Angel Garcia

Ohh.. the sickening crunch of metal. Poor baby :(

I had my very first collision this past weekend. My 30th year on Earth is definitely not a boring one thus far. Snow conditions + parked cars acting as a blind spot = my poor car getting hit by a big red truck! Thankfully everyone acted civil and no one was hurt. Just my poor little car. I felt so bad for it that I gave it a wash today. The poor thing was so snow/dirt covered that it looked almost beige (as the above pic shows). He's back to being a lovely shiny red, but now there's a large dented scar on the passenger side, where the door won't even open.

Aside from my poor car's owiee, the past couple of weeks have been lovely. Okay, maybe not the best financially, but I got a LOT of rest and video game time. That's what happens on temp layoff. I finished Super Paper Mario in 27 hours :)

I also somehow managed to stay busy while not working. There was a lot of dancing and exercise. I even enrolled in a snowboarding class! My capacity for performing the Roll of Shame (a.k.a. getting off the chairlift) has diminished :) 3 more classes to go! Haha my lesson pass may have the most candid ID picture ever:

There is even gum peeking out of my mouth. Pose fail!

I also finished this book during my time of no work:

Very very VERY thought-provoking. Neil Postman (R.I.P.) writes beautifully and efficiently about how humans are being blinded by technology to the extent that human staples such as common sense and ethics become more neglected with time. Let's get in touch with our human sides people! I will admit though that as much as I love humanity in general, I am myself somewhat of a technophile.

Just got a call that I'm back to work later this week, so it's back to waking up early and juggling work with everything else in a couple of days. Speaking of which, maybe I should try going to bed at a decent time for a change :( 'Nite folks. God Bless Haiti.

Funky first random pic of 2010!

Happy 2010!! I'm still wallowing in my PJs and it's past 6PM :P

I just finished off Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers - a pretty darn invigorating read. Many instances in the book rang true for me, especially being the very much loved and sheltered child of Third World immigrant parents.



Add to this that at 4am this morning I was still chatting it up with beloved salsa girls after a wonderfully spontaneous random night (this is why I love these girls.. we went from ogling UFC fighters on leather couches at a cozy upstairs room at a sports club to dancing at a club with some "flavour" (ahahaha) and finally some deep convo in Chinatown). We ended on the topic of Third World immigrants and their kids and so I stumbled into bed and woke up to happily finish my overlapping book.

Anyway, back to the book - it argues that success is not a one-person thing. It is the combined sum of not just your intelligence and "pluck," but very importantly also of opportunities and other people as well. So now I shall roughly try to find my list of opportunities and people for why I am currently a professional not doing too-too bad half a world away from where I was born. Here we go.. the reasons for my "gifts" in life thus far:

1. My maternal grandmother. She had barely even elementary education, but somehow she KNEW that education was a key to get her kids out of poverty. Before she died (sadly, much too prematurely), her wish to her husband was for the kids to finish school. And so they did (very long hard roads for each child), including university.

2. My mother and father. Both made a successful team in trying to give me and my sister a better future. My dad was the extremely competent breadwinner. My mom was the extremely competent financial manager.

3. My mother's "pluck." She was the key instrument in initiating the move to Brunei and then later on to Canada.

4. Brunei's oil industry. My dad gained heavy experience in the oil industry and guess what was in demand in Alberta? Yup. People like my dad. This helped us pick a place in Canada. The time and place fit my dad's background (crucial ingredients which Malcolm Gladwell points out)

5. My Bruneian early education and subsequent Canadian education. Brunei employed the British System. I got beat for not doing my homework in Kindergarten. I always did it from then on. I also was learning to write Arabic by Grade 1 and was memorizing multiplication tables by Grade 2. By the time I got to Canada, I found schooling here to be incredibly easy and lax.

6. My first teacher in Canada. She told me that Anne of Green Gables was too big for me to read, so I got pissed off and read it (I can be a bit feisty). I've loved books deeply ever since. During elementary school summer vacations, I was polishing off at least 10 books a week. Which also made schooling a lot easier.

