little bitty girl

I know, it seems that all I've been doing is taking lots of pictures of the same buildings over and over again. I've always been really interested in architecture but more than anything I'm always really fascinated at old buildings. It seems impossible that so many old buildings have survived the passage of time.

I think a big part of it has to do with a nation's willingness to preserve its history. I think France has done a really admirable job of preserving what they have while working around modern conveniences. Everywhere we went, there seemed to be constant work on up keeping of old buildings, or even just keeping the metro clean of graffiti. There seems to be great pride in their city.

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You wonder sometimes whether Parisians ever tire of tourists invading their city. Everywhere we turned there just seemed like truckloads of people going to every site. Every place of interest that we visited always gave the option of at least seven different language translations. I know that for us back home, you either have translations in English or French. I mean you could get specialized tours for your own native language, but it's definitely not part of the general tourism plan. Maybe because Toronto isn't such a huge city where that many people visit a year...

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Posted in Architecture, Travel, What's Buggin' Me

It's THAT time of the year again.

I really must move to a country where we don't have to do any taxes. I think about the accountants at work and feel so bad for them. They ALWAYS seem to be in tax season, having to do month end and all sorts of things that I would rather someone put bamboo splinters underneath my nails.

That's why I love my accountant and will never do anything to upset him. He's just one of the most best natured men that I've ever met and I do give a small prayer (not all the time but especially around tax time) that he lives a very, very, very long life.

All this being said, I should get back and go through all my darn receipts. Next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in Paris!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

It's Monday and I am sick. At first I thought my dry cough was due to the fact that after months of the heat barely working, our miserly landlord had decided that he wanted to roast us all to death.

I have this theory about our landlord.

You see, we live in a very fashionable, up and coming part of town. When we first moved here, it was totally run down - warehouses with boarded up windows. People barely wanted to visit us. Our loft apartment had been sitting empty for months. Now, it's where all the coolest clubs, lounges, up and coming restaurants are; and every yuppie known from the suburbs are quickly buying these kleenex boxes they call "condo-living" and they call it the hip life.

Our landlord is one of the few buildings left not sold to a developer and if I were the developers, I would be offering our landlord some serious money. Except, he's a bit of a neglectful landlord, and this building which he barely maintains is his cash cow. So he tries to get rid of old tenants who have had very reasonable rents for awhile in order to attract new tenant who will pay exorbitant prices for "true" loft living.

So what he does is not turn on the heat until he legally has to and then he just cranks it on. No joke, it's so hot in here that it feels like that murky heat of summer in August. In addition, he puts up pamphlets saying we can't open our windows as it overworks the boilers.

And really, I should just get over it since we do pay really good rent for a great place. We know we're not going to live here for much longer. But I am home, sick and annoyed in a hot space. And I really wanted to go to work today because I had so much to do. But my new friends, Green Snot, Hacking Cough and Fever decided they needed some private time with me. And all I can think about is what a grumpy pants I am.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I was on the streetcar this morning on the way to work where I encountered a school trip in progress. There were about fifteen very rambunctious eight or nine year olds on a very packed work rush streetcar. Once we hit one of the main stations, people cleared out enabling me to watch the children interacting with each other.

I've always said that I find the ages of eight to eleven odd. Kids are past the cute stage and they're not yet disgruntled teenagers. They're still feeling their gangly selves out, figuring out how to socialize with one another. I noticed in the back a cluster of girls, all chatting with each other. On closer observation, one of them was obviously being singled out. You could see the conflict in her - trying to fit yet trying not to care.

It was painful to watch actually. I wondered what had happened for the other girls to ostracize her so. The group seemed to be gravitating toward an obvious trio in the centre. For a while, I watched these three girls hold their court and then, a surprise. One of the "popular" girls looked out through the crowd, noticed the left out girl, reached out for her and pulled her in. The others could do nothing but to follow her example and include the outsider too.

I wonder. How does one make a kind child? And how do I make sure that any children that I have in the future, are the kind ones?

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Posted in Watchin' People, What's Buggin' Me

Now I remember why I should never have breakfast at Starbucks. Especially not a muffin. My low-fat cranberry muffin has been a concrete stone in my belly all day. Ugh!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

Here I was catching up on one of my guilty pleasures (gossip blog reading) when this article caught my eye. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Someone needs to explain to me why Keira Knightly is the actress du jour because I, for the life of me, cannot see the appeal. And so far, she's been the main actress in three book adaptations, all books that I've really loved - Pride and Prejudice (my absolute favourite!), Atonement and now Georgiana (renamed the Duchess for this movie). I hated her so much in Pride and Prejudice (and to think she was nominated for an Oscar for the role when there were so many other more worthy candidates that year) that I had to watch the A&E version twice to remove her terrible acting from my head.

On top of it all, she's the new face of Channel? It's almost sacrilegious!

As far as I am concerned, Keira Knightly has two ranges as an actress - Overly Indignant or Pompously Righteous.

I know, I know. Obviously some people must love her if she's so popular. I am definitely not one of them. It's been a very upsetting morning so far, I must say.

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Posted in Star Gazing, What's Buggin' Me

And speaking of White Boy aka Technical Support, where the heck is the new masthead?

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Posted in Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

So I've mentioned before that when our schedules suddenly become very busy, Mama Kang comes to the rescue with home cooked meals already in our freezer. She's lovely, that Mama Kang BUT does she really have to love the White Boy so very much?

I know, I know.

I have issues with sharing my parents' love with my family. I will openly share their love with my friends but when family is involved I get really possessive or competitive about it. Call it "youngest-child-only-girl" syndrome. I just want to point out that I didn't get like this with the sister-in-law though, cos you know, I dig her. That, and she married one of my dumb brothers. Let's just give credit where credit is due.

Mama and Papa Kang are planing to go visit the Big Bro in the Big Apple. So what does Mama Kang do? She's making sure White Boy has enough food while she's gone. Not extra food for the both of us, JUST White Boy.

What the hella, man? What sweet nothings has he been whispering into her gullible ear, I wonder? Because whatever it is, it's gotta stop.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

Dear West Coast Peeps,

We apologize for the delay and lack of posts as of late. There has been an ongoing dispute between the Creative/Writing team and Technical Support at Little Bitty Girl. The Creative/Writing team is currently bored with current masthead design and therefore is not inspired to post any new thoughts. However, the Technical team is not inspired by the newest design submitted by the Creative team and refuses to change current masthead. There have been negotiations on both sides but so far no resolution has been made.

Until then, there will be minimal written entries. We thank you for your ongoing support and emails and we ask you to please forward your complaints to the Technical support team so that we can resolve this issue quickly.

Sincerely yours,

Creative/Writing Team

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Posted in Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

Oh, the sudden heatwave is overwhelming but I guess it hasn't been THAT bad since Mindy is not yet dead. She has however, been more lethargic and very needy. My temper has definitely been shorter than usual so hence the reason for the tone of this post.

