Here's a quick update. Things have been going great. My last week was pretty busy, at least by my standards. I know a lot of people in my field are used to and expected to be working over time, so I really shouldn't be complaining, and I'm not, but for me working over fifty hours a week is a lot. I had a lot of work last week because of a demo that was being presented on Friday, so everything had to be working smoothly and presentable by then. Anyways, I'm really not complaining. I think the demo went well, not perfect but pretty good, and I learned a lot and I think I showed my company that I'm dependable and capable in a tight spot. I'm the type of person that really values my free time, and being expected to work overtime on a daily basis is not something I ever want to be doing, but once in a while when important deadlines are approcaching I think is all right.

Outside of work, things have been going well. Working out is still going strong. The previous weekend I went to London and hung out with Allan and Jon for his birthday which was fun. The past weekend I had a little family potluck get together. Good food, a nice gift exchange and fun playing games was had by all. I was also the champion at ping pong for the night.

I can't wait till Christmas!

Well, things are going well. I met up with Care a little while ago which was nice. I used to see this girl just about everyday in undergrad, and she lives about a 5 minute walk from my house, but I couldn't even remember the last time I saw her. We both figure it was sometime about last April on her birthday that we last saw eachother. Time really does go by fast these days. Anyways, it was really good seeing her again, we just went to Williams for some drinks/desert and catch up on what's been going on in our lives.

Friday I attended my company's Christmas party. It was a fun event where I got to hang out with some coworkers in a non-working environment. The food was good, and the speeches/slideshow where nice. My table won the prize for the writting the best poem/limerick during dinner. We each got a $5.00 gift certificate to Timmy's, booyah!

Saturday I met up with Neeta and Eric, we went to the AGO to look at some art and get a little bit more culture. I really enjoyed looking at the sculptures and the paintings. There was also a huge exhibit with photographs by some guy, and it was all right at the start, but then it just became too much and I couldn't take any more photographs. I think I have more appreciation for things like sculptures or painting, things that take more time and effort to create. I'm not saying photography isn't a valid form of art or anything like that, I definately think photography is an interesting form of art and you can take some really amazing photos, but I just think there's a difference between making something with your two hands and snapping off a round of photos. My two cents.

So, things have been pretty busy lately with work and all. I guess some people have been coming home cuz of the long weekend in the states, so it was nice to see some friends south of the border. Justin was back the past week, so him, Allan and I went out for all you can eat sushi. It was fun, and a little painful towards the end stuffing my face with sushi. We really ordered way too much that night, but it was fun seeing Justin again. Ryan was also back for the long weekend, and a bunch of his friends and I went over to his place for a Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was amazing, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce and pie. I couldn't ask for anything more, espcially right after a great workout. The big shocker of the week was going over to Allan's for some home cooking. Never thought I'd hear that one, but I guess it's finally time for some payback after all the food he's mooched from my place. But honestly, I was just stoked for some home made spring rolls, and those spring rolls did not disappoint. Niiiice... I like... Anyways, not sure what else to write on this blog, it's just more of the same stuff. I guess since I haven't played warcraft for the past month or two, there just isn't anything interesting for me to write about.

So, what's been going on since my last post? Well, my mom's been back for a week now from her trip, and things are back to normal. I think my mom's little trip was good for me though, cuz I think it showed that I can be independent if I wanted to, and that it isn't too hard to help out a bit more around the house. It's about time I grew up a bit and helped my mom around the house a little more. I'm sure everyone who knows me has already told me that, but it's a start. Speaking of growing up, the past week I've been looking into getting a new car. I've been checking the internet for new cars that are in my price range. I'm thinking of something cheap but reliable, something like a Civic or a Corolla. Went car shopping this weekend with Jon and KennyG, but apparently car dealerships are closed on Sundays.

It was also Jason's birthday this weekend. We went over to Helen's to play some settlers and have some ice cream cake. Jon was the surprise guest who tried settlers for the first time. No worries man, one day when you meet Sofi, you'll have something to talk to her about.

On Saturday, I went to a conference with Eric in the morning. Afterwards, we met up with Neeta and went out for a little Congee Wong. After dinner, we watched Saw 3. Uhhhh... my personal opinion on the movie is that it wasn't very good. The first one was the best, the second was a little worse, and this one really fell. A lot less story, and more unnecessary gore didn't help the movie out.

Aaarrggoooooosss! Yesterday, Jon and I watched the Argos make a stunning comeback in the fourth quarter of the eastern conference semi finals beating the Blue Bombers 31-27. The Argos had the lead for the start of the game, but were slowly crumbling and were down in the fourth. That's when they switched up Allen for Bishop to throw two touch down passes in the fourth quarter to win the game. Really exciting game. After the game, we met up with Britta and Puja down town. We went to dinner at Baton Rouge, where I learned how to stalk someone/everyone on Face Book. Watch out people, there are some pretty crazy stalkers stalkers on the loose. After dinner, we went back to Britta and Puja's apartment where Jon and I taught the girls a thing or two in how to dominate at Cranium. They were high-schooled pretty badly even with their room/closet mate connection.

My mom should be back by now from her little trip. I tried to do some major cleaning this weekend, so hopefully my mom doesn't freak out too much when she gets back home.

Well, my mom's been gone for almost two weeks now, and things are going well. I'm keeping myself fed on ham sandwiches and spaghetti. The house is a little dirty, but I'd say we're doing fine. I've also been working for two weeks now, and things are going well. I'm starting to understand what I'm doing at work and able to fix some problems, so that's good. Got some friends to hang out with at lunch, and just joined a new gym, so everything's going according to plan.

The newest craze to hit the Kwa family has been the board game, Settlers of Catan. Anyone heard of it? I've been going to my cousin's place every week to play this game. We play like 5 games every time, and each game taks about 1.5 hours. Last weekend, I was over at Flora's till three in the morning playig Settlers. It's a pretty fun game, now that I actually win once in a while.

Well, my mom's heading to NYC and San Fransisco today, and she's gonna be gone for three whole weeks. I dunno what's gonna happen to the Kwa household at 46 Devonsleigh while she's gone. Will we be able to find a way to feed ourselves and keep the place clean? I really don't know. If I don't have any new posts on this blog for the next couple of weeks, someone should send the police over to our place, just to make sure we're still all right.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I had a great weekend, with lots to be thankful for. Good ol' Rach came for a visit this weekend, so her, Neeta, Eric and I got together on Friday to hang out. Went to the Keg for dinner, and just hung out at Neeta's afterwards. Team ESL (Eric and I) lost by a single point in a game of Taboo, which sucked.

Saturday was fun. Got up early and went to Congee Wong for lunch. It was the girls' first time at Congee Wong, and I'm glad they weren't disappointed. Did a little bowling, and went back to Neeta's to make a nice Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner we went out to watch The Departed. I thought the movie was really good, and I'd recommend people watching it. On Sunday we made a stop at Pacific before seeing Rach off to the airport. Yeah, it was a fun weekend, and it was really good seeing Rach again.

In other news, I'm really thankful for my new job. Today's the marks the end of my first week here, and I'm just really excited to be working again and to be doing something productive, like writting to my blog and checking emails.

The second Harry Potter book, done and done!

So, I just got back home from working out at Goodlife with my cousin Helen. I decided I'd workout legs today, so I started off with squats. Well, things started off good, pushing those quads and gluts until I notice a small tear in my pants, right in the crotch. My shorts are kind of old, and it always tears there, and I always have to stitch them back up again. Well, it's just a small hole, so I continue working out hoping nobody notices. I keep doing the squats, and after my last set, when all of a sudden I feel a draft riding up my shorts. I turn around to check my arse in the mirror, and there's a HUGE tear across my shorts. The tear literally goes across the entire backside of my shorts, and my arse is just sticking out. I just got home and measured how long the tear is, and it's 14 inches long. I really don't know how I did that to my shorts. Anyways, I decided to cut my workout short and show Helen what happened to my shorts. She saw the hole in my shorts and just wouldn't stop laughing. Thanks a lot there Hel. Thanks for understanding my incredibly embarassing situation. In conclusion, my arse is just getting way too big.

Phew! Finally finished the first Harry Potter book. What a long read that was. It seems like the books get longer and longer. I think I'm gonna have to just rent the movie for the next one.

