One of the greatest frustrations in my life is trying to get a lot of work done and feeling not very productive. Nomade Moderne and I have frequently discussed the importance of getting a few small things accomplished and being efficient/effective. Truth be told, it’s always a big challenge.
But tonight I found that getting small things done actually helps me be more productive. As I accomplish a number of small goals, I am encouraged to keep working hard and sustain this level of effort. For example, I sent off birthday cards to my parents, mailed rent cheques, paid bills online and did some shopping for items that I actually need, wrote a summary of a paper…
I got numerous small tasks accomplished and that made me feel energized so as to continue working all night long (I am a night owl). I might stop around 4 am or so, but it’s still nice to feel that sense of accomplishment.
I was running this morning at Robson Park, which is a non-unleashed-dog park. I had blogged previously about how I found it annoying that dog owners wanted to unleash their dogs in a park where they are supposed to keep their pets leashed. There are other parks in this city where unleashed dogs can run freely. Well, this morning I had two funny incidents. One pet owner stared at me for a good five minutes while I was running. He stood still at a corner of the park, apparently ready to unleash his dog but unsure if he should or not. Had he done it, I probably would have called him on it. Then, after a few minutes, he and his dog left.
A few minutes later, a woman came with a leashed dog, which I thought was cute. After all, she was abiding by the rules. Well, the surprise came a few minutes later when she unleashed her dog, who then proceeded to run around the whole park. The owner seemed amused, but I was really annoyed. So, as I was coming to confront her, she and her dog left.
Both of these incidents have led me to ponder that, unless we monitor human behavior, non-compliance will always one of the default human responses. Even in a society that prides itself in being rule-abiding and law-compliant, we will always find instances of people breaking the law. Some would say, it’s human nature.
Now, I don’t want to sound prudish. Some rules can and should be flexible. But how hard can it be to follow a rule that says “if you want to let your dog run here, keep it on a leash“? I just wonder…
After a failed attempt at purchasing a backpack (which ended up disastrously thanks to a broken bottle of Chardonnay), I had been desperately trying to find an affordable (e.g. less than $100 CND) backpack that was suitable for laptop transportation. See… in the business that I am, not having a laptop is simply not an option. I need my laptop at all times and I really needed a sturdy knapsack that would carry my books, articles and laptop altogether.
Then I was at Canadian Tire and all of a sudden… there she was… on sale for $25 CND!!! So I *had* to get the backpack. I already tested it and yes, it is quite sturdy. Two minor details: it doesn’t have neither a water bottle compartment nor a cell phone compartment. But these are minor details. It is sturdy and allows me to carry my laptop places. I am writing from a Blenz (which has wireless, yay!) and I’ve walked around downtown already armed with laptop, books, 2 liter container (for when I want a smoothie/milkshake). I said it before, it *is* all about the equipment!
UPDATE .- I did find the cell phone and water bottle compartments. This thing can carry just about anything… *swoons*
I don’t give a damn if anybody thinks that The Tragically Hip isn’t still Canada’s top rock band. I love Nickelback, don’t get me wrong… I am a fan for sure. But I always have had a soft spot in my heart for The Tragically Hip.
I swear that I read somewhere that The Hip was coming to Vancouver to give a concert. Their website doesn’t show any concerts in Vancouver, though. If anybody has the 411 on this, could you please a comment below? Thanks!
The song below is “Little Bones”… the first song that I danced to when I first moved to Canada. As you can imagine, this song brings me great memories and I always feel re-energized when I listen to it.
Continuing with the series of “personal life” kind of posts, when I switched from Spanish to English I had to learn a totally new phrase in my book: hanging out. See, when you translate it into Spanish, it really doesn’t work well. What are you hanging? And why do you have to hang it out? Can’t you hang indoors? (hehehe – sorry, being silly here for a moment).
My friends often call me up or email me and say ‘let’s hang out‘ … and even to this day, I giggle a little. It’s not a commitment to do anything fancy (like dinner and a movie) but it does mean that people want to spend time in your company.