Stefan and I are getting ready to go on a trip to Vancouver. Stefan is playing Aussie Rules Footy against the U.S and I get to visit the West Coast family. I am a little worried since even though Stef and I have traveled together, we have not flown much together. We tend to take separate flights for circumstantial reasons. I like to go early to airports and not feel rushed, Stef likes to be his usual lackadaisical self and thinks it's an "adventure" if we get anywhere barely on time. It drives me bonkers.

The one thing that we do have in common is that we both like the apartment to be spotless before we go anywhere. There is nothing worse than coming home on a long flight to a place looking like a war zone, which is the current state of the loft right now. I tend to do "deep cleans" whereas Stefan does "surface cleaning." So last night before he came home, I told him that although it may not look like much has been done, it had as I had done a lot of dusting.

Stefan doesn't believe in dusting, or at least he never thinks that the place ever warrants it. Sometimes, I seriously think that he thinks I am making the "dusting" part up. Little does he know that the reason why there are never inches of dust around the apartment is that I dust quite frequently. I will take books off shelves, wipe them clean and arrange them back. Heck! I even dust the plants. Does he think the dust fairy just goes around and cleans stuff up? You cannot live with a cat, in the downtown core with the windows open without copious amounts of dust coming in.

As I am writing this, he's looked at me with his little boy eyes and asking me not to complain about him. He gets me EVERY time.

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Posted in Stefan, Travel, What's Buggin' Me

Someone needs to explain to me what the big deal is with Rachel Ray. Tons of people love her - she's got TV shows, books, magazines - I am just not one of them. I just find her bubbly personality so forced, insincere and incredibly annoying. I am right now, as we speak watching her "30 minute meal" show and let me tell you, what she's making is not "YUMM-O." In fact, it kind of looks like a dog's dinner.

On a side note, when I first started this blog I had complained about Giada of "Everyday Italian" fame for being too skinny to be a convincing cook. After watching "Chef-ography" where she explained her loss of weight due to nervousness of doing a new show, and her consequent weight gain to normalcy; I have to say, I've been all over her show like fresh herbs on a rack of lamb.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

Every so often, people will either ask about this or actually do this - have fake flowers and plants in their homes. Not only do they do this, but they try to justify their actions by saying the fakes are "really" good ones. To me, having fake plants or flora in your home or anywhere for that matter is like screaming out loud, "I have really, really BAD taste!"

Today while I was flipping through the channels, I caught an Oprah show on decorating and there was an audience question:

"Is having fake flowers in your home considered tacky?"

The decorator and Oprah looked sick and then vehemently said,"Yes! Nothing is tackier than fake plants or flowers."

They went on to explain how anything else, even nothing is better than going this route.

All I can say is, Hallelujah! Thank God, Oprah's said it out loud. Hopefully offenders have caught the same show, and are now currently, quietly, disposing of these eyesores.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, What's Buggin' Me

If you haven't heard, Paris Hilton is out of jail after serving a mere 4 days in her already shortened sentence. According to gossip blogs out there, the "medical" condition was due to the fact that she was not eating the food in jail (I bet many people who first go to jail, don't actually think it's exactly all gourmet either) and a psychiatrist thought she may have a mental break down.

Boo fucking hoo.

It's really awesome to see how the L.A Justice System works - if you're a white, stupid, celebrity with money, you can get away with the crime. I bet you if the EXACT same thing had happened to some poor, black person; not only would that person be in jail as soon as the infraction occured, they definitely would not be let out so quickly. Especially on such a flimsy excuse.

I personally am waiting for her to commit some other crime, so that (hopefully!) she will have to not only serve a full term but a longer one.

Update: YES!!!! The judge presiding over her case has ordered her back to jail to finish her sentence.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Star Gazing, What's Buggin' Me

Earth Day came and went last weekend. I've been thinking a lot about my life and how I live. I remember when I was first introduced to the concept of Earth Day. It was in grade seven and I thought to myself,"OK, this is something new and interesting." I guess you can say that interest has stayed with me ever since.

There have been a lot of debates lately from oil producers and disbelievers of global warming. So much so, that there already is new documentary out to counter Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." I believe they're calling it "The Great Global Warming Swindle." Currently in Canada, British Columbia has implemented the watching of "An Inconvenient Truth" to be mandatory in social studies classes. A big oil producer in that province wants to donate large sums of money to make sure "The Great Global Warming Swindle" is also part of that curriculum to give "youth the chance to make an educated decision" about this great debate.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Have I already mentioned how much I hate hockey? I don't think I say it enough to make my point clear. I really, really, really hate hockey. It's getting to the point where I think I must move somewhere where no hockey is played to ensure no probability of future progeny playing or watching the sport. I am pretty sure they have no ice in the Maldives.

I seriously thought that since the Toronto Maple Leafs were out of the playoffs, there would be some reprieve. But alas, there was a playoff hockey pool that took place at home last Tuesday, making sure that all guys involved would stay involved for the rest of the season.

What I can't understand is how are morning hockey highlights any different from highlights the night before that we need to watch both with such avid intensity. If you hear that Stefan's gone to live with my parents for the rest of the playoff season, it's because I've sent him there. They find his love for hockey very "quaint" and my mum gets an on site food taster.

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Posted in Girls Are From Earth, Boys Are From La La Land, Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

It looks like my crusty old laptop is about to die. I have spent the past three days blind typing. If you do not know what blind typing is, it's basically when your computer has decided to only show you certain words at a time. Even as I am typing this, all I see is "blank blank blank blank word blank blank blank blank blank word." I hope that when I check this entry later on, I don't see a bunch of mumbo jumbo on the screen.It's enough to make me want to toss it off the CN Tower.

We seem to be having a mini snow storm in April.

Oh, and on top of it all, my rental car has a flat so I have had to cut short my road trip. Not having a good day, my friends.

The possible brightening in the dark clouds is that we're going to go to the Apple Store this weekend to check out one of the Mac books. I've always wanted a Mac and Stef is quite excited about being able to test out his shit on it too.

EXCEPT, I was also saving up for the new Canon Digital Rebel XTi. However, having a laptop is more essential right now. I hate having to choose between a "want" and a "need."

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

As I mentioned fairly recently my parents live really close to me now. So close that walking over EVERY day for a Mama Kang home cooked meal is plausible. Stefan sometimes quips that I am taking advantage of my parent's closeness by raiding their fridge too much, but as usual he doth protest too much.

After all, my mother times HIS separate meals (because he really is THAT picky about food and my mother is convinced that when he's home, I chain Stefan to the old rotting radiators and feed him nothing but stale bread and water) to be ready just as soon as he walks in. Not only does he get an instant dinner, my mother also PACKS him a lunch. It's getting so bad that my mother who has developed a recent allergy to gluten will still bake him cakes daily, despite the fact that she can no longer eat it herself.