7. Now that I think of it, my boyfriend in Grade 12 + first couple years of University. We both definitely had competitive streaks and would compete for grades. I think we even hooked up over IB homework - ha! Incidentally, we both graduated in the top 10 of our high school. He was not only really sweet, he also had incredible study ethic and determination. Many of our dates were study dates. He was also a b-boy and introduced me to A Tribe Called Quest :)

4. My mother's stories. Not only are they a source of fascination to me, but they have held such inspiring life lessons that I had no reason whatsoever to complain about things like studying and doing well in school while growing up. They also taught me to not be afraid to talk to people, and that social relationships are extremely important to your well-being. (Malcolm Gladwell had a section on "practical intelligence" into which this falls under)

5. My father's work ethic. He's so resourceful and hardworking. He taught me to be humble and proud and to work your butt off without complaining. And to be good at what you do without being flamboyant and showy about it. And to attempt to problem-solve and fix things so there is less waste :)

It's pretty sweet! Speaking of which,
Happy Birthday Mom + Happy 32nd Anniversary Mom & Dad :) Yay Family!

This has been a pretty sweet ass Christmas holiday. I have 2 new toys to play with.. an iPod Classic from my parents and a wii along with Super Mario Bros from Super boyfriend.. eeep! This might make me wanna stay home a lot more. I'm already twitching with thoughts of buying Zelda Twilight Princess after finishing Super Mario (I'm at the castle in World 7!)

My present to myself was finally making it to the gym as well as a new snowboarding jacket (and some goodies I 'kind of accidentally' picked up along the way). I was in Jasper for the New Year courtesy of the beefy one. However, I did no snowsports whatsoever. Fail. Too much alcohol!

As you can tell from above spending, I'm still, thankfully, employed.

My great but 'late' discoveries of 2009:

-Whey protein isolate does NOT give gas to the unfortunate lactose intolerant! I'm saveddddddd :) I've read and heard it before, but I never actually tried until this fall. I'm so glad I did! My muscles are thanking me :) Thanks to the awesome staff at Popeye's :D

-Rockband. I know, I know, uberlate. But it's like crack for Filipinos. We have too many musical genes for our own good.

To all those who are fighting, who have fought, who have died, who risk death, who protect each other and the unarmed, who sacrifice precious weeks and months of the comforts of personal life because of the insanity that is war..

To their loved ones who wait, who have waited in uncertainty..

Friends, strangers, ancestors..

Thank you.

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I am trying to fight off the remnants of the flu cough by resting. It's tough! For example, I know there was a Cuban body movement class tonight, but I fought the urges to go and stayed home instead. Energy levels are finally rising and I was able to endure a full work day today without wanting to curl up under my desk and sleep. Yayyy!

A special trait of mine: I tend to fall sleep instantly while being the passenger of any moving vehicle. Planes, cars, ferries.. I zonk out even before the plane takes off only to wake up because of the landing (this made my first 100% travel job out of grad school much easier). This weekend I was totally out of it in the passenger seat, I was so sick. And of course, this is what boyfriends are for:

Flattering angle fail! :P
You know you're in deep sleep when you are doing the mouth-hanging-open thing.

I made another trip to T&T again because of a newfound love. Now this will probably sound extremely strange to many, but I am in love with tomato-flavoured crispy seaweed by Tao Kae Noi. That's right! Tomato. Seaweed. An unlikely but happy marriage! It's like ketchup chips, but in a light and crispy dark green sea plant form.

I also love the beancurd & mushroom dish from the T&T food court. And I was able to pick up some delicious Knorr Hot & Sour soup packets (yay, not too spicy!) and lemon tea packaged in indecipherable packaging which I've been adding honey to. Like I said before, a magical magical place that T&T.

BTW.. nerd alert! just upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10. LOVE the new look!! Sexy fonts indeedy :)

Aughghghgh! Immune system fail #2. I got sick AGAIN! I believe it happened during Halloween festivities. This is what I looked like before I knew what was going to hit me the next day:


Now I am suffering from coughing fits, congestion and aches :( Booooo!
My parents dropped off food and meds while beefcake stocked me up on Fisherman's Friend. I also have steeped green tea, flaxseed, crispy seaweed, honey and saltwater (for gargling). I average at least 3 litres of fluids a day. If this doesn't help me heal then I don't know what will! This is Day #2 home from work. With all the media buzz about H1N1, I figured it was better not to irritate anyone in the office with my infectious self. I got enough people sick last time despite their pleas for me to stay home :( Fail.

I am feeling less achy today, thankfully. I better make it into work tomorrow or else I have to produce a doctor's note. And I really don't want to sit in a waiting room for hours with other fellow infected people :(

Well, at least I had a great Halloween. I went with a bunch of salseras as "sexy bee-yotches" this year :) Everyone was liking the pinup bangs (they're fake!) but I'm too scared to get real bangs.

Current infatuation of the moment: Mafia Wars. I'm now Master Street Thug "Big Lips" Garcia and I just robbed a pimp. These facebook games have to stop being so addicting. Seriously! Restaurant City, Pet Society... stopppppp!