I love hanging out with my friends, don’t get me wrong. But I find the phrase funny. Perhaps a more appropriate phrase would be “spending time with my friends”. But what I find is that “hanging out” does provide enough wiggle room to actually do nothing. That is, if I call up any of my friends and say “let’s hang out and watch a movie or just veg on the couch” [note veg=synonymous of vegetating] I am basically saying “let’s just spend some time together and we can make plans later on what we are going to do”.
I know, I admit it… this was a totally random thought. *blushes*
I added a poll as a page element, please vote on what you prefer that I write about. This is just a test poll in Blogger (I imagine the code is different for WordPress or LiveJournal).
In the past couple of weeks, some fellow bloggers who write in Spanish have been kind enough to come visit my blog. I left their commentary moderated because I was thinking of translating it to English. I don’t have the time to do that, so if you want/feel compelled to write commentary in English, French, Italian, Portuguese or Japanese (non-kanji) feel free to do so. And to my fellow bloggers, your comments have been approved 🙂
It seems like the topic of diversity, immigration and cosmopolitanism just doesn’t want to go away, it keeps chasing me! I just came across a nifty website (one of perhaps many that I am not aware of) that actually showcases the multicultural diversity that we have in Vancouver. The Source newspaper, as cited on their website:
…finds its raison d’etre in the cosmopolitan character of Vancouver and intends to focus closely on the news of the various communities which make up our cultural mosaic.
Hmmm… This is worth discussing. I personally enjoy Deep Cove enormously (and since Grouse Mountain is considered still Vancouver, my preference is valid!). I wouldn’t mind calling Gastown one of the seven wonders. What do you, dear readers, think?
PS – I should really try to learn how to insert code for polls. That would make this more fun.
While we are on the topic of deep house music, let me just say that I would love anything by Blue Six. Funny how my favourites (Miguel Migs, Lisa Shaw, Aya, Blue Six aka Jay Denes) all share the same record label: Naked Music. Great minds think alike!
The song I feature in this review is Music & Wine. I’ve heard many versions but this is perhaps the one I’ve identified myself with the most. Below you’ll find a video of the full song.
Thanks to Nomade Moderne I now own an iPod. Of course, as a result, I’ve spent the better part of my daily commute listening to great mixes. One of the latest DJs I have come across is Ricardo Torres, who created an awesome mix (Higher: The Session) which includes what is perhaps the hottest song I’ve listened to in a while.
I am addicted to this song: In This Life by Kaskade (Justin Micheal Remix). I managed to find a brief clip on YouTube but I’d seriously recommend you to download it/purchase it, because it’s a really great song.
I was reading the latest issue of Xtra West, and I came across a really heart-warming letter that made me reflect on the really good reasons to be proud: the noticeable increased support from the straight community to the queer community. Since I couldn’t find the online version, I’ll have to quote a specific paragraph that I thought was really nice.
“[…] Maybe I’m proud of the straight community that’s finally starting to celebrate the pride within the gay community[…]” [Letter by Jesse Lobdell, Page 4, Letters, Xtra West, Aug 30th, 2007 edition.]
It is true that we’ve come a long way. Both at Pride and the VQFF I noticed many straight allies who came to join in and support as well as watch the many excellent films. In the same issue of Xtra West, you can also read about a straight couple who rallied to support a gay couple in Salt Spring Island. Actions like these renew my faith in humanity.
If you are a Vancouverite or even remotely follow hockey, you might already think that I’ve lived under a rock for the past decade. So I am going to have to come out of the closet and admit that I am not a hockey fan (sin and sacrilege after having lived in Canada for the better part of a decade). I can watch a game (and will do so willingly and will share in the joy and happiness — or desolation as it may be the case), but I’ve never followed the sport.
One thing I do know about hockey is that the Vancouver Canucks are our very own hockey team, and I’ve been following [sort of in a round-about kinda way] the discussions around the issue of the new logo and jersey. Since I am not a hockey connoisseur, I am going to direct you towards Rebecca @ Miss604, John @ AudiHertz, Chris @ LeftCoastByDesign and Karl @ Beyond Robson, all of them local bloggers who have picked up on the controversy surrounding the jersey.
