. .trip inside my head, spend a day here ..

2009-03-03T23:00:00.008-05:00

folks, we're done here with "trip inside my head" v2. it was fun!

visit the new blog > http://gizellelau.com/blog.htm

or go back in time, check out v1 > http://gizlau.spaces.live.com

2009-02-04T15:23:00.008-05:00

there and back again: a travel writer's tale. welcome to the bahamas :)

palm trees at the stella maris resort club on long island, bahamas & star fish

hammock and hut living on stella maris resort's private beach & the cape santa maria beach on long island, rated the third most beautiful beach in the world

2009-02-03T20:17:00.001-05:00

i'm in love :) with elmo, of course.

2009-01-28T22:52:00.027-05:00

back from gallivanting my way through hong kong and parts of south east asia - and breezing through all of season 2 and half of season 3 of 24. oh, jack bauer!

and be assured, i love travelling more than ever - and feel that i'm in just the right job :) i'm writing this before taking of for the bahamas tomorrow for an "assignment," and i have to tell you, this is definitely where i never knew i'd be, but so blessed that i've found myself here.

back to asia :) i made my way from hong kong to singapore to visit nicole + nadine; over to bangkok, thailand to hang out with elton for a few days; back to penang, malaysia for a few days to see some cousins, aunts and uncles; and the got to spend a few days with my mom in hanoi, vietnam before going back to hong kong for another few days.

highlights? here they are :) my fave moments from hk/singapore/thailand/malay/vietnam.

(hong kong) discovering stanley and driving through the mountains, seeing parts of hong kong that i never knew existed; falling in love with chinese food all over again, although toronto can definitely boast great quality chinese food; visiting a random fishing village on the outskirts of hong kong super fresh sea food, catching up with old friends and schwepps cream soda

(hong kong, to singapore) riding on the mtr, the hong kong subway system is a dream compared to the TTC; going for my second meal at l'atelier of joel robuchon, pictured here is a foie gras ravioli soup with creme fraiche on the side; getting upgraded to business class after almost missing my flight from hong kong to singapore

(sinapore, bangkok) shrimp kee soup noodle in singapore - and the non-stop food tour of singapore that began at noon and ended before dinner time (many thanks to the chews!); the cookie museum, a cookie store native to singapore offering flavours like "durian," "chicken friend rice," and more of the most unique cookie flavours i've ever experienced; colours and garlands in thailand

(bangkok) thailand's beautiful artwork, mosaic tiles and textiles; the reclining buddha - this guy is *huge and so chilling it's worth the visit; copious amounts of delicious bangkok street food that didn't cause any violent diarrhea

(penang, malaysia) snorkeling, lying on the beach, swimming with the fish and getting sunburnt in langkawi near penang; chili sauce everywhere is a wonderful (and delicious) sight; a malaysian-specialty, "roti tissue" is thin roti rolled up into a tower and drizzled with condensed milk, a fusion between indian and chinese foods, this dish is amazing, as are my cousins who took us out on a never-ending sampling tour of malaysian dishes :)

(vietnam) the people in vietnam are truly stunning, like this man playing the "er-woo" in this window outside the temple; a 2.5 hour river boat ride in hoa lu through the exquisite limestone rocks that jut out of the river, full of mountain goats and so beautifully picturesque; a set of colourful floating homes making up a village in a cove of ha long bay where we also kayaked

(vietnam) authentic fresh shrimp spring rolls in hoan kiem district; a real authentic bowl of pho from the shadiest food court in the 4-storey textile market just north of hoan kiem lake but oh-so-delicious it's undescribable; and of course, a cup of hot vietnamese coffee with condensed milk :)

(back in hong kong + macau) i decided to start taking photos of all the subway station signs, and mr kwok decided to take a photo the silly tourist taking photos in the subway; afternoon tea at the peninsula was beautiful; a side trip to macau to the venetian to catch up with ms. luk or rather, the soon to be mrs. lau

(hong kong) the cake shoppe at the mandarin oriental is a must-see; more fun on the mtr on the last night before heading home; and a final dinner with all the hong kong folks before returning to toronto.

:) great, delicious times. and hong kong's definitely grown on me this time.

2009-01-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

i love music, expression, great speeches that change the world - obama and the obama movement.

"we know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. . .yes we can."

watch it.

2008-12-17T14:00:00.004-05:00

i'm taking off on monday next week for hong kong! lots of last minute preparations and bookings. but here's a fun piece i found.

been scouring for flights throughout malaysia, vietnam, singapore and thailand. check out these options for meal add-ons for a AirAsia.com, haha :)

all is well in the world when they offer roti canai on flights, but this 1901 hot dog option is also very intriguing.

2008-12-02T15:18:00.002-05:00

. .in a world where people fight, riot, kill each other, point fingers and cause wars:

2008-11-28T16:33:00.016-05:00

hello world! it has been some time. but here's what's happening in the life of gizelle lau - through photos - because having an iphone changes your life and your story-telling abilities. get one for christmas :)

taking lots of snapshots of random food all over toronto. see the whole TorontoEats Album. to the left, biscotti + macarons from pusateri's - to the right, al pastor tacos from el trompo in kensington.

the winter has arrived once again, and with it has come delays, interruptions, "signalling" or "track" problems on the TTC. getting stuck at kennedy station a few weeks ago with a mob of savage commuters late for work is not fun and definitely not "the better way."

gourmet food + wine show was fun, as always. pictured here is a 40 year old Taylor Fladgate tawny port that as absolutely delicious, honey to your lips, melt in your mouth, savoury goodness. amazing. $200+ a bottle :(

xmas season = peppermint mocha season = my one time a year that i frequent starbucks.

olympia tiles is a wonderful, wonderful place!

at dufferin and lawrence west. renovations is taking over, but fear not, it's not as if i've forgotten that there's a wedding to figure out. luckily, i've had my share of planning events for 350+ people, so i think we're on our way rather easily (have i spoken too soon?).

in any case - one thing i've learnt about renovations (of our place that will be right near dupont station!) is that "if you can survive renovations, you can survive anything" - and that it really forces you to learn how to compromise, communicate and make decisions with your partner.

haha :) heading out from dec 23 to jan 17 over to hk/singapore/malaysia and maybe thailand if the crazyness ends in the next few weeks. excited, but also wish my better half could be there, too! pooh. until next time!

2008-11-07T12:48:00.007-05:00

i was restlessly trying to fall asleep last night when i came up with my latest web initiative idea. introducing: TorontoEats.

TorontoEats - which is all about a "Toronto foodie armed with an iPhone and TwitPic, snapping daily shots of food in and around Toronto."

it was obviously a natural outcome of our love for food and obsession with trying new places in and around Toronto. photo syndication is html/javascript and you can check it out to the left under profile ->

follow on twitter: http://twitter.com/torontoeats
follow on twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/TorontoEats

happy friday :)

2008-11-04T15:34:00.004-05:00

favourites for election day.

for some reason - there's something about obama that just gets me going :) but here's some great shots i've found of election day themed foods, that are too fun to be left to the infinite space of the internet.

obama and mccain cookies & american cherry pie from http://www.thekitchn.com.
usa election candy apple from http://etsyedibleartsteam.blogspot.com.

2008-10-06T19:37:00.004-04:00

my bday card from my coworkers, designed by m. ali.

the top half of the card read, "how Gizelle claims to have spent her night. .. " with a photo of a dinner table.

the bottom half (to the left), "what really happened" . . .that's me being dizzy with a bottle of wine spilling.

boo :) haha.

2008-09-30T23:40:00.004-04:00

life aside from tampons, weddings, and the like, the latter of which is coming along, don't you worry :) for the latest in updates, well, you should call me or email me - otherwise, you can check http://mattandgizelle.com, designed by yours truly (i freelance, if you're interested!).

i did it - i reached a ripe age of 24 years old, which must count for something. but just as a taylor fladgate 30 year old tawny port doesn't offer as good of a flavour a a 20 year tawny port, but a 40 year exceeds the two - i'll just have to hope that God has made the age process different for us mere mortals, otherwise, i suspect i will taste either much too sour/vinegary or much too syrupy with a not so "noble rot."

but, 24 years didn't happen alone and there are many to thank for that, least of all whom deserve so much more than to be mentioned in a mere blog entry on a late tuesday evening. nonetheless, there it is - thank you to all family, friends, loved ones, brothers, sisters, acquaintances and strangers who have made small and large marks in my life. i probably don't tell you enough how much you mean and that i love you. but there it is, in writing - for all those who read my blog, and those who don't :)

on a similar note, while we're discussing ripe old ages of 24 - the past few weeks have been full of soul searching (as they should be) and thinking about future career paths. i've had the amazing opportunity to be invited to a few travel press/media conferences and events in the past few weeks. all my dabbling in all this journalism/press/media business is amazing experience, but i think it also brings me to a thought-exercise(d) fork in the road bringing me to decide between either journalism or advertising; print or web; real life or fiction; uncovering truth or revealing half-truths.

with lots of schmoozing events also come lots of business cards. here are my very first :)

2008-09-24T12:05:00.003-04:00

a few months ago, i got called up by a friend of a friend to see if i wanted to take part in a marketing promo - i qualified because i have a blog and i'm a girl. yay! but definitely an interesting promotion, in terms of social networking and use of blogs/internet to market a product.

in any case - it was for OB tampons - so feel free to skip this post, guys!

a lot of you already know about this since i was giving away tons of these (i still have some, let me know if you want a few packs!) - but they're absolutely perfect for "emergencies." haha.

in any case - apparently, OB tampons have 68% less waste than your regular tampon, since there's no applicator. plus, these little pack cases are super cute. so why not? :)

get a free trial sample, click on the following link: http://www.mightysmall.com/mightysample or on the photo to the left!

2008-09-15T12:34:00.010-04:00

it's a lovely and slightly comical irony that i've talked about weddings and thrown ideas around about things i'd like at my wedding - but now that i have to plan the wedding, suddenly, looking at wedding dresses, venues, colour combinations, and other themed designs. . .is not as ideal as when i was just talking about it.

but alas, it's been two weeks of a wonderful engagement and initial wedding planning research.

so, here's a a fun trip through my head about the wedding planning so far:

wedding cakes

i <3 looking at wedding cakes - but who's surprised?

although i'm not so much into actually purchasing an actual wedding cake (don't be surprised if you get costco cake on your plate.. ) - i love the design - but am vehemently against the cardboard or wallboard icing (as you should be!).

invitations.

$3-5/invite? i'm not convinced yet.

suddenly evite.com or putting together and scripting my own PHP site with form/list capabilities doesn't seem like such a bad idea. either way, they can be pretty, but possibly overrated.

flowers

i think flowers can really punch up a wedding with the lively + intense colours, but does it really justify the costs of bouquets and bouquets of flowers? i need a good flower dealer. maybe i should just start growing my own right now.

venue

they say venue is the first thing you should plan/book. but it's been a ton of questions/ideas so far - indoor, outdoor, church, under a tent, golf course, at a vineyard - the possibilities are many, the options are probably few, and the logistics are countless.

wedding dresses/gowns

rooshing? a-line? tea length? ballgown? trumpet skirt? when it comes to wedding dresses, i have very little idea of where to start!

and rather than feeling as excited as ever to pick one out for the day, i'm still trying to get over the feeling of silliness that i have when browsing photos and magazines.

i think i'm going to bridal gown rental route, being the minimalist that i am - since i'll only wear this dress once, and probably only for a few hours, i don't think i'm comfortable spending a more than a few hundred (let alone a few thousand!) on some material. spending a thousand on a tasting menu at joel robuchon, however, is a different story ;) j/k.