On another note, I've just noticed I've been blogging for over a year now. Happy anniversary blogger!

I effin hate mowing the lawn. I finally decide to get off my lazy arse of doing nothing and mow the jungle of weeds outside of my house otherwise known as my lawn. Well, I'm definitely partially to blame for my lawn getting so out of control, but that's not the point. So I'm mowing the lawn, and everything going nicely when the back left wheel stops turning. Not only is it not turning on its own, powered by the motor like it's supposed to, but it's all jammed up and doesn't spin at all and just drags through the grass. I stop the motor and try to push the wheel back into place, and it starts to work for a bit. I continue mowing the lawn when the entire wheel breaks off the mower. What a pisser that was. I had to go to the garage and take the wheel off our old lawn mower to replace the broken wheel so that I could finish mowing the lawn. Anyways, that incident alone isn't that big a deal. But, considering last year, our lawn mower broke down completely and we just bought a brand new lawn mower last year. And this year, the one year old lawn mower stopped working and we had to bring it to the shop to get it repaired. It all just adds up and just gets really frustrating. I effin hate mowin the lawn.

Well yesterday was a fun day with family and friends. Ryan ol' bean is back from Conneticuit for the long weekend, so we decided to just hang out at his place for a bit. We didn't do much, but it was fun watching some stuff at his place and looking at pictures from his recent trip to London. Some of the pics aren't so bad, he doesn't look like a serial killer in all of them.

After spending time with Ryan was karaoke/bbq with the family. I met up with Andrew, Jeanne, Helen, Dave and Flora for some karaoke. Apparently Dave's got a secret talent for singing, that isn't so secret anymore. That guy can really belt out a tune. He's my vote for the next Canadian idol. The bbq was fun. It took forever to cook all of the food, and I was starving by 10 when we finally started eating. (singing really works up an appetite) Well, there was plenty of delicious food and I was stuffed by the end of it, so it was definitely worth the wait. Thanks to everyone who helped make the food, it was great. For people who know me, I try to stay away from kitchen duties and wasn't really involved in the food making process.

After the bbq I met up with some high school friends. Jon brought a special guest this time, Megan, who I've only met once before last night. Well, I showed up a little late, but it was nice of them to save some delicious cake for me. It was also a real surprise to find the seat beside Puja empty when I got there. Anyways, it was a lot of fun, but I'm not too sure what Megan thinks of me. I don't think she was too impressed when I said she wasn't quite a doctor, or when I said I'd try to swim to the surface of the water from a submarine, or when I said I'd start my own bobsled team to make it to the Olympics. Oh well, what can ya do eh?

Well, I've had a busy past week with lots of family stuff to do. Randy, my cousin from Vancouver came for a visit the past weekend. He came with the purpose of getting out and seeing Toronto and just getting to know his cousins and aunts and uncles in Toronto. Here's a quick summary of my week with Randy in Toronto.

On Sunday we took a "Long Lunch" in some small town called Warksworth, or something like that. It's an anual thing for this town where they set up a long table and cook up a bunch of food. Unfortunately it was raining that day, and we didn't partake in the long lunch and went to a diner instead. Oh well. On our way back, we stopped by at the Big Apple for some delicious apple pie. We had a big family dinner with all my aunts and uncles that night. Monday I had a bonus day at the beach playing beach volleyball with Allan. Got back and took Randy and my other cousins to Dave and Busters for dinner and games. Afterwards we got gelato. Tuesday we spent the day at Wonderland, where I forced Randy to go on all the rides. It was more than just peer pressure, I literally made him go on the rides. But, he didn't actually complain at all, and I think it was good for him. Wednesday all us cousins got together for a little bowling and dessert. A little disappointing because I didn't win at bowling, but I had some pretty stiff competition with my cousins. Thursday we didn't do much except play some tennis/basketball and head over to my cousins to play some games.

Friday I had to say goodbye to my cousin, because Allan and his friends (Jamie, Lotus, Vicky, and Colin) and I were headed to Ottawa for some white water rafting. The plan was to spend some time in Ottawa on Friday, stay over at the rafting place Friday night, raft for two days, and come back on Sunday night. Rafting was so much fun. On Saturday we did the 12 man boat which was a lot of fun, but I already did 12 man rafting before, so it wasn't anything too special. Sunday we got to try the 6 man boat. The 6 man boat was a lot more fun than the 12. It's just a lot bumpier and a bit tougher than the 12, and it's so much fun when the raft flips. It's just a mad scramble to get back into the raft, and it's not too dangerous so it's fine. There was one moment that was kind of scary when Allan fell out of the raft during one of the rapids. He was just going down stream, and he was just getting further and further away from the boat and it seemed like there was nothing we could do to catch him. Well, eventually the rapids slowed down, and another boat managed to pick him up, but the rapids are pretty strong, and at the moment it was actually kind of scary. It was a really fun and exhausting weekend though

Well, I just got back from my Vancouver road trip with Dwight. It was a fun trip, with lots to see driving across the states. The drive from Windsor to Seattle was about 40,000 km, and took us about 3.5 days to make the drive. It started off when I met Dwight in Windsor on Sunday. I met some of Dwight's friends, and we played a little poker, followed by a trip to the Windsor casino where I made a cool $40. Monday Dwight had to do some last minute packing and say some final good byes, but we still had some time to watch The Hills on MTV.

We took off early on Tuesday morning and crossed the border without a hitch. We made some stop offs along the way including the Corn Palace (some tourist trap where the outside of the palace is redecorated every year with corn husks), WallDrug (some tourist trap with a town that's supposed to be similar to the 1880's), Mt. Rushmore. The interesting thing was that there was a massive biker rally in South Dakota with an estimated 500,250 bikers attending. Everywhere along the interstate we saw bikers, and when we stopped in towns they were filled with bikes. Motels also had no vacancies because of the rally, and we had to set up tent at a KOA for one of the nights. We finally got to Seattle on Friday afternoon, where we met up with Rach. She gave us a tour of the Microsoft campus, pretty impressive. We met up with Vish and Justin for dinner and went out to a bar/lounge at night. Saturday we took a small tour of Seattle, and were on our way to Vancouver to meet up with my family for dinner. My uncle Albert and aunt Valerie took us out to dinner, and we went to the Night Market afterwards. the Night Market was pretty jokes. It was basically a whole bunch of Asians setting up little booths in a huge parking lot and just selling all this pirated/couterfeit stuff. Also, driving across the hick towns of the states, I was feeling like the only Asian around, and it was nice that I got to turn the tables on Dwight for a night. Sunday we got a chance to visit Stanley Park, and the UBC campus where we unpacked Dwight's stuff. Vancouver really seems like a nice place, I could really see myself living there. At night, my uncle and aunt took me to the Vancouver casino, where I ended up losing $40, evening me out from Windsor. I guess that's about it, not incredibly exciting, but it was fun and nice driving across the country.

I guess Dwight's starting a new career/life in Vancouver now. With the 3 hour time difference between Vancouver and Richmond Hill, I wonder what's going to happen to our Warcraft playing schedule? I guess we'll see.

So, I had a pretty fun weekend. On Friday I went to Nat's fellowship. It was a praise and worship night at his fellowship, and he was a major part of it. It seemed like he spent a lot of time practicing and preparing for the night, and I really think it paid off. I was particularly impressed with Nat's ability to play the drums. He's really got a gift for music. We also had a round of musical chairs at the start as kind of an icebreaker for the night, the winner of the game was gonna win a wallet. Me being the competitive person I am, was determined to win the game and the wallet, and I wasn't going to let the little kids at this fellowship get in my way. I'd say the average age of the people attending the fellowship that night was about 14, and me being a full decade older than them definately had a size advantage over them and I definately used it to my advantage. Anyways, I made it all the way to the final two, and it was me versus a little girl who I'd say was probably around 10. When it came down to the final two, I was definately not a crowd favourite that night, as everyone was booing me as I was using my weight to block the little kids from getting to the chairs, but it was all jokes. Anyways, the little girl ended up winning, so I guess that made everyone happy.

