Stylin'

This might be the best looking pair of nation leaders along with their First Ladies ever.  Ever!

Photo from CBC's Instagram post.

Enlightenment: Why I am a Bit of an Indiaphile

Happy International Women's Day!

For International Women's Day I Instagrammed a pic of my mom and I on the beach back in the day when we used to live in Brunei. Of course I hashtagged it "Brunei" and out of curiosity I did a search with that hashtag.

All these beautiful wedding pictures popped up and I had a sudden flashback of our Muslim neighbors when I was a kid. They were a young Malay/Chinese couple and I remember looking at their wedding pics and seeing for the first time the beautiful combination of bright colors and textures and henna that the bride was wearing. I was quite enchanted!  There was also a significant Indian population in Brunei, but I didn't get to witness an Indian wedding until coming to Canada.  I do remember the saris and jewelry though.

Fast forward to my giddiness at the opportunity to wear a sari and henna in my 30's.  And my love of Indian food and novels.  Yoga even! 

Cuteness Overload.

Photo from Justin Trudeau's Twitter feed.

Double pandassssss!  Auggghfhfhh I am super going through "gigil" which is the Tagalog translation of "I can't even!!! It's so cute I want to die!" 

In other news, the Rock Jungle climbing gym out west is pretty sweet! And I finally used my new food processor (my sis has used it multiple times already for vegan meal preps). I know I'm late, but man is that thing ever AWESOME for making fresh sauces.  And it was just a generic no name one from Superstore that was on sale. Worked wonderfully for making Glory Bowls from a Shelley Adams Whitewater Cooks cookbook:

She Would've Been 94.

Happy Birthday dear Nanay Carmen. Hard to believe it's been almost a year since you've left this earth. You are dearly dearly missed. 

I think my lovely grandmother would have approved of what my sister and I did today. We went to a therapy dog info session and signed up Hachi for pre-screening. It's something I've wondered about and now I'm excited we've done something about it.  Another byproduct of this "just do it" mission of mine.

I'm pretty fortunate - loving family, access to education and freedom and all that other good stuff.  I've played with the thought of volunteering to give back to society.  I thought about causes I feel strongly about, like poverty and racism and refugees and animals and violence against women. Being a therapy dog handler encompasses helping others AND spending time with Hachi. Plus he will just get even more affection from even more people.  Who in turn will feel love and non-judgement from him.  It's this amazing win-win situation.  If he passes the screening and training, he will be able to comfort so many different folks in different scenarios! The elderly, the ones with special needs and disabilities, the sick, kids learning to read with confidence, those in correctional facilities who don't have much to look forward to day-to-day.. The list is endless really.  

We shall see what happens :) Hachi is so gentle and well socialized that I already feel he'd be such a good fit for this work, but there is still pre-screening and tests and checks and training to go through.  Plus I may be a bit biased since he is my very own fur baby after all!

Nike: "Just Do It." Me: "Ok!"

In light of painfully missing my chance to buy tickets to see Mr. Rushdie (although his flight was cancelled so maybe I still have a chance with the rescheduling if some people cannot make the new date), I have launched a personal campaign of simply doing things I've been yearning to do. 

Last week I signed up for a dancehall/twerking workshop for next month.  I've always wanted to move my body more like the amazing women I see in clubs and music videos. Studying Afro Cuban dance helped fuel it even more, and I loved the feeling of my body joining with the drumbeats via torso and hip manipulation. Plus, no heels needed so my ankle can continue to heal. 

I also bought my parents gym memberships and a personal training consult at the new recreation centre near their home.  Mom hates working out alone and Dad hasn't been working out so I figured they could do something new and fun together.  I'm excited for them - they look great at their age and I want them to continue to be happy and healthy for much, much longer :)

This weekend at the climbing gym I ran into a grey-haired gentleman climbing in a bow tie, dress shirt and dress pants.  He climbed as elegantly as he dressed, and even ended up coaching my climbing buddy and I on bouldering in the cave for a little while.  Then he took off and I found out he was off to a performance.  He's a cellist for the Edmonton symphony orchestra! Apparently bouldering in the cave is a warm up for his hands. How badass is that? I want to be like him when I grow up :)

Ouch.

I'm not in a foul mood very often but today I definitely hit a bad one.

Salman Rushdie is coming to Edmonton. I found out right away via my library membership.  By the time I was about to buy general admission tickets, it was sold out. My fault - should've known better.  I should've just quickly purchased a pair of tickets and then figured out who to take afterwards. 

There were only VIP tickets left and although much pricier, I was convinced I'd eventually cave and buy them anyway.   I'd check from time to time and they'd be always available. Weeks passed.  Today was to be *the* day.  I checked this morning and there they were, totally available. 

Left work early. Got my teeth cleaned. Stopped by Chapters to get Satanic Verses, the book that got

Mr. Rushdie in "trouble" (I haven't read it yet - only Midnight's Children, which I remember thoroughly enjoying).  Daydreamed about inhaling the book before getting to meet the author.  Got home. Pulled out my credit card. Went to the ticket website and then to my horror saw this:

Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Urgh! Mentally kicked myself for taking so damn long and waiting until the afternoon the VIP tickets sold out :(  Super duper fail. Grr.

I'm glad I went climbing after my condo board meeting tonight (thanks for staying open late, climbing gym).  Listening to other people's stories and lives and then burning out my forearms with my sister helped me out of my funk a bit.

Painful lesson learned though. Next time I want to do something, I AM PROBABLY DOING IT.  Preferably legally and safely.

On to happier thoughts.  Like Paint Nite last night :)

Vigilantism and Not Being Good at Stuff.

This is a recent pic from Hachi's daycare.  Look at that puppy-dog-eyed face. 

Sometimes that face hides mysterious things.  It seems that Hachi has an interesting sense of justice.

My sister and I have noticed that he can stop dogfights at the dog park by calmly placing himself between the two aggressors.

This past week Hachi stopped a fight again at daycare.

But then later on, he grabbed one of the dogs involved in the fight!  BY THE LEG.  Hachi got a 30 minute time out for that one.

He has also calmly peed in beefcake's brother's dogs' water dish, after the dogs were aggressive towards him.  The pee was perfectly in the dish.  Not a drop was on the floor. 

I think we have a mini vigilante on our hands.  An adorable one.

I went to bed with a tingly spine last night.  Yoga is happily kicking my ass and I happily let it.  I think I've realized why I like classes so much.  I actually enjoy being a beginner and picking the brains of instructors.  This doesn't just apply to yoga, but to everything else I've dabbled in ... dance, climbing, kettlebells, work, writing, art ...

It also explains why I'm one of the few I know who get extremely nostalgic while on campus.  Most of my friends cringe at the thought of going back to school, whereas I relish the thought of being a student.

Student mentality keeps you humble and young.  You want a big slice of humble pie?  Embrace something you're not good at and try to get better at it.  Maintain respect and an open mind when your instructor/peer critiques you and makes suggestions.  Your ego may cry a little at first, but eventually it becomes a more easygoing entity.  Change is good, but it's even better when it turns into growth :)