2008-09-09T23:54:00.004-04:00

a defining moment ..

yes, i suppose i would like him as my fiance :)

2008-07-29T11:28:00.002-04:00

okay - as if jesse mccartney really deserves to be on the same page as john mayer's "where the light is" video + cover of "free fallin" . . . but for some reason, i seem to really like this vid/acoustic version of "leavin"

g5 g5! no stress no stress no stress. ..

actually, this is the best thing i've seen of his so far - too bad he's not playing - that would have been the "whole package."

2008-07-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

off to the motherland! weeks of planning have finally come together.

i'll be off to hong kong + south east asia from late dec 2008 to mid jan 2009.

(photo courtesy of lucinka.nomadlife.org)

the last time i was in hong kong was in 2000-2001 or so. it was for a cousin's wedding - just like this time. i remember it being the shortest wedding ceremony i had ever been to, we all sat, they signed the documents in their finely adorned wedding clothes, and we went back outside for photos. i had pink hair at the time :)

that last trip was a blur of bright signs, over-air conditioned buildings, shopping district after shopping district, endless meals with family members - and of course, the horrid, horrid endless plane ride over. this is one reason why i've avoided hong kong since then - but i also think that as a traveler and person, i've grown to come to appreciate different things in life than what hong kong really can offer.

give me paris any day! and here is where i'm not sure what "went wrong" - being one of very few chinese that don't really want to go to hong kong. paris, on the other hand, i would drop everything and move there in seconds. it's probably a language thing, being a chinese girl who speaks french ten times better than chinese, but i think it's also a cultural thing. give me laid-back cafes, countrysides, restaurants where you can spend hours sitting on the patio, wine to sip, and quiet. but. there's always a but. maybe this is my chance, being older and "wiser" - to find my roots and being to really appreciate where i'm from. i'll give it a chance. maybe i'll even learn some chinese :)

making my getaway to explore south east asia (maybe to avoid being in hong kong) to hopefully visit vietnam, cambodia, thailand and malaysia - sadly, in a rushed time period - but nonetheless, i am determined to taste some authentic pho and pad thai.

let me know if you're interested!

2008-07-17T16:59:00.003-04:00

on twitter, i follow..

2008-07-16T16:14:00.003-04:00

1, 2, 3, 4. . .

check out Feist on Sesame Street - yay, Elmo :)

so, what comes after 4? :\

2008-07-08T12:13:00.002-04:00

there is absolutely nothing hotter than a guy with an acoustic guitar :)

i'm loving this cover of "free fallin" by john mayer:

great concert last night at molson ampitheatre :)

2008-06-13T10:46:00.003-04:00

i created my own m+m character :) here is me!

spikey hair with earphones, haha - no moustache, though.

go make your own - http://www.becomeanmm.com
& go to "character creator" @ the top right drop down menu!

2008-06-12T16:16:00.002-04:00

<- again, again :)

forget bora bora: have a real honeymoon in tikehau

&

10 fantastic destinations for family vacation with kids this summer!

2008-06-08T23:59:00.001-04:00

haha - because i recently and only in the past 2 years began eating eggplant:

2008-06-06T09:56:00.010-04:00

the tale of the raccoons at the #2 red brick building (the conclusion).

(as inspired by my sense of closure of this week from hell)

thanks for all your suggestions and responses! i can't believe how many replies i got :) clearly, my day to day life isn't interesting enough to comment on, lol.

thurs/jun/5/am - upon my sleepless night, blog post and encouragement from many - i spent about half an hour thurs morning on the phone calling over 10 different chimney and wildlife removal companies who all quote a variety of different costs for removal: service charge, charge per raccoon, entire service, and etc. it's hard, trying to figure out who just wants your money :( calling back and forth with my sis to see when she can get home - and we finally settle on "norm" with Raccoons.ca Humane Wildlife Removal service - not just because of their good SEO, but because speaking to the guy, he was super nice, was able to come at night and made me begin to believe in service contractors once again. norm said he'd come at 7:30 to 8pm. done and done.

thurs/jun/5/7:45pm - norm comes! super nice man. he takes out the fireplace mantle/doors and gives a thorough look into the chimney for a good 20 minutes. he explains - "your chimney isn't just a one-pole but has two poles that extend down the sites from the damper platform - that go all the way down, i've never seen it so deep before. i'm sorry - i can't get the little guy out. i feel like a failure - i won't even charge you since i haven't been able to solve your problem!" what a nice man :) "your best solution is to keep your barricades up - open the fireplace doors, and let him come out on his own. keep an eye out and once he does, open the backdoor and let him find his way out." with that, he gaves us an apologetic look and left.

thurs/jun/5/8:30pm - i resolved to suck it up, face my fears so i could be rid of them and to "make safe this house!"

the barricades went up, i had my golf club at hand - just waiting for the final exorcism to begin. "and so it begins," i thought as i heard the scratching and purring of the raccoon coming out of the chimney, into the fireplace, over the metal doors and into the living room.

then. something else happened. another one came out of the fireplace!

i have to admit - it's a good thing norm wasn't able to find the raccoons, since it would have been $140 per raccoon. so although initially frightening, i was quite delighted that a $280 job was done for $0 and that i was able to get some closure, which - is priceless.

the two raccoons quietly and easily found their way to the door - and once the second raccoon's tail edged over the door tracks, i said, "goodbye."

and so ends the reign of the raccoons in the #2 red brick building :)

horaaaaaay!!!!!!

2008-06-05T01:15:00.003-04:00

the tale of the raccoons at the #2 red brick building.

(as inspired by my tragic frustrated self at 1am and athos)

it all began one week ago.

before 1 week ago - noted amounts of animal noises, thought to be birds, habitating in the chimney, which we (my sister + i) were told would be fine.

wed/may/28/pm - interesting and foreign smells emanating from the chimney/fireplace area.

thurs/may/29/pm - even worse foreign smells emanating from the chimney/fireplace area. call chimney guy (city chimney) whose name is "moe" to come and take a look at the chimney, clean out the nest of birds and place a wire mesh cage on top of the chimney opening. moe to come on friday AM to make an estimate of how much it will cost. mm takes a look at the fireplace and notes hairballs - suspicious, he thinks, coming from "birds."

fri/may/30/am - work from home a bit waiting for moe to come and fix all my woes and worries. he comes in, goes close to the fireplace, takes a few sniffs, and says, "those aren't birds, they're raccoons." the thought of raccoons, the smell and the furballs - is enough to make me want to barf. moe scares away 2 big raccoons (mom and dad), doesn't find any others in the chimney, puts the cage on, cleans out the fireplace (shudder, hairballs) and lights a fire to get rid of the smell.

sat/may/31/am - wake up, go downstairs, smell is worse than ever - probably because it's really humid outside and we still need to air out the house more before getting rid of the smell. out for the rest of the day for mm's bday, come home at 2am and off to sleep.

sun/jun/1/day - cleaning throughout the day, in and out of the house, no problems. set 2 fires in the fireplace throughout the day to clear any more foreign smells. feel successful in conquering the problem. wrong.

mon/jun/2/5am - woken up by the sound of high pitched animal noises that sound something like a continuous, non-stop WHIRRRRRRRR. figure it's raccoons fighting on the roof. turn over and then hear my sister screaming. she chases out 1-2 unknown animals from inside her room, slams the door shut. i open my door to a little unknown animal trying to get inside my room - slam the door on its nose. steph + i yell through the walls and try to figure out what's happening.

mon/jun/2/5:30am - upon various succession of WHIRRRRs and scaly pattering footsteps up and down the stairs, glass crashing downstairs, plastic bags being trampled - we realized that there's more than just one, but at least two raccoons who have infiltrated the house. steph calls rev kan, good family friend who lives just blocks away. upon hearing no footsteps outside our doors, she runs into my room quickly. we wait for rev kan to come.

mon/jun/2/5:45am - rev kan arrives, we wave to him from the window of my bedroom. contemplate cutting an opening in the window screen to throw him keys but decide to brave it out and open the door downstairs. i use the lid of my giant rubbermaid container and steph uses a metal slat she has from her closet for protection while we slowly inch down the stairs, making loud noises to scare the raccoons away from us. we make it downstairs and she opens the door. rev kan walks in and surveys the house - making his way to the living room where there are 4 baby raccoons (FOUR!!!) perched on the mantle of the fireplace. how did they get in? they pushed through the damper and the fireplace doors with their ashy little feet.

mon/jun/2/6am - rev kan and i grab my 2 drivers from my golf bag (they're no good for normal use, any way) and begin to try ushering the little devils out of the house through the backdoor. half an hour later, we are successful.

mon/jun/2/8am - on my way to work, the 4 baby raccoons are still perched on the side of the house, trying to climb up the brick. realize how traumatizing the whole ordeal was.

mon/jun/2/pm - return home to do some serious cleaning - picture frames, glass, footprints, clawed through food lie everywhere in the living room and kitchen. feeling closure to the morning's events while cleaning. hear a few squeaks and tumbles in the fireplace. realize that there may be 1-2 more in the chimney. call moe again, to come tues morning. no sleep this night - completely paranoid at the idea of another enemy infiltration.

tues/jun/3/am - work from home in the morning and wait for moe. moe comes, makes sure that the mesh cage is secure. looks in the chimney, pulls on the damper - makes lots of noise - and assures me that there is no longer any raccoons in the chimney. i watched him almost disappear entirely into the fireplace to look and see. i'm convinced.

tues/jun/3/pm - receive call from steph at dinner saying that she's heard more noises coming from the chimney. discussing with mm that maybe the sounds we're hearing are from the mom scratching at the mesh cage, trying to get back into the chimney where they've declared their home. it's raining when we return home, no raccoons to be found on the roof, it's quiet - and i have the most peaceful sleep of the past few days.

wed/jun/4/pm - wake up with the feeling that the trauma is finally beginning to wear off. return home after WT practice - to steph warning us that she's heard them again in the fireplace. with our "it must be the sound carrying from the top of the chimney" theory, we go to check - and sure enough, mm sees beady little eyes coming inside the fireplace. stress level shoots up once again. barricade the fireplace doors with heavy boxes and firewood. barricaded the entry into the living room and kitchen with large closet doors.

help :( suggestions?

2008-06-03T00:28:00.002-04:00

i'm stressed out :\

raccoons are ruining my life.

so are these 2 papers i have due before june 10th.

pooh.

2008-05-15T21:07:00.009-04:00

work has been pretty good these days - doing a lot more editing and "managing" the channel of what gets put into tripatlas.com. learning a lot, plus beginning to work on getting more traffic, specifically by talking to the big guys, yahoo, msn, aol, canoe - to work through some other content integration partnerships and the like.

on coconut macaroons

one of the sites i was looking at today was tamra davis (film producer, chef + mom!) - which, if you click through, she has a fabulous picture of some chocolate macaroons. i became a woman obsessed - almost as obsessed with this "rihanna - take a bow" song, which is quickly working its way up to my "top 25 most played" playlist on my itunes.

had a last dinner w/ my parents before they head out tomorrow morning and then went to go pick up ingredients to make coconut macaroons with choc chips (which are currently baking away!). on my way back home, i walked by the library - and after 5-6 years of avoiding the library, i walked in.

yes, it's true - i walked into the public library.

here's the backstory: when i was in OAC in 2003, i was working on a final presentation for my philosophy class at school: "pragamatic philosophy" - and my group and i borrowed a few books on my then-spotless-record library card. - william james, of course.

after the presentation, i went to return the books - and return them i did, every single one. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. agincourt library called me days later, asking me for one of the books (that i had returned, just to emphasize!). several calls elapsed, of them asking for the book or the $30-40 fine, and my telling them that i returned the book. i was now labeled a "delinquent" in the system.

at that point, i was told by a friend that i could just not use the library for 4-5 years and with no activity, my account would be deleted. excellent, i thought. i was going to attend uoft any way - where they have tons of libraries and one of the biggest in north america! i thus avoided the toronto public library for 5-6 years.

the truth behind the biggest myth of our time

and so i shall reveal to you the truth of one of the biggest mysteries and myths of our time. is it true - does your account really and truly get wiped clean after 4-5 of no activity .. .?

yes :)

i walked in, head down and sullen, like a prisoner on trial. i stepped up to the counter, and took a deep breath. "hi, i'm here to pay my fees." do you have your card, the clerk asked. "no, well, you see, it's been about 5 years since i've used the toronto public library. there was this book, you see . . ." and went on to tell my story.

can i see a piece of id, the clerk asked. i handed him my license and pulled out my credit card, ready to take on the fees that have been haunting me for the past 5 years. a few minutes later that seemed like eternity, he handed me back my driver's license and said, "well, it seems that you're clear. thanks for being honest, i guess it paid off."