At risk of being smothered, I have to admit that I like the jersey, if for no other reason, because it looks kinda cute. And yes, the word Vancouver may look already clumsy but hey, imagine if you are at a costume party in Paris and you disguise as a hockey player… it will be hard to miss that you are from Vancouver 🙂 …. think about it!
Despite having so much work, stress, many deadlines and due dates looming in the horizon, I feel strangely happy. Perhaps it’s just the fact that my personal life is going so well 🙂
Shout outs, waves and lots of positive vibes sent to the following:
Nomade Moderne, who has LOTS of good reasons to be happy today!!!! [I can’t disclose why but I am sure he will in due time]. Many hugs!!!
Miss604 who kindly included me in her blogroll [I feel very honoured and happy *giggles*] Thank you! 🙂
Jark for valuable commentary on this blog [and for taking on environment as an important issue to be discussed on Beyond Robson]. Cheers, mate 😉
There are reasons to be optimistic as well. After having had a somewhat heavy conversation with my good friend A who lives in Jamaica, and whose house was also ravaged by the effects of Dean (the hurricane), she said that people are slowly re-building their lives. Positive vibes and lots of good thoughts to them as well. Humanity is resilient.
On August 19th, 2007, the hurricane Dean hit the southern coast of Jamaica with wind storms that were said to have reached speeds of up to 145 mph. One of my best friends is Jamaican and currently lives there. The worst part is that she was there when the hurricane hit Jamaica, so she was affected by it as well.
While chatting with her online about the tremendous damages that the hurricane had inflicted on this tiny island, I really felt awful. Some regions went without water or electricity for 8 days. These pictures speak for themselves. To all the people affected by Dean, I just want to say how sorry I am.
How can anyone be prepared for these disasters? I just ask, because I don’t have an answer.
This weekend was also an opportunity for some good intellectual exchanges, and I learned a lot about climate change from my friend H that I did not know before. He knows much more about the topic than I do, and thus it is always a great learning experience to hear him talk about it. Through our conversations, an issue arose that I have wondered about a lot lately (and that is talked about in the climate change discourse – adaptation).
The idea of adaptation can easily be related to the current garbage collection situation in Vancouver. I have often wondered why on Earth the strike hasn’t been settled and how come citizens of Vancouver have not mobilized to the point where they push the parties to settle. Our discussion centered around the possibility that maybe citizens of Vancouver have easily adapted to the current situation and thus are not in a position of hardship. I can’t help but wonder if this is a risk of an affluent society, where mobilization would only occur only under conditions of extreme duress.
NOTE – While I wrote about “an affluent society”, I did not intend to use the term in the same way in which John Kenneth Galbraith has used it. Not having read his book, I can’t say if it does apply, so I will plead guilty to not using the term properly if I misunderstood the idea.
Even though I have lots of friends who live in the West End, I almost never come down unless I have a specific schedule (e.g. dinner or dancing) and an arrange date with these friends. However, Nomade Moderne and I were already Downtown for the VQFF and therefore we thought we’d eat in the Davie Street area. We had an amazing dinner at Cafe Luxy (not surprising because as I mentioned in previous posts, Cafe Luxy is one of those trusted pasta houses where you know you are always going to get amazing food and great service). We were definitely not disappointed (though I wish we had bigger stomachs!)
After dinner, H and I decided to hit 1181 for a couple of drinks. The place is small, sleek, elegant, sophisticated and (yes) full of testosterone 🙂 But more than that, 1181 has a great female DJ who plays (amongst other of my favorites) Kaskade, Lisa Shaw, Synthique, Miguel Migs, and the list goes on. She really knows how to rock the house. On the plus side of things, the always amazing company of Nomade Moderne. On the down side, this place is really small. But the truth is, the overall experience was very nice. Good screwdrivers and caipirinhas. This is a good place for drinks and maybe some dancing, but definitely not the place to hold a conversation. But hey, who is actually wanting a conversation here? 🙂 I am sure we’ll be back to 1181 soon!!!
