Christina's Blog!

Vietnamese boat people

2009-05-01T20:34:00.006-04:00

A friend of my mother had found this video on CBS News about Vietnamese boat people. My mother and her family were at the same refugee camp (as in the video) from December of 1978 to October, 1979!!

Growing up, I've always heard stories about their escape from Vietnam, their dangerous travel across the South China Sea, and living at the refugee camp in Malaysia. But, seeing it on video made it REAL. I wonder how my fragile mother had survived, nearly a year, living in a refugee camp with 23,000 others in horrible living conditions. I wonder if I would have survived... or would I have perished like the thousand others at sea...

I am forever grateful to my family (mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, uncles and aunts) for giving me a better opportunity to succeed in life.

Thank you.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Morning Showers vs. Night Showers

2008-11-17T23:14:00.002-05:00

So I had a little argument with my boyfriend about when people should shower; in the morning when you wake up or at night before bedtime. There are pros and cons to each but I'd like to know what the general consensus will be as to when people generally take their daily shower.

I take my showers at night time because I want to feel clean for bed. I think the average person collects a considerable amount of dust and dirt throughout the day that should be washed and cleaned before crawling into bed. How can you get into your clean bed with clean sheets when you’re all dirty, dusty, and maybe even sweaty from the day?!?! Yuck! I, personally, cannot fall asleep if I don’t shower before bed… but that may be in my head.

My boyfriend, on the other hand, takes his showers in the morning. He feels that the shower wakes him up in the morning and helps him start his day being clean and fresh. According to Richard, “you don’t have that bed smell when you take a shower in the morning”. To each his own… I suppose.

I’m sure you can also take TWO showers in a day. But then I hear that’s bad for your skin as the natural oils and moisture are being washed off.

Anyway, would love to know your thoughts on this!

Angry Little Girls

2007-07-06T17:56:00.001-04:00

The Day in the Life of Melody Hang

2007-06-13T13:05:00.001-04:00

Who is Melody, you ask?

Melody is great. She spends all day with me when I'm home and will entertain me when I'm bored. We're not blood-related but she's part of the family just as much as Alex, my creepy brother. Who is she? Melody is my pet dog!

So, on this one boring day, at home, I decided to document the day in the life of Melody! Here' goes...

June 13, 2007
10:07AM I wake up and find Melody still sleeping on my brother's room floor. She probably had her breakfast already at 7:30AM, as my mom usually feeds her before she leaves for work

10:52AM I find Melody sleeping in my room now. She moves fast...

10:53AM The flash from my camera has woken her up. She doesn't like it because it reminds her of the lightening from thunderstorms. She hates rain... it's actually quite funny to watch her when it's thundering outside. What a wussy dog...

10:56AM At this point, she's trying to escape from me as I'm being a photo-Nazi and taking as many pictures of her as I can, like a Japanese tourist. I title the following series "The Chase".

11:05AM Melody has found a place to chill near the front door. I felt nice and left her in peace... I do realize that she requires 16 hours of sleep every day.

11:50AM By this time, Melody is already afraid of the flash of the camera. She'll get up and go as soon as she sees it! She just loves to make my life difficult... She wouldn't even stick around for breakfast when the camera was out! (Yes, I eat breakfast at noon)

12:30PM Sleeping - computer room

1:25PM Still sleeping - Alex's room

2:11PM Sleeping - back in the computer room

3:42PM Sleeping - living room

5:23PM Sleeping - living room couch

7:07PM Sleeping - front door

7:45PM It's feeding time!

Then from here on out.. except for the walk after dinner, it's all pretty much the same ... sleep, sleep, sleep.

=)

2007-06-05T16:52:00.001-04:00

Peanutbutter and Jelly

2007-05-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

***You Are a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich***

You live your life in a free form, artistic style.
You are incredibly creative and at times, quite messy.
Deep down, you are a kid at heart. And you aren't afraid to express it.

Your best friend: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Your mortal enemy: The Club Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofsandwichareyouquiz/

Facebook is the Devil

2007-05-27T23:05:00.000-04:00

I truly do love Facebook.

Update Coming Soon...

2007-05-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

So it's been awhile since my last update. I've been busy.
Going here and there.
Doing this and that.
Not to mention, I've finished all 3 seasons of Lost now!!

When something exciting or interesting happens, I promise to write about it.

Salad King

2007-04-27T01:35:00.000-04:00

For all those Thai lovers out there, I’ve got a place for you! Okay, so it’s not really a big secret, but I ate at Salad King for the very first time today!!! (Yes, that deserves 3 exclamation marks) Salad King is located just north of Dundas on Yonge street.