That, and I also get daily lectures from my father and mother that I have to not "bully" Stefan while he looks at them with his sad puppy dog eyes and asks why TSN is not in high definition on my dad's giant TV. I don't know what type of "bullying" they think I can really do to that stubborn giddy goat of a man that I married. Plus, he's twice my size and weight.

Then, there is also the fact that since my parents moved to a smaller place that they had to buy almost all new furniture to fit. Of course, the main thing for my parents is that they can have all their children en masse at the dining room table. But for the past month, the main focus of everything else is whether Stefan will be comfortable on the couch, what if he has no room to stretch out? He likes to have comfy pillows...

So excuse me if I deign to eat my mother's home cooked meals practically every day. I like to think I am making them happy by reliving my teenage years, where the only evidence I existed in their home was the fact that some food would be missing in the morning. Who's taking advantage of whom here, is what I am asking?

Like I said last week, Mama and Papa: Please remember that you gave birth to me and that you've known me longer. You should take my side once in awhile. After all, "technically" your beloved son-in-law has only officially been part of the family for a year and a bit. And Dad, seriously, DO NOT SUBSCRIBE to HD NHL Centre Ice next year. You don't even watch hockey.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Lurves, Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

I have had this out of area phone number calling me at all times of the day for the past few months. I googled it and discovered it was actually my bank probably trying to sell me some other new product of theirs. For the first few months, I've decided to be defiant and ignore the phone calls thinking that they would get the hint but no such luck. Finally today, I decided to answer it, if only to stop the phone calls.

Bank Person: Hello Ms. Kang, I am calling from Bank XYZ. I was wondering whether you had a couple of minutes for me to see whether we can better service you and save you some money?

Me: (Loud snort emitting from me but I decided to change it to a cough. After all the poor guy is just doing his job.) Suuuure....but I don't have a lot of time.

BP: Well, do you have any cards that have a high interest rate that you might want to switch over if we offered you a better rate?

M: Yes, it's with you guys.

BP: (Awkward shuffling) I don't see it here in your personal files.

M: It's with my business.

BP: Oh, I see. What about a line of credit? Just in case you need to cover your expenses.

M: I try to live within my means and I also have a line of credit.

BP: Oh...can I ask with whom?

M: With you guys. Once again, it's with my business.

BP: Well, I see (getting a little enthusiastic). We could also offer you a personal line of credit.

M: I'm not really interested as that would make me spend money that I don't have and I am trying to live within my means. Like I mentioned before.

BP: What about credit card insurance?

M: I just cancelled it as it doesn't really apply to self employed people.

BP: Ermm....what about overdraft protection?

M: Listen, I just said I try to live within my means. I already think you banks in general charge too much for everything, I know you're trying to do your job but isn't this a bit of a pointless phone call? Especially since I am not really interested in anything you have to offer, other than what I already have?

BP: Errr....right. Well, thank you for your time?

Why do they ever think this tele-marketing stuff works?

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Posted in Conversations, What's Buggin' Me

Just a quick post to let you guys know that I am still alive. I've been getting a couple, "I hope you're not dead..." emails. You would think that if I were, Stefan would bother to let people know.

But, it's nice to know people care...

I've just been busy. Every night, I am so bone achingly tired that all I can seem to do is lay prostate on the couch on my big giant pillows and let my brain slowly turn to mush.

Anyway, today I went to see my accountant to give him my tax stuff. I just want to say that he's really such a lovely guy and I enjoy seeing him whenever I do. He works down the hall from where I live so we tend to bump into each other. He's this older, rugged British guy with the typical snaggle teeth (What is up with Brits and their teeth? Don't they have good orthodontists there?) and just the most wonderful personality. He was diagnosed with cancer about six years ago and they had told him that he only had six months to live. He's now in remission and has such a brilliant outlook on life.

I swear, most of the time, I just drop my papers off and we talk for an hour about life. I am pretty organized with my paperwork so he never ever needs to ask too many questions about it. He's always giving me some kernel of witty wisdom. I really hope that if I was ever faced with such adversity, that I would face it with as much positivity.

On a side note, I am a little annoyed that the CCRA's online filing system is down and no one seems to have any idea when it will be fixed. This is the first time I've been so early to file my taxes and what good did it do me?

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing, What's Buggin' Me

That should be the unwritten credo of all gym memberships. After much contemplation, I've decided to quit my super cool but expensive gym. I am a little sad over this decision because I truly did enjoy it there, except I haven't really been going for the past six months or so. Chalk it up to me moving my office from the area. Yes, I really am that lazy when it comes to sweating on purpose.

Anyway, I've just had to admit to myself that I need someone else to motivate me to work out. Gaining weight doesn't seem to bother me as much as I thought it would. I always thought that if I ever became chubby that I would be really upset and do something about it. So far, I've only been fascinated by the emergence of a little belly. The holiday weight gain has produced a cute little ponch which I sometimes will purposely stick out to illustrate to Stef how cute I will be when I allow him to knock me up in the far far future. He keeps telling me that it's not that cute -- at least when I'm not actually pregnant.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Hi, my name is Karen. You can call me Miss Grumpy Pants. At least for this week.

This is what's been going wrong in my world (yesterday's incident not included).

I dropped my camera last week. And now the lense won't retract. It's beyond its warranty and I am not sure whether I want to pay for a new one especially since I am saving for a digital SLR. But me without a camera is like fish without water.

Mindy has somehow developed a bad reaction to her medication and prescription food. My child is listless, lethargic and having diarrhea. I lay awake most nights just holding her close wishing she would feel better. The vets just want to give her MORE medication. But I'm looking at alternatives. I figure since I barely take any synthetic medication myself, why the heck would I poison my child? I am becoming disgruntled with conventional medicine in general.

I ordered sashimi to make me feel better since sashimi always makes me feel better. I got a splinter from the take-out chop sticks. Yes, I am the only Chinese person in the world who doesn't own her own set of chopsticks.

It's been so cold here and so dry that my skin feels awful. I DO NOT like feeling dry, flaky and uncomfortable. My usual potions and creams have not helped.

I don't understand why when he does laundry, why he never remembers to wash my jeans? I mean, I pretty much only wear jeans every day? How hard is it to wash a couple pairs of jeans?

I am going home and will be trying to get over my grumpiness in these ways....

Mop the floors (shiny floors always make me happy)
Cuddle my baby (because I love her more than anything else in the world)
Watch cheesy TV (I don't want to have to use my brain)

and sulk.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Marie asked me last week why I haven't yet blogged about the whole Isaiah Washington controversy as this is a topic that usually gets my goat. I felt at the time that there were already so many sites talking about it that adding my own voice would not have added anything new.