Jon came back for the weekend, so we hung out for a bit this weekend. Jon, Allan and I went to Pacific where Jon was window shopping for a new cell phone, and Allan was looking for a car air freshener. After shopping, I went over to Mark and Justin's place for a family birthday party. Boy can those Filipinos make some good shish kebobs and spring rolls, delicious! After spending some time with family, I met up with Jon, Nat, and Allan to watch Miami Vice. It was ok, not my kind of movie though.

Sunday we went to the beach for a little volleyball. Man, it's been a while since I've played volleyball at the beach. After some bad weather, and losing the net, it's about time we got things rolling again. Volleyball was a lot of fun, and the weather was really nice. Funny thing is, there was this scavanger hunt thing going on at the beach, and one of the clues/items to find was on the court beside ours. Jon and Allan saw this and took the opportunity to have some fun with it. Whenever we saw people coming to the court looking for the item, Jon and Allan would approach them and tell them that they reached the activity portion of the scavanger hunt. They'd say that in order to get the next item, they'd have to do retarded things like pushups, or hop on one leg and stuff like that. It was pretty hilarious. Anyways, it was a great day at the beach, and afterwards we all had a nice bbq at Dave's house. It was a fun weekend.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but here are some points I thought I'd mention. This trip included Jon, Allan, Justin, KennyG and I, and we stayed at the Mirage hotel.

Outcome: First off, did we take down the house M.I.T. style, or did Sin City claim the money of five more over confident visitors? Well, none of us made any money this trip. My original goal was to pay for the entire trip, and come up $200. Instead, I lost about $170. But, thanks to KennyG, the four of us got bumped up to first class and got a free round trip ticket with North West Airlines valued at about $200. So, in my opinion, I'm actually up about $30.

Flying First Class: We're number one!! On our flight to vegas, they overbooked the flight, and so were looking for volunteers to take a later flight. In order to compensate for the delayed flight, the four of us got bumped up to first class, as well as recieving a free round trip ticket with North West. We got delayed about three hours, but I think it was worth it. Classic moment on the plane. We sit down in our first class seats. The stewardess asks us right when we board the plane if we'd like anything to drink. KennyG replies with "Could I get a glass of champagne?" Right away KennyG is taking advantage of the first class. KennyG gets shot down and the stewardess replies back "I'm sorry, we don't carry champagne on the plane" and offers white wine instead. Classic KennyG!

Food: Despite what people may say, the food isn't very cheap in Vegas. We paid $20 for our buffet, which isn't really cheap. True, the food was really good for a buffet, but food everywhere was pretty pricey and I didn't have much food to eat. I complain a lot when I'm hungry, and you can ask Jon that I was complaining about being hungry just about the entire trip, even right after our meals cuz the portions were too small and I didn't want to pay for extra food.

Pool Side: Most mornings we woke up bright and early and hit the pool. Mirage had one of the nicest pools on the strip, so we took advantage most morning with a dip in the pool and spending some time tanning. What a relaxing way to start the day. We got some awsome pics with Justin's underwater camera, which I'll post up whenever everyone sends me their pics.

Cirque Du Soleil: The only show we saw in vegas was Cirque Du Soleil, Mystere. Like pretty much everyone who's seen the show, I thought it was a really amazing show. There's just so much going on sometimes, it's hard to focus on any one thing. The acrobatics is unbelievable, and the costumes/music/lighting and everything else is just amazing. It's the kind of show where you just sit back, relax, and just let the show wash over you like warm water.

Gun Shop: It's so much easier purchasing/using guns in the States than it is in Canada, so we took the chance in Vegas to try out some firearms. Jon, Allan, and Justin tried using a semi-automatic, while KennyG and I tried a 40 caliber pistol. Maybe I'm a bit of a gun wuss here, but I was kind of nervous when I first picked up that gun. Just the thought that if I made a mistake I might accidentally shoot/kill someone kind of scared me. Once I fired my first shot, and kind of got the feel, it was a lot of fun and really exciting. Also got some pics from the gun shop, which I'll post up later, but after the visit, I can see why Americans love their guns. It was really quite the experience.

Vegas, here we come!!!

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but here goes. The past Friday I went to Wonderland with my bro and cousins. Jason's working at Wonderland this summer, so he scored us a couple of free tickets. It was fun. There aren't any new rides at Wonderland this year, but there's a new stunt show which we watched. It was all right. We hit a bunch of the roller coasters and spent some time at Splash Works, it was a nice day. Jon also came back from London this weekend, so we hung out a bit that night. Allan and KennyG also came over and we watched a movie.

Saturday was Canada's day. To celebrate, Jon, Allan, KennyG and I played a little doubles tennis. It was a nice day for tennis, but none of us played too well. The plan was to watch fireworks at night, but it turned out to be a really cloudy night, and I thought it was going to rain. So instead, we set out to the casino in preparation for our trip to Las Vegas. Jon came home up $70, I broke even. To celebrate Jon's winnings and Canada's birthday, we went to Golden Griddle and chowed down on some bacon and eggs.

Sunday I had a family get together. Flora, who's been travelling all across Europe for the past year has finally come home. We had a BBQ at Dave's house. Boy did I eat a lot for dinner. We had salad, hamburgers, pork chops, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, sishkabobs, sausages, and watermelon. I really packed it in. It was a fun night, we watched the Russell Peter's stand up, played some games, looked at pictures and watched a movie. Good times.

So, this week begins Allan and my workout schedule. It's pretty hardcore, but hopefully we'll be able to keep it up. It's a combination of working out and swimming.

A lot of sun this weekend. I'm getting darker and darker and looking more and more like a Mexican with each passing day. Seems like people have caught the tennis bug. I've been playing lots of tennis lately. Nat just got back from his trip to Europe Thursday night, so we played a bit of tennis on Friday. It was a pretty good game, Nat's better than I had hoped. It should be a pretty heated match between Nat and Jer vs Allan and I. After tennis, we hung out at his place and looked at pictures and talked about his past three weeks in Europe.

Saturday was an insanely hot day out. You had to be out of your mind to do anything physical outside in that kind of weather. That didn't stop Nat, Allan, KennyG and I from playing a round of doubles. It was an all right game. I don't think anyone played extrmely well, but it was a fun game. After the game we went to over to DQ for some hot eats and cool treats, minus the hot eats. I always get a Reese's pieces blizzard, which was so good. Allan and KennyG also got blizzards, but were complaining the entire time they didn't get an Arctic Rush like Nat. Geez, these guys just don't know a good thing when they've got it. They all came over that night to watch the Oilers game/workout. What a great game! I predict the Oilers take the cup tonight with a 3-2 victory!

Yesterday was another incredibly hot day out. I decided to go blading with Eric. It's about my second time blading, so I'm pretty impressed I didn't fall. Eric is pretty ambitious with his roller blading and wanted to blade from Missisauga to Toronto along or something like that. Well, we got to Humber, which I think is pretty far, it took us about 4 hours to get there and back. There's a trail that goes along the Lakeshore from Missisauga all the way to Ashbridges, so it was actually a really nice trail with a lot of nice scenery. It was a lot of fun, except that my blades really suck and the last hour I was just complaining cuz my feet were killing me and I thought I was going to die. We also happen to come across an outdoor community pool, which happen to be free, so we decided to jump in. Nothing better than jumping into a nice pool on a hot summer day when you've been roller blading. Man, my legs are really sore today.

Well, I've been having a really busy week with work and stuff, so I'm gonna take a break from work and update my blog. On Friday night, Allan and Ken came over to watch a movie. We watched some Korean war movie (I forget the name), which actually turned out to be pretty good. Allan and Ken slept through most of the movie, but I thought the movie pretty interesting, so I stayed up and watched the entire movie. It was a lot better than the last Korean movie I watched. The last Korean movie I watched was with a friend of mine, and it was some kind of Korean romantic comedy. The movie was so retarded, and all I remember is at the end of the movie, the guy dies and turns into the wind or something like that. And then the last scene is of the girl standing in her apartment and all of a sudden the wind/her dead ex-boyfriend starts blowing in through her window and everything starts blowing around. It was so retarded/cheesy, but it didn't stop my friend (who I'll keep nameless) from balling her eyes out. I really don't know what was wrong with her, but it was kinda funny watching her cry uncontrolably while I was laughing my arse off at how retarded the movie was. I remember thinking to myself "Is my friend crying?", "She can't be crying because of this movie, it's so retarded", "Maybe there's something wrong with her, maybe I should find out what's wrong", "Maybe I should try to cheer her up?", "Wait a minute, she is crying cuz of this movie!", and that's when I continue laughing my arse off. Anyways, this Korean movie was much better, two thumbs up!

