Duckin' Full

Ended up at Peking Man Restaurant for lunch with Mikey and Rowie. Awesome peking duck. I don't think I'll be eating for the rest of the day. Satisfied, but feeling like ugh...

Talking To Old Guys

So I have these old guys that work with me. Now, they're not that that old (one is 55, the other is 58), but together they've been working with the Health Department for combined over 70 years. Naturally, they like to look back fondly on the past and try to remember when things were "like this."

Every once in a while, one of them would like to chat with me. I like to think of myself as respectful of my elders, so if anything, I keep an ear open and appease them with my full attention. This morning, though, I somehow got stuck talking to both of them at the same time. Now while it may be like I'm complaining over something silly, keep in mind:

1. One of them likes to talk and talk about how it was in the past, but I don't think he realizes that he is changing the subject every couple of sentences thinking he's making some great segways. Total non sequiturs, unfortunately

2. The other likes to display his "memory" of people he once worked with, for, or just in general, met in life. Unfortunately, he says aloud, "what's his name?" followed by him humming and hawing and tilting his head up high trying to remember the person's name. One literal minute later, he finally remembers (if he's lucky), and in the meantime he doesn't let anyone else say anything because of the aforementioned vocalized humming and hawing

3. The first guy likes to group things he's talking about (ex. "Jason, settling for retirement comes down to five things...") followed by him counting down using each finger. The problem is, he does this haphazardously. What do I mean? Basically, he'll give me the top three reasons to something he is grumbling about, but then when he gets to the second point, he'll realize that he doesn't have a third point (I'm assuming he thought he could improvise). So what does he end up doing? Changing the subject thinking he's making a great segway into a related point. Again, though, it turns out to be a non-sequitur

4. I have to keep saying, "yes, uh-huh, mmmhmmm, yup, right, of course" realistically, pretending I have full concentration as to what they are saying. Interspersed in this is me trying to change the subject to a concluding statement to perhaps end the conversation, but then eventually it turns into...

5. Them taking a seat beside me. At that point I know I'm going to have to be in this conversation for the long haul. And try to hide the pain in my face I sometimes get when, quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to socialize with them because...

6. They are literally grumpy old men. They like to talk negatively, about, well, mostly everything and how "it wasn't like this when they started out in the field"

"I remember when I was worth six pence, none the richer"

Eventually, I try to convince them to retire. No such luck, yet. I hope my Dad isn't like this at his work. I also hope when I get to their age...actually, scratch that. I can't even imagine what it's like to be 30. I hope oldness isn't hereditary

Malagayang Ballentynes!

How did you spend yours? I spent mine...alone! Well, seeing as how Sharon doesn't really believe in this day (score!), and I somehow got my hands on a free Raptors ticket from Walter (who's spending his first Valentine's Day with his gyrlprend...awww...), I had a date with myself. Oh and Walter's cousins, who he usually sits with. Great game, the Raps won. I forgot what it's like to have a winning Raps team.

Just sucks that everyone still boos Vince. Seriously? It's old now.

Even more sucky/embarassing? Finding Ron and him telling me that some seats are unoccupied near the court. Then going there, only to discover that the occupants of those seats decided to actually show up for the second half. Damn! I just ran back upstairs to my original seat...haha...

Snow Day!

So then why the heck am I at work? Man, I suck.

But what sucks even more are people who think today is a bad weather day. It's not that bad! It's just freezing cold and windy, really. And the roads are plowed (although there was that one moment where I thought I would lose control of my car. Thank God for snow tires).

Oh, I also had a scare this morning locking my keys in the car. My Dad took the spare key, and I always lock my doors when I'm warming up my car. Needless to say, there were some tense moments within myself (tingly biyag), but luckily the passenger side door was open (it's usually locked). I'd like to think someone up there was looking out for me. Which reminds me, I should get a copy of my car key made.

RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN!

That's what I was thinking as I hit the game winning shot this morning as I played against Alan and Alain (a tall dude who apparently according to him was on the Ivory Coast's basketball team). Man I have these pathetic hoop dreams.

* * *

Filipino class is somewhat fun. I dunno if I'm gonna learn anything though. I'll decide after, say, class 5.

Dungdadungdungdung

That's the song that goes through my head when I think of Bond, James Bond. Watched Casino Royale, and was surprisingly surprised. Good stuff.

Tagalog class tonight again! And I actually did my homework...what

Rings...Cookies...

Check! Money...(no)check!

* * *

Fondue is Fundue! Unfortunately, it's also Fatdue! Holy exclamation points!!!

No Wonder They Call It "The Departed"

Watched the Martin Scorcese film...pretty good. Don't know why it didn't get more exposure than it did.

The Goose Has Flown

A house we looked at today in a lovely neighbourhood on a street called Snow Goose Lane was great except for one thing: the staircase. Argh. Oh well, we're hoping there will be more nicer laid-out houses available there or the other neighbourhood we want. Sooner or later.

Honk...honk...honk....honk...honk...