And then today, something happened.

The funny (or weird) thing about this is that last month I was trying to explain to Stefan that, even though people are pretty accepting of others in Toronto, there is still an underlying sense of prejudice within our society. My argument was that we needed to be aware that it still existed and to be vigilant against people who react this way.

Stefan wondered whether I was being a little over-sensitive about the issue. In his defense however and in my experience, it's usually people who have not experienced much prejudice (in this particular case, Stefan and generally other Caucasian friends) who deny that there is prejudice out there. Perhaps because they themselves would never treat someone differently for being different from them, that they simply cannot see anyone else doing it.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Isn't it funny how we as individuals can form such odd habits? I often wonder where it comes from. For me, I am particularly weird about my stationery. I remember always having a list for my back to school shopping as I could only do my work on specific things.

For example, all my math homework could only be done on graph paper. If I happened to have run out of graph paper, I would write all my notes on lined paper and re-copy all of the day's work on graph paper. All math notes must be written in blue medium point pen and actual work in mechanical pencil. English notes were to be written in black fine point ink pen. And notes could never be messy. I've been known to rewrite whole chapters of work if I felt like they were messy. There was a very good reason for this madness though. The neater my notes were the better I always did in that particular class.

Now in my adulthood, my weirdness is seeping into my work. I have a nice bounded book to write a list of things I want to accomplish each day. I also have a paper pad to just scribble miscellaneous notes. The entries in the bounded book is written in black ink pen, notes are made in red ink. When I am done a task, I can only cross it off with a yellow highlighter. Blue means an issue is pending, pink means that there is a major issue on this, orange means that I should look at it and follow up at a later date.

And the whole point of this entry is that I can't find my yellow highlighter and I am all discombobulated over this. I get great satisfaction out of crossing things off my list. I must go and see whether there is some office store nearby.

Does anyone else have weird habits with their work?

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Posted in Me-ness, Weirdness, What's Buggin' Me

K: Why the heck is this hummer trailing me so closely? They're right on my ass. It's so irresponsible.

S: Why?

K: Well, it's been snowing hard and the roads are pretty slippery. The whole highway is backed up....if they made a wrong move, you and I would be dead.

S: They would be just fine so I don't really think they're too concerned.

K: They should be! It's so inconsiderate not to think of other people....

S: Errr....do you really think that someone who owns a Hummer would really think about these things?

K: Good point.

I guess you can tell that I am not a fan of idiots who own Hummers in the city, since this is my second post about the inconsiderateness of Hummer owners. Just so you know, we don't actually own a car. We're very lucky to live in a city with amazing public transportation. We rent a car whenever we need to get stuff for my parents who live in the suburbs or when we need to transport heavy items from A to B.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Something happened on the weekend and I just cannot get it out of my head so I thought I would empty my spleen here.

I was walking from the market when I happened to chance upon a family hanging out. I was alerted to their presence by the high pitched giggling of their pre-teen daughter. I looked over when I realized the son who looked to be about nine, had picked up a huge ice rock that was slightly bigger than a baseball. He took quick aim and threw it as hard as he could on the back of a nearby pigeon.

A loud "thud!" was heard while the pigeon squawked and awkwardly tried to fly away. It finally managed to fly after a couple minutes much to the delighted squeals of the two kids while the mother looked benignly on and the father was obviously bored by it all.

"How could you?!" I said pointedly at the parents.

The mother looked back rudely and said, "Mind your own business! He's just being a little boy..."

"No," I flashed back. "He's learning to be an asshole."

Then the father stepped in and told me not to swear around his kids and just wait until I had my own kids. It probably wasn't the best reaction but I was so angry. I cannot believe that those parents would let their kid do something so inanely cruel just for a few laughs. I know that people think pigeons are pests but it's still a living thing.

My parents would have been livid if that were me. I would have gotten such a sore behind when I got home. And I am not saying that they should have hit him, but to just stand there and allow him to act in such a way is just ridiculous.

That's truly how assholes in the world are created.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

New year, new pet peeve.

Taking a swig out of my morning tea in my coffee (tea) cup holder. The tea bag must have broken at the end as I just swallowed a huge mouthful of tea leaves.

Yuck!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

So the new updated Firefox has this new amazing built in tool where it automatically spell checks while you are typing. A nice little underline shows up when you've made a mistake.

My only issue is that the spell checker obviously has a US dictionary built in, because I still spell everything the British way. And so anytime I do spell a word the English way, an underline keeps popping up.

No insult to my American friends, but I've spent so many years spelling words such as colour, favourite, cheque, honour to change my habits now. I wish there was a British dictionary option on this new update. I hate it when the computer keeps telling me that I am spelling things wrong. I keep having to check to make sure that I am not.

Update: Woo hoo! It's nice having a techy knight in shining armour in the house. Once he saw the entry, he looked into it and installed the necessary dictionary. Hmm....I wonder what would happen if I complained about other stuff online....like cleaning the toilet?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Last night as Stefan and I were settling into our current reads, we were disrupted by two loud bangs in the quiet night. The sound was actually quite strange, almost like a firecracker with a sharp clap at the end of it. I knew immediately that they were gunshots and so I leapt out of bed and flew to the window.

Sure enough, there was a young man lying on the street and people were streaming to help him. I asked Stefan whether I should call 911 but we could see everyone else's cellphones flash in the dark. It seemed to have been an incredibly long time before a police cruiser drove by. Since the street we live on is quite a busy one, it's not unusual for policemen to patrol the streets. What was unusual though, was when it did drive by, the car passed by the scene of the incident. For me, if there was an usual amount of people circling an unlikely spot (a parking lot), I would have been inclined to be curious. Luckily, a guy ran after the car and managed to get them to stop.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

So. Seriously.

What is up with guys? This is the fifth day in the row where guys have tried some lame ass random pick up lines on me. I am sure when I am in my nineties, I will look back on this, touch my ass with one finger, make a hissing sound through my teeth and think," Oh yeah! I was pretty hot back then."

However, for now this type of stuff just really annoys me. This whole part of guy behavior just really bewilders me. I left a footy function early tonight and decided to get pizza (my regular ritual need for food after some drinking) and literally in a span of half a block, was given some lame ass pick up line by three groups of guys. The lines used were - Hey baby! Where you going?, Hey sugar...lookin' good in those boots and What's up, toots. Toots? What the heck is a toot?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I hate people who take advantage of handicapped parking.

I've decided that recently.

For the past six months, there have been two such culprits outside my building. Everyday, Mr. Range Rover and Mr. Hummer get out of their gasoline sucking cars, lean into their glove boxes and put on their handicapped parking labels on their dashboard and merrily skip to work.

OK, I exaggerate.

They do not skip, but it is blatantly clear that they do not have any physical disabilities that I can see of. Both actually own businesses nearby, as I have seen them at their places at work.

