tricks), my game has improved a lot.
The sense of self I feel while living in Vancouver. Since I live on my own here, I feel extremely independent. More than anything, I feel myself. When I go and visit my parents, I feel in many ways, constrained. I don’t think I’m often the Raul I know.
The opportunity to mend and salvage a couple of friendships. Given that I will be away from the city for a fairly lengthy visit, I won’t have the opportunity to try and mend a number of relationships that, for one reason or another, have cooled off. Since statistically, we are bound to bump into each other, I’d like to make amends with these people — but that will have to wait until the New Year.
Talking to my brother every day. Since we live only a province away (thank you long distance phone plans), my brother and I talk over the phone quite regularly. I will definitely miss hearing his voice and having both profound conversations and totally silly chats. But well, this one can be fixed since we can talk on the phone while I am there.
When you travel over the holidays, or when you are away from Vancouver (or from wherever you happen to be from), what do you miss the most? What is it that you do not miss at all?
However, I think this time I may have some very fresh news for you loyal Vancouver and non-Vancouver readers. From the owners of Trixi’s, one of the most fabulous crepe places this side of Paris, I got the following email:
Dear Trixi’s Customers,
It’s been a while that you have heard from us. We have some great news. As of Sunday, December the 2nd, the trench will be paved over and cross streets from 16th to 19th will be open again. In order to celebrate the progress of the Canadaline construction in the Village the Cambie Village Business Association together with Canadaline are inviting friends and neighbours to “Christmas on Cambie” on Sunday, December 9th from 12 pm to 5 pm.
For more info see http://www.cambievillage.com/.
We are very excited about this and hope you will come out to visit sometime soon.
We look forward to seeing many of our customers again and serving you one (or two) of our delicious crepes.
Ernst and Beatrix
I love going to Trixi’s and have been a loyal customer for almost two years now. And I am also a strong supporter of businesses on Cambie, both promoting events and being a customer of Cambie businesses (even if it means having to navigate and negotiate street intersections, etc.) So I would strongly encourage you all to go on December 9th. Furthermore, since I will not be in Canada by then, would readers please go back to this post and leave a comment with your experience at the event? Thank you.
I am (luckily or unfortunately) a fairly good cook, and one of my specialty dishes is Pasta a la Puttanesca. The only problem is that once I’m hungry and enjoying one particular flavor (or set of flavors), it’s really hard to stop eating. I switched to rice and thus I ended up making some sort of mixture of Jambalaya and burgoo.
I really love this type of food (gumbos, burgoos, etc), and since my good friend LM suggested that I try less wheat, I have enjoyed cooking these dishes. The only problem is I can’t stop myself! I bought a type of sausage called “garlic tube” and I have eaten it in scrambled eggs and sandwiches like there’s no tomorrow. That’s the only problem with me. Once I enjoy a specific flavor, it’s hard for me to say no to it.
Also known as “the Stuff We All Get”, swag is sort of a made-up word that I hadn’t heard until I started reading blogs. The Urban Dictionary defines swag as:
Promotional merchandise for a band, record label, or other entity in the music business, usually distributed at concerts. May include t-shirts, stickers, promo CDs, posters, etc. Often free, but not necessarily.[Urban Dictionary]
I picked up some swag from The Ark Store, on Main Street and the corner of 10th Avenue. I love this store. They have some ridiculously amazing things. I saw a beautiful set of two necklaces that have pieces of a puzzle (two pieces that fit perfectly and have the words ME and YOU) engraved in brass. These necklaces almost made me melt.
My friend L purchased a set of awesome tights, and in general I’d say the store is awesome. You should check it out.
As any normal Virgo, I am going through all my old receipts, my drawers, my piles of books and articles, etc., in order to make sure that I bring everything I need to my parents’ place. You see, I am sort of a workaholic. I am supposed to be on holiday for the whole month of December, yet I don’t see myself being able to do that. So I have to bring some work with me.
I am also printing out travel itineraries, location of hotels where I am going to be staying at while away, etc. Kind of funny, actually. And again I am not sure why the exhaustion. It’s only past midnight and I am unable to function (and still waking up at 6 am darn it).
I also really like the fact that it can do double-sided (not automatically as other Laserjets used to be able to do, but still it does allow me to save paper AND it’s not as complicated as you may think). I have been able to print full articles (2 in 1 pages) and envelopes. Pretty near, I tell you.
I know that Darren Barefoot did extend an invitation to other local bloggers and I should’ve taken him up on the offer, but honestly I am not printing a lot of beautiful color pages. Although come to think about it, I’m now thinking what I want to print… hehe maybe I’ll just have to ask (nicely) Rebecca or Tanya to print some stuff for me.
Ooops… don’t you hate it when a good idea comes to you like, weeks after you should’ve implemented it? I now think I recall what I needed to print in color and I can’t as I don’t have a color printer. Darn it!
So I am heading south of the border for the Christmas holidays, and thus I am starting with pre-travel preparations. I should have (and I am hoping to be able to create) a to-do list with everything that I need to do before I travel. But you know, sometimes it’s easier just to find a web page, copy and paste and then print it out and check items as you go along.
As for stage 1 of my travel preparations, I cleaned up the fridge, sent a couple of letters on the mail, wrote a page of commentaries I needed to submit, copied and pasted a few slides to prepare for a presentation I am giving next week. So I did get a lot accomplished within a very short period of time. Nevertheless, I’m pretty stressed and don’t want to forget anything. It’s like I want to make sure my trip is seamless.