:) mr park, i owe you dinner (for trying to help me pay it off when i was in 2nd year but i didn't get around to it until today, lol).

2008-05-05T23:05:00.002-04:00

lovin' new usher: (make) "love in this club" - usher feat. young jeezy.

check out the vid on youtube

he makes it look so easy. one day i'll pop 'n lock like him.

2008-04-29T21:33:00.002-04:00

jason mraz, april 27/08 @ kool haus - was ok :)

as much as i love the guy, think is utterly brilliant and has a voice of gold, it was ok. maybe it's the youtube phenomena, but nonetheless - damien shakes me up in a way that mraz didn't on sunday, but that's ok, it was still enjoyable! i just wish i was like, 1/2 a foot taller.

check out a vid of "i'm yours" on youtube. this vid has the best audio but the vid - like the concert - has a taller guy blocking your view, haha:

2008-04-15T11:11:00.004-04:00

check it out, check it out!!!

i'm published on msn :)

2008-04-03T16:36:00.005-04:00

. ..while on the subject of lord of the rings at work, my coworker was reminded of something her boyfriend said to her the night before regarding proposals, engagements, marriage and such:

". . I don't know about this whole marriage thing. Who knows what will happen to you when you put that ring on, I mean look at what happened to Frodo. .."

haha. ..hilarious :)

2008-03-25T19:17:00.012-04:00

hope you had a super easter wknd - and that you've been able to pick up a few packs of cadbury's mini eggs on sale!

my first chocolate chip cookie post-lent was wonderful even though it was packaged and from the cafeteria at mountain-top chalet at tremblant.

but tremblant, was fantastic! i think i've got boarding out of my system for this season.

although this pretty intense snowfall today has made me wondering whether it's a sign from the gods that snowboarding season isn't quite over.

so montreal/tremblant in a nutshell:

lots of driving and stops at tim hortons (1/3 for roll up the rim, free donut)
stop in brighton at the big apple for a candy apple & mini apple crumble
a detour to montreal pour chez schwartz for smoked meat, cherry cola and pickles
darth vader masks (as seen above!) to protect our faces from the biting -20 wind on tremblant
lots and lots of boarding up and down the real mountain that is tremblant but now i have a lot of scratches on my pretty board :(
a lot of crappy tremblant chalet cafeteria food for lunch including what is possible the worst poutine i've ever had in my life - surprising in quebec, right?
excellent almond & caramel candy apple from rocky mountain chocolate factory in tremblant village and hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream, yuuuum!
probably some of the best foie gras i've ever had in my life at aux truffes, paired with a beautiful semillon (although, i suppose i haven't had enough foie gras in my life to really rate this properly. . .i'll need to check out per se or masa in nyc to make things fair)
our "detour" on the way home on the highway that ended with "40" that we were told would lead to toronto and a stop at a sketchy roadside cafeteria with terrible coffee and fake creamers
amazing b+b owners, karin and stan at "au beau soleil" who helped us get discount lift tickets for tremblant, who have a sneaky orange cat and a black kitchen aid mixer (although those two probably shouldn't go together)

2008-03-12T12:59:00.005-04:00

my new favourite toy!

my rossignol "temptation" snowboard - which, if you look closely enough, is pink. shudder.

admittedly, i've never really been a huge fan of pink - probably some subconscious inner battle being waged related to gender stereotypes. but in the past few years, darker pinks have grown on me.

but when it was an amazing deal vs. another $100 more for a whitish board with darkish red and blue highlights - i gave in and went for the pink board. in fact, it would have been even more "high maintenance" and "girly" to get a prettier board than to get the cost-effective one, right? haha.

and the boots? black with pink laces - in which i cringed - and was told that there was also a set of black laces in the box. phew :)

in any case, in the past two months since its purchase, i've come to love my board.

and most of the time, it's covered by snow any way.

haha. off to mount st louis moonstone with coworkers this wknd and off to mont tremblant in quebec next weekend with mm for some "real" boarding and a meal at aux truffes, hopefully!

2008-03-11T14:33:00.003-04:00

this is guaranteed to change your life!

google calendars now offers syncing with your microsoft outlook calendar!

2008-02-26T15:03:00.003-05:00

lol. .. this is totally worth a post, captured from toronto.craigslist.org today.

2008-02-25T21:56:00.002-05:00

comics let you escape into for a few seconds to laugh at an imitation of life :)

2008-02-21T12:28:00.004-05:00

taken from Fodor's article: "Top Chef Travels - Anthony Bourdain and his NYC Picks."

"I'll go where the food is. I think the Time Warner Center is the ugliest building in the universe, but I'd walk through hell to eat at Per Se or Masa.

I just signed a contract for a nice advance for a book, and I'm looking to totally reward myself and do something really outrageously expensive and self indulgent.

A woman might go out for an Hermès bag, I go to Masa. That's also a really good first date place. Take someone to Masa and if they don't eat absolutely everything, there's no possibility of a relationship."

2008-02-20T20:45:00.011-05:00

anyone who knows me knows how much i love google :)

and google is, in fact, one of the very reasons i'm employed! i hope that google doesn't crash any time soon - or at least while i'm still in the search engine optimization career.

imagine my surprise and joy when i got home tonight and found a letter from google!

shameless google promotion. jealous? haha.

why the letter from google? i earned $10 in my google adsense account. when this happens - no, you don't get paid - but you've earned enough to get a pin number mailed to your address to confirm that you do live there. once you've accrued $100, then they'll send you a cheque for $100.

why is google paying me? i signed up for one of their programs: google adsense. when you sign up, you log in and you become a publisher for advertisements. if you look to the right of this blog entry, you'll see a box of "google ads." everytime any of you click on any of these links in this box, i earn a few cents. when you earn $100, they send you a cheque.

i began advertising for google in may 2007 and have gotten 31 clicks, and now, just over $10. i'm going to be rich!

2008-02-17T17:02:00.005-05:00

sam witwicke & harrison ford!

watching this trailer for the new indiana jones movie, "the kingdom of the crystal skull," set to release may 22nd - will make you want to blow the dust off your original vhs copy of "the last crusade."

gives me the shivers :)

must be the indiana jones music theme, or harrison ford's stunning good looks (still!) - but correct me if i'm wrong, but there's a star wars theme hidden away in there, too - as if it commemorating han solo.

this video trailer release / teaser - is making internet social networking history:
Indiana Jones and the Internet Marketing Campaign

2008-02-14T12:35:00.012-05:00

happy valentine's day <3

bittersweet,
you're gonna be the death of me
i don't want you, but i need you
i love you and hate you
at the very same time
[kanye ft. j mayer - bittersweet poetry]

i'll let you know how the rest of it goes, but so far, i'm crossing my fingers that allrecipes.com hasn't failed me with their easy lasagna II recipe for dinner tonight.

from fodor's "salons for chocolate lovers"

2008-02-13T16:57:00.002-05:00

latest snowstorm?

ttc 2, gizelle 0 (and close to missing fingers and toes from waiting in the cold).

thank God for my timberland boots :)

2008-02-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

i'm not sure why, but there's something about national anthems that give me good shivers inside.

there's a rumour that jordin sparks' performance of the national anthem at the superbowl was lip-synced. her album definitely isn't on my top 100 list, but you have to admit, she's got wicked vocals. carrie's solid, very country.

jordin sparks 2008, carrie underwood 2006

but kelly's still by far my favourite :) and jojo's a little rushed, but her ending is wicked! haha.

kelly clarkson 2006, jojo 2005

2008-02-06T13:53:00.000-05:00

okay - at first i laughed and wondered whether the australians were nuts, but after last week's 20-25 cm snowfall - and then today's impending 20-25 cm of ice and snowfall . . .maybe the australians were right:

read the article: Australia Issues Warning for Travel to Canada

have you seen The Day After Tomorrow (2004) dennis quaid and jake gyllenhaal - where the weather suddenly gets all crazy and most of north america has an ice age? it makes me think something like this:

global warming = crazy weather = today = ice age & end of the world

2008-01-31T21:55:00.000-05:00

this tuesday, feb 5th - is pancake day!

yum, buttermilk, syrup, and butter layered between each one :)

but what it means, besides lots of syrup-ey goodness, is ash wednesday - and thus, the beginning of the lent season.

alas - here are the confessions of an almost-vegetarian:

for the past four years, i've given up meat during lent's 40 days of fasting. it has been quite an experience, especially for a once self-professed vegetarian-hater and non-friend of salad. but i've come to the point where eating meat for the sake of eating meat or to feed my body - isn't as satisfying as it once was. however - eating meat for the sake of discovering cuisine, i argue, is a complete different story :)

in any case - the point of this whole post was to share with you what i'm 90% considering to fast this year for lent - and when i think about this, i cry a little inside because giving up meat and maybe even coffee would be an easier way out:

cookies. .! wonderful wonderful scrumptiously tasty cookies :(

meet the giant chocolate chip cookie cake.

2008-01-14T19:46:00.000-05:00

hahaha. ..this is too good.

a japanese guy that carves and plays songs on fruit/vegetables!

(sorry, there's a popup, but just one! it's worth it!)

"london bridge is falling down" on an apple

folk song on a row of carrots and celery

by the way, you can download and watch full episodes of gossip girl from this site :)

2008-01-09T11:21:00.000-05:00

adventurous eater, extraordinaire & a very worthwhile quote taken from his book: Kitchen Confidential - here is anthony bourdain:

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I'll accommodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine" (70).

2008-01-04T13:10:00.001-05:00

it's highly likely that i am much too young at 23 years old and too broke as a philosophy major graduate and hopeful travel writer - to be enjoying and appreciating fine dining & wine as one of my hobbies.

nonetheless, i think i've confirmed upon my return from las vegas, that i'll do anything for a something tasty, new, and exciting :) here are some highlights & favourite dishes from our trip to vegas for new years 2008:

nobu restaurant (london, las vegas, nyc, hk, milan, tokyo)
hard rock hotel and casino, las vegas

yellowtail with jalapeno.

l'atelier de joel robuchon (paris, las vegas, macau, nyc)
mgm grand hotel and casino, las vegas

quail stuffed avec foie gras et chef robuchon's fameux mashed potatoes avec black truffles.