Well, yesterday was a beautiful day out, as well as a Sunday, which means volleyball at the beach. Unfortunately, and I don't understand how this happened, but my brother lost the volleyball net. Yeah, no one seems to know what happened to it. So yeah, there was no volleyball on sunday, which was really disappointing. Anyways, instead, Jon, Allan, Ken and I decided to play a little tennis instead. We played a couple games of doubles. I thought KennyG and I could win it, unfortunately the amazing duo of Jon and Allan was simply too much for us to handle. Oh well, next time. After tennis, we played some basketball with my bro and my cousins. It was a fun game, we all really suck though. I'm just glad there were no African-Canadians around the courts, it woulda been a pretty embarassing display of our skills in basketball.

Still not sure what's gonna happen with volleyball this summer with no net. All that work at Goodlife, gone to waste.

So, I'm using Puja's 2nd Goodlife week pass right now. Getting into shape is a lot of hard work. Honestly, my entire body is aching right now and it pains me to move. Well, I hope all this hard work is worth it, hopefully it'll all eventually pay off. Maybe with me finding a hot girl at the beach (or anywhere else for that matter) this summer?

Well, I just got back from playing tennis with Allan. Some of the worse tennis I've ever played in my life, but that's not the point. The point is that the combination of Allan and I playing tennis mixed with little kids don't go well together. Today while Allan and I were warming up, some little brown kid comes onto the court and starts bugging Allan to let him play tennis. Now this kid just wouldn't shut up and was being really annoying. He was just on the court and following Allan around begging him to let him play. At one point the kid was litterally just screaming on the court and throwing a tantrum because Allan wouldn't let him use his raquet. Now, Allan just finished a week of studying for exams and had about 4 hours of sleep each night and was definately not in the mood to deal with this punk kid, and neither was I. Finally the little kid just grabs one of our balls and runs out of the court. I was a little stunned at first, and was wondering if the kid was really going to just run away with my ball. Then the bratty little kid yelled at me "What are you gonna do about it?" and I just lost it. With my raquet still in my hand I bolted out of the tennis court and started chasing after this kid. I started running at full sprint and chased the kid all the way to the basketball courts before the kid started screaming and dropped the tennis ball. I grabbed the ball and started heading back to the tennis courts, Allan on the other hand kept walking to the kid with his raquet like he was gonna beat the sh*t out of him. The kid kept running to the playground. Kids, I just love 'em!

Well, looks like summer's officially begun. The weather's getting warmer, Wonderland is open full time, people are finishing classes, summer is definately in the air. I kicked off this first summer weekend with a good start.

Well, two of my friends, Ryan and Gus, came for a visit this weekend. I guess cuz it's a long weekend in the states, people had that extra day off work to visit. On Saturday I met up with Ryan in the afternoon. We got a chance to hang out and just hear all of his crazy stories from Conneticut. Well, it looks like he's doing well and doing a lot of good work at his new job, so I'm glad for him. I went out for dinner with Ryan and a bunch of his friends, it was fun. After dinner I met up with Jimi at a sports bar to watch the UFC match. It was a pretty good match. I've only started watching UFC, but I'm really liking it. I'm starting to recognize some of the faces and names in UFC.

Sunday was the first official beach volleyball of '06. We had a pretty good turnout. A bunch of Andrew's/Jeanne's friends came, as well as Gus and Eric. It was a typical fun day at the beach. Spent the day relaxing in the sun and playing lots of vball. Only thing was it got kinda cloudy in the afternoon, and actually got kinda chilly, but it was all right. After vball, Gus, Eric and I met up with Neeta and Ryan for dinner. Now, I love/grew up eating at Swiss Chalet (sometimes I just need a good rotisserie chicken), but apparently Swiss Chalet wasn't good enough for Neeta's pallet, so we went to a place called Montana's instead. After dinner, Gus, Eric and I watched X3. I thought it was ok, similar to X1 and X2 if you ask me.

Summer has begun.

So, the past weekend, my family and I decided to head down to the states to partake in my cousin's graduation from med school. There was a lot of driving going on this weekend. Thankfully it was all done by my older brother Andrew. My family are all spread across 5 states in the north eastern part of the states, so it took a while getting everyone together. Well, the graduation itself was really boring as expected, but it was nice getting together with the cousins. We mostly just ate out a lot and hung out like we usually do. One long weekend definately wasn't enough time to drive all the way to NYC and back, but it was fun.

On a different note, on one of the many car rides, my uncle put in a Burmese music video on the DVD player. First of all, I was really surprised when the song wasn't half bad. I guess Burma's adopted some of western pop music culture, and the song had a pop beat with Burmese lyrics. Very different from the Burmese songs I'm used to hearing at home that my mom plays. Second of all, since it was a music video, it kinda showed what Burmese people look like. Well, for me growing up, I've never quite known my nationality. My grandparents were all born in China, my parents were both born in Burma, and I was born in Canada. I've always considered myself to be Chinese Canadian, and definately not Burmese (that's now you say it btw, not Burmanese or Burmesium). Well, for my entire life, I don't think anyone's ever told me that I actually "look" Chinese. I tell people that I'm Chinese, and that's usually good enough, but no one has ever told me that I look like a typical China man. After watching that Burmese music video, it all started to make sense. The people in the music video just seemed to have a lot of similar characteristics. The eyes, the nose, the skin tone, it all looked very familiar in me and my family. All my life I've been rejecting the very dark skinned, kind of mix between brown and chinese part of myself, but maybe it's time that I begin to embrace my Burmese heritage?

Actually, the country Burma no longer exists. It's called Myanmar now, but it will always be Burman to me.

So yesterday, Neeta and I went out for dinner. I kinda had an itching for steak, so we decided to go to the Keg. Man, I haven't been to that place in a long time, but I don't remember that place being so pricey. Well, the food was really good, and my steak was cook nicely (medium-rare, nice and bloody) and the twice baked potatoes were really good. I guess when you have a full time job and starting to make money you can afford going to nicer places once in a while. Next step would be buying nicer clothes once in a while.

Friday was fun. Nat, Allan, my cousins and I went to Nat's fellowship bbq. It was fun, played some football and definately got my fill of hamburgers and hot dogs. We came over to my place after and played a little poker. Little Justin had a crazy night and took the pot.

It seemed like nothing was going right on Saturday. It took me almost two hours just to drive to Neeta's place. We had a whole afternoon planned at Eric's place, but I was so late that we ended only spending 1.5 hours at Eric's place before he had to leave. At least the mango smoothies were really good. Anyways, there was a lot of other stuff that pissed me off that day.

Well, today's mother's day. A shout out goes to my mom, who's always been there for me, but is always under appreciated by my brothers and I. I only hope I can be a son that she'd be proud of for today and for the rest of my life.

Well, it's been a pretty physically demanding week for me. Friday was football, Saturday was tennis and basketball. Sunday I had a break, but watched baseball. I played tennis with Allan Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for the tennis match of the century (Allan and I vs Nat and Jer). Played volleyball with Nat on Tuesday. Worked out my arms on Wednesday. Today I might start my 2nd weekly pass at Goodlife. My legs are so tired.

So, I had a fun weekend, this is how it played out. Jon came back from London on Friday, so we decided to play a little football in the evening. But, before playing football, there was a little match up in basketball that needed to be settled first. It was my cousin Mark and I versus the Rhee boys. I'm not too sure what happened, whether it was Jon's spring league training, or just my lack of skil in basketball, but the Rhees shut us out 3-0. Oh well, we'll have to have a longer game for a rematch. After basketball, a bunch of us played a bit of football. It was a lot of fun, except that my team lost something like 20 touchdowns to 5. Looks like it was just a losing night for the Kwas, and a dominating night for the Rhees. Man, I hate those Koreans!

