I can’t believe half the summer is over already! In a blink of an eye, we’re already nearing the end of July. I feel like I haven’t really done anything yet to enjoy this summer. The last exciting thing I remember doing was meeting Far East Movement, and that was already a month ago. Since then, I’ve just been working. Although half the time I’m only working 4.5 hour days, my days are actually longer because I wake up at 4:30am for work at 6am and I don’t end up sleeping until midnight. I really should start sleeping earlier.
Finally saw Despicable Me last week with my friends from work. It was AWESOME! No wonder Anna decided to see it AGAIN lol I can’t decide which movie I like more: Despicable Me or Toy Story 3. They’re both up there for me. There were a lot of parts in Despicable Me that were really cute and funny. I also loved the minions! “IT’S SO FLUFFFFFFFFFFY!!!”
Usually for Summerlicious and Winterlicious, I try to hit three different restaurants. With conflicting schedules and everyone being busy, I only managed to hit one restaurant for Summerlicious this year. My friend Tommy had made reservations for this restaurant called Trevor Kitchen and Bar. It was a small but cozy place underground. The service and atmosphere was great. I wasn’t too crazy about the food though. The lamb pastrami appetizer was pretty good, but I was mostly looking forward to the cookies & cream tiramisu (which in my opinion would’ve been much better without the raspberry sauce drizzled on it). Overall, I had a good time. It was nice catching up with Tommy since I hadn’t seen him in a while and our last Summerlicious dinner was 4 years ago.
Yesterday was a special day. Aaron, Anna, Raquel and I made plans to visit Anasha and baby Kalani after work. I can’t believe my goddaughter is almost 2 months old! Anna and Raquel had fun holding Kalani and playing with her, while I had fun taking pictures of the precious little one. We took a nice walk to the mall (Kalani’s first shopping trip!) since Anasha hasn’t really had the chance to get out much. It was really good seeing Anasha, who’s doing well and looking great. I took some nice pictures of mommy and baby after we got back from the mall. Will post them soon.
Last but not least, Far East Movement is back in town this Friday. They’re here on the All Hearts Tour with label mate, Robyn, and will be partying at Wetbar/Suite 106 after the show. So if any of you are partying this Friday, you know where the party’s at. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to pass on this event to catch up on some rest time. Been working ALMOST everyday since July 12th because my boss at the store was in NY for a buying trip. With a 13-hour workday coming up this Sunday, I’ll probably need all the rest I can get before I spend this weekend working. On the up side, I can look forward to things getting back to normal next week :)
As most already know, I like my gadgets most when they are white. My Macbook’s white. My Nintendo DSi is white. And now…my cell phone is once again white. Welcome to the family, Blackberry Bold 9700! :D
Before anything else, I hope everyone can show some support by voting tomorrow (Friday) for Far East Movement’s “Like a G6″ on Z103.5 Head 2 Head at 7pm. (Call 416-798-1035 and/or email monaco@z1035.com) FM defeated Lil Jon ft. 3OH!3, winning with 70% of the votes. Let’s do it again tomorrow!
I’ve always strongly believed that music is subjective. Like all forms of art, it’s based on personal preferences. People have different tastes in music as they do in many other aspects of life; there is not ONE voice, one artist, or one genre that absolutely everyone likes. Obviously, I have my own preferences too. You’ve probably noticed that a lot of my recent posts have been about Far East Movement (aka. FM). As much as I don’t want to bombard you all with FM talk, I thought I should at least explain why I support FM as much as I do.
I first heard of them a few years ago when they collaborated with Jin Tha MC on a song called “Food Fight”. Later heard that their song “Round Round” was featured in the Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack and it was a song that I was bopping my head to, but again they fell off my radar. When I heard the song “You’ve Got a Friend” and the rest of their “Animal” album, it was then that I started to really fall in love with their music. Growing up as a dancer, the beat in a piece of music is very important to me. Like I mentioned before, music is subjective. I guess FM’s music happens to have those beats that I look for.
For the past two years, I’ve listened to their music repeatedly and perhaps watched a few videos of them. For a long time though, I didn’t know very much about their background. It was during the time when I was stuck at home dealing with my vision problem that I started to learn more about FM through YouTube videos and reading their online interviews. It was the first time in years that I actually had time to myself, and of course when I’m passionate about something, I like to do a lot of research and get to know everything there is to know about the subject. With a patch on one eye, I would read about how they started writing music, the difficulties they encountered being Asian American rappers, and I would watch them speak in videos where they talk about their journey into the music industry. It was then that I realized they are very humble people and extremely hardworking. When I got the chance to meet and talk to them, they were one of the most humble people I’d ever met. They have a clear vision of what they need to do, which is why they are now signed to a major record label and is becoming more known. They often support good causes and they are helping in building a ground for Asians in the music industry (they’re probably the only Asian music group on the scene right now). I find them and their work to be very inspiring.
