Animals Are Fabulous.

It's amazing how Hachi went from carefree bliss at daycare (photo courtesy of daycare tweet)

to the cone of misery 

in less than a week.  An unfortunate foray into a bushy area in the dog park resulted in a punctured and inflamed paw.  The limp worsened enough to warrant a visit to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics and a cone.  Poor thing.  No doggie daycare this past week.

But he was full of energy and good to go again this weekend.  There was dogpark fun and there was also a doggie play date :)  He has a new female friend!  I can't help but post pics of these two adorable blue heeler crosses.

Amazing resilient beings, dogs.

Another favourite animal of mine is the elephant.  I was thinking about all the cruelty and bullshit animals have to go through and realized that if I ever came across an elephant, I wouldn't want to ride the elephant anymore (like I used to in my childhood).  Instead I would just want to be in his or her presence, admiring such a magnificent and intelligent creature. 

I was watching one of Anthony Bourdain's travelling and eating shows - he was in Northern India and was in a house that was super duper old school English.  It was owned by Englishmen and then by Indian rulers and now the descendants of said rulers.  Things were looking delicious and elegant until the camera focused on an old picture of Englishmen standing proudly in front of an elephant they had just killed.  Please redefine "civilized" vs. "savage," sirs.

Mind Farts

-so much for spring arriving in Edmonton!  there is so much snow!  i won't complain though, just because i prefer snow to mud when walking Hachi.  i think most dog owners do

-oh man ... Padmanadi's general tao chicken has replaced their ginger beef as my new favourite vegan guilty pleasure.  i hope they make it permanent soon (it's currently just a special)

-saw some live bands at the Starlite this weekend.  not my usual type of music and enjoyed pseudo-dancing and people-watching.  mosh pits are a good way to get bruised up (i was just a spectator of course - i would've been annihilated in there!)

-reception venue has now been officially reserved! hotel mac it is (photo from Jennifer Bergman Weddings)

-saw Still Alice.  Julianne Moore was great in it.  Alzheimer's is terrifying :(  

-i actually beeped at someone yesterday (i rarely ever do).  encountering some really bad drivers lately, including the airhead who ran a stop sign and cracked my bumper.  this is what makes me scared to drive a shiny new car

-kudos to CBC for doing interviews with Canadian Muslim women and their opninions on hijabs and niqabs. it's nice to hear their voices and why they choose to or not to wear these traditional pieces of fashion as opposed to blind media coverage

Facing the Big White Fluffy Sparkly Behemoth.

In January I was still a tad overwhelmed with the thought of planning a wedding.  So I put it off.

In February the questions and advice from friends and family kept coming, which made wedding planning thoughts hit me more and more and so I decided to tackle this task by treating it like one of my work projects.  It worked.  I was soothed by emails and lists and spreadsheets and now we have reserved a date for later this year with the reception venue that we both had as the top pick on our lists.  I don't want to jinx anything - final decision date is tomorrow.  I figured that the reception venue would be the toughest availability to nail down and once that task was accomplished, all the other details would fall into place. 

We'll find out soon enough!

Thankfully work is still busy - even with the sketchy oil prices. There is a life lesson they don't teach you in school: a North American wedding costs a lot more than you would initially imagine!  I know, I know - why follow what North American society dictates?  Why not do a destination wedding?  Why not elope?  Save the money instead!   Get a car.  Put it into a down payment on a house!  Initially he wanted traditional and I was daydreaming about a beach somewhere.

But somehow, the traditional local wedding started to grow on me.  Why not pick a venue we both like?  We both have good jobs.  Why not splurge a little more and pick a beautiful place that doesn't need much extra decor and extra work?  Why not pick an easy-to-get-to local spot so that most of our loved ones can make it?  I know white folk love to do roadtrip weddings in the mountains or at a lake, but coloured folk like their cozy hotel ballrooms - where one can drive less than an hour, socialize, drink, eat and dance without having to make a road trip.  Third world folks prefer cozy to rugged.  Third world folks also tend to have huge weddings (hello 400-people-strong guestlists).

And so we compromised.  Traditional and max 250 guests (limited by beautiful venue).  With white people food.