I think it's really terrible when people take advantage of this. Is it just me who is offended by this? It just reminds me of the time when Kristen Dunst was caught doing the same thing. And maybe, I should give these two men the benefit of the doubt but to be honest, maybe the world has made me too cynical to do so. I have often heard of people who have gotten relatives who are doctors to write them a letter so they can get this label.

"Why pay for parking when you don't need to?" is often the reply I get when I've posed this question. "Because if you own a car that is more than some people's salaries a year, you can bloody afford it," is the reply they often get.

Where is karma when you need it? I really hope the karma angel gets Mr. Hummer or Mr. Range Rover soon because if I keep seeing them, I am just going to develop a permanent eye tick.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

So, I called today about the status of my ring.

It's taking a little longer because they needed to match the same quality diamonds with the others. They also needed to test the ring to make sure that no additional damage had been done. Somehow, even though I lost the one, it looks like my roughness with it has broken five additional diamonds that also needed to be replaced.

Stefan, bless his heart, did his big sigh and told me he still loved me when I told him the news.

I, on the other hand am not loving myself as much. Oh, the guilt!

A girlfriend told me that she actually has a fake set that she wears when she goes on vacations or goes to the gym. At the time, I thought it was a little silly. Now I'm thinking that it's not such a bad idea and am going to look for one.

After I dunk my head in the toilet.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

As everyone knows, Mama Kang just lurves her beloved son in law. This most recent incident of him having the surgery has brought out her mama-in-law love in full force. Our fridge is simply crammed with all sorts of cakes and tasty meals all marked with "Stef" on white labels.

Oh right. To be fair I did receive a quarter of a layer cake. God only knows, the best way for Stefan to heal is to have cake.

So because she had restocked our fridge on the weekend, she was a little perplexed as to why I was at the supermarket yesterday. But didn't she know? Stefan needs his cold cuts for lunch. Veal bologna to be specific. And of course, with that comes the dreaded baguette. Stef loves bread. He can eat a loaf of bread in two days, I kid you not. But he especially loves baguette for sandwiches. Oh, how I hate the baguette!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

Do you find that I complain about spam a lot? It really should be a category on it's own.

I think I am just flabbergasted by the whole spamming thing. What is the purpose of it? Do people make money? Or they get a kick out of being annoying? Somebody tell me as I really would like to know. I mean do people actually click on these links? And if they do...WHY, PEOPLE, WHY?

Anyway, spam seems to be overtaking my life right now. To be frank, it's coming out of my yin yang. Spam in my email accounts, spam in my work inbox, spam on my comments....I just can't seem to get away from it all. The weird thing is the spam thing was relatively containable until recently. Now it's just exploded. I get no less than 100 spam emails in my work inbox alone.

The interesting thing is, at least in terms of this site, I seemed to have graduated from the weird sex creep-o-la spam to mundaneness such as cemetery plots and pottery classes. Can you spell R-A-N-D-O-M?

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Posted in Randomness, What's Buggin' Me

I woke up to the sweet sounds of......HOCKEY HIGHLIGHTS!

Ye Gads! Is it really that time of the year again? I feel like the season just ended. I can honestly say that one of the best years I have lived so far included the year that the NHL was on strike.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, What's Buggin' Me

Recently Stefan installed Google Analytics on this site for me. It's because he's indulging my inner nerd. I just love looking at numbers and analyzing things. I have to say like all things Google related, it's pretty thorough. You can get all sorts of info such as percentage of unique visitors vs returning visitors, geo-locations of these visitors (hello reader from Chile!), most googled words used to find your site and visitors coming from site referrals.

For the most part, most of the people visiting seem to be people who already know the site or are referred to one of my other blog community's sites, which is so cool. However, my site being named what it is (Why o why couldn't I have picked something mundane like Karen's Thoughts?) I've noticed a couple of disturbing "googled" phrases over the time that leads them to this site. I am not going to repeat them here because that's just asking for the sickos to come in droves.

For those of you coming to this site looking for something else, (you know who you are) it's really too bad that you're not getting your kicks. I am flipping the bird at you and hoping that one day you will get your comeuppance. And I hope it's extremely excruciating, you fucking pervert.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

You know how I just hate it when technology dies on me. I have quite outrageously, large technology rages. Anyway, it looks that our stereo seems to have finally kicked the bucket, or maybe it hasn't. I don't know. I just know that it's not playing my ipod without a zzzzt! zzzzt! zzzzt! sound. My ipod is practically a part of my body and to have it not work, (even though it technically is working, the stereo that it's hooked to is not) is making want to cry or yell or be generally ill tempered.

I could technically listen to music through my laptop (and that's what I've been doing) but it's just not the same experience. It also doesn't help that my husband (aka technical help for life) has been so busy that he hasn't had time to look into it for me.

I'm grumpy.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

My God!

If I ever find the spam-bot that has been jamming up my comments section for the past month, I am going to ram my pointy shoe in its motherfucking ass.

Fists shaking in the air. Deep breathe.

I feel better now.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I think I've finally come to the realization that I have to do something about my allergy/sinus problems. They discovered last year that I have a deviated septum and that it could be one of the reasons why I am always getting sinus infections. As the weather gets hotter and the smog gets worse, I've been having these really debilitating sinus migraines.

The weird thing about a deviated septum is that it's mainly caused by an injury (which I've never had) or part of your growth process (my nose has always been so small that it can't have grown that much). I have to admit that I am a little afraid of any type of surgery but one involving my nose? That's why I have been so hesitant and supposedly, the full recovery takes quite a while. That, and there is no absolute gurantee that it will really help. I wish I knew more people who have gotten it done. I get to walk around with two tampon like things up my nose for a week after surgery. SEXY!

Well, I guess I am damned if I do and I am damned if I don't.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I hate you, Mr. Multi-Function Fax/Scanner/Copier.

These are the reasons why -

You are only a couple of months old. You should not already be broken. I don't care that you're still under warranty and can be fixed. I don't care that I bloody bought you on sale. I resent that I have to drag your sorry ass to the people who are designated to help you. You are a machine, destined to make my life easier, not worse. I bought you and now I rely on you to work. I am seriously contemplating throwing you out the window.

There really isn't anything worse than technology rage.....

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I had the worst experience today registering my gifts at The Bay. Unfortunately in Canada, they are the only thing going in terms of having everything you need for the home. We had initially gone to the one on Queen Street, since they were the largest location and I felt that they would also have the best selection.

What a mistake!

The woman we encountered was so unbelievably rude to us and told both Stefan and I, that they could not accomodate us, despite the fact there were all these attendents there just making personal calls on the phone. Out of spite, we decided not to register at the store.