So yes, music is subjective. You may or may not like their music. But I hope that you all can show them some support and help them grow here in Canada, if not for simply the fact that they are great people.
Here is a short documentary about how they started:
I don’t usually complain about the heat because I have a tendency to feel cold very easily, but MANNNNN…this heat got me beat! Tell me I’m not the only person who can’t take it anymore. Having to get up at 4:30am for work really doesn’t help when it’s so hot that I can’t sleep at night. Apparently in my house, the AC is only allowed to be turned on during selective times of the day and most nights don’t qualify. I’ve already missed a couple nights and now my body clock is totally messed up. Please, just let it rain (let it POUR!) so Toronto can cool down and our flowers/grass can grow.
Haven’t been blogging this past week because I’ve been taking it easy and trying to clock in some much needed Zzzzz time after work. My summer’s been pretty mellow so far. A lot of ME time catching up on some of the things I haven’t had the time to do in years (will explain more in my next post). Mario’s been keeping me company…on my DS, that is. Nothing like a good game of Mario Kart :)
I’ll leave you with a few mellow tunes that I’m chillin’ out to in this hot weather… what are YOU listening to?
Those who have followed me and my blogs through the years will know that I enjoy writing about things that inspire me. Sometimes my stories are about interesting situations that I happen upon. Other times, they’re about the people I meet who make an impact in my life. They are always true stories. In my last post, I wrote about meeting Far*East Movement. Meeting them was one was thing. How it happened is actually a story on its own.
After the show on Sunday, Danny asked me if I wanted to go meet the guys. Without even needing to think, I said “no”. Danny looked at me funny and asked “Are you sure? It’s a rare opportunity. You really don’t want to meet Kev Nish? He’s your favourite.” Again I told him “no”. The guys were hanging out in their own area networking with people. I didn’t feel like it was the time and place for me to be there; I felt like I already got more than I wanted. I was walking away with the experience of seeing Far*East Movement perform live, an FM t-shirt that J-Splif gave me from the stage, and a “Girls On the Dance Floor” Remixtape. That’s on top of what Danny got me on Saturday - the CD signed by the members of the group to my name AND a shout out video. It was a very eventful weekend and I was going away with a lot of FM goodies. I honestly felt content. I told Danny…”If it’s meant to happen, it will. If it doesn’t, then it wasn’t meant for me. I don’t want to ask for more than I’m supposed to have. I already got enough.”
With that said, Danny asked me to go outside with him so he could have a smoke. We went outside and stood opposite the “patio” doors. As Danny was lighting up, I remember looking up into the night sky thinking what a crazy weekend it had been and how happy I was being able to see FM live. Then the doors opened and out walked Kev Nish! I think Danny said hey to him and he recognized Danny from the day before, so he stopped to say hey. Danny introduced me to him and as he shook my hand, I thought to myself…“OMG! This really can’t be for real!” lol
Kev ended up chatting with us for almost half an hour. We talked about a bunch of random things, but in all honesty I wasn’t even focused on the conversation itself. I was in shock! I just kept thinking it had to be a dream. Just minutes ago, I was telling Danny I didn’t need to meet him. Then minutes later, the guy whose talent I’ve admired for the longest time pretty much placed himself next to me! How does something like that even come to happen? lol What if he never came out? What if he came out and walked right by us? He could have quickly wandered off but he didn’t. What if I had told Danny I wanted to meet them? Would things have turned out the way it did? I suppose I could spend the rest of my life wondering how I got to be so lucky, but even then I don’t think I’ll get an answer.
This experience made me realize that if something is meant to happen, it will. If something isn’t meant to be yours, it won’t be no matter what you do. Life really is full of surprises, and sometimes they happen when you least expect it.
*Side note: did I mention they used my pictures from the show on their blog? hehehe
Things were very different on my side of the fence. There was no protesting, no vandalism, no people on the street (other than all the officers). After spending 8 hours inside what was a rather peaceful environment, it was really hard for me to believe that so much damage was done merely 3-4 blocks away. So continuing on with my story, it was time for me to leave the safety zone and go home.
I ended up leaving the hotel at around 8:30pm with one of the bellmen who had just finished his shift. Figured it was safer to have some company. We walked all the way down to Lake Shore to exit the security zone and shared a taxi home from there. By the time I got home I was fairly exhausted, but I went online to read more about what had happened on the other side of the fence earlier in the day. What I saw and read was mind-boggling. Having been at the heart of the G20 all day and not having seen any of the riot, I couldn’t find a way to comprehend what had happened. While I was struggling to find some understanding, my homie Danny called me out to show me his videos of the riot on Queen St. He told me he wasn’t able to get to the New Era store for FM’s meet & greet because the cops had blocked off the street. I figured we were out of luck.