Mind Farts

-watched a friend compete at her ballroom competition.  enjoyed the beauty and polish and flare of the results of hours of dance practice.  but it also made me realize i still relish my relaxed and healing state (ankle still doesn't like high heels).  no rush to get back into dance just yet

-plus, aside from all the wedding stuff, there's still so much to learn at work and yoga!  i can't seem to get away from learning in parallel

-wine gums = crack cocaine

-dairy = kryptonite

-kale chips (vegan sour cream & chive) = healthy crack cocaine

-found a gem of a Sri Lankan restaurant in the southside.  with a ton of vegan options!  never busy at lunch, fast and reasonabley priced.  dosas are magical giant lentil-based crepes that make me happy

-i read articles on India's Daughter, the documentary on the brutal inhuman gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, the brave victim who fought back and fought to stay alive for another thirteen days.  i could not believe what the rapists and their *lawyers* were saying about how it was all her fault and how women should "never fight back" and "deserve it" if they are on out at night with a friend.  it makes me so sick - especially since she was a physiotherpy intern and probably knew exactly how much they were ripping her apart internally while the rape was happening.  and how there is absolutely no remorse coming from the murderers or the defense lawyers.  how the hell do these idiots view their mothers ... their sisters ... their daughters ... ?  there is pure evil in this world

-women form part of this madness too.  how about the women who are leaving their cozy educated Canadian lives to go be wives for ISIS?  and the Edmonton woman who recruits them?  SERIOUSLY?  Happy International Women's Day :(

-for the sake of positivity, i need to remind myself what is going right with women around me: 

     -i can take care of and provide for myself, and so can all my girlfriends

     -we choose our partners freely and without need.  just want

     -we were able to get educated without fearing for our lives

     -we run errands, go to work, date and drink without fear of being attacked or gang raped

     -we can read and wear whatever we want to (even if in poor taste)

-Happy International Women's Day - here's to being able to challenge ourselves, win victories and make mistakes freely and safely

Can Hate Unite?

It's hard not to imagine the rest of the world boiling with as much anger and disgust as I feel when I read and hear about all the IS (or whatever the hell acronym they decided on) atrocities swirling around in the media.  

They beheaded innocent kidnapped Japanese men, one of whom was an exceptionally compassionate and courageous journalist.  Most people would not leave the safety and warmth of home and family to look for a captured friend and investigate a horrific war zone.  Even his past war stories focused on the human casualties of war, especially children.  It's almost like he was just too ahead of his time ... too good and too true for what was going on around him.  He even used his own money to do his reporting.

Then came the unimaginable burning of a Jordanian man who wasn't even 30 yet.  Burned alive in a cage. I try to imagine this happening to a loved one and the thought is crippling.  I cannot even begin to wonder how his parents and siblings feel.  

And still more abductions, more deaths ...

Such instant rage when I think of this.  How can you not want revenge?  To hurt and disfigure these shitheads a million times more than what they've already done to innocents ...  No wonder they've now got all kinds of people wanting them gone ... way to piss off all the nations of the world.

I try to focus on one of the recent quotes circulating from the online archives of the murdered Japanese journalist himself:

"Hate is not for humans. That is what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters."

-Kenji Goto

But I'm still pissed.  And I admittedly take some satisfaction in heads of state setting aside their differences and putting their heads together to fight.  Haters unite!  (For now.)

Mind Farts

-until the suicides started being covered in the news recently, I had no idea how high the rates were for first responders!  paramedics and cops and firefighters are the ones we depend on to save our lives but who is going to save theirs? :(  

-ok happy thoughts ... i went to the waterpark recently and it was like being a kid again. i actually haven't gone since i was a kid.  going on waterslides is a little different as an adult and i'm still too chicken to go on the crazy ones with the crazy drops.  my favourite part was being in a tube in the wavepool and ramming into random people without fault.  close second: when everyone squeals at the wave horn!

-the smell of chlorine induces ketchup cravings in me.  it stems from my childhood days of swimming lessons and being ravenous afterwards, which led to the buying of ketchup chips from the vending machine.  i can still remember my pruney pool fingers turning red with ketchup seasoning :)

-more happy thoughts ...  Hachi's latest development: he is obsessed with chasing after the ball (he used to stare blankly at balls being thrown)!  now we just need to figure out how to get him to bring it back directly (on a good day he will drop the ball ahead in your path)

-post-daycare Hachi:

R.I.P. Papa Rudy.