2007-12-26T23:46:00.000-05:00

merry christmas and happy new years!

in about 48 hours (fri night) i'll be in vegas for some wolfgang puck, cirque du soleil, and the "best fireworks show in north america on new years."

it's been a very busy holiday season - not to mention a very different one, since this was my first holidays out of school. significant differences? first, you don't have that climatic study, stress, and finish of exams in early/mid december, and thus the glorious feeling of not having to do anything with your life for at least 3 weeks. second, since you don't have to study, you actually get to take time to think about christmas, friends, family, life, and the like. third, you have to work on days people were never meant to work, i.e. dec 24th, 27-31st.

this is what i've been up to the past few days (in pictures!)

christmas cookies. i got a new hand mixer (oster product info) - finally, after 23 years, i'll never be stopped from making recipes i've always wanted to try. i've been told that when taking out my mixer, i'm like a man with a new power tool :p

in any case, christmas was the perfect time for cookie making, and here were my favourites this season: toblerone shortbread cookies .

toy shopping! keeps it real and reminds you that you can be a kid sometimes, too, and that that's ok :) matt and i went around looking for gifts for his niece and nephew - here's one that we found for ryan - the "fly and discover talking globe." you use the joy stick to fly your plane around the world, and you can stop on specific countries and famous sites (machu picchu, great wall of china) - and the voice inside the toy will tell you how to say hello on the language of the area, different facts, and more. great fun - matt and i spent a while in canadian tire taking the quizzes .. i'm lucky i've been writing for a travel site ..otherwise, i may not have done so well, haha.

hanging out, hot pot, playing guitar hero, losing at poker, and boxing day shopping. today, went to fairview, and spend under $50! and, my greatest accomplishment of the day, 2 harry potter dvd's for $20 - completing my collection :)

2007-12-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

more and more people are googling themselves or searching for themselves in online serach engines > read the article: here at USA today . here's a quickie review:

- 47% of adult internet users search themselves on google to see what shows up
- people search themselves, their coworkers, friends, and romantic interests
- surprisingly the number isn't higher, considering the amount of information regular internet users have on the internet about themselves

in fact, i am one of those 47% who search themselves. and for better or for worse, if you google "gizelle lau" - you'll find me on the top 10 results (1st page of results).

not part of that 47%? curious to see what will come up? try searching google for yourself now - you might be surprised at what comes up, try visiting the sites to see whether it's you they're talking about:

find anything interesting?

hopefully nothing too incriminating.

well, all this is a part of what i actually get paid to do. not to search people, but to understand the way internet search engines like google, yahoo, and msn work - and figure out how to place your website at the very top of the search results. users almost never go past the first page on a search engine website - so to have your company or website as one of the first few - guarantees that you receive more online "traffic" from internet users all over the world. this, friends, is called "search engine optimization" or "search engine marketing" - seo or sem.

wonderful wonderful stuff :)

2007-12-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

last week on Survivor China (it just occurred to me that i missed the season finale!!! bourns.) - there were 5 ppl left. 1 of them won the reward prize and brought 2 others with her - to see the Great Wall of China, and get a traditional Chinese meal.

whether or not you know the rumour, it's been said that the Great Wall is the only man made thing that can be seen by the naked eye from space. while this has been debated, i guess it matters less, but check out this view from a satellite ->

that's a pretty big wall. and i have to admit, i feel a sense of pride when i was watching the three american Survivor contestants climb the wall and marvel at its grandeur. definitely one site that i need to visit soon - along with Machu Picchu.

back to survivor - after a tour of the Great Wall, they came to a section where they were served dinner - a traditional Chinese meal. the three americans came to the table, and gaped in disgust at what was on the table - plates of raw food and sauces, with a big pot in the middle.

oh, silly confused americans. even after being told to "put the food in" the pot, they went away with upset stomachs.

now i'll be the first to admit that when i was a kid, i had one bad experience with hot pot (oh sketchy shrimp), and for many years until very recently, just a year ago actually, i only began to enjoy hot pot again (thanks to kalam!). but now, i can't get it out of my system, especially during winter time.

suggestions to make the best of your hot pot experience for the next time you win the reward challenge on survivor: make sure you let the pot boil before you eat, don't forget peanut butter in your sauce, take your time and don't rush, use a really good stock flavour and tons of hot sauce, and don't mix up your raw food chopsticks with your eating chopsticks.

2007-12-16T17:07:00.001-05:00

this one's for sam, who's going to be the best dentist in the world:

hahahaa. ..get it? nutcracker? :) i'm going stir crazy at home, crazy snowstorm!

2007-12-15T13:57:00.001-05:00

met up with a friend today for brunch, and it's proven to me that we really are growing up.

from getting married, to thinking about cookie swapping get-togethers, and not being able to sleep in past 8am on saturday mornings, these words came from the true 'independent woman' - i want to wake up in the morning and make eggs for someone and have someone make eggs for me.

2007-12-13T12:48:00.000-05:00

. ..blame it on the day job - best of vegas attractions for 2008

new years plans - fri/dec/28 to wed/jan/2 - oh the bright lights of vegas, here i come!

2007-12-08T17:40:00.000-05:00

this one is for adrian - i like fish.

actually, fish scare me a little bit, but are definitely very yum :)

2007-12-03T15:36:00.000-05:00

in early september, i went /w mm to san fran for his volleyball tourney (go connex!).

while we were there, i met up with my cousin eden. amazingly, her and i look more alike than we do with our own sisters, enough so that even in pictures our parents have mistaken us! as fate would have it, having just graduated from univ in nyc, she was telling me about the job she'd started in the summer. it was for a san fran internet company, and she was writing reviews and content for various restaurants and sites in san fran.

however, they told her - we don't have the money to send you to these places. so, here is some information on restaurant a, b, and c, just write articles as if you had been there. to which she said:

it was perfect, i'd written tons of papers in school for books i never read - so it made sense to write articles for places i'd never been.

to which - my new articles and endeavors (visit: www.tripatlas.com or see my diggs -> ) , have further convinced me that a university education will teach you exactly this.

2007-11-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

ttc dairies part 4 (i've lost track!) -- gizelle's revenge.

now, as you may know, i am not usually one for "revenge" - it's usually often very petty and doesn't get any point across. but this was just too good to leave un-shared with you.

as many of you, my fellow ttc riders, may know - the fares went up effective november 4th, 2007. unbeknown to me, old tickets required an additional 15 cents starting nov 4th, although i swear i read somewhere that old tickets could be used up until the end of november. in any case, all monday and tuesday, i rode the ttc with my old tickets, hassle free. until yesterday, 2 days after the supposed date.

yesterday morning, after i had run for the already very packed bus and squeezed, rather, forced my way in through the doors, i dropped in my old ttc ticket, and began to head towards the back. "excuse me, EXCUSE ME!!" cried the bus driver over my headphones, "15 more cents please." 15 more cents, i asked? i thought i had until the end of november to use these tickets. "no," he said, "15 more cents." to avoid fighting with him, i swing my backpack around to the front, and began digging for change, which i found 2 blocks later and paid.

having only one more old ttc ticket left, i dreaded using it to head home. i wondered whether i could scam one more time and not pay the 15 cents. while i wondered in my office, i noticed a pile of change on my desk - the pile of change that iulia and i use in case of emergencies where neither of us have any cash to buy or daily tim horton's coffee fix.

AHA, i thought :)

as i left work, i loaded my pocket with 15 cents in pennies and my old ttc ticket, and worked my way to the st george subway station. i dropped my old ticket, and 15 pennies into the slot. they dropped heavily, noisily, and really had quite a beautiful copper cascade - which elicited a disgruntled look from the booth collected.

needless to say, i entered the station with a grimace on my face, knowing that i had won and exacted my revenge. hahahaa. i'm still smiling about it :)

* * * * *

in other news . . .it's that wonderful time of the year again:

for peppermint mochas and pretty red starbucks christmas cups!

2007-11-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

the Faculty of Social Work building is right at Bloor and Bedford. if you turn right, you can find lots of great spots for food in the Annex. if you turn left, you'll find yourself right smack dab in the middle of Bloor St West's shopping district and Yorkville.

unfortunately, i like turning to the left.

maybe there's something new at h+m that's on sale. maybe a new scarf that would be fun to wear. i also love walking through pottery barn to peruse the wonderfully laid out tables, and williams sonoma to take in the whiff of gingerbread baking in the oven, that they so strategically and evilly pump into the air during christmas time. sometimes i make my way all the way to Yonge street without even noticing it - because the windows at holt renfrew are always stunning, and because there, i'll find gap, jacob, h+m and rw/co all in one short distance.

today, however, i had a wonderful brush with fate as i turned left.

i have been trying to hunt down a pair of brown, mid-cut, suede, laced, timberland boots since last winter. i've stalked various shoe stores downtown, midtown, and uptown, for these shoes, and even went to the timberland store. alas, it was just never the right time because it seemed that these boots always evaded me.

until today. i was heading to williams sonoma to get high on gingerbread air and check out their homey christmas kitchen displays - when my eyes wandered to nine west and feet first across the street. why not check it out, i thought, it's likely i won't find anything i'll like. it wasn't until i made my way to the back of the store that i found my chocolate brown suede boots sitting on the shelf! i picked them up and caressed them and asked for a size 8 -- preparing myself for rejection.

to my surprise and joy, the sales girl brought out a pair in my size! as i tried them on, i sighed in disappointment. if only i had worn different pants today, i thought - some of you may know exactly what i'm talking about. that is, when it comes to shopping, you have to be prepared. noticing my sigh of disappointing, the salesgirl piped up and said: "just in case you have second thoughts, there is a 30 day period for you to return them. oh, and that's our last size 8."

i caressed the boots in my fingers for a few seconds longer, took out my visa, and paid for them. when i got home, i tried them on again - with the right pants - and boy, how fabulous they are! i love, mm :)

2007-10-30T19:07:00.000-04:00

francis told me today that there is a secret troop of metro news "agents" who go around on the ttc subways cars to collect used metro newspapers - and then they put them back on the "fresh pile" stands at various stations. could it be true?!

2007-10-26T13:32:00.000-04:00

in the past couple weeks, i've finally given in and started playing sudoku on the ttc ride to/from work. this usually happens in the morning if i'm lucky enough to find an already-read metro newspaper on the subway train. usually, i'll start at kennedy station, and depending on how groggy i am that morning - if i haven't finished by st george station, then i've failed for the day. haha.

but yesterday morning, this is what happened.

i got on the subway at kennedy and didn't find a newspaper. that's fine, i decided i would do some readings and be more productive. when i got to st george station, i picked up a fresh metro newspaper from the stack on my way out of the station. the metro newspaper sat on my desk all day - and while i was tempted, i didn't even turn to the sudoku once, all day.

after work, on my way to eglinton station to meet mm, i finally gave in. after all, it was a long hard day at work, and i deserved to play some sudoku. i went through the whole newspaper, as i usually do - sometimes i think that i'm undeserving to play the sudoku unless i read the whole newspaper first. i got to the second last page, before the celebrity gossip, where the sudoku usually sits - and IT WAS ALREADY FILLED OUT! aaargh.

why this is so disconcerting is because i picked up the paper from what is supposed to be the FRESH pile! it should be written in a ttc courtesy book somewhere that used newspapers should be recycled or left on the train, but never, ever, ever, should a used metro newspaper get put back on the fresh pile with the sudoku marked up and finished. sigh. jerks.

this also further perpetuates the now very credible common sense habit that chinese people seem to have - to never pick up the first thing on a stand. whether it's a newspaper, a box of cereal, a shirt, or an apple - always, ALWAYS, get the 3rd or 4th one because you never know who's touched the first one - and put it back.

lesson learned.

