Monthly Archives: August 2012

Dear Sister, Happy Birthday!

Posted in Thoughts by

Whenever I talk about my family, I always say that my sister is “the sweet one” because, compared to my brother and myself, my sister is the sweet one. She’s the baby of the family, the one who always hangs out with my parents (and thinks that it’s cool hehe); and now she’s 18 years old!

When I turned 18 I had been living in the US for almost a year and I was on my way to being a freshman in college. It was the first time where being a “grown up” felt like a reality. The thing is, that feeling kept overwhelming me (and sometimes it still does) until I decided that, adults are really just like children, we just have different toys and less time in the day to be carefree, due to more responsibility. However, the biggest thing was, being an adult doesn’t mean I have to suddenly change the way I think and view life. For that matter, sometimes the way we think and view life as a child is more beneficial to us than any “adult” view.

There is a certain maturity now that you’re older, there were mistakes that you learn from, life lessons that you experienced and that is what maturity is, learning from the past – not changing how you think. So, happy birthday, keep being your sweet self and have a great year. Being “grown-up” is overrated, but maturity is valuable. 😉

Guest Post: Flying, Scrambling and a Trip Around the World

Posted in Gamer Girl? by

I’m on vacation!!! So, while I’m away, I’m going to be posting some things that I wrote in the past, I’m also going to be posting some things from friends. Today, my friend Cate, guest posts. You can read more from Cate on her blog.

This week I learned a lot of new things about myself.

I learned that I am awful at strategy. I’m also bad at scrambling letters. If I ever switched careers, I should never get into the airline industry. I need structured goals to push forward. I also need someone to tell me that I can do it.

How did I learn all this? By playing Pocket Planes and Scramble with Friends on my iPhone. (No, I’m not getting paid to reference these games.)

I will not disclose how many hours I played these games this week. I’m not much of a gamer and I had a whopping total of ZERO games on my phone just a couple of weeks ago. So what exactly drove me to go on a gaming spree? (I realize I’m using the word “gaming” loosely here.) A combination of feeling under the weather, the games being somewhat addictive, and being in a general rut made for a very, very unproductive and standstill week.

I’ve encountered a wall of sorts these days. A big wall. I’ve done my fair share of kicking and screaming here. Or should I say… kicking the wall as hard as I can and screaming at the wall as loud as I can. I haven’t been able to “break through” or find a way around or even just get a glimpse of the other side… but something inside keeps telling me that I gotta get there. I heard Glen Hansard (singer/songwriter) recently say that he was at the wall for many years and finally had to go around the entire world to arrive at the other side. That was poignant but also frustrated me. I don’t know that I have enough patience or endurance to go around the entire world. But my only other option is to stay at the wall and that doesn’t seem like a viable option at all. When I say viable, I mean me – my viability. I don’t think I can muster up the will to live on this side of the wall. I either make the trek or bust.

Not to be too serious about games but a part of why I like Pocket Planes is that there are lots of goals to work towards in order to achieve the next milestone. It gives me a sense of purpose to keep flying those planes and to keep expanding my airline. (Let’s not talk about the fact that it’s a false sense of purpose for now.) And though I was pretty awful at Scramble, I’ve noticed a steady improvement the more I try at it. (Again, let’s not talk about how many times I’ve played this week.) Goals and improvement, I can hang my hat on those. I need them in order to feel like there is some purpose. But this trek around the world… I’m unclear what my goals are. I’m not sure about what I’m supposed to improve on. Perhaps that’s why I feel so lost at times.

It’ll take me some time to figure things out and begin the journey. I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t do it alone. I imagine I will need a lot of hand holding. I’m thankful to have companions along the way. I’ll need those people to gently nudge me along (sometimes push, sometimes drag), telling me that it’s worth the pursuit.

Adventures in Asia: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Posted in Vacations by

The adventure continues! From the parking lot, to Honolulu, to Guam, to Manila, now onwards to Malaysia.

Day 1; The Arrival

Eve and I touched down at the Malaysian Airport, whizzed through the customs and found the bus that would take us into the Kuala Lumpur where we were to meet with my friend, Addy.

Addy was thoughtful and super helpful to us! She did some research and found us a lovely hotel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, just outside the city center. She also met us at the bus terminal and bought us a SIM card, some rolls to eat and a single pass card for their metro. We took the train to KLCC to get to our hotel.

We went to the city center to get some Malaysian food. One of the things I noticed was that people were still staring at us – even though there were a lot of ethnicities in KL. I guess we just had the foreign look.  We ate at Little Penang Kafe, the food was absolutely delicious (a theme for this leg of the trip) and they had coconut water in a real coconut! I was in love.

We walked around the mall and visited an internet cafe, then we went to see the Petronas Towers with their lights off in honour of Earth Hour. It was a fun first night. Continue reading →

Newsies Seize The Day

Posted in Broadway, Cultured, My New York by

I’ve seen my fair share of broadway shows, but there was something special about Newsies. The set was simple; metal stairs and platforms that move around the stage and a few tables and chairs where the only props. The costumes were simple – newsboys garbs and fancy suits. What made it stand out was the singing and more importantly, the dancing.

It’s probably one of the few shows I have seen with a substantial script – compared to the number of songs. It follows the story of a group of newspaper boys who sell The World news for their bread and butter. After an unfair hike in the cost of the paper, the kids decide to go on strike. It’s a very heart warming and relatable story; it also has its share of humour. I must say, compared to the singing and the dancing, the acting didn’t shine as brightly, but it was still good.

Script and songs aside, the thing that was most appealing about the Newsies was the dancing. It was amazing to watch, I found myself smiling thought-out the entire thing. What I found fascinating as well, was the fact that Newsies had a mostly male cast. They had great chemistry between them, and the voices blended beautifully together and the dancing – oh the dancing – it was just brilliant.

One of my favourite dance sequence was Sieze the Day, it had me at the edge of my seat, especially the part with the newspaper pages! You can see them perform Sieze the Day on The View. Another favourite was the King of New York sequence.

Overall, this was a fast moving, high energy, excellent show! If you have the chance to go and see it, you should!

Oblong Books and Music: Book signing

Posted in Bookish by

Two hours north of NYC is a quaint little town called Rhinebeck and last month I took a road trip to Rhinebeck to attend a book event. Sarah Rees Brennan was going to be there, and as Sarah isn’t a native of these shores, I didn’t want to miss the chance to see her! So, myself, my sister, a cousin and a friend took the long journey from Manhattan to Rhinebeck to see Sarah and fellow authors Cassandra Clare and Holly Black.

It was quite a show! They had some giveaways and my sister won an ARC of Sarah’s newest gothic novel, Unspoken – yay! Sarah also read from Unspoken and performed a small scene from the book, one that involved her unbuttoning her cardigan – which I’m sorry to say, I was too busy laughing to actually take a photograph.

The ladies were all very cool, giving away little presents to audience members who asked questions. Cassandra gave away some jewelry inspired by her books, Holly – the lady with the coolest hair – gave away some white gloves and Sarah gave away some more ARCs of her book. There were also buttons for the taking!

Oblong is a cute little store, there are tons of books there and a good space for events. I wish it was closer to home, but I won’t mind the two hour drive if other out of towners stopped there!