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Posted in Delectable Design, What's Buggin' Me

As my friend once said, "Sandra Oh's character stereotypes Asian women as stoic and devoid of emotion and contrast drastically from the frazzled and emotional (and more attractive) Meredith and Izzy. She needs double eyelid surgery, a facelift and breast implants." The Bastardly

I really cannot even begin to start to explain how much this type of bullshit just pisses me off. People need to accept that there are many different types of beauty and not everyone fits into a certain mold. This is why our society is so fucked. Why does anyone need to change their boobs, or their laugh lines? Why do we all need to be plastic to fit into the definition of someone else's beauty? Why is it always women who have to do this? Most men do not have hard bodies and yet they feel they have the right to define what a woman should look like.

Plastic surgery is such a personal choice but I really don't believe in having to radically alter one's self. I hate those Extreme Makeover shows because it gives people, especially women, this false sense of beauty. If you get all your teeth replaced and capped, are the size of your teenage daughter, and get your bones restructured, then you suddenly become a worthy person in society?

The knock against Sandra Oh -- and directly taking a shot at her Asian features -- is completely unacceptable. No person should have to change a part of themselves that is so much a part of their heritage to be considered "beautiful." I am so against the double eyelid surgery. There is a growing trend in Asia for people who do it because it gives them an edge, to look more western and I think it's disgusting. It definitely doesn't help for those who are not of the Asian race, to say that the Asian features need cosmetic help. We're not judging you by your race's facial definitions.

I think this is also another reason why I refuse to change my last name. There are, of course, so many other reasons for this, but one of the main ones is that I am an Asian person. I am proud to be Asian. I am proud to have an Asian name. I am proud to have Asian eyes. I am proud to be who I am.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, What's Buggin' Me

I figure I should write this while they haven't started deporting us coloured people out of the country and still have freedom of speech.

I guess the result wasn't completely unexpected but I still can't believe that the devil in the turtleneck won. Who was he trying to fool with that get up? And could you not tell how difficult it was for him to smile at people? Sigh!

The upside to this all is that it gave the government the shake-up it needed, it's still a minority government and Paul Martin has stepped down as leader of the Liberal party.

Now when are we going to have another non-confidence vote and oust the current one?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

The online application for passports is supposed to ease the pain of the process and to help you avoid the long line at the passport office. Well, the whole process took over an hour because the system kept crashing. I think I would have been better off waiting in line.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Sometimes I feel that CNN is low on stories or they can't seem to quantify the ones they have that they need to exaggerate facts. On Boxing Day, Toronto experienced a shooting tragedy that left a 15 year old dead and 6 others injured. It has been an incident that has shocked a city, not used to violence.

Then to make matters worse, CNN's Miles O'Brien makes this really outrageous statement, warning people not to come to Toronto because there is crime spree and our murders have doubled. We're at 58 murders for the year. Isn't that the weekly rate in LA and NY?

I am not saying that it's a good thing that we're so low in comparison. Murder is murder and a terrible thing. However, we should put all things into perspective, taking into consideration that we are the largest populated city in all of Canada. With a larger population, disproportionate distributions of wealth, cutbacks in social programs, all problem that larger cities face, violence is not wholly unexpected.

We're trying to figure out what went wrong with our city and it never helps when newscasters are misinformed or want to sensationalize issues. I feel like it's like the whole SARS problem again where CNN claimed every single person in Toronto was wearing masks. I never saw a single person in the city wearing a mask other than the people who worked in hospitals.

It's actually upsetting because CNN used to be one of my favourite sources for the news but having twice been the focus of extreme sensationalism, I think I choose to be more educated and find my sources somewhere else. One wonders what else they exaggerate. Watching CNN is starting to feel like watching one of those entertainment shows. All pizazz and no substance.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Dear Canada Post,

I had a very important present to send out. I knew I was running late and had told the recipient of the gift that she would not receive it until the week after the festivities. We were both a little sad, we might have even shed a tear but we were both reconciled with the fact that she would not get the package.

When I went to the post, the service person told me that because I wanted to insure the package to trace it, that I might as well send it by express post. AS YOU CAN SEE BY THE RECEIPT, IT STATES QUITE CLEARLY "XPOST." It was merely a $12 difference and my friend would receive the gift latest by Thursday. I told Marie and we both giggled with glee.

Thursday came and went and no package. We still both had high hopes. There is NO WAY Canada Post would screw us over! Friday, after all, was another day.

As the hours ticked by today, we finally had to give up. Marie said she was leaving work when she noticed a Canada Post van come by her office. She made her boyfriend turn the car around and raced back. Turns out, the package was for the building next door.

She walked dejectedly back to the car.

So, thank you Canada Post. Thank you for ruining our joy. Merry Mother Fucking Christmas to you.

P.S I want my extra $12 postage back.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I know everyone has thought this and sometimes you actually say it out loud.

Just doing my usual reading of news and came across this story of Toga, the penguin. Someone has stolen it from a zoo. The penguin is an endangered species and was the first of it's kind to be bred at this particular zoo. Latest reports state that an anonymous phone call was made to say that the penguin is in a plastic bag, and has been dumped in a nearby dockyard. Zoo officials state that the penguin will not live much longer without its parents.

Questions that arise -

What do you need a penguin for?

How does someone walk out with a penguin without any zoo officials noticing?

Why don't people get hobbies?

In the same news site, there are some people looking for their stolen dogs and others looking for their stolen donkey. There seems to be an epidemic in the area.

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Posted in Weirdness, What's Buggin' Me

I have to stop ending my entries with one liners.

I just noticed that.

Annoying, really.

Isn't it?

Thought so.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I was testing out a new knit stitch and had knitted about 4 inches when I decided that I wasn't sure about it. Stefan, who can never bear for me to knit and unravel decided he would try to sell the product to me.

Stefan: Sweetie! Don't unravel it! Here, let me look at it....

He looks at it and started pointing out the "selling points"

Stefan: Well, it's got a nice V pattern. Lots of great texture. AND LOOK! When you lay it flat, it looks like little ski moguls.

I started unravelling the thing pretty darn quickly after that.

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Posted in Needles, Bows and Toes, What's Buggin' Me

I have finally finished the scarf that I have been working on. It's almost completely flawless OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT IT IS TOO SHORT!!!

I tend to like my scarves super long. This one does wrap around the neck but just barely and they do not have any of the yarn left to make it longer.

I am about to start developing high blood pressure over this. I should probably pick up another hobby that has less stress. Like stamp collecting.

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Posted in Needles, Bows and Toes, What's Buggin' Me

I seem to be expiring like rotten milk. At least all my government papers (passport, driver's license, health card) seem to be expiring at the same time. I've been running around trying to go to all the various different agencies. You would think they would all be at the same place. But no, that would be far too efficient for the government to operate that way. There is some unwritten law where if you need to ever get anything done, it has to at least take half an hour. Then there is the weird fact that for some reason, the parking meters near these agencies seem to be way more expensive than anywhere else in the city.