As an avid reader since I was able to first recognize printed characters, I always had a soft spot for Oscar Wilde. So when I heard that the Vancouver Queer Film Festival was showing a re-invention of Wilde’s famous novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray“, I jumped at the opportunity. My friend Nomade Moderne was kind enough to join me (even though we had to do the Hope Line and cross our fingers that we were going to be able to get tickets, as it was sold out).
This reinvention has the charming and endearing David Gallagher (from 7th Heaven fame) portraying Dorian Gray. Gallagher did an amazing job at portraying the new-era Dorian Gray, and I strongly believe he tested his own limits during this movie. He really seemed to have grasped the character of Dorian Gray. Directed by Duncan Roy, the movie is challenging in many ways.
The movie asks the viewer to understand the motives beneath Dorian’s cruel actions and to see the world through his eyes. The cinematic techniques in this movie (including flashbacks, intertwined stories, story-telling) are complex and this wouldn’t be by any measure a chick flick. But I think it’s beautifully realized and I commend both Roy for doing such a fine job with the screenplay and the direction and Gallagher for his amazing job as Dorian Gray.
My friend Nomade Moderne has reviewed four excellent movies he recently saw (a couple of them have been reviewed here too, but a couple were not and he’s done an excellent job of summarizing the plots and providing great video links). Mosey over to his blog to check these reviews.
I hate repeating restaurants, not because I don’t like them but because it precludes any potential new places. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of repeats for brunch and dinner. The problem is, these places I’ve been to are pretty damn reliable. So my question is – what do you do when you’re hungry and you want to go out or want to hang out with friends and you know that Places A, B, and C will have the right food and right price?
My Aunt (who passed away in 1999) used to say “I hate doing dishes. I hate it so much I do them the night before so that when I wake up I won’t have to wash them first thing in the morning“. I have almost always tried to follow her advice but sometimes I fail to do so. The past week has been so stressful and I’ve been so over-worked that I hadn’t even had time to clean up my apartment.
Since I had invited J over for dinner last night (pre-movie), I had to actually clean up my place and make it somewhat guest-friendly. While cooking dinner, I cleaned up all utensils and cookware [a method I learned from my Mom] and then, after dinner I proceeded to wash dishes (much to his chagrin since he wanted to help)… Anyhow, I digress… so the point is that, by the time I got home from the movie (and I was already dead-tired) I simply crashed. And this morning, as I was making breakfast, I noticed my kitchen spotless, therefore I didn’t need to start my day by cleaning up my kitchen. Good times 🙂
Some of my readers may think that I probably spent the better half of my late teens and early twenties either in Mars or Pluto, because I had never actually thought about the idea of spending time with people. Ok, let me step back for a moment. I love spending time with people. That’s not what I am talking about. For me, spending time with people wasn’t something I thought about, I just did it.
I played volleyball, danced competitively, did volunteer work teaching adults how to read and write (literacy-related work), and in doing all of those activities, I spent time with people. I also hung out with my friends all the time. But it never occurred to me (continuing along the train of thought that I established in the earlier post on ‘getting to know someone’) that actually I was seeking someone’s company.
It hasn’t been until I have been in Canada that it has dawned on me that we humans as social beings tend to gather around our own kind, and that because of our gregarious nature, we want to spend time with people. I remember that I told my good friend H that I was “out-people’d” in the sense that I needed some time alone. But those periods when I need “space” are so brief that most of my friends never notice them. Only until I tell them that I do need some space do they realize that I actually sometimes enjoy my alone time. I am good friends with myself, you know 🙂
On a related side-bar, I also think that spending time with people can also be considered enjoying someone’s company. I think that we seek the company of like-minded people. H asked me what does it say about me when a few of my friends have mind-reading as their super-power (see this post to understand what I’m talking about). Well, I’d say that maybe they got my power wrong, because I probably should also be a mind-reader, hehe.
But I think it says that I enjoy the company of people who are intelligent and thoughtful. However, I would say that I also enjoy the company of energetic, intense individuals (manipulating electricity and fire). I sometimes hate those little tests. But sometimes they do help me find out something about myself I didn’t know.