2007-10-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

busy. lots of writing that needs to be done - i love this freelancing writing work, i love working on a ton of different styles, voices, pieces, for different clients/companies, all at the same time - i just really, really, really need office for mac. google docs can only suffice for so long -- but waiting until january to get the 2008 version just seems like it's so far away :\

otherwise, i'm recovering rather well from being sick! one FANTASTIC feat that i've accomplished by sheer luck - i didn't have a single drop of coffee all week last week! it's ridiculous, who ever thought? :) although, come to think of it, i slept quite a bit so i could sleep away my sickness, maybe -- just maybe -- sleeping is the key to not drinking coffee.

but that's just silly :) who would do that? hehe.

in other news -- began a new writing space with mm, to soothe and relieve all our foodie experiences, and the beginning of seeking out new worlds and the civilizations of wine drinkers and pairings. check it out: winefoodyum.blogspot.com - we hope to boldly go where we have never gone before and share it with you :)

2007-10-16T00:32:00.001-04:00

all you need is love, love is all you need!

one movie on the upcoming-movies-i-want-to-see list:

across the universe: something about the trailer makes me tear each time "hey jude" comes on.

take a look, let me know if you tear, too :)

"music is the only thing that makes sense anymore - play it loud enough, and it keeps the demons at bay."

feels like in chaos, in madness, in quiet times, in happy times, in the worst and in the best of times, there's always a song, that if you just play it loud enough - everything begins to make sense all over again.

for me, it's usually a damien rice song <3

2007-10-11T12:51:00.001-04:00

i went to vote yesterday! i hope you did, too. i also managed to finish sudoku in 5 subway stops, from chester to coxwell. clearly, i am a genius.

now, i'm not sure what it is, but there's something about voting, and even singing the national anthem (half in English and half in French, of course), that makes me a little emotional. now, it's not my first time voting. i've had the chance to vote a few times already, but last night's vote felt different. it's as if my vote really did matter, for more reasons than just to chalk one up for a chosen candidate or party.

as i waited in line to show my ID and my ballot, there was a man and his family standing in front of me. he was an older asian man, somewhat rash, eccentric, and speaking rather loudly--as if he was trying to get the attention of dim sum cart lady on a saturday morning. he didn't speak English and needed help from his daughter and wife to check off his ballot, and to identify himself to the vote station helpers. he was one of those people who, if you saw them on the ttc, may feel uncomfortable around because he doesn't follow the usual "customs," or societal mannerisms.

and then it hit me. living in ontario, in canada, in a free country, under a democratic government--whether you're liberal, conservative, or green--gives you this the freedom, the privilege, and the right, to vote. while part of it is about getting your favoured party to win, it's also about exercising your given right and ability to vote--whether or not you know the language, or follow its social rules and tendencies.

it's about belonging to a country, where you're not forced to follow a dictator, or trapped under the leadership of a violent regime. it's about belonging to a country where you have freedom of speech and the ability for individual self improvement and gain.

i felt like for this man, it was about making sure that you exercise your right to its fullest -- because you're so lucky to have that right, at all.

2007-10-04T23:45:00.000-04:00

existentialism at its best :)

2007-10-02T18:50:00.000-04:00

let's talk about apples, baby :)

the chantal kreviazuk song (on some post below) describes me perfectly -- there is nothing better than green apples. hang around me long enough, and you'll find out that in fact, green apples are the only kind of apple i'll eat straight. there's something about red apples, especially warm red apples, that make me queasy, almost nauseous, especially when they get mushy and brown. bleh! yellow apples are a step up, but green apples--oh how wonderful they are :) they crunch ever so perfectly, have the perfect hint of sweetness and sourness all at the same time. no one ever gets red apple green tea with bubbles -- no, it's always granny apple green tea with green apple jelly. yum. .!

and then there's candy apples. red or green, as long as it's covered with sugar, caramel, chocolate, nuts, icing, cookies, almonds, or anything high in glucose content, i'm totally a fan. visit rocky mountain chocolate factory sometime, and you'll find cookies and creme caramel apples, regular caramel apples, regular candy apples, covered with marshmallows -- oh, the wonders never cease! i love august b/c the opening of the Ex always reminds me of these wonderful apples, and fall/halloween/thanksgiving when it's all about candy apples, apple bobbing, and pumpkin pie :D

and just when you thought it couldn't get any better -- let me introduce you to my two new wonderfully sweet-like-candy Apple products. i love, mm :)

my new 13" macbook :) we met in the st george subway station on the eastbound platform last thurs. i never believed in love at first sight until now! thanks for the warm welcome to the world of mac, especially euge. haha.

now if you thought the first gen nano was small - you need to meet my other new candylicious "apple." it'll make you drool, it's that sweet. better yet, it helps keeps me company on the hour long ride to and from work. my future project - get isquint & season 2-6 of 24, and watch jack bauer on my little screen. maybe for once, for once -- i might enjoy the ttc.

i hope in this short time you've spent reading about apples, i've been able to sell you on a mac product, to run over to your nearest specialty candy store to get a candy apple, or to pacific mall to get a granny apple green tea bubble tea :)

muahahaha.

and -- a very heartful thanks & mention goes to ladida for making me the world's prettiest caramel apples :)

2007-10-01T15:01:00.000-04:00

plain white t's !! yesterday, sunday morning, while i watched the cibc run for the cure participants walk/run by the starbucks, i sat on the starbucks patio, sipping my double tall non fat light whip mocha - and listened to the plain white t's album: "every second counts" - GREAT album! very sweet, some hints of weezer.

you may have heard of the plain white t's from their song, "hey there delilah" which has had ample radio airplay in the past few months. the first time *i* heard it, i was filled with this wonderful warmness (like the warmness i get when i have a really good coffee), and thought, "who is this delilah?"

so i looked on wikipedia - haha, funny:

Inspiration and Composition:

The song, "Hey There Delilah" was inspired by Delilah DiCrescenzo, a Columbia University graduate, and steeplechase runner training for the 2008 Olympic trials. There was never a relationship between Tom Higgenson and DiCrescenzo, but Tom was inspired to write a song about her soon after they were introduced by a mutual friend:

There was never anything between us. It was kind of funny — kind of sad, actually. The story of my life... I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I told her, 'I have a song about you already.' Obviously, there was no song. But I thought it was smooth...

It took over a year for Tom to write the song. However, the real life Delilah, who wasn't interested in Tom because she was already in a relationship, was not sure how to deal with the
pressure of having a song written about her:

It was so beautifully written. There was pressure to live up to this ideal. I didn't know how to be
polite but, you know, ditch him.

DiCrescenzo also says of the song,

When I'm at the gym, it's playing; when I'm at the pool, it's playing. Part of me wants to scream at the top of my lungs that it's about me. Another part of me wants to cower and say it's not.

haha.. .oh delilah, what you do to me! give the guy a break :)

2007-09-27T16:48:00.000-04:00

today is google's 9th birthday!

2007-09-14T10:55:00.001-04:00

why has the TTC had a delay on the bloor/ danforth subway line EVERY MORNING this week?

2007-09-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

a quick update and an interesting thought that arose on the subway this morning.

at the end of august, i finished my contract with kanetix, where i was copywriting, editing, and internet marketing. having had a slew of interviews and assessments, i got around to setting up my own portfolio (http://ca.geocities.com/gizelle.lau@rogers.com) which i will soon be moving over to (http://gizellelau.com) .

had a great time in san francisco for a few days for mm's 9 man vball tournament (go connex!), got to see my cousin/aunt, had wonderfully creamy clam chowder and friend seafood on the pier at fisherman's wharf, drove through lombard street (the most curvy/crooked street in the world!), and even drove over to napa valley to do some wine tasting (http://www.robertmondaviwinery.com/home.asp) at the robert mondavi winery. california is a beauuuutifully sunny place, but even i got a bit over-sunned :) it's really true that "the shadow proves the sunshine" -- and with no shadow in cali, you wonder whether they really appreciate the over-sunniness!

thurs sept 6th was my first and only day of unemployment because we got back wed night. to make things worse, my internet was down! and so i watched random episodes of star trek TNG :) friday, i had 2 interviews, and with much thanks and deep appreciation to the soon to be mrs. iulia park, landed a interim job as an "executive assistant" at the univ of toronto faculty of social work's practicum office. and so this is where i'll be for a few weeks, in between interviews, and random marketing stints.

so that's the update. give me a few hours to remember that random thought ...

2007-08-23T12:35:00.000-04:00

you're toast and jam
and you're cotton candy
you're double rainbows
beside the setting sun

you're wood burning outside
there's a fire glowing
you're sweet as green apples
you must be the one

[c kreviazuk - green apples]

2007-08-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

i got new toys! golf clubs!

but not just any golf clubs. jazz harmony sandra post golf clubs. new toys, albeit, pricey new toys--even though they were on sale! so you must all keep me accountable - i must go to the range at least once a week for the next ten years.

so as you can see, it's true - i've given in to golf. in high school, i was passionately opposed anything golf related. i remember an old counsellor, j goh, trying to express his joy of the game of golf to me - and not once could i understand it. my friend meagan and i would snicker at the boys at school who were playing golf because with thought it was so lame :) how things change, lol, and i suppose now i'll bite my tongue.

what made the golf club buying experience even better today - was the super helpful guy named *colin working at golf town. he got me to try out some clubs and after having hit once or twice, said, "WOW, what a swing." now, i refuse to think that i was suckered into getting these clubs. but i think he DID say something about me going pro :) hahaa. all the flattery, of course, had nothing to do with the clubs.

the fact is that maybe i've learnt to disassociate my previous (silly) irrelevant biases and unfounded feelings against game, from the game of golf itself. i think golf always represented a world to me that was so foreign and somewhere that i didn't really belong. it was for the rich people, the "ballers" who spent all their time playing golf and doing business on the green. while i'm definitely far from living the baller lifestyle - i am jobless beginning september 1st, after all - i think i will start anew and afresh with golf :)

hello golf, my name is gizelle. it's nice to meet you!

2007-08-08T19:28:00.000-04:00

hehehee. .!! today's rhymes with orange comic:

i think i may have a thing for fish :)

2007-08-06T20:46:00.000-04:00

weeks with tianne and mike to europe for our grad trip! we went through london/engld, dover/engld, calais/fr, paris/fr, nice/fr, rome/ity, athens/grc, and crete/grc. it's a bit sad that we're all now in three diff cities and corners of the world, but these were definitely some good times.

tonight i finally sat down and went thru some pics, and here are two that i really liked :)

> both taken in chania, crete in greece, at a dockside patio restaurant. we got the seafood platter (and i think they were really impressed how much meat we got off the fish) - and here are two of our fish :)

muah! kissing fish :)

2007-08-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

for the past few years, i've been at that point of my life - when people ask you:

"so, what are you?"

. .. and by this, they mean to define "are" (that is, the very nature of your being), in reference, at least 95% of the time in most conversations and contexts, to what it is that you do. and this is often just a variable of what title your present employer has dubbed you - rather, to go further, it is the title that the current presiding entity, society, or authoritative body has defined and recognized you as: student, consultant, teacher, technician, recruiter, writer, engineer, manager, and etc.

i've begun to loathe surveys or forms with checkboxes that require you to define yourself - by checking off that box, i put myself in a box - and i think this is most definitely one of the things i'm most afraid of. however, i suspect, as many have in the past, that the very nature of your being, that is, what "you are" or what "he is" or what "she is" - is inevitably tied to what you do, in such a way that the terms sometimes get confused.

i've heard that the trend lately is that most people go through at least a few career changes in their lives - and that even now, more and more jobs are contracts rather than full time. i think that maybe all the short term and career shifts, is done in response to our need to become less boxed, to be fluid, to make sure that we're in control and that we're not at the mercy of the merciless big bad wolf.

i think this is sort of where i am today: struggling between giving allegiance to one career path versus another because it has been ingrained my understanding that whichever path i choose, will define me. and the weight of that is a bit frightening.

2007-07-30T13:17:00.000-04:00

haha - my coworker just sent me this link: 12-inch Jesus action figures + other Bible heroes!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6916287.stm

so seriously - if sampson and goliath (as depicted below) got into a fight, who would win? (let's say there were no rocks/stones nor scissors/razors around). ..