As soon as my friend, Sinduja, and I got there at 6PM, it was already jam-packed. We didn’t reserve a seat this particular Thursday night (I don’t think they do reservations), so we had to take a number and wait in line. The wait wasn’t too bad though, I’d estimate 20 minutes.

So as I said earlier, it’s Thai food. And delicious Thai food, at that! I had their Phud Thai with shrimp, as I was craving it all day. I got it with only 1 chili and it was already stinging my tongue and making me all jumpy after the first bite! Apparently you can go even hotter, should you dare. Salad King’s spice scale…

Mild: mild
Medium: gives it a little kick
1 chili: gives the dish a bigger kick à which I had
3 chilies: equivalent to Thai medium (hahaha… because cakers can’t take the spiciness)
5 chilies: Watch out!
10 chilies: Are you sure?
15 chilies: Some like it hot
20 chilies: Can cause upset stomach

What makes this place unique is the style of service they provide. The impression I got was a half-restaurant, half-fast food joint. Salad King combines the quickness of a fast food place with the service of a restaurant (does this remind anyone of DSS?). Essentially, you, as the customer, are in-and-out in seconds. It’s industrial engineering at its finest, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going to attempt to make a process map now.

The atmosphere, however, isn’t the most ideal place for chit-chat for several reasons:

It’s way too loud in the restaurant for normal-volume conversation.
You’re seated right next to strangers, so it’s not very private.
You get evil stares (from customers!) for sitting too long or not eating quick enough.

As such, customers tend to eat their food and leave quickly. This helps Salad King’s turnaround time and keeps their wait times for tables low. Another tip for eating there is to only go in small groups. That is, go with another friend, but anything more than 4 and I suspect you’ll have a longer wait time as they’ll need to clear a bigger space for you.

In conclusion, for the price you pay (cheap!) and the delicious food, I don’t mind sacrificing the more comfortable atmosphere. Hey, who knows, maybe you’ll make a new friend being paired at a table with an eccentric Ryerson artsie!

Love at First Sight

2007-04-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

The following is a true story. It is a re-telling of how I fell in love. I title this, MY Pangea.

It was going to be a good day… I could feel it. It was beautiful weather out last Friday afternoon, the first sunny day of many many cold winter days past. And just like any other normal day, I woke up and went about my daily routine. I had arranged to meet Mike, Paul, Sonia, and Justin (individuals that I will be meeting up with in France at the end of July) to go backpack shopping for our Euro-trip this summer. Coincidentally, we also randomly bumped into Chad, another one of my Engineering friends, at MEC and convinced him to purchase an adventure backpack as well (he's going Mountaineering this summer)!

So I entered MEC and met my friends. We wandered around a bit to see what they had to offer in terms of gear, equipment, and accessories until we found the backpack/bag section. Then, there it stood…

At first it was just a passing glance but, like that guy at a club or walking along the street that can make you take a “double-take”, I took a double-look and couldn’t look away. I was mesmerized. It was just sitting there, all alone, staring back at me. It was as if there was a spotlight shining brightly down on Pangea (full name: MEC Pangea 60) as it called my name. And it WAS a calling, oh, if only our eyes could speak. I made a direct beeline towards it. But, as I approached, I slowed down in pace. Like a hallucination, a mirage in the desert, I didn’t want it to vanish. I wanted this to be true. I wanted this to be real.

There are many things that will catch my attention, but there are very few that can keep it. I stretched my hands out and touched its soft front edge. Then I worked my hands down towards the back and down its sides. It was delicate to the touch yet strong at the same time. I asked the salesman that had been watching me if I could try it out, but I secretly knew that it would be perfect for me, specially designed for Christina. The MEC salesman packed in about 30 lbs. of weight into the backpack and adjusted the bag.

I checked myself out in the mirror (ouu.. someone's been working out) and strutted around the store with Pangea on for at least an hour. Pangea was pretty huge, so big it could probably engulf me in, like a big bear hug. Holding me tightly, making me feel safe and secure. I knew I had found the one. I didn't even try on any other styles for fear that Pangea might think that I had second doubts about it, as if I were cheating!

Not surprisingly, I took Pangea home with me that night… what can I say?
It truly was love at first sight.

Daily Horoscope

2007-04-22T16:14:00.001-04:00

My Horoscope for today, as per The Onion:

Sagittarius

You've heard a lot of people say that having kids isn't easy, but as far as you can tell, the man's dingle just goes into the lady's hoo-hah.