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is on, and I went to see Super Amigos with my good friend J, who bought tickets for this show. Super Amigos is a Canadian-Mexican co-production directed by Arturo Perez-Torres, and produced by
Super Amigos is a feature-length documentary that follows 5 modern-day superheroes in Mexico City as they fight for social justice and human rights.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although I can understand if Canadians (or any other foreigner) would have a hard time understanding a few parts. In the director’s effort to intertwine each superhero’s history, sometimes pieces of the plot could have been missed.
The sub-titles were definitely spot-on, except for very, very few English-language grammar errors. That’s actually something the translators should be congratulated for. Particularly because they were able to capture the meaning of many Mexican phrases that nobody would have understood if a traditional translator had done the job.
These human, non-super-powered individuals are wrestlers by night and social justice seekers by day. That’s what makes them so unique. I bumped into another colleague at the movie (which was very nice because we had a chance to talk about the movie for a bit). I was making a comment about the fact that Super Barrio has been studied as a phenomenon of collective identity building. Every Mexican who is in need of justice is Super Barrio. Because his face is masked, he can be anyone. He can survive for generations! This is actually an excellent topic for social movement theory research (collective identity and framing theory, as well as resource mobilization).
So these are the five super-heroes:
Super Animal – Protecting animal rights and fighting against bull-fighting.
Ecologista Universal – Protecting the environment and fighting against natural christmas trees.
Super Gay – Protecting queer rights and fighting homophobia, in order to have a national Pride Day Parade.
Fray Tormenta – Protecting homeless children, this is a priest-turned-wrestler.
Super Barrio – Protecting the right to a decent livelihood, and fighting against illegal evictions.
I would like to believe that in Vancouver we wouldn’t need these superheroes, but I would think that maybe Super Barrio and Fray Tormenta should pay us a visit. We certainly could be doing better in regards to homelessness and illegal evictions.
You can watch the trailer below (courtesy of YouTube)
It’s really hard to find good, authentic Mexican food in Vancouver. The past couple of years we have witnessed a growth spurt of places that sell pseudo-Mexican food within the GVRD, particularly in the downtown area. There are a few, however, that are fairly authentic. Usually, these are holes-in-the-wall. That would be the case of Taco Loco. This is a small eatery located between 11th and 12th Avenue on Commercial Drive. The food is fairly authentic (with the exception that mole con pollo NEVER has sour cream drizzled and that the actual chicken should be a full breast instead of shredded chicken). For what I ate, I would say it was overpriced (mole con pollo for $7.00?). But we were hungry and needed food. Furthermore, considering that the mole was pretty authentic, I probably shouldn’t complain that much. If you need a quick meal that is fairly authentic, you could stop by Taco Loco. However, the service is nothing short of dreadful. At some point, I’ll have to compare it with other fairly solid places like Casablanca and Las Margaritas (yes, Las Margaritas has fairly decent Mexican food).
This was just way too cool to let it pass! My close friends know that I am a superhero geek. From Superman to Wonder Woman to Spiderman to X-Men… You got superpowers? We’re now BFFs! (best friends forever). This little test will tell you what superpower you should have 😉 Enjoy! And please leave a note in the comments telling me what superpower you are supposed to have. Who knows, we might be sidekicks!
Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Fire
You are intense, internally driven, and passionate. Your emotions are unpredictable – and they often get the better of you. Both radiant and terrifying, people are drawn to you. At your most powerful, you feel like the world belongs to you.
Why you would be a good superhero: You are obsessive enough to give it your all
Your biggest problem as a superhero: Your moodiness would make it difficult to control your powers
Copper Lioness’ husband is Dutch (hence Dutch Boy). Anyhow, he apparently enjoys an apple spread called “Appel Stroop”. Since I don’t read Dutch I can’t tell you what it is. But I can tell you that one piece of toast covered in Appel Stroop quickly turned into three and totally screwed up my carefully-conceived and followed diet. Just what I needed – now I am not only addicted to chocolate, Ethiopian food and gummy bears, but also addicted to Appel Stroop! Darn…