2007-07-20T14:48:00.000-04:00

i have 2 pieces of great news for you -- 2 amazing toronto concerts in september :)

1) damien rice
hummingbird centre
mon, sept 10, 2007 at 8:00 pm

unfortunately, damien will never sound as good as he did at danforth music hall in july 2006 - unaccompanied and totally raw. ..but if you watched the movie "closer" and couldn't take your eyes off of natalie portman in the first 5 minute scene of her walking down the street - ladies and gentlemen, you will not, i guarantee it, be able to take your eyes off of damien rice playing live. whether on piano or guitar, it will be solid :) go buy tickets, you won't be disappointed.

2) city and colour
danforth music hall
tues 11, wed 12, thurs 13, sept 2007 @ 8pm

city and colour, aka dallas green, who also sings/guitars for alexisonfire. don't be fooled by the tattoos - city and colour is green's softer side, and is packed with pure acoustic singer/songwriter spirit. if you like damien, you'll like city + colour and vice versa. check out the live album first if you're not sure. saw him last summer opening for dashboard at molson ampitheatre, and he was better than dashboard -- seeing him at danforth will be a treat for the senses :) and, you can see his tatts up close! i'll be going on the 13th :) buy tickets for any of the days, go here for tickets! they just extended it and added friday the 14th..!

- - - -

i put the post on time into a time machine and moved it to may b/c when i read it, it made me really sad :\

2007-07-16T23:57:00.000-04:00

our dreams, they are made up of real things, like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving, love is the answer at least for most of the question is my heart, like why are we here, where do we go, and how come it’s so hard, it’s not always easy, sometimes life can be deceiving, but I’ll tell you one thing: it’s always better when we’re together. . .

mmm, it’s always better when we’re together, we look at stars when we’re together,
yea, it’s always better when we’re together, it’s always better when we’re together. ..

and some of these moments might find their way into my day to day scene, I’d be under the impression, I was somewhere in between, with only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do, or places we’ve got to be, we’ll sit beneath the mango trees

[j johnson - better together]

2007-07-09T22:35:00.000-04:00

just a few minutes ago, i went for a quick trip to dominions to pick up some bagels, grapes, and yellow peppers. here's one of my super super in the closet-lame-esque night time pleasures. at night when i drive, it's become a custom - and i'm not sure why, other than just that i'm drawn to it - to listen to lovers and other strangers on 98.1, hosted by don jackson, who has the most soothing reading voice, ever, it's almost hypnotic. haha. if you've never heard it, it is most likely the cheesiest radio programming thing you could listen to (next to delilah ...), which plays nothing but coupley, relationshippy, lovey dovey, heart breaking ballads (which some are more ready to admit that they love..). don will often have certain topics or passages that he focuses on for the night, and tonight's topic was fishing.

there is substantial blogging coming ahead, i promise.

So here is what I learnt from Don. While fishing today is seen as recreational, let’s rather look at fishing as a profession. Your mind will immediately think of east cost red haired fishermen with white hats with a golden anchor symbol, pipe in mouth and a snug navy blue jacket.

It can be said that fishing is so necessarily an activity, a job or profession, that relies purely on hope. You do all that you can do, get the right fishing line, the right louers, the freshest worms, the best poles and gear, the best mates on your ship. But at the end of the day, or after long hours with no bites or nibbles on the line, it’s all about being able to say, “I think I just felt something on the line. .” Being continually hopeful and expecting that you will catch something, is not a condition for the faint of heart. Hope is so easily lost, hour after hour with no results. It’s about hoping for things that you may not be able to see or touch right away, but being prepared, being ready at all times, for the very second you feel a tug on the line.

Fishing as a profession, further, requires that you fish for your sustenance. It has become, especially in light of the ample dark Canadian Literature fishing genre, a profession for one with calloused hands and with hearts as strong as bears, driven with ambition to provide for one’s family. Without catching fish, there will be no food on the table, nor clothes on their children’s backs. So, it is obviously much better to try to catch fish than to not try at all. If you try, you could very well catch some fish, but may not get anything and thus fail; while if you do not try, you will necessarily fail in catching any fish. And so fishermen will try and try and try out of necessity, because without, he and his family will be put in dire circumstances. He tries and tries, in the light that there is hope that one day in the vast ocean, sea, or lake, that some fish will bite on the line. You never know when you'll get lucky or when the time will come.

The point? Maybe that’s why Jesus chose fishermen, to be his ‘fishers of men.’

I think I’ve been learning more and more that this life isn’t for the faint of heart – that so often, whether it’s things you want to do or get done, the change(s) that you want to make to the world, the big stages in life, the brokenness and heartache, the loss and sadness, the pressures of society – no, this life definitely is not for the faint of heart. But it’s about continuing to be hopeful. And then it’s about fishing, worshipping, sharing /w others, doing your best – because without all of that, you could very well starve.

but friends, have hope :) i think i just felt something biting on the line ..

2007-07-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

AAAAARGH. today i woke up and felt like pooh. but after a four day weekend, good times filming ed and lydia's wedding vid with kal/brdn/francis/mm, some vineland, fireworks, some man meatballs and 'heart attack' bread (whole loaf of bread cut up, smothered in half a tub of garlic butter and cheese, and banked in the oven to perfection) -- who can really justify calling in sick? sadly, not i. and so i got up, and made the daily commute to work. about seven hours later, it was time to head home to get some rest so there would be no more pooh feeling the next day.

a dear friend once wrote a short commentary about a ttc experience and tonight i thought i'd follow a similar theme and in similar footsteps. mine, however, may be a bit less on the eloquent and charming side, but more on the frustrated-ridden writhing commentary side.

The Toronto Transit Diaries: Entry, the Second - the Tragedy
It's usually not so bad. I've often held my breath, sat back and drifted off to sleep once I hear the "Attention TTC Customers" announcement almost always followed by at least 30 to 40 minutes of wasted time in short bursts of movements and dark subway tunnels. Most of us commuters are so desensitized that we just shrug and keep on reading our daily copy of the Metro - the TTC is one of those things that is totally out of your control, and your boss will most likely understand, and so it buys you half an hour less of work that day.

Last week when it was 40 degrees celsius outside with the humidity, I was left outside at the bus stop for about 30 minutes in a "frequent service" time span. I've heard stories of people that just go back home when they're on the way to work because of TTC delays. But here is today's TTC tragedy -- err, story.

Today, elated for getting off a bit earlier than usual, climbed onto the streecar, found the last empty seat at the back, beside 2 blackberry users. I made a call to Chant to apologize for skipping out on him later that night, and went on to watch Spadina go by. A few minutes later somewhere in Chinatown or near Kensington, there was a jolt, and a few people fell into each other towards the front of the streetcar. As most Spadina streecar drivers are P.A.-happy, the driver came on and asked if everyone was okay. We moved on. Until we reached Spadina and College.

A few minutes of not moving at a stop is normal for the Spadina streetcar during rush hour. It can take up to 20 minutes sometimes to go from King St. to Spadina Station, especially when going through Dundas and College. So we waited 5 minutes, which turned into 10, and then 20. At first, I gave the usual "shrug" to the TTC's service failures. Until about 45 to 50 minutes later, and only a few blocks from where I'd boarded, when I realized that it was getting a little ridiculous. What made it so bad was that the streetcar riders weren't given even the courtesy of the "Attention TTC Customers" announcement, but were left to sit on the rotten streetcar for up to an hour. I found out about 45 minutes later that the entire Spadina streetcar line was being held up because we were waiting for an ambulance for someone who had been injured during the abrupt jolt.

The tragedy of it all, is that for the average commuter, you have no choice but to suck it up. Fares will continue to rise, new subway lines will be built, there will be crappy and wholly uncourteous service, delays, rude drivers (and fun drivers, at the same time) -- and for the most part, besides writing a letter of complaint (and paying the postage to send it), both the TTC and you know, that you will still have to get back on the darn streetcar the next day to get to work.

2007-06-20T21:37:00.000-04:00

picked up a time magazine today that was on its way to the recycling bin - "the most influential people in the world: the time 100" - the may 14th 2007 issue. flipping through, i saw brad pitt, roger federer, barack obama, and this woman: Zeng Jinyan - The Chinese blogger who is waging a war of words against Beijing's secret police. here's a copy of the article (taken from the official time magazine website):

Zeng Jinyan
By Arianna Huffington
Zeng Jinyan is the online progeny of the protester who blocked a column of advancing tanks during China's Tiananmen uprising in 1989. When Zeng's husband, AIDS and environmental activist Hu Jia, was detained by the Chinese government without any legal proceedings last year, Zeng, now 22, started a blog detailing her experiences and the oppressive activities of the country's secret police. Since then, her blog has been blocked in China, and she and her husband have been harassed, intimidated and subjected to round-the-clock surveillance. But she has steadfastly continued to blog, attracting an international audience with her sardonic style—and her courage. She is Tiananmen 2.0.
Blogs are by nature very personal—an intimate, often ferocious expression of the blogger's passions. This intimacy creates an unusually close bond between blogger and reader. It's why I feel so connected to Zeng, even though we live on opposite sides of the world and have never met—or even spoken to each other. By blogging truth to power, she is planting the seeds of a new—and true—cultural revolution. Let a thousand blogs bloom.
Huffington is a blogger and the founder of the Huffington Post

sort of puts blogging on a different level, eh?

to my fellow bloggers and bloggettes, let the cultural revolution continue, or begin.

2007-06-18T22:35:00.000-04:00

you are the bearer of unconditional things
you held your breath, and the door for me
thanks for your patience

you've already won me over, in spite of me
and don't be alarmed if i fall head over feet
and don't be surprised if i love you for all that you are
i couldn't help it, it's all your fault

[alanis - head over feet]

* * * *

i'm graduating from university tomorrow.
real world, here i am. i'll kick your butt.

2007-06-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

besides getting some "real thinking" done, my mind also wanders to coffee. it seems i have a few favourite topics: shoes, starbucks, and philosophy. so, here's a bit of writing i laughed out loud at :) it's about the "red eye" drink at starbucks.

Red Eye
Someone who can 'drink' (ie, choke down) a Red Eye deserves your respect. This drink is basically a cup of coffee (already well caffeinated) with either one, two, or three espresso shots added for good measure. People that drink these are either clinically dead and need resurrection, or are writing a doctoral thesis or something equally mind-numbing. You may want to think twice before ordering this drink.

taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A533404

i'm, um, going to go, to, um, starbucks. now. :)

2007-06-13T23:13:00.000-04:00

a tribute to auguste rodin, french sculptor, "the thinker" - whose "musee rodin" can be found in paris.

so, when you're in the office all day writing about insurance, it makes you want to do a little philosophy and some "real" thinking :)

here's something you can mind-juggle. this is a philosophical thought experiment by Donald Davidson. it's called "Swampman":

Suppose Davidson goes hiking in the swamp and is struck and killed by a lightning bolt. At the same time, nearby in the swamp another lightning bolt spontaneously rearranges a bunch of molecules such that, entirely by coincidence, they take on exactly the same form that Davidson's body had at the moment of his untimely death.

This being, whom Davidson terms 'Swampman', has, of course, a brain which is structurally identical to that which Davidson had, and will thus, presumably, behave exactly as Davidson would have. He will walk out of the swamp, return to Davidson's office at Berkeley, and write the same essays he would have written; he will interact like an amicable person with all of Davidson's friends and family, and so forth.

so is it really Davidson or Swampman? if Swampman, can he call himself Davidson or introduce himself as Davidson to others? should his friends call him Davidson - or Swampman?

and can he really BE Davidson because he's something different materially than he was before? is he the same immaterially, than before? is that really the same, if it's not caused in the same way (i.e. actually caused in memory vs. caused by being coincidentally materiliazed as exactly similar to another's previous memories and experiences?)