I wonder whether this is just some cosmic coincidence.

I think not.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I am making a scarf for one of my friend's Christmas gift. Everyone knows that I am a lover of yarn and knitting books. I am not a particularly good knitter and am especially, an impatient one. The downfall is that I am also a perfectionist who cannot pick up dropped stitches. Which means that I will unravel a scarf that is seventy five percent done, down to the very start. I have done this at least twelve times today. So whoever gets a scarf from me this year, even if you do not like it, you'd better damn well smile and say you do.

And know that I love you, very much.

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Posted in Needles, Bows and Toes, What's Buggin' Me

I know that TV ads are the networks main source of income but they are really irritating. There are so many annoying ads right now I can't even list every one. Needless to say, I try to find several different shows to watch at the same time to avoid watching the actual ads. This sometimes doesn't work so well because there is some TV ad conspiracy, I am sure, where they program the shows all at the same time, making it so regardless of my constant flipping, all I get are more ads. Tonight, I was watching Grey's Anatomy and it was absolutely KILLING ME to have wait in between. More reasons for TiVo to be in Canada so I can just fast forward through all the bullshit.

Posted in Glued To The Tube, What's Buggin' Me

So I just figured out why I keep a book diary in the first place.

I was all excited to get home to read my copy of A Fine Balance, (a book that I have tracked all the way back from Singapore years ago and never read) as a girlfriend had said that it was one of the books that would be on her list of top books to read. Turns out that I have read the bloody book already in high school!!

Sheesh!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I promised myself that I would never talk about these things in this site - politics, religion and my own personal relationships. Yet, one cannot help but talk about these things if they are important to you and if they are a big part of your life. I am a very opinionated person about all these things but that being said, I am also one who appreciates open discussion about issues and even often welcome an opinion other than mine. Often times, when difference of opinions are aired out without malice, we tend to learn a lot from them. Or at least I think so.

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Posted in Me-ness, What's Buggin' Me

Fall is my all time favourite fashion season. I love all the layering of sweaters, tees and coats, the footwear, the accessories.... What I do hate however is breaking the flip flop feet into the high heels. All summer spent in flip flops or flats and this week, I decided to get my feet fall ready. Yesterday was the ever so awesome acquired vintage boots, albeit they were only 3 inches high, so they were somewhat do-able. Today, I wore my favourite caramel coloured pumps and I must say I am hurting a bit. I wish I could wear flats more often but then I tend to walk like a gimpy duck so three months of duckiness is all I can stand.

The price we pay for fashion and a little bit more height.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Is it me or do I always seem to have problems with Air Canada? This time on my flight home, on a completely booked flight to Toronto we were delayed by two and a half hours because they were short one attendent. Heck, I would have offered to serve out the damn water if we could have gotten on the way. When we arrived we couldn't get off the plane as something was wrong with the bridge thing that you need to exit the plane. We couldn't even get too mad as there simply wasn't anything we could do.

I am just so glad to be home.

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Posted in Travel, What's Buggin' Me

Can someone not design one cord that will go with every other electrical gadget that we all have to carry with us these days? I am always in a panic before I leave for trips, itemizing every cord I must take with me in order to power these tools that are supposed to make my life more convenient.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I hate being such a grump especially with my dad. He just knows how to push my buttons and I do the same with him. WE ARE SO MUCH ALIKE! YIKES!

Work is busy but not more than normal for this time of year. However, I've been so busy on the personal front as well and with Stefan being away, my nerves are just stretched so taut.

I hate the angry, bitter, roar-ry person I can be when I am stressed like this.

Stefan, come home already.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

We share a communal washroom at work with three other offices. They're all rather small offices that we rarely ever see one another.

Anyway, when I went to pee today someone left a very streaky, poo-stained bowl. It was SO gross. Who does that? Why wouldn't they wait and then flush again? So anyways, I pee-ed at the other stall and then flushed the poopy toilet. And the stains were gone.

The only reason why I did that is because I don't want to bump into someone else in the hallway and for the next person to come in, to think that it was me who did it. Shee-esh!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I was on my weekly donation route to the public library on the Spadina streetcar this afternoon when I noticed a heavily pregnant woman, holding a toddler come on. I gave her a look, to come and get my seat and she started coming over and as soon as I got up, some bitch slithered her bony ass in.

I would have understood, (only slightly) if this person was a teenager as you know, they're a little self-absorbed at that age, (I know that I was anyways...) but she was a full grown adult. You would think she would know better. So I told her that I had actually gotten up for the pregnant lady and the cow had the audacity to look me over, look over the pregnant woman and then proceed to tell me to mind my own business as she had had a really bad day.

If it hadn't been my stop, or the fact that the pregnant lady was supremely embarassed by all the attention she was suddenly getting, or that I am also now an adult and realize that there are consequences to my actions, (like lawsuits and assault charges) I would have punched her in the eye.

I hope some car ran over her fucking toes when she got off that streetcar.

GRRR!!! SO MAD!

The moral of the story is that it really doesn't kill you to be kind to your fellow human beings and KARMA will eventually come and bite you in the ass.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

For some reason, I was sure that I had pre-ordered the latest Harry Potter book but obviously, I didn't because it's not here. Either that or Amazon.com just royally screwed me over. I should really try to look through my old credit card receipts just to double check but I really cannot be bothered.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing, What's Buggin' Me

I don't know what it is about Air Canada and "rain" but my flight was cancelled last night due to it. So, I was stuck in NY for another day. Boo Hoo, you're thinking. But really, I needed to be back home to do a slew of work plus with Stefan leaving so soon....

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Posted in Travel, What's Buggin' Me

My brother has some oversized posters that he needs to frame and hang.

Friday

"We have to get frames to hang these posters."

"O.K"

"OHMIGOD! These frames are so bloody expensive"

"Whatever"

"You gotta help me hang these posters"

"O.K"

"Do you think these frames come with nails?"

"Hmm...not likely. I think you might need tape to adhere them to the backboard."

Later on that night.

"Are you going to help me put up these posters?"

"Yes, I said I would"

"You're not helping"

"It's 12:30 at night. I am going to bed"

Random shuffling sounds.

"OHMIGOD! This is more complicated than I thought! I think we need tape"

Silence

Saturday Morning

"What are we doing today?"

"I thought we would go to Soho?"

"Maybe the East Village also....When are we going to put these posters up"

"I thought you said we needed to leave soon"

"We do! Let's go!!! What 'bout the posters?"

"Geez, Ken! That's what Sunday is for"

Thank God, I only see him once in awhile.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, What's Buggin' Me

Is there something about NY and I? We love one another, don't we? And yet there are always issues? Sitting in the plane and getting all comfy. Just, waiting for the plane to take off so that I can iPod it to sleep when the head stewart person gets on and announces that NY is not receiving any flights due to bad weather in Philly. Like the last time wasn't bad enough. Now, we're sitting here like sardines at the mercy of the traffic controllers over there. At least, there's bloody air conditioning.