* * *

Went to Spacipic Mull with Arvin, yet again (our bi-weekly janut there, it would seem). We ate at a place called Shabu Shabu, where you cook your own food in a hot pot. Yummy, but the heat from the soup made me sweat too much. Ick.

Mexicali Rosa's

Thumbs Up!

Oh Baby, Here We Go Again...

...another opportunity!

"Did I Hit You? Did I Hit You?"

Never did eight words make me laugh so much. Read this (and possibly watch it), and don't tell me it doesn't make you laugh, especially if you caught this reporter's schpele before: http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_7637.aspx

I mean, seriously...the Emergency Task Force? What a hoot!

Oh Yeah...

Those who know me know I'm obsessed with the Raptors. They're my team I follow whether they are sucking hard or are on a good streak (like now). I read this article: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/sports/story.html?id=28f0e798-4369-41e2-b8b8-36e37818c477 and just had one of those "oh yeah...forgot about that" moments.

* * *

I think I'm having one of those days when my work, well rather the whole concept behind it is discouraging me. I dunno, can't explain it, but it'll (hopefully) go away by tomorrow.

Yay Work!

In a completely surprising development, I recently became...excited at work due to me getting, well, work. For the past two weeks I've pretty much been sitting idle at work. Literally. No complaint calls, no rabies, no anything. And I couldn't do my regular work too fast because a)It's only the beginning of February and I've already gotten a lot done; b)I'm still waiting to see if I will get transferred; and c)If I was to stay, I'd need some calls for my student to do.

I never realized how crazy I was getting doing almost nothing at work. Crazy I say, crazy!

* * *

In other FANTASTIC! news, I'm on a hot streak in winning at Cash for Life. It all started a couple weeks ago when I bought a ticket on a whim, won $8, got two tickets, won $4, got another ticket, etc. So today what happens? I win $20! Yee-uh! I think I should just cash out. But then again, I'd prolly waste that money on something else anyway. So I think I'll tempt fate again.

And I brought this up at work: imagine a lottery where you win $5 a year for life. In 10 years, you'd have $50! That would be the best lottery ever.

Hindi Ako Marunong Mg Salita Ng Tagalog

And I prolly still won't if the first class is any indication. Among the highlights:

-the teacher being your stereotypical Filipina, rife with the heavy accent (think, "may you all flease sign de attendence shit?"

-a bunch of white dudes who are married to Filipina ladies who are doing it to understand what their wives are saying

-one guy saying the first time his wife cooked tuyo ("stinky fish" he called it) he was going to kick her out of the house with his boot

But really, I did learn colours and numbers, but her teaching style doesn't really...jive. It's a hodgepodge of sayings. Luckily I know most of what she's saying (think: "is she wearing rubber shoes?" when really she's trying to say, "is she wearing running shoes?"), but I feel bad for the people who don't.

Nice people, and I'm glad I know at least one person (Marie). Should be an interesting seven more weeks.

Time To Discover My Culture

First day of Tagalog classes today! Should be interesting. Hopefully I stay awake considering the last time I was in a class (years ago during University) I had a really hard time paying attention. Nako!

Narthathith Muthic

So Arvin sent me a bunch of random youtube links starring a Toronto comic named Nathan Fielder (I would link it here, but I'm rather lazy to at this hour...just look it up, it's hilarious little videos that pretty much depict my gay sense of humour).

Anywho, there was this one particular clip called "The Narcissist" (fine, I'll link it to you here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MopdHJR4BOk). Funny stuff, but I was interested in the background music; after reading the comments section, found out the artist, went on iTunes and downloaded the album made by Antony and the Johnsons. Very unique music, but I'm feelin' it. Great stuff.

* * *

Watched Little Miss Sunshine with Sharon. It was a pretty good movie, although I don't know how it can be considered for Best Picture for the Academy Awards (not that I follow that stuff or anything). Sorta reminded me of Napolean Dynamite at the end, but otherwise, an okay flick.

* * *

I am one of the luckiest jerks in the world.

It's Worth The Drive To Waterloo

So Sharon and I went to Waterloo (St. Jacob's to be exact) to see the cookies we're gonna give away at our wedding. But when we saw it...yeah...anti-climatic. In other words, the search goes on.

One bonus did come out of this trip, though. We ate lunch here:

A house made of carbs

Seriously one of the, if not the best Italian restaurant I ever ate at. Yum-yum

Grinnn-din'

Normally I am not a Mastercrap fan, but when I was at Canadian Tire, I saw this baby on sale:

Now I can sharpen pencils

Would I ever practically need it? Prolly not. But it's nice to have.

Reg. Price: $139.99

Sale Price: $39.99

Being this much closer to Mike Holmes: Priceless

* * *

Found a new burrito place in Mississauga: Burrito Boyz. Yep, the "z" makes it that much tastier. I heard about this popular franchise in Toronto, and they recently opened one up about 3 months ago in Port Credit. Score!

Thumjam

It's inevitable what happens when I play basketball: I jam my thumb.

This CD also needs peanut butter

Ouch.