2007-06-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

cobblestone roads in rome. which, if you're not careful, you may twist or strain your ankles. but beautifully classical :)

i missed you! as much as the past 2 wks was a great grad trip, i admit that i really did miss home, for some reasons more than others, but maybe life is just this - toronto, working, friends, community - and it's about really, and i mean really living that to the max.

having met ppl in hostels, mainly college/univ students and some wanderers hailing from japan, it seemed like ppl were looking for some greater experience, some greater purpose, some greater sight, greater views, greater understanding of oneself, something . . . greater. greater than what you have at home in japan, nyc, or toronto.

if something greater is really greater, then can it really be found by backpacking through europe? if it's truly greater, then should it not be great enough to be - found - whether here or there, anywhere?

so along with mentioning all the sites that you have to visit when visiting europe (like the pantheon in rome, to the left), some of you forgot to mention that rome, on a global scale, is the city with the most shoe stores per square foot in a city than any other place in the world. luckily for you and me, i was none the wiser and so did not budget nor wake up every day for the past month with the wonderful expectancy of being able to visit this shoe-paradise and purchase some of these wonderful shoes. haha.

but europe with tianne and mike was awesome. tons of fun stories to tell you, like: the confrontation with the london border/customs officer, the time we found ourselves in the middle of the paris airport surrounded by smoke, driving in paris (shudder), our encounter with the pope (we think), the guy on the train from nice to rome, "i like spaghetti," and of course, hostel and food reviews! ask me sometime :)

* damien rice concert may 18th was fantastic: damien - "amie"
* hillsong/starfield june 2nd, take my breath away: the stand
* yay, i get to be in han min and iulia's wedding :) lovely lovely.

2007-05-17T12:27:00.000-04:00

(written july 17/07, time stamped here..)

on my 1 hour and 15-30 minute commute yesterday morning, i was thinking about time. with 3 hours commuting each day, about 7 hours working, 6-7 hours sleeping, 1 hour eating, 1 hour practicing a guitar solo, 0.5 hours on the phone, 0.5 hours running, 0.5 hours showering/brushing teeth/getting dressed, 2 hour music practices, intermittent 1-2 hours emailing/internet messaging or trying to keep up with the new accessory or program eugene's just picked up (what's a twitter!? lol). ..the list goes on and weekends get shorter and shorter.

having ppl in my life who are also plagued by the obvious lack of time, it made me wonder: whether there is some basic underlying (even subconscious) reason for the amount of time we choose to spend on a certain activity.

two reasons I came up with are necessity and importance.

sleeping 6-7 hours or a good amount every night is also a necessity, otherwise properly functioning is difficult. some that i know will go through an average of 10 to 15 hour work days, and this is necessary to keep one’s job – as exasperating as it may be having to skip out on dinner plans often enough. someone i live with, for example, will choose to wake up at 5.30am to leave the house at about 7.30am – and throughout those 2 hours, at least 1, is spent in the bathroom. it’s important for this person to look good and be presentable to their coworkers. for others, this is less important and they can shower and be out of the house in 10 minutes and have more time for the necessary, i.e. sleeping. this past Sunday, a few of us spent 10-12+ hours volunteering for a community event because we believe and are passionate about it and believe in its importance in the whole scheme of what it means to be part of a community. it’s important to go to a good friend’s wedding :)

there may be a bit of a vague crossover between importance and necessity. but i think importance stems from something that’s much deeper than necessity. certain things are important to us because we choose to make them important to us--because they stem from our concerns, passions, wants, needs; whether it be wanting to be beautiful, having a passion for community, loving a certain hobby, or engaging and celebrating with certain people.

here’s my ramble: and so for these things that we gauge as important to us, theoretically, we would choose to spend our time or allot it in a way that reflects the things that are important to us. but i think we’re also plagued by the necessities of life – of making money, of keeping up with life. so another question is why we made those necessities, necessities? realistically and in our lives, why do we choose to make relevant in our lives, the importances and necessities, in the way that we do? will there ever be a time when there are no necessities? i suppose there’s always a choice, we don’t have to work, but in the end that leaves you with many less choices. will there ever be enough time to do everything you need to do?

it is necessary for me to get back to work now.

2007-05-07T22:46:00.000-04:00

some people, of late, have been saying that i seem to have quite a liking for shoes. while i may not be the avid shoe-aholic, or do silly things like 'retire' my shoes in a closet like a certain mr harrison whose shoe collection i will never exceed, i'll admit it - i think i do - really like shoes.

a glimpse of my collection :)
[l to r; black steve madden slip ons; navy old navy sandals; classic ladies puma del mundos in teal; even more classic black adidas superstars, my third pair; white mens timberland casual leather sneakers with timberland tag still attached; lugz butter suede boots for winter]

here's the new addition to my collection: puma women's contre-slip ons, for work ;)

guess which colour i got!

otherwise, i'll share with you about some footcare. because when i think of shoes, i think of feet, lol.

check out this super cool exfoliating spoon foot file from the body shop -- i will now scrub my feet with a blue spoon

then use dr scholls pedicure essentials ultra overnight foot cream, that "softens the toughest skin overnight" especially if you have "dehydrated, rough skin and heels, knees, hands, or elbows" -- it's not just for feet! and it smells great. not pepperminty, like most foot stuff often smells like -- why do they insist your feet smell like peppermint?

2007-05-01T00:55:00.000-04:00

real world, here i come.

the past few months has been a battle four years--or rather, more like a lifetime, in the making.

and being defined? i think i've realized that in the past few years, that i am scared to be defined or put in a box, and the more i get put into one, the more i need to do something that puts me outside that box. maybe that's just part of growing up, doing crazy impromptu things that seem strange to others. maybe it's my cry to just really be counter cultural, but i suppose even then, counter cultural is some kind of definition.

it's like i've been born, brought up, and bred, for this purpose, whether i like it or not. this is one of those moments, that you should probably write a song, or capture this moment for the rest of your life. the day before the first day of work, a real full time job. shedding student, the only defining title i've ever carried (also my main excuse for undertipping.. ), and now putting on the latest resume's present job position title as my criterion of identity, is slightly frightening.

and at the same sickening time, gives me a sense of relief, that at least i'm not defined as unemployed (followed closely by unsuccessful, failure, wasting their degree. ..) and that at least i don't have to get that feeling. that feeling that i've seen in faces of ppl who have graduated and haven't found 'the next thing,' who seem lost, devalued, unimportant, to have lost their thousands of dollars in a degree which has gotten them a permanent spot on the couch, waiting for calls from employers that may never come.

are you feeling that tension? between freedom and--life? my goal was to be employed and in a job by the time i finish my last exam, with zero idle time. the idle time scares me, but maybe it's those who embrace the idle time, who are actually the ones who are free. and also the ones who can't pay rent or buy dinner. i'm feeling tension.

my last exam's on thurs and i start work tomorrow. and all i have to really say, is that i'm blessed to be in this place, and it's only by grace that i think i'm here, fear, scaredy-cat-ness, worries, feelings of imprisonment aside, i am blessed. so, i will be working for an online company as an internet marketing writer in a super casual loft at spadina and king. thanks for your help, support, prayers, everyone who's coped with my j-o-b search freakouts and eccentricities, i'm alive and sane because of you, and i think i'm ready to say "job." :)

but i think i'm just trying to figure this all out. stay tuned.

2007-04-23T02:51:00.001-04:00

corinne bailey rae has got some serious soul :)

she makes me melt!

definitely one of my top five live performances. check out this year's grammy performance /w john legend + john mayer - for a second, just a second, it was as if john mayer should have come over to hummingbird centre to play again with these two. .

congrats hm + iulia on your engagement :)

2007-04-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God’s truth, not its own. True worship doesn't put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn’t forced, isn’t half-hearted, doesn’t keep looking at its watch, doesn’t worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.

Worship will never end; whether there be buildings, they will crumble; whether there be committees, they will fall asleep, whether there be budgets, they will add up to nothing. . .now our tasks are worship, mission and management, these three; but the greatest of these is worship.

And do you see why it's so easy to create that pastiche of 1 Corinthians 13, substituting 'worship' for 'love'? Worship is nothing more nor less than love on its knees before the beloved, just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved - and just as the Eucharist, as the climax of worship, is love embracing the beloved and so being strengthened for service

[N.T. Wright's For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church, 1997]

2007-04-12T16:23:00.001-04:00

i had a 4th year philosophy exam on tuesday, which consisted of 8 possible questions which were given ahead of time. i realized that one must be at the end of it all, when final questions are ones such as:

if God is perfect/just, why is there evil in the world?
if God is omnipotent, is it possible for him to make a rock so large that he cannot move it?
discuss whether God is essentially perfect
why is God necessarily the ultimate reason for the cosmos of contingent things?
if Joe is unconvinced that God exists through arguments, but really wants to believe that God exists and thinks that if he works really hard, that he could believe that God exists, and that his non belief makes him sad, should Joe believe in God?

to which i wanted to reply to each and every one, something to the effect of: "just because" or "why not?" or "does it really matter?" or "who cares?" haha. silly philosophy exam questions.

last night, saw joshua radin. tues, john legend + corinne bailey rae. one month til damien!

i know you're scared that i'll soon be over it, that's part of it all
part of the beauty of falling in love with you, is the fear you won't fall
it hasn't felt like this before, hasn't felt like home, before you

and i know it's easy to say, but it's harder to feel this way
i miss you more than i should, than i thought i could
can't get my mind off of you

[j radin + s fisk - the fear you won't fall]
youtube this song :)

2007-04-03T02:41:00.000-04:00

so today at work, at the uoftbookstore, i was up in great hall, where i sold at least 20, 50 cent calenders, and most of them were of frodo. needless to say, my afternoon was becoming increasingly dull with only a bag of goldfish crackers and shoemaker's article on "self and body" to keep me company. until jesus came along!

Jesus.
A plush, earnest Jesus.
His bracelet reads "WWID."
Approx 11" tall.
Price: $16.95 (USD) each or any 3 for $42.
A $8.85 discount will be added to your order automatically.

(part of a series of plush figures of 'thinkers' such as: plato, freud, marx, hegel, beethoven, pavlov's dog. . .run by a company called the 'unemployed philosopher's guild' - you can buy one here)

the customer brought up the product to me, i rang up her sale, and said: "the total cost for jesus will be $23.94. how will you be paying for that?" funny, right? although, i'm not sure whether i was a bit troubled, really troubled, or lightly amused at the concept of (and i know, it's really just a stuffed polyesteresque material-shell) jesus being sold for $23.94. .. although i suppose he is cute and cuddly.

so ..

this is my Jesus.
and he's yours for free.
grace, love, and freedom will come with your order, please indicate your size.
all your sins will be taken away automatically.

when i survey the wondrous cross,
on which the prince of glory died
my richest gain, i count but loss,
and pour contempt, on all my pride
. . .
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all

2007-03-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

let me tell you a story :\

there is a little man that walks up and down beverley street just about every day. he wears a blue hat and a large black winter coat, but because the weather is nice, he now wears a spring khaki coloured jacket, and high faded black boots. and he hunches, and pushes around a white wired grocery cart--the ones that you always see the grandmas pushing around in china town. it is layered on in the inside with an ikea blue coloured tarp, and he walks up and down the street every day, between the houses and alleyways, around baldwin, cecil, huron, and ross. in the winter and in the spring, in the dead cold, in the warmth.

while this isn't really a sensational story nor is it meant to sensationalize any one person in particular, or expose this man's day to day activities, or my watching stalker tendencies. .. but if you watch him long enough, you'll see him go from house to house, from blue box to blue box, to grey box to grey box, garbage cans, picking through the recycling or paper bits left behind - rough study notes, boxes of beer bottles from the next door sorority's party last night - and when he finds something he likes, which i have yet to figure out what that is, he puts it into his cart and moves on to the next alleyway.

the imagination blends and creates this man's fantastic story. sad ones and happy ones. one is that perhaps he is a collector of odds and ends and at home, has a glorious collection of things from all around the world. another sadder one is that he lives in a basement and collects things so he can sell them so that he can buy dinner and pay rent, but that some of those items are rarities and collectibles in which he'll become a millionaire through a carpet salesman who sees his collection of rarities and sells them on ebay. one final one i'll share with you is that he is the most extreme environmentalist there is, beyond any tree hugger, green peace volunteer, or green party candidate, and believes so intimately in saving the environment, sorting recyclables and garbage, and he brings all these items to his own recycling factory where he's figured out a way to salvage any kind of waste, and will ultimately be the one who saves the planet from global warming.