On Saturday, Jon, Allan and I decided to play a little tennis in the afternoon. Tennis was all right, but it was kinda windy, so we decided to play basketball instead at my cousin's house. Basketball was fun. Some funny moments like Jon ripping the basketball from my 8 year old cousin's hand and taking it to the basket for a layup. Some people just don't know the meaning of sportsmanship. Played a couple of games, played a little HORSE, it was fun. After basketball, we went down town to meet up with KennyG for schwarmas and pizza. The schwarmas were all right, but nothing compared to the schwarmas in London. Didn't do too much at KennyG's place, mostly just hung out and watched some movies and stuff.

Sunday KennyG kicked us out for an early dragon boat practise. Jon, Allan, and I decided to go to dim sum for brunch. Dim sum was good as usual. I was an idiot and spilled my tea twice, Jon also ran into his future self about 20 yrs down the road. After dim sum, we picked up Cheryl and headed over to watch the Jay's game. It was a really good game, and lots of fun. Jays won 3-1. We got some free photos, got some free dolls that were supposed to be for kids under the age of 14. But it was all good cuz it was Asian heritage day at the SkyDome, so we could be as Asian as we wanted to be. After the Jay's game, I went out for dinner with some of Allan's friends. It was fun, we went to some Thai place. It was a good night except that Allan scratched his rims on the way home... sorry man, I know it hurts.

Yes! I finally got that retarded problem solved! And yeah, the problem was really retarded. But I guess with computers, the smallest problems are usually the hardest ones to find. Anyways, I'm actually pretty proud of myself for figuring it out. Throughout all of undergrad, I always took the easy way out with assignments. If I ever ran into any problems, I'd probably spend an hour tops trying to figure it out. I'd always just end up asking the T.A. or get a friend to help me out, and I guess I never really did anything on my own. This was the first time I was in a situation where I couldn't solve a problem, and no one was gonna bail me out of it. Well, I guess it wasn't that huge of a problem to begin with, and it seems like I'm making such a big deal over it, but for me, I guess it kinda is a big deal. I think right now I'll get something to eat and have a nice guiltless workout.

Holy shize, has work got me frustrated! It's just one of those days where nothing is working is working the way it's supposed to. I wish I knew how to fix this problem, it's really pissing me off... Man, and it's so nice out, I wonna play some football. Does anyone here use Resin for their web application and knows how to upgrade to version 3.0 and wonna help a brotha out?

Well, I didn't have an exceptionally exciting weekend, but I was pretty productive. On Saturday I was busy at home doing spring cleaning. Includes sweeping the entire house since our vacuum is on the fritz and cleaning all the rooms. I even finally dusted my room and tidied up all of my clothes. Yesterday was a nice day out, so my brothers and I were all busy doing yard work. For anyone who doesn't know this about me, I absolutely hate doing yard work. I dunno who's bright idea it was of filling our entire house with all these ugly plants. Honestly, for anyone who's been to my house, we've got trees just growing everywhere. They're not maintained at all, and they're just growing everywhere and they're so ugly. All I know is when I grow up and get my own house, I'm not gonna have any plants on my lawn, and instead of grass, I'm just gonna have astro turf. Anyways, that's just my rant on the ugly plants at my house. As I was saying, yesterday my bros and I spent the afternoon with a saw and hedge clippers and just hacked down everything. I hope they all die so I don't have to do it again next year. Well, I thought I'd just mention my labours this weekend since I'm sure that most of the people that know me think that I'm just a lazy slob and doesn't lift a finger when I'm at home. I also played some good tennis with Allan, and played a lot of great games of Warcraft with Dwight.

So, a couple days ago, Allan and I decided to play a little tennis. So we go there around 4:00, and when we get there, the tennis courts are just filled with about 40 kids around the age of 4 or 5. These kids are just screaming and running around all over the place, with like 2 or 3 adults watching over them. So, when Allan and I get to the courts, the adults tell the kids to keep off the last court to let Allan and I play tennis. We start playing, and these curious little kids decide to watch Allan and I play. Let me tell you, it was so much pressure playing in front of 20 ~ 30 little kids, all either cheering for you, or booing for you. Well, it started off with most of the little ones cheering for "the guy in the grey shirt". I was wearing a grey shirt, and Allan was wearing a white shirt. But after a couple bad hits into the net, and with Allan's natural charisma and skills with little children, how quickly did those kids go over to Allan's side. For the rest of the match, the kids were just chanting, "go guy in the white shirt, go guy in the white shirt!", and they were just booing me whenever I'd hit a ball into the net. Well, the adults told the kids not to boo us, cuz it was rude, but I could hear them all say "The guy in the white shirt is the fastest! He hits the ball super fast!" The kids even divided themselves up onto different sides of the court to show who they were cheering for. I had no one on my side. It really was quite the experience. I've never had an audience watching me play before, and boy were these kids vocal about it. It must be what Federer or Roddick feel like during the US Open. Or does anyone remember that match where the entire stadium was booing for Serena Williams? I now know what that must have felt like, and I really feel for her...

On Friday we had a surprise part for good old Ryan. For some reason I didn't think it was a "real" surprise party, and I almost ruined it by showing up 10 minutes late, and by parking my car in their parking lot. It's all good, cuz Ryan showed up an hour later, and a friend told me that I should probably move my car a bit further from the house. Well, it was a fun night, chilling with all of Ryan's imaginary friends. They're actually pretty nice for imaginary friends. Well, here's one to you Ryan, I'm really gonna miss you when you're gone, don't forget to let me know whenever you're in town. Stop just reading everyone else's blog and get your own blog so I know what crazy things you're up to.

On Saturday morning, Allan and I headed to London to visit Jon. We got there at around noon and had lunch at Wonder Sushi. It was all right. Well, Wonder Sushi's always good, but I think they were kinda sloppy with their rolls, and the really perky waitress wasn't there. After lunch, we headed over to the driving range. I think I'm getting worse at golf, I gonna try to work on my swing a bit more this summer. Jon and I also made a bet to see who could hit the ball closest to the flag. I lost this critical bet. Went back to Jon's place for dinner which consisted of a delicious schwarma(sp?). We mostly just chilled for the rest of the night. Played some poker, watched the Leafs game, watched the UFC. Oh man! Some really good fights!

Sunday we got up late and went out for lunch. Allan and I decided to go shopping since Jon had to "study" at the library. The guy lasted for about 15 minutes before it was time for him to pack it up and go home. Unfortunately for Allan and I, all the stores were closed, so we went to campus to meet up with some of Allan's Western buddies. With nothing to do, and with time to kill till dinner, Allan and I went back to Jon's place. Jon was already in his PJs and looking for any reason to get out of doing work. We watched Wedding Crashers, which was a pretty funny movie. "She was my first Asian!". Allan and I met up with some of his friends for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was good, I got some of the dirt on Allan during his undergrad. We drove home after dinner, but it was a good weekend.

On a different note, my little bro just got a job at Wonderland. I'm really proud of the guy, so I'll refer to him as Winner-J instead of the usual Loser-J for this post. Well, this is a pretty exciting time in my life right now, all three Kwa kids have a job! Wooooaaaahhhh Kwa!

Yesterday I had a great workout followed up with some fun volleyball. It's all coming together for summer '06.

So I had a pretty fun weekend. Friday was Care's birthday, so a bunch of us went out to celebrate. It was a joined party with Andrea, so there were a lot of people, and I didn't know about half of them, but it was still a lot of fun. We went to Alice Fazooli's for dinner, which was all right, except that it was pretty expensive with tiny portions. After dinner we went out to some lounge, I forget the name. We just hung out and stuff. I finally learned how to play that drinking game with the cups and die.

Saturday I went down town to visit Neeta and Eric. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant called Il Pasto, or something like that. I had the escargot pizza, and it was so good. Not too expensive either, I liked it a lot better than Alice Fazooli's. After dinner we watched the Inside Man, Eric vetoed all other choices. The movie was all right. It kind of had an interesting plot, but at the same time the movie kind of dragged on and got kind of boring. I crashed at Neeta's place. We kind of slept in on Sunday, and pretty much bumed around the entire day. We literally didn't leave her room the entire day and pretty much watched a bunch of DVD's and listened to music. The one thing that we did end up doing was go for a swim, but that definately took a lot of effort just getting out of bed. But it was good cuz the swim was a lot of fun, and Neeta's definately showing great signs of improvement.