My mom's oldest sister just lost her husband.  I met him only a few times because they are in the Philippines, but I feel like I know him because of the stories my mom has been telling me since I was a child.

Papa Rudy was a kind, gentle man. An artist. I remember seeing his work back in 2004 when I was last in the Philippines.  He would blurt out an English word every now and then and giggle at the usage.  Then we would all egg him on to try more words :)

This is one of those times I wish the world was a little smaller. I hate that I can't even make my uncle's funeral because it is half a world away.   

Rest in peace Papa Rudy.  I hope you didn't suffer and that you knew you were greatly loved and would be greatly missed.  

The Good Push.

Generally I'm not a big fan of being overbearing and pushy.  Sometimes though, one can benefit from a push or two.  Starting off last week with food poisoning was tough, and I was planning to just rest it up for the remainder of the week/weekend, catch up on work and not go on the office ski trip. Fortunately, a couple of my coworkers were aggressive enough to make sure I got a snowboard rental before 8pm closing time on Thursday night and I was lured into the ski trip with promises of feeding bison breakfast at a farm on the way (when else would I ever get to do that?) and resting my food poisoning away on the drive to the mountains.

So I got to hang with bison before sunrise.  BIG AND FLUFFY BISON!

I also got to improve my snowboarding (I haven't been on a board in ages!) while looking at this:

Beautiful majestic Rockies!

Proud accomplishments of a beginner boarder:

-getting off chairlifts a few times without having to do the roll of shame

-actually executing some (very sloppy) carving (on very gentle slopes)

And THEN I was pushed into going to the Banff hot springs. I never EVER thought I would get in a swimsuit and sit in a pool outdoors during the winter.  It turned out out to be fabulous and I even enjoyed the fluffy snowflakes landing on my face while my sore bottom half was immersed in deliciously warm steamy water. 

So I survived and I admit that my coworkers were right after all.  I'm now food poisoning free and back to working overtime. This week I was delighted to get a big award at work :) Yay for recognition!  I already spent some of it at Lululemon ;)

Ahh, the rewards of pushing yourself (or being good-naturedly pushed) beyond your comfort zone. Stay uncomfortable, folks!

Never Again (a.k.a. Vegans Vomit Too).

I just spent most of the night alternating between vomiting and curling up on my bathroom floor. And now I am in bed instead of being productive at the office.

Thanks a lot, kombucha.

Ohhh you seemed so harmless - good for me, even.  I remember when we first met at a farmers market in Hawaii.  The long haired surf bum that brewed you himself served me a delicious tart slightly fizzy cup of you.  There was sunshine, a rainbow of fruits and veggies ... and you.

I've bought you several times since then, always in attractive shiny bottles that gleamed with healthful promise.  The bacteria is good for you, the labels said.  

Sure, yesterday's bottle seemed a bit bitter towards the end of the workday, but little did I know that the apocalypse would visit my guts that evening.

Lesson learned.  Next time I want the benefits of fermentation I'll just have some sauerkraut or wine.

Silver lining? I just finished reading Chocolat.  It was on TV over the holidays and I'd forgotten how delicious the story is and how I've been meaning to read the actual novel.  So I borrowed an eBook from good ol' EPL with the Overdrive app.  Maybe not the best thing to read while food-poisoned,  but still enjoyable nonetheless.  A small town in France, a wanderer who sets up a chocolaterie, gypsies and small town prejudices, small town kindnesses, chocolate and more chocolate! 