:)

2007-03-20T01:10:00.000-04:00

fri evening, last utccf coffeehouse, sad but true. nonetheless, i got lovely flowers from my 'fan club' aka. karin, adam & aleks. booutiful, thanks for always supporting and showing up to hear me belt some tunes.

sat, i got into univ of victoria for a post-degree program for a bachelors of social work. and tianne got into columbia! the end is truly drawing near, tons of decisions, tons of change, lots of moving, and oh dear, long distances. keep holdin' on, i know we'll make it through, just stay strong. in the afternoon, skule night, always good times esp /w andy on stage, way to go bud.

had a loverley dinner in the evening, where afterwards at futures, a super drunk couple asked where the washroom was, and i pointed to the sign. which reminded me of a certain someone hid numerous times from awkward moments from psycho girls with birkenstocks in the middle of winter. but, they've actually changed the sign. but i thought i'd put this one up for old times' sake.

picked up and currently reading joanne harris' chocolat today at the bookstore, a story about a chocolate maker who at the beginning of the lent season comes into town and opens up a shop in a lifeless town, and uses her chocolate to bring life to her customers, by causing them to explore their passions and desires. this year i'm doing meat, but i wonder whether deep down inside, i know i should have done chocolate or . ..coffee.

i was looking for some chords for the worship set this wk, found some "obscure worship song" recordings: check out this one :)

just like a star. . still i wonder it is, i don't argue like this with anyone but you, we do it all the time, blowing out my mind. . .you got this look i can't describe, you make me i'm alive, when everything else is au fait, without a doubt you're on my side, heaven has been away too long, can't find the words to write this song.. [corinne bailey rae, like a star]

2007-03-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

so, the nutritionists killed cookie monster. he no longer says "cookie cookie cookie cookie raaawr". . .and then stuffs his face with cookies. but apparently, according to aleks, now says, "cookie cookie. ..but only sometimes." :(

in the next few months: last utccf coffeehouse this friday. finish my last year of univ in the next 5 weeks. hopefully hit hk in the beginning of june. parents in china end of may. new york july long weekend. damien rice at massey hall on may 18th. graduation on june 19th (*gulp). weddings galore in the summer. grow some hair. learn how to skateboard. fall head over feet. refrain from any abnormal hair dye colours. april 13th utccf grad dinner. last exam on may 3rd. sing in the church choir for good friday service. pho88 for easter sunday lunch. grow up. skule night this sat afternoon. april 12th, last day of class. celebrate life. stop being so cared of growing up. get married. haha, j/p. build community. love unconditionally + give grace. start and finish this darn paper on george mavrodes' discussion on miracles as per david hume. ok, no more procrastinating. rawr. happy belated, kalam.

2007-03-06T02:02:00.000-05:00

1) before the cut
2) ajong's beautiful artwork of what i'd look like
3) and after today's buzz buzz.

still taking donations that will go towards canadian cancer society. didn't shave it off . .even the hairdresser asked if i could just let her salvage what was left. maybe i just sold out, lol. but which really does perpetuate my theory that hair is so very overrated, that these dead cells on our heads shouldn't dictate the way we live our lives or dictate the way we feel about ourselves, to be the be all and end all to whether we are beautiful of not. .. but it seems like it so often does :( oh, stupid hair.

a friend of mine from high school died this past friday of complications from cancer. i'd say it was a shock, but what else could it be, than just that? and here i'm worried about not having a job, and. . .hair. and so i got that hit in the stomach that you often get when you get news like that. and you hate that it made an event like this for you to realize that you really just need to suck it up. trivialties of life, feelings of inadequacy, fizzling projects or dreams, torments of the past. . .just suck it up, suck it up, suck it the hell up. makes me want to bang my head on the wall :(

i'm learning to breathe, i'm learning to crawl, i'm finding that you & you alone can break my fall
i'm living again, awake and alive, i'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies
[switchfoot, learning to breathe]

- - - - -
[this wk]
- rogers/ddog promos for can music wk, demo-ing the nokia 5300
- paolo nutini on wed, phantom on thurs, wish there was gym class heroes on fri
- stuart mclean's secrets of the vinyl cafe - fun short stories!
- find really good hair product that sticks :)

2007-03-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

if you can raise $1500, i will shave my head. pledge by this sunday march the 4th :) email me, gizelle.lau@gmail.com or jon.chant@gmail.com .. otherwise. ..i keep my hair, and some ppl will be happier, haha. .

2007-02-25T00:25:00.000-05:00

so i'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the one who gave it all
i'll stand my soul Lord, to you surrendered, all i am is yours [hillsong, the stand]

the past few years i think i've only begun to understand the idea of worship. as catch phrase as it is, the idea of 'worship as a lifestyle,' means a whackload of things. so really understanding worship in my life, it has become about a response of what's inside of me to jesus as majesty, king, saviour.

sketches of such worship.. fill my journal notebooks, of hands raised, hearts on fire, of knees on the ground, facedown poses, of the undignified person--all in response and as a response, to jesus. hands held high reaching, hands giving up something, desperation and crying out on one's knees. desperation of not being able to express oneself, not having the words, the actions, the answers, the proper self, character, motives. . .but just utterly desperate, abandoning onself, in worship, as worship, as what seems the only response that you can give, that you are capable to muster up at all, in the presence and grace of jesus.

arms high, heart abandoned ..! oh, what a place to be :) when i pick songs for sunday morning worship sets, i find i like songs that go something like: "so we raise up holy hands" or "we stand and lift up our hands." ppl have their own expressions of worship. for example, i've come to understand my dad's expression of worship is through his actions for others. some ppl like being quiet. others, through their respective relationships.

and so while this is so very true. . .i can't help but dream and visualize rows upon rows of people, with arms high, heart abandoned! and maybe if we sing these songs enough, everyone will raise up their holy hands, or stand and lift up their hands, OR, dance with joy like we're dancing now. OOOH the excitement and joy of worship leading. . . rumble rumble.

2007-02-15T03:14:00.000-05:00

i hope you have/had a happy:
a) valentine's day
b) overrated wednesday in february
c) singleness awareness day
d) rate your boyfriend/girlfriend day
(. ..haha, multiple choice, in the spirit of midterms)

ok, so here is something i found intriguing in the midst of this vday. as much as we girls claim to be independent, equal, smart, as much as we chant beyonce mantras like "to the left," and "independent woman!" or "bills bills bills" - i am convinced that as low maintenance as we like to claim to be. . .there's still something in us that wants flowers and chocolate. (and no, this is not a plea for either flowers or chocolate, haha). and so, what is it in this independent/equality scheme of things, did it make it wrong for a girl, to want to be showered with gifts and chocolate, as cliched, or sappy, or as hallmark-induced, as it may be? are we too good for that? why are we then seen as foolish, as hopeless romantics, or arrogantly naive? arrrrg! in any case, from what i've learnt today, no matter what a girl says, it does, in fact, make a difference, what you do, on this day. no pressure. haha.

it's almost 4am, and i am starving.

2007-02-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

top o' the world to you! top o' the world.

1) haha heheeeehehee. ..seriously, is that not the funniest thing you've ever seen?! :) number one of things that made me smile this week, in the midst of an otherwise crappy discouraging week.

2) savannah stonehouse, who was born at 11.11am yesterday morning at st mikes :) congrats, june + andrew!

3) ok, so this week at ccf: relationships talk II, to which some have commented, "i'd rather commit suicide than go to that talk (with *insert possible significant other's name here* also in attendance)." that's almost as funny as the polar bears, heheee.

4) just another reason why i love tianne. after dinner, she gave me a cookie! not just any cookie, mind you. a valentine's day cookie! which, she also wanted to get for pearl and aleks, but pearl has ray, and aleks has leif. ..but i have. .well, i have a nice heart shaped cookie that says bee mine. with a bee! haha.

5) a certain friend who called the other night, to update me on his life, to which he said: "man. .it's killing my game." ahahahaa. how's your game, now?

6) watched when harry met sally last night /w my roommates which a classic, right, when it comes to romantic comedies. interdispersed throughout the scenes, there are scenes of old couples sharing their story a/b how they met. one couple lived down the street from each other all their lives, never met once, and them met randomly in an elevator at the ambassador hotel in chicago where he was staying nine floors down, and so he "rode up nine extra floors, just to talk to her."

7) strawberry and blackberry tarts, fresh from the oven. and, quality time with aleks. haha.

8) the closing of twentyfour/seven this past monday. sat in a room with my favourite people in the entire world, and there, we affirmed and agreed that in that room, was the hopes, dreams, prayers, vision, and passion, of generations of ccf in the past, and in that room, it was reality, and that it will keep becoming reality.

9) a book that i found at work. no one cares what you had for lunch, by margaret mason. which says, don't apologize for how long it's been since your last post, or what you had for lunch b/c no one cares. and it gives you seemingly creative ideas for how to write your blog in an interesting and fun way. like showing pics of your scars, or your life story, or. ..top ten lists. haha. which, reminds me of high fidelity.

10) this time of the year, when pillsbury brings back the tubes of premade cookie mix, specially made for valentine's day: shortbread with hearts, yay. and, quality time with aleks. haha.

11) do you notice how so much of what makes me smile is food? haha. that, alone, makes me smile. a random txt msg from tiff, and how it has just really felt like God seems to work all things out for the good of those who love Him. as crap or as discouraging as my week may be. .!

12). ..haha, ok, one more. why did the tomato and the carrot get married? b/c they cantaloupe. ahahahaa. can't elope! get it? haahahaa.

2007-02-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

and so it was, the first twenty four seven prayer week at ut by utccf. the space, the walls, the writing, the post it notes, the scribbles. . .all capture the very heart and soul of CCF: ppl's fears, worries, family issues, the crowns that they want to lay at the feet of Jesus, our cries for our world/society/campus - so encouraged, and so in tears when i sit and take it all in - seeing how much CCF has moved, how much its people have put their hearts, sleeping hours, and energy, on the line, all for HIS glory and HIS renown. rumble rumble :)

my soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God

i will worship, til my breath runs dry
soar upon your word, like eagles fly
til my breath runs dry, til my breath runs dry
this is my heart's cry
[capstone - i will worship]

*thanks for the pix matt !

2007-01-30T01:01:00.000-05:00

let your love be strong. let it be small enough, let it be big enough.

in this world of news, i've found nothing new, i've found nothing pure
maybe i'm just idealistic to assume that truth, could be fact and form
that love could be a verb, maybe i'm just a little misinformed

let the wars begin, let my strength wear thin, let my fingers crack, let my world fall apart
train the monkeys on my back to fight, let it start tonight
when my world explodes, when my stars touch the ground, falling down like broken satellites

let your love be strong and i don't care what goes down
let your love be strong enough to weather through the thunder cloud
fury and thunder clap, like stealing the fire from your skies
all that i am, hanging on, all of my world, resting on your love

["let your love be strong"
from switchfoot, "oh gravity" album 2006]

- - - -
* 24/7 prayer this week at utccf :)
* yum, it's time for winterlicious again
* perry, locke, and hume, on the to do list this week
* busy busy busy
* crossing fingers for starbucks
* yay, more snowboarding on feb 10th!