Today after work, I finally used the free week pass to GoodLife that Puja gave to me (thanks). Man, what a great workout! Did chest, shoulders, and tris. This will be an intense week for working out. I just got back home and had my second dinner. After I finish this blog, I'm gonna down a delicious protein shake.

So yesterday was a fun night. The gmail thread that's been going on with friends from highschool has been pretty entertaining. It looks like more and more people are joining this thread, which is good cuz it helps a bunch of us keep in touch with eachother even though everyone's busy with their own lives. It also gives me some interesting stuff to read when I'm bored at work. Anyways, last night Nat, Britta, Puja, Jib, my bro and I got together for some bubble tea and bowling. It was nice seeing Britta, Puja and Jib since I don't get to see them very often. Yeah, and I still can't get over how smart Britta and Puja really are. Sometimes I forget how smart they really are and I'll even start to think of them as average people. But then something will come up and I'll realize that I'm in the presence of something much more and I could only wish that I could be that smart. Well, at least I beat them in bowling. Dang, and I was only two points behind Nat. I haven't beaten that guy in over a year, it's really pissing me off.

So, I had a purdy fun weekend. On Friday, a bunch of us got together at Boston Pizza. Jon even made it back from London to join us for dinner, and to collect money for his cancer fundraising. But yeah, it was a lot of fun, Nat and I got to see all the Western boys combined with Erika, pure jokes. Afterwards, we went over to my place and played the Friends trivia game. Jason and I (and my cousins, but they don't count cuz they don't watch Friends) nearly beat everyone else, which is pretty impressive considering the other team had both Nat (watching every episode of Friends for the THIRD time) and KennyG (nearly killed himself rushing home to watch the series finale).

Saturday afternoon, I met up with Ryan to watch a movie. We watched the Ultimate Avengers, the animated movie. It was all right, I loved the X-men and Spiderman cartoons when I was growing up, so this movie kind of reminded me of that. Later that night, Jon and Nat came over to watch the Leaf's game, but the game was so depressing we decided to abandon that idea and go out for dessert instead. Puja's also in town preparing for interviews, so she joined Jon and I at Just Desserts. After, Allan and KennyG showed up and we went over to my place to play some poker. Puja's gotta learn not to go in for every hand, especially when KennyG's getting straights every hand. Unfortunately, Jon took home the pot.

So, yesterday was fun. Neeta, Ryan, Naomi and I went out to celebrate a number of things. Neeta getting even older, Ryan and I starting our jobs this week. We went to north K-Town and had dinner at a Korean restaurant. I had some delicious bulgogi and got a chance to see how Ryan's been doing at his new job. You'll be the next spider solitaire champion in no time! This is also the same restaurant I went to with Ryan a while ago where I happen noticed a large number of attractive females. Last night was a disappointment in that respect, except for the two lovely ladies in the same booth as me.

Best things about my new job include:
Not having to shower/brush my teeth before going to work.
Not having to commute three hours to work.
A free cafeteria with my own personal chef.
My own personal gym in the office.

It's pretty sweet...

So yesterday was a fun day. Neeta, Eric and I went for a little skiing adventure at Blue Moutain. Things were a little uncertain with the warm weather we've been having lately, as well as whether to ski or snowboard because of the different skill levels. In the end, Eric and I decided that we would board for the night, and Neeta was going to ski. Well for those who don't know about my boarding abilities, I suck. I've gone twice in the past, and everyone who's tried boarding before knows how much you fall and how much it hurts when you start learning. Well, last night was a lot of fun, I think I was starting to get the hang of it. I actually had a couple of runs where I didn't fall and felt in control the whole way down. True, we never left the bunny hill, but come next season, I'm pretty confident I should be ready to tackle the blues. One funny story. So, Eric and I had some troubles staying on our feet when getting off the chair lift. One time, Neeta comes up with the bright idea of giving me a second head start to get off the chair lift, and then get off in order to avoid collisions. Neeta ends up missing her chance to get off the lift and the chair lift turns around and begins to go down with her still on the chair lift. Yeah, so we had to stop the chair lift, the chair lift operator had to come out and take off her skis, and then we had to carry her down off the lift. I was so embarassed. It was a fun day.

I also start work on Monday. I'm pretty excited about that.

So yesterday, Nat and Allan stopped over in the afternoon for a small workout. Nat's working, but still manages to get to my place by 3:00 which I still find interesting. So we had a small workout, Nat and I later play some PS2. For dinner, I went down town to hang out with Neeta. First we played the "Friend Trivia Game". Even though Neeta would consider herself a "Friends Fan", and owns something like the first 7 seasons on DVD, I still took her down with ease. We then watched some Blind Date, "Dates From Hell" on DVD. Man, I love that show, it's so great! Afterwards, we talked about a bunch of stuff, it was pretty funny.

Today, Allan and I visited my cousin Helen at her clinic. Helen has her own chiropractor clinic, while Allan's still in 2nd year, so Allan wanted to what it's like to open your own clinic. They talked for what seemed like forever about chiropractics and stuff I knew nothing about, but it was all right. After a long discussion, I got a chance to get adjusted by a certified chiropractor with a real adjustment table. Boy was there a huge difference! Nat, you would have loved it! Allan, you still got a lot to learn to reach the level of cousin Kwa.

So, this is what my weekend's been like so far. On Friday, Eric and I met up for dinner at some Brazilian restaurant. The food was pretty good, and I think it was authentic since the waitresses didn't know how to speak English. Afterwards, we met up with Neeta at a pub called Madison's. It was my first time at this pub, but it was a really cool pub with a lot of people and a really good atmosphere. We watched/listened to some guy playing the piano. He was really good, and played a bunch of classic/popular songs that I know. It was a pretty fun night.

Saturday morning I got up early to go bowling with Nat, Tiff, and her younger sister Candace. I had a decent day of bowling, but props goes out to Nat for bowling two games over 200, and one game with no open frames (for those who don't bowl, that's pretty impressive). Afterwards, we went out for lunch at Nat's favorite restaurant for won-ton noodles. Nat came over afterwards and we hung out and played some games on PS2.

I haven't done much today, except that I just got back from a swim with Allan. I had a pretty good swim. There's a pretty funny story about a guy who absolutely reeked of BO in the pool, but I think it's kinda mean posting that on my blog. Hopefully Allan'll post a funny version of the story on his blog instead.

Congradts Ryan! I won't go into details on what I'm congradulating you for in my public blog, but I'm really proud of you! We'll go celebrate sometime!

So, Friday was a fun night. First of all, Nat, Jon, Alland and I met up for dinner at the Old Galley the fish and chips were great as usual. We then said goodbye to Nat who went to fellowship as the rest of us headed down town to visit KennyG. We headed over to KennyG's, but first we had to pick up some Munchies and a video. We got to KennyG's and met up with him and Clara. We played some poker and listened to some music in preparation for the main event. Unfortunately I was the first one taken out in poker, by Allan, which meant I would be the one sleeping on the floor. Well, it was a fun night, mostly just hung out doing stupid stuff.

The next morning we got up pretty early and headed back home. Jon, Allan and I stopped off at the Golden Griddle for a brunch buffet. At night, we headed out again to watch the UFC fight at a sports bar. We met up with Jimi and his friends at WEGZ, which is a really awsome sports bar by Vaughn Mills. It's such a huge sports bar, and there are so many huge TVs, and there's a ticker that goes across the entire bar with all the latest scores, and the place was totaly PACKED. Well, the UFC was really good, and there were some really good fights. It was a lot of fun.

So, on Friday I went over to the library to do some studying, since I got nothing better to do and I've decided I should try to do something with my life. After getting back from the library, Allan came over for another back cracking/bowflex workout. He didn't stay for very long trying to avoid watching Nat and I take on my cousins and bro in a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. Nat and I won of course. Later Eric stopped over, and my brother joined us for a game of poker. I was sooooo pissed off cuz my brother went all in on the first round, and I figured he was just bluffing, and I had a pretty decent hand, so I decided to call. Man, the guy had pocket aces and took me down in the first round! So pissed! So, we played another round of poker afterwards, and it was a pretty long game with Nat and I as the final two. Unforunately, Nat took home the pot and regains his title as poker champ.