Mind Farts
-saw the MJ movie. people say it's just another commercialistic way to make money off of MJ's death, but i enjoyed the movie nonetheless. it's an impressive peek into the legend's life while preparing for performances. he truly was a magical being
-inglorious basterds = hilarious
-zombieland = hilarious
-T&T (Asian giant supermarket) is a magical colourful place where you can have your pick of lovely packaged tasty tasty food in a variety of indecipherable labels
-seamonkey count = 0. i think something fell in the jar and contaminated it :( will have to start up the seamonkey castle soon
-yes, i am using being sick as an excuse for eating leftover halloween candy
-mat leave is fun! especially when you are a visitor ;) i spent a weekend in BC with two of my closest girlfriends. one of them has a newborn son. so much food and relaxation. AND i have discovered a win-win situation. when you do squats, lunges and stepper exercises, the baby loves it and falls asleep. epic win!
-speaking of which, i had one of my first smatterings of maternal instinct when a coworker's son asked to interview me about my job. when i saw him and his young fellow first-year engineering student friends.. i melted! so fresh and innocent and overwhelmed by the huge workload. i got all warm and fuzzy and just wanted to hug them and let them know everything would be okay... as long as they make it through 3rd year of course :P

First and foremost: positive thoughts and prayers go out to those in the Philippines, including relatives on both sides of my family. I can't believe that two consecutive typhoons can hit so hard in such a short amount of time. Over here, the Filipino community is pulling together to help out. I hear murmurs of it at work from my Filipino coworkers. My close Filipino friends are talking about it. If you have any connection to this tragedy whatsoever, please help out as much as you can.

Over here on the other side of the world, it's snowing. I'm definitely not going to complain about winter's approach. The snow looks beautiful and reminds me of Christmas. The air is crisp. I'm clean, safe and warm.

And.. I'm officially 30!


I had probably one of my best birthday parties ever at On the Rocks :) People from many different corners of my life showed up.. even my mom was there with a couple of girlfriends. I'm so bloody blessedly fortunate to have a smorgasbord of beautiful colourful people I can call my friends! When you have a bunch of your favourite people, carrot cake cupcakes and salsa music in one spot.. life is good :) I was all warm and fuzzy. And NOT just from the alcohol :)

My mom got me the tightest, brightest pinkest dress for my bday:

How awesome is that? I love that my mom can pick out hoochie clothes! :)

The next day at work was especially brutal because I did overtime at the office 2 days in a row.. but it was worth it anyway!! I'm kind of paying for it now. I'm siiiiiick! I noticed that it happened at around the same time that I ran out of my multivitamin packs. Need to start popping those again. Then again, lack of sleep and too much work combined with physical activity could've had something to do with it too :P People kept telling me to go home today.. and I really should've. But I have this annoying habit of pushing my limits. For instance, right now I KNOW I should be staying home. But there's this DJ all the way from Japan who's playing salsa tonight!! It's really tough for me to not go. But I guess I should stay home, if I want to make it to work tomorrow (which I probably shouldn't do either).

To ensure my staying home, I just polished off some brown bread and hummus. Considering I have to breathe through my mouth right now (think creepy Darth Vader), I have pretty much banned myself from dancing with anyone with a sense of smell.

Thanksgiving weekend will be a nice break. No overtime. No nothing! Just food, books and snow. And Restaurant City (new crack!) and Pet Society. I've actually gotten birthday presents in those two games :) I love people!

Happy Canadian Turkey Day Weekend :)

Mind Farts
-i still love sweater dresses and tights and boots.. they are icing on my fall cake
-Ursula K. Le Guin is kickass reading as an adult! many hidden themes. i might have to pick up The Farthest Shore again one day
-poor Eskies have to play in the snow tomorrow night
-seamonkey home fail! beefcake got me a seamonkey castle but i have too much water in my seamonkey vase.. now i have to wait for the water level to go down before i can fit them in the castle
-salsa moms look great! they make motherhood less scary
-google koalas overheating in australia. you will melt. look at this poor little thing asking for water:

I am around 5 years older than my mom when she gave birth to me.

I have survived 2 years of a mortgage.

I've experienced grad school and I just got my P.Eng.

I have been in 3 continents. I've lived in 2.

I've never been as comfortable in my own skin as I am now.

I've never been as grateful for what I have as I am now.

I have somehow become more fascinated with people than with inanimate objects.

I'm still in love with fiction. And video games.

I relish, savor and devour.

Life is delicious :)

I'm going to be 30 this Wednesday! I fully embrace it.