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Posted in Travel, What's Buggin' Me

OK, I was thinking about this last night, while sweating and uncomfortable. People must think I am the worst whinging so-and-so when I keep on complaining about the heat. I think I should clarify the situation.

For some reason, our apartment has absolutely zero air circulation in the summer time. Being on the top floor of a flat roof building with large loft-size windows all compounds the heat factor. You know, heat rising from below and heat pounding from above. Even with all windows and doors open, fans going at full tilt plus a/c running, it is still always 15 degrees hotter in the apartment than it is outside. The only room where it's not unbearable is the bedroom as that is where the a/c is -- but it's not as if that room is cold at all. For some reason, our a/c is not working as well this year so it simply makes it just barely tolerable. And yes, I am one of those dreadful people that leaves their a/c on all day.

I have to because, if I don't, my fat furry cat would seriously die from heat exhaustion and that is something that I simply could not bear.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

GAH!! For some reason, the uploader thing on Movable Type keeps crashing and is causing me SO much grief!! Stefan will have to shrink some of my pictures down tomorrow as they are too big. Just so you know (Mum and Dad!!) if you click on the pictures, (most of them lately) will link you to a slideshow. Cool, huh? Love that Flickr!! I must go to bed now or I might end up killing something, either Stef or the giant fly that managed to come in and is buzzing around and driving me CRAZY!!

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Posted in Added Thoughts, What's Buggin' Me

Will the rain never cease its torment? It has been raining for what feels to be forever to me. Before I left for my trip out west it had been raining steadily for two weeks. While I was out west, it rained in every city that I hit and now more. It's enough to drive a person insane.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing, What's Buggin' Me

Why do hotels insist that you need fresh towels and sheets EVERY SINGLE DAY? It is such a waste of water and electricity and it does nothing but annoy me to no end when they do so. Especially when I have requested that they don't change or wash the sheets or towels.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

AAAARGH! Just totally discovered another issue with much lauded new haircut! Everytime I lean the back of my head too long on a spot, the ultra short layers get pushed and stay that way making the back of my head look like a chicken backside! People always think straight hair is so easy but it's like paper, my friends, bend it and it will look like origami. Have to go douse my head in water....

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

O.K - So why are they still showing pictures of the Charles-Camilla nuptials and does anyone know why the hell Joan Rivers got invited to that thing?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I just happened to be channel surfing where a show on the Food Network managed to catch my two second eye. I have never been a fan of the The Surreal Gourmet, and I think now more than ever, this guy should not have a TV show on how to cook food. Tonight, he was showing some girl how to cook a stir-fry. Since the stir fry has Asian origins, I usually find that white chefs don't really demonstrate how to do it very well. The few non Asian chefs (of the shows that I watch regularly) that have seemed to do Asian really well have been Guy Rubino, from Made to Order and the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Good Monkey, Bad Monkey, Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

I am not sure whether everyone has been compelled to watch the Terri Schiavo case as I have been all weekend. There is something about this case that upsets and disturbs me profoundly that I felt that I needed to write about it. Usually I would stay away from something so political, as I get myself into enough hot water as it is with my opinions, but I need to say it because it will just eat at me if I don't.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

So I have these weird allergies that no one can diagnose. I only started the sneezing after I came home from my month long trip to Australia and Asia two and a half years ago, and I HAVE NEVER STOPPED! For real — never.

I sneeze EVERY SINGLE DAY! And no one can figure out why. I sneeze so much that I am sure that I have single handedly increased the value of the stock of Kleenex! Which, by the way, I highly recommend that you spend a little money and buy the triple ply, double moisturizer ones, they are SO good.

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Posted in Weirdness, What's Buggin' Me

UGH! I am so annoyed but some "Texas Strip Poker" site has some robot posting spam comments on this site! It's really, really pissing me off!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

Who has an argument, then tosses their newborn baby out of the car with plastic wrapped around its head?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

You know, I really, really love Banana Republic's costume jewelry and I think they do a magnificent job with the styling of their pieces. I love how they have that vintage feel with a modern twist and how everything I have bought always turns out to be a conversation piece. And I do realize that the pieces are inexpensive but for once, I would like one of their stupid rings to last longer than 4 months. Another one just bit the dust, the-lousy-piece-of-cheap-paste-not-worth-all-the-aggravation-crap!

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I have never been a big fan of the current British Royal family. I simply don't think that they make a significant contribution to their society and I definitely do not think that they should be living off the backs of their people as they have for all these years.

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Posted in Good Monkey, Bad Monkey, What's Buggin' Me

I have issues about going away for long periods of time because Stef, like every other dad, takes child rearing with a totally different approach (usually lackadaisal) — which in my mind, is obviously the wrong approach.

Anyways, Mindy is on her diet and she needs to eat it mixed with some other good, organic, human grade cat food. However, she cannot just eat the other food as it gives her diarrhea which distresses her because she is a very neat cat and cannot bear being dirty. And when she gets diarrhea, she gets horrible poo bum that she cannot clean because she's too fat and Stef won't wipe it clean for her. Then she ends up getting even worse poo bum that usually requires one of us, pinning her down and cutting off the excess dry poo and leaving her feeling even more unhappy about the whole debacle.

So before I left, she was running out of diet food and I kept on reminding Stef but Stef kept on procrastinating. He called me this morning to say she has diarrhea. GRRR! Men!

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Posted in Mindy-Lou, Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

So I am watching the morning show or whatever it's called, the one with Katie Couric, and they did this secret camera test where they sent a cute assistant producer out with a secret cam to see whether she could pick up married men. And she picked up a whole bunch of them! Guys, if you're gonna cheat every time you go away on a business trip, then just don't freakin' get married! Is that so hard?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

It just really really bugs me when I go to the fridge to get a drink of water and there is only half a glass of water left in our ginormous Brita. Especially since the rule in our household in regards to the Brita is - If you kill it, fill it. Another rule is, if I cook, you clean. And there are still dirty dishes in the sink.

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Posted in Stefan, What's Buggin' Me

Bad spelling is just a sign of pure laziness. You can always look up the word if you are not sure and please don't tell me you can always use spellcheck because sometimes that doesn't always work. The English language has far too many nuances and subtleties for a computer to catch on and PEOPLE, "A LOT" IS TWO WORDS, you feckin' moron!

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Posted in Added Thoughts, What's Buggin' Me

Ugh, so I had my G2 exit test this morning (for those who do not know, Ontario now has graduated licensing so it takes 2 years and 2 tests to get your full license) and I failed....

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing, What's Buggin' Me