On Saturday, I got woken up early by my cousins wanting to play some PS2. Eric (who stayed over) decided to have an early morning workout on the bowflex. Even though Eric's got about 20lbs over me, I'm glad I was still able to bend more power rods than him. We met up with Ryan for lunch at an all-you-can-eat dim sum place. I was planning on eating about a million har-gows since it was all-you-can-eat, but the har-gows were only mediocre at best. Eric came over to my place to practise some guitar before heading out to watch a movie. I can't even remember what movie we watched. All I remember is that it sucked, and I didn't like it. It's that movie with Samuel L Jackson in it. My advice would be to pass on this one. Oh yeah, it was Freedomland.

So, yesterday was a fun night. I met up for bubble tea with Ryan and Phil, but the special guest of the night was Adrienne. I think Adrienne's been mad at me or something for the past year. I think she's been avoiding me cuz I haven't seen her at all the past year, and we stopped messaging eachother. Well, hopefully after seeing her last night, it'll be the end of the Adrienne drought. Well, it was fun, we played some cards and had some bubble tea and food. Adrienne's always got the funniest little stories to tell, and it was nice to see how she was doing. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to do a better job of keeping in touch.

A quick weekend update. On Friday, Jimi stopped by in the afternoon. We played some games as well as had a great Bowflex workout. I think I've created another bowflex believer. In fact, he's on his way over right now to workout again. Now that's dedication! Justin also came back this weekend. Justin, Allan and I went out to a new Thai restaurant. It was fun, and the food was pretty good. After dinner, we came back to my place and met up with Nat. I finally broke Nat's 4 game poker winning streak and took home the pot.

On Saturday, Allan and I hit up another casino run. We went up to the Blue Heron casino and played a bit of Black Jack. I played of course, and Allan once again took the role of spectator. Well, it was a good night though, I was up $150, but got greededy and ended the night up $60. Still not a bad night though. Man, I woulda bought that A&F shirt I saw in the afternoon shopping with Allan if I knew I would have a winning night at the casino. Oh well.

On Sunday I went for a swim again with former lifeguard, Allan Kwong. If anyone read one of my previous blog posts, I was saying how I was challenging everyone in the pool and no one would race me. Well, it finally happened. With the help of Allan telling everyone in the pool how slow and out of shape I was, two of the youngsters (ages 16 and 17) decided they'd race me. Well, it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday I went with Nat and some of his friends for the third round of Blue Moutain sking. It was a lot of fun. There's a little terrain park where you can do jumps and go down rails and stuff, and we decided to give it a shot. Anyways, I tried a lot of jumps and tried to go down the rails, but there were a lot of big falls. Props to Nat for successfully landing a full 360 jump. I didn't actually see it, but mad props goes out to you. I got a bunch of bumps and bruises today, but it was a lot of fun.

So yesterday I finally got a chance to meet Ryan's imaginary friends. He's been going on and on and on for the past couple of months about his imaginary friends that he claims to hang out with. He keeps telling Neeta and I how he's always hanging out with his friends and drinking bubble tea and playing games and stuff, yet Neeta and I have never really met these so called friends of his. Well, yesterday I finally got to meet his friends, and they actually do exist, and they're actually really nice. We went to some bubble tea place and just hung out and played some games. It was fun, Ryan and his friends taught me how to play Bridge. I think Bridge is a lot like Euker, except that there's a lot more strategy involved. Well, it was fun, especially since Tiffany and I beat Ryan and Mitchell. We'll call it beginner's luck, as well as excellent coaching.

So, yesterday Allan and I went for another swim. I'd say we had a pretty good swim, I think I went for a pretty long time (considering the shape I'm in) without stopping or taking a break. After that little warm up, I felt the urge to have a little friendly competition. For those who might not know, I used to swim competitively, and one of the things I miss most about it is the competition. Win or lose, I just love the feeling of going all out and giving everything you've got in a race against someone else and seeing who comes out on top. Anyways, there was a bunch of kids (I call them kids, but they were actually in their late teens or early twenties) and they were pretty good swimmers and apparently worked at the pool, so I asked them if any of them wanted to race me. I asked about four random people in the pool if any of them wanted to race me, but to my great disappointment, no one wanted to race. Allan was also there and really wanted to watch someone take me down, but unfortunately no one was up for the challenge. When I got home, I talked to Dwight, and told him how no one wanted to race me at the pool. He thinks there might be something wrong with me and that it's not normal for people to challenge other people to a race in the middle of a public lane swim. I thought about it, and maybe he's right. I've gone to a lot of public swims, and not once has anyone ever challenged me to a race (even though I'd totally be up for it) and yet I'm always asking random strangers to race. Oh well, who knows what it is, maybe feel like I got something to prove?

Well, the weather's been a bit colder the past week, which meant there was finally some snow on the ground. Yesterday Nat and I decided to make use of our seasons passes and head up to Blue Moutain. Now, I know I'm not the best skier in the world, and I know I'm far from being an expert, but after skiing Whistler, I've kinda turned into a ski snob. I just go whizzing down the slopes trying to look good thinking I'm hot sh*t. But in all honesty, Blue Moutain really doesn't compare with the slopes of Whistler, it's just a totally different experience. With that being said, skiing was still a lot of fun, and there was plenty of snow on the moutain. Well, I got back from skiing after dinner, but it was KennyG's birthday, so KennyG, Allan, Erika and I went out to celebrate. We went to Honest Lawyers for some drinks and some grub. It was fun, KennyG's just so busy, too busy to even check his email, so I hardly get to see the guy. Well, it was fun just hanging out and watching a tipsy Allan knock over a glass all over himself, smoothe move Dungeon Master. It was also pretty hilarious watching Allan and KennyG in full action with Erika, I really don't know how she puts up with it. Anyways, it was a fun night.

Today, my cousin Helen turned a big three - zero. Yes, she is now over the hill. For dinner, all of the family got together for a classic ten course meal at the Dragon Centre restaurant. For all the Chinese people out there, you know what I'm talking about. The dinner came fully loaded with the lobster and the bird's nest, etc. It was sooooo good! For the non-Chinese people out there, yall don't know what you're missing. Well, the food was excellent, and it's always nice having family get togethers. Good times.

So, yesterday Jimi invited me over with some of his friends to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championships on pay-per-view. It was a good show with a lot of good action. Overall, all of the fights were pretty exciting to watch with maybe one exception. I don't really follow UFC too much, but Jimi seems to be pretty into it, and I gotta say that I do find it pretty entertaining. I hate that WWF sh*t, especially when compared to UFC which is so brutally real. I think I'm starting to pick up some of the moves and strategies that they use in UFC, which may come in handy one day in case someone decides to mess with this bowflex body.

Today I met up with Neeta, Ryan and Eric. We met up for some brunch down town. We went to a place called "Over Easy" and the food was really good. Afterwards we did a bit of shopping and hung out for a bit at Neeta's. I learned something interesting today though. Apparently Neeta has problems remembering things that we've done together, it's like she's removed them from her memory. For example, a bunch of us went to the ROM one evening, so Neeta tells me "yeah, me, Rach, Matt, Stu and someone else went to the ROM one time..." so then I reply "yeah, that someone else was me, gee, thanks Neeta". Then later I quized her asking her who she watched the movie "Water" with (it was me). Her answer with confidence, "I watched it by myself". Gee, thanks again Neeta. But hey, it's ok cuz even though she forgets some things, she still remembers in detail being extremely mad at me for asking her for $4 for the milk that I bought for her, so I guess it all evens out in the end. Anyways, tonight I'm watching the Superbowl with some of Nat's friends, hope it's a good game.

So, yesterday was pretty fun. Well, part of it anyways. In the afternoon, I went over to the library with Allan to do a little studying/preparation for an interview I got on Monday. For the first time ever, I saw Allan "studying", although he was on his laptop quite a bit, and I did catch him watching a music video. The fun part of the day was when I met up with Nat and we played some volleyball. We played with Tyndale's varsity volleyball team, which I thought was kinda weird since they are a varsity team and they're actually training to compete with other schools and stuff. But then again, Tyndale is a Christian college, so they're usually pretty welcoming. Anyways, volleyball was a lot of fun. We played for three hours, and it was like real training/workout. We had warmups, we went over some drills and exercises and played some games. Also, since it was a varsity team, everyone was good and we could play some real games and have some good competition. There were some good players, but I wasn't the worse one there, so it was all good. Anyways, it was a lot of fun.