30 on the 30th. A champagne birthday. My birthday pledge: to push myself harder physically. My yearly physical revealed a very probable genetic predisposition to high cholesterol. Need to fix that with a stronger heart. And cleaner diet, of course. Not for this week though :P I'm having carrot cake and carrot cupcakes!! At my birthday party at On the Rocks this Salsa Thursday! That way, I can have a bunch of my favourite things in one spot: carrot cake icing, salsa dancers and last but most definitely not least, my favouritest people to enjoy it all with me :)

I think my seamonkeys are giving me babies for my bday present. They've been going at it for days! Check it out (man, I don't sound 30 at all. More like a 12-year-old):


Cubamemucho, an international Cuban salsa congress, was right here in the city this weekend! :) Cubans Cubans Cubans! The performers were AMAZING. They taught workshops morning and afternoon, danced all night, barely slept and still performed flawlessly. They're in amazing amazing shape. It's so inspiring. Cuban dance is so rich and soulful.. I absolutely love it, especially rumba. So much drums and gorgeous body movement! There are sore parts of me that I didn't realize even existed. My whole body feels like a rag doll. But it was so worth it! I'm trying not to fall asleep while finishing my mountain of accumulated laundry right now. Restaurant City helps. These Facebook games really need to stop being like crack!

Mind Farts
-we got a random magic show while taking a dinner break from the congress. it was sooo trippy! he was really good :)
-i hurt a coworker during a company sumo wrestling tournament. fail :( i took her to the ER. i'm glad she's ok
-i turned on my heater for the first time this summer. uh oh.. fall's here! yay Geox boots!
-this is a cool pic (score! i don't look nearly as rough as i felt that day):

I'm no longer a deadbeat grandma (GILF! heh). The wonderful drafter who took in my seamonkeys when I was on temporary layoff has given me back my seamonkeys. She's been laid off :( :( :( Even my fellow female engineer partner in crime, the right brain to my left brain, got laid off :( :( :( Yup, gloom and doom at the office at the moment. Sigh.

Well, my little waterbound babies are in my care again. I actually don't even know how long I'll be with the company myself so I took them home in a Dasani water bottle. I tried to pass it off as lemonade to my cubicle neighbour but he gave me a weird scrunched up look along with a "Gross."

So now they are sitting in a small flower vase - their new home :) I even took a video.


Juicy Seamonkey Tidbits:
-Those black lines that you see are seamonkey innards! They are happy, well-fed and full of poop obviously :)
-The ones with whiskers are males.
-The one with a sac is a pregnant female. That's right, preggy preggy preggo! There are eggs in that sac. I'm actually a great-great GILF, come to think of it.

Here is my attempt to video my preggo seamonkey :)

She seems quite happy. See her do flips! Her egg sac is the slightly orangish round thing.

I know, I know. I am a big-time nerd. But the little critters *still* fascinate me! And soothe me a bit too. The pressure of downsizing is really squishing me now. I haven't worked this much OT in a while. It's quite draining, but what do you do when there are less people and less time to meet deadlines? Work way more with less resources. I actually have been going through withdrawal symptoms. Too little physical activity this week! I can't complain too much though. Especially since I at least have a job right now. Just wish everyone else did too, y'know? There are layoffs left and right.

Today was nice though. I went to my first team dance practice after the training "break" we took in August (man, I need to train harder). Then instead of spending another day in the office, I spent the day with the beefy one and we enjoyed the sunshine and free time. He took me to one of his finished projects, an Italian pizza restaurant which turned out pretty nice! Famoso in the southside, people. Go! Yum. I even came home with.. *gasp*.. *drumroll*.. groceries! He inspired me with his normal healthy amount of groceries. See? Being a grandma changes a woman :P

I think I'm going to hit the sack early with a book. Something that is so enjoyable yet so rare for me nowadays! I actually came across a 2 dollar book by Ursula K. Le Guin! The Left Hand of Darkness. Coles epic win! I remember loving The Farthest Shore as a kid :)

Mind Farts
-there's a really sweet jogging route from my place to the river valley
-i'm trying to eat less processed food. need more fresh fruits and veggies in my life
-the Pita Pit's Sweet & Spicy Thai Chicken brown wrap = yes!
-i'm excited and just the right amount of scared/anxious to train harder
-Sunterra Market's rosemary salmon + seven grain prairie salad is my new lunch fix
-ballroom is lovely!
-dairy-free makes for a happy tummy
-i love my new glasses! i finally bought glasses with my updated prescription (getting worse and worse!). i love letting my eyeballs breathe :)