Mind Farts
-I was complaining earlier about how the level of empathy still needs to catch up with technology in this world. Turns out there are uses for the empathy-challenged.  Just read an article on how certain folks like CEOs and surgeons and lawyers can do very well if they have a certain degree of ruthlessness
-level 2 yoga is HARD! Just like when my Cuban dance instructor started throwing ballet training in the mix, I quickly realize that so many endeavors are way harder than they look. It's tricky because dancers and yogis make it look so graceful and effortless - but that's where the 'art' part comes in now doesn't it?
-but not vomiting. Vomiting feels as horrible as it looks. Unless maybe there are bulimics out there that have mastered it. While violently retching, I did wonder briefly: how do bulimics do this in public spaces?  But self-induced vomit is not the same as bacteria attacking your insides. Yikes, enough vomit talk
-sometimes while checking drawings I will stream some BBC radio. There was a documentary on a really amazing badass woman: Noor Inayat Khan.  British secret agent of Indian descent.  She was a musician and a dreamer but also became an expert wireless operator during WWII. She was a pretty and tiny little thing but she was dangerous enough to be betrayed and then captured by the Germans, where she was tortured for months (almost a year), then raped, beaten and shot in the head in Dachau. Despite everything she still refused to give up info. She was only 30.

Scratched Eyeballs and a Doggy Daddy.

Discovery: 60 hour weeks in an office + contact lenses = very scratched eyeballs.  Guess who had to wear her old glasses for over a week so that her corneas could heal?

That being said, it felt healthier letting my eyeballs breathe for a while and it was a good chance to *finally* order an updated pair of glasses.  My prescription is so bad that I couldn't even get the 1 hour service for new glasses.  It's more like 10 days minimum for me.  Add in the Christmas/New Year holiday season factor and I probably will not get my new glasses until 2015.  C'est la vie!

With most of my December consumed by work, it was a welcome break to enjoy time with loved ones over the holidays.  Boxing Day came with a special surprise.  A few evenings ago a gentle blond giant of a man proposed to me in front of the giant Christmas tree at the legislature grounds.  So I walked away from the prettily-lit grounds with Hachi and a brand new fiancé!  I know right?  Shit just got real.  My theory?  A good doggy daddy has great potential to be a good baby daddy.  Plus, he's pretty good to me too.  If you trust and respect someone's intellect, integrity, abilities AND he/she makes you laugh AND is kind AND you are still physically attracted to her/him after a good while ... then hey, it's kind of a solid formula.

A little sparkle helps a bit - not that a huge rock is the be-all or end-all.  Not-at-all.  If anything, it was a nice surprise that someone who is not so much into flash and glam was actually concerned about getting me something "sparkly" enough :)  And yay, it doesn't rub against my engineering ring!

Soooo yeah.. there's some absorbing and deciding and compromising to be done over the next year.  I'm definitely not one of those knowing women with a ton of set wedding specifics and preferences in their heads.    Fortunately I have many girlfriends who have been there and done that - there is a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips.  Between them and the interwebs, I should be okay.

But that can be put off for 2015.  In the meantime, I continue to enjoy this much-needed break.  My sis and I saw two consecutive amazing movies in a row about two amazing minds - the Imitation Game (Alan Turing) and the Theory of Everything (Stephen Hawking).  I smell Oscar nominations for the lead actors.  Beautiful beautiful beautiful portrayals.  Big Hero 6 was great too.  Plus there's been Harry Potter marathons on TV (thanks Space Channel!).  

Mind Farts
-my crack cocaine is vegan ginger beef - i bring it to Christmas dinners just so i can partake in the eating of it
-i'm enjoying these 'UK white boys' who have managed to conjure up such soulful voices - hello Sam Smith and Hozier
-still not gonna be able to do this for a while:

ankle is still wonky and not much increased mobility in my spinning big toe.  there's enough on my plate right now anyway.  i can't get upset - first world problems
-i saw a documentary on genocide survivors on the Smithsonian channel and i just felt so sick and angry about what they had to endure ... such technological advances we've had but why can't people grasp the concept of empathy in this day and age?
-i'm currently reading Malala's biography and it makes me think of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls :(  it's been so long and they still haven't been found

-a little closer to home: Rinelle Harper's horrific rape and attempted murder (how do humans rape a fellow human, throw her in a river and then try to kill her *again* after she tries to crawl out of the river on a winter night?) and the little 6 year old Aboriginal girl that was raped and also beaten nearly to death and then also left naked in the freezing cold to die.  i will never understand.  sometimes i wonder if women should be made to carry some kind of protection (pepper spray?) in order to even out the physical strength imbalance between the genders.  i would hand out bazookas in certain parts of the world