So, I was in 'loo for the past two days. I had an interview with the big MS. I won't go into how the interview went, but I thought it went all right. Fortunately they didn't ask me what the weather was like outside, I dodged a real bullet on that one! Well, after the interview I met up with Dwight. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner which was really tasty, but sent both of us rushing to the bathroom which wasn't cool. Oh yeah, I also didn't like that waitress for reasons I won't mention here. After dinner, we played some warcraft, one really good game. Afterwards we went to the PAC for a little swim. The swim was all right, except that I'm so out of shape and really suck. We had a small workout after the swim to complete the start of me getting back in shape. After we went back to Dwight's place where he downloaded the first season of "Beauty and the Geek". It was all right, it had some funny moments, but I think the 2nd season was definately better. The next morning we watched another episode of Beauty and the Geek, had a bit to eat, then headed back home.

So, yesterday was pretty fun. Even though Nat is technically "working", he still manages to get home from work at around 1:00. Talk about a cushy job! Yeah, so he came over for a while after lunch and we bowflexed it up for a bit and played some PS2. I really gotta workout more, just not enough motivation. Anyways, afterwards, I met up with Jimi, and we went over to the Old Galley for a little fish and chips. It's kinda funny, I've seen the Old Galley all my life, and even have a friend who's worked there, but I've never eaten there before. Now I've eaten there twice in the past two weeks. KennyG's right, they got some good food there. After dinner, we came back to my place to hang out for a bit. Afterwards, Dwight and I played a little warcraft. Man, we're soooo good! Now ranked 233 for teams in North America.

So, on Friday night, I went over to Allan's place when he was done studying at Timmy's. We were thinking of watching a movie, but instead decided to watch the first episode of "Beauty and the Geek" which Allan tapped earlier. I gotta say, that show is hilarious! First of all, there are some pretty nice girls on that show, which is always a plus. Now, I went to Waterloo, so there's no denying that I'm a geek, and I've definately seen my fair share of nerdiness on campus, but these guys definately take the cake, they were just totally in a league of their own. One of the guys was given the title of "Dungeon Master" cuz he played Dungeons & Dragons every friday. I think that's pretty hilarious. One of the guys wasn't even able to sleep in the same room as the girl cuz he was going to have a panic attack, and ended up sleeping in the closet instead. The girls were also pretty dumb (Jessica Simpson like), and made some pretty funny comments, "I thought rock (from rock, paper, scissors) crushed paper", but the geeks were just in a world of their own. The sad part is, although I'm not as extreme as the geeks on this show, I can still understand/relate to how they're feeling.

Yesterday after work, I met up with Jimi for a little dinner. It was good cuz he owed me some cash, so the dinner was on him. We talked about what's been going on during the holidays and what's going on now. Afterwards, I went over to Nat's place to practise a bit of guitar. I'm really out of practise, and my fingers are killing this morning, but it was fun.

So, yesterday after work, I had another meeting with John to discuss my financial situation. I learned some stuff, but I'll probably have to meet up with him later. After, I met up with Nat for a little indoor volleyball. It wasn't quite what I expected. Other than Nat and I, the average age of the people we were playing with was about 40. Well, I didn't get any good sets, so I wasn't really able to kill any balls, but I felt bad going for blocks or serves. But after, Nat and I played on the same team against everyone else, and I got to practise some twos and set up some real plays. That was fun. Afterwards, Nat and I went over to Timmy's to watch Allan "study". We talked for a bit, but one thing's for sure, I definately didn't see any studying going on.

Quick weekend update. Friday I had a bit of work to do at the office, so had to stay a little later. Got home and played cards with Nat and my cousins Mark and Justin. My cousins stayed over and we played some video games.

Saturday morning we woke up and played some more games. In the afternoon, my cousins, Jason and I went out to play some football in the snow. I showed my cousins some basic plays and we had a pretty good game going. Unfortunately I taught them too well, and they beat me and my bro. Little punks. After football, I picked up Neeta, and we headed over to Eric's new place in 'sauga. He was all grown up and hosted dinner in his new bachelor pad which was really nice. Afterwards, we talked a bit and watched "Just Got Married". It wasn't the best movie, but it had some funny moments. Dropped Neeta home and said goodbye to her, since she's leaving to Calgary for a month.

Sunday afternoon, Nat and my cousins came over again, and we had a little rematch in football. Nat and I took on my cousins and bro, except this time Nat and I showed them how it was done, winning 7-1. I can't believe we even let them score 1 touchdown. Football was really fun, I really wonna organize a bigger game and play tackle in the snow. After football, I took my cousins out to dinner. When I got back, Allan came over for a little Bowflex workout.

Yesterday after work, I met up with an old family friend, John. I haven't seen him for about a year, so it was nice getting caught up on stuff. We talked about our families, and about my future and career. It's given me lots to think about.

So, yesterday was a good night. After work, I went over to Ryan's to watch the hockey game. It was a good night cuz the Canadian underdogs dominated the Russians winning 5-0 to take back-to-back world juniors championships. It was a really exciting, hard-hitting game. For dinner, we had a pepperoni lover's pizza, and we chose extra toppings of sausage and more pepperoni. Good choice there Ryan.

So, yesterday was pretty fun. After work, I went out for dinner at Spring Rolls with a friend who wishes to remain anonymous, for this post I will refer to this person as "Mrs. Potter". So, before dinner, Mrs. Potter and I went to Indigo looking for a day planner for the new year. Mrs. Potter couldn't find a suitable day planner, but bought a MENSA trivia book instead. So, throughout dinner and afterwards, Mrs. Potter and I were taking the MENSA quizes. Mrs. Potter was so into the quizing, she couldn't even wait for the waiter to leave the table before starting the next question. Can you say super geeks? But then again, that's what Waterloo'll do to ya. In the end, each of us won a category.

It's been a while since I've updated my blog, at least for me it's been a while. I'll try to summarize my holidays.

So, in Seattle, I stayed with Gus and he gave me a tour of Seattle. We talked a bunch about what's been going on in our lives. Gus, five years from now you owe me a story, and same here, I won't forget. For Christmas, Rach, Gus, Neeta and I got together at Vish's place for a Christmas feast. Thank you Vish, Mark and Rach for preparing such a huge dinner. The home made bread was especially delicious. After dinner, we played the "Friends" trivia game, obviously Neeta won. The next day I took the Greyhound over to Vancouver for my Whistler adventure. Got back into Canada without a hitch, except that the bus I planned to take was all booked and I had to take a later bus to Vancouver.

I got to Vancouver and met up with Jon, Nat, Justin and Oliver at the bus station. They were pretending to be mad at me for arriving late, but boy was that a poor attempt. We drove 2 hours and arrived at Jon's, friend's place in Whistler. The place was nice, and fit all of us confortably. We just crashed in preparation for our long day on the slopes the following day. Whistler was amazing! We were all a little worried there wouldn't be snow on the moutain since it was raining on our drive up to the moutain. But once we got on the chairlift and started going up the moutain, all of a sudden all of the rain turned into snow, and there was definately enough snow for skiing. Memorable experiences from Whistler/Blackcomb include: skiing through impenetrable fog so thick that you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you, getting to the top of the moutain and feeling like I just arrived on a different planet, braving the "Whistler Bowl". In all seriousness, and I'm not even kidding or exaggerating here, I have never been so afraid for my life as when I was going down the Whistler Bowl. I'm not going to describe it, but it's something you have to see/ski down yourself to understand how I was feeling. As the ski instructor said "Straight lining the Whistler Bowl is completely unacceptable" Anyways, Whistler was a ton of fun, and it was definately an experience of a lifetime.

After our skiing adventure, we went back to Vancouver and stayed at my uncle and aunt's place. I also got to see my cousins Brian, Jimmy and Randy. They were so kind and generous letting us stay at their place. They also took us out for dinner and dim sum the next morning. We also got to watch some world juniors hockey, Finland versus Norway, while we were in Vancouver. Took the plane back to Richmond Hill without any problems.

Yesterday was Britta's birthday (Happy birthday Britta!) so we went out for a little karaoke. Appologies to those who had to hear me sing. After a little singing, we went back to her place where my team dominated in a game of Cranium. Good times.