Dating Stages of the Female

2007-04-19T23:39:00.000-04:00

I had a very interesting conversation with my aunt two weekends ago. My aunt is in her mid 40’s and has never been married. Now, having said that statement, you’re probably imagining the stereotypical unmarried woman that lives with her cats-type of person. But she’s far from being such a character. I think of her as the cool aunt, the older sister I never had. She’s had a slew of boyfriends in her time (and even now), so it’s not like she’s been alone all her life. I suppose she just hasn’t found the “right” person.

Anyway, I don’t know how the conversation got started, but we began a discussion on the different dating phases of a woman and the different types of people that you will go through, as you age and learn from each experience. (N.B. I may have botched up the order or even omitted important stages, so I apologize in advance because I have a poor memory.) Anyway, here it goes...

Stage 1: The pretty boy
That's essentially it! Girls just want that hottie. That hunk. That trophy boyfriend. Mr Dreamy.
mmm... damnit. I'm forever going to be stuck in this phase.

Stage 2: The nice guy, part 1
Somewhere along the line, ladies, you'll start to feel unsatisfied. Looks just don't cut it! Soo, we go for the nice guy! That really great guy who'll pamper and spoil us. Who knows how to treat a girl to a nice, romantic date. He'll even call 'just because'!
Aww... isn't that sweet...

Stage 3: The jerk
But then it happens. We get bored.
Nice guys are great, but sometimes, you can be too nice. So we revert back to our hottie-phase of stage 1, except now we seek out those confident, assertive, aggressive jerky-type men.
hmmm... they sound fun! Maybe stage 3 ain't so bad.

Stage 4: The nice guy, part 2
So after all the bullshit with Mr. Jerk, you go back to the nice guy, or a different nice guy because you love the security and princess treatment. Maybe you end up marrying him because you're ready to settle down...
I'm unclear about the details, but essentially, you grow up. See!! Nice guys don't always finish last!

Stage 5: The sugar-daddy
ahh... the sugar-daddy. So I believe this happens after the divorce. Why else would you go through a second marriage?

I think my aunt forgot ‘The Lover’ somewhere in this categorization, but I’m not sure. I suppose The Lover could be any or all of the people in any of the stages. So, that basically was our conversation in a nutshell. I’d love to hear your comments and feedback about this one.

I want my Money!!!

2007-04-19T22:59:00.000-04:00

I got this off my friend Miki. Great video! Although I hear Will is in some "hot water" for making this movie ...

I love Bunnies!

2007-04-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

I know it's long past Easter now, but I had to share this video (it was on Mike's blog awhile back). I think it's hilarious!!!

I swear I still watch it at least once daily... does that make me a bad person?

Difficulties of The Blog Topic

2007-04-15T19:46:00.000-04:00

It only took all day (at least 6-hours), but after an inspiring conversation with my friend I've finally come up with a topic! I didn't realize how difficult it would be to conjure up an interesting blog subject... I blame Engineering for depriving me of all things creative and writing/communication skills.

Anyway, this was my msn conversation with Patrick today

Patrick says:
how are you blogging? There aren't any posts!
Christina says:
I can't think of a good topic
Patrick says:
this is what most people blog about: how bad their life is
Christina says:
but I don't think I have a bad life. I’m just bored!
Patrick says:
then you're going to be a bad blogger
Hahaha… I’m just kidding
Talk about something you enjoy. like a favorite movie or current events.
That is always fun
Christina says:
yah... maybe I'll go watch a movie tomorrow
Patrick says:
i like that the blog is driving your motivations and not the other way around.
hahaha
Christina says:
Hahahahaha…my life sux =(

So my dream of become a great blogger wouldn't have materialized had it not been for Patrick and his very special way of helping me realize how much my life sucks and how I'm living my life to ensure I have a blog to write the next day. For that, I thank you.

But seriously, blogging isn’t just for the angry, depressed, socially-inept, or computer nerds right? I certainly hope I’m not classified into one of those categories. Although, I suppose some people would call me a keener =)

I just need to think differently… away with all those numbers, math formulations, and calculations (do you know that 4^th year Indys don’t use calculators? I love it!). Maybe I should take a Creative Writing class. They had one of those in OAC English, no?

Hello World!

2007-04-15T02:04:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to share my very first blog page EVER!

Hopefully this will be able to entertain me for the next 2 months when I'll be doing absolutely nothing, yet still manage to be sleep-deprived.

Leave a comment as to potential topics you think I should write about in the future.

xo
Christina