There we were sitting at a Timmies and it was close to midnight. The “Animal” album was sitting on the table as we talked about some of the songs on it. Then he was going to show me the riot videos. Before he hands me his camera, he warns me about the gory image I’m about to see. I say “whatever” and turn my attention to the screen. THIS was the “gory image” I saw:
My initial reaction was “WHAT THE HELL?!?!” (Where’s all the crazy people on the street that I’m supposed to see?!) THEN I clued in…he tricked me!! lol Turns out he did make it to the store just in time when the riot had died down. AND he got my CD signed! :D
After a pretty crazy Saturday, I was on very little sleep going into Sunday. I just hoped that the protests wouldn’t extend far on Queen St. to affect Far*East Movement’s gig @ Tattoo. Danny and I met up with Adrienne and Robin for dinner before heading over to the venue. Not knowing when show time was, we got there pretty early, and Adri & Robin stuck around until about 12:30p when they had to get going.
Danny and I spent the remainder of the time securing my spot at the far left side of the stage. Through experience I’ve found that to be the best spot when I’m at the front because I can get most of the stage into the frame. When you’re front and center, there’s no way of getting everyone on stage with a basic digi-cam. Anyway, I totally wasn’t feeling the music that was being played while we waited and can say I was actually BORED listening to it. But given how long I’ve waited for FM to come to Toronto, I wasn’t going to miss it for the world!
It was crazy when FM finally hit the stage. Their music alone gets you hyped and they know how to work the crowd. It was exactly the way I imagined it to be. My only complaint is that their set was TOO SHORT! Even though I spent the majority of my time watching the performance through my camera, it was still worth it. Like most shows I go to, I have a very vague memory of the performance itself since I’m so focused on taking pictures. I’m always about the photos because to me it helps bring back memories of what I felt at that moment in time. FM was so full of energy that catching them at the right time with the right lighting was difficult. Out of the 140 pix I took, barely half of them were decent.
By the time it was over, I was pretty hyped but exhausted. It had been a crazy weekend of seeing world leaders and seeing my favourite music group perform live. That’s pretty damn cool. There was really nothing more I could ask for. Danny asked me to go with him for a smoke break, so we stepped outside. Then SURPRISE! Kev Nish from FM comes outside, asks Danny for a smoke, and we end up chatting with him! Could my weekend get any crazier?! We hung around chatting and took some pics before Danny and I left. The guys were super cool and totally down-to-earth. Their response to hearing my CD being short-shipped shows how great they are at taking care of their fans.
When I finally got home, I was dead tired. But I was so pumped from everything that I was totally wired and couldn’t sleep. I went into work at 7am that morning with NO sleep and put on my usual morning playlist (which happens to be entirely FM lol). As I was listening to “Get That Money”, I thought about how crazy it was that only hours ago I was there meeting the guys who made the song. (We were talking about how unbreathable Kev’s jacket is lol) To know that I was talking with the people whose voices I’ve listened to repeatedly for the last 2 years is just CRAZY. Although a lot of what I experienced this weekend was not expected, I’m thankful for everything that happened. This weekend has been the best thing to happen to me in a really long time.
June 26, 2010. It’s going down in my books as one of those days I’ll never forget. And no, I’m not referring to the protests and riot that took place on this date. I’m talking about what I witnessed inside Fortress Toronto on this day when all hell broke loose just outside of it.
It was as though I had spent the day in a completely different world. When I arrived at Union Station that morning, the streets were calm and quiet. The only sound I heard were the raindrops that fell onto my umbrella. I was only about three intersections away from work, but this usually short walk felt unusually long on this day. Alone I walked down the street inside the “cage”. I passed by many officers - some who stood alone while others were in small groups. Every officer I spoke to was pleasant and patient. I knew my day was off to a good start. It was raining pretty hard at the time. I particularly remember walking pass a group of four officers and feeling bad for them. For a moment I had the urge to offer them my big umbrella, but I didn’t. I just continued walking to the next checkpoint.
When I finally arrived at the hotel, I was surprised by all the commotion in the lobby. Machines had been set up for security screening, and no one was allowed to enter the hotel without being screened. It was like the airport. Due to the fact that our hotel is attached to the convention centre where the summit was to be held, and the fact that we had at least 4 countries’ delegates staying at our hotel, it had to be highly secured. There were RCMPs and police officers from different provinces scattered around the lobby, along with our own hotel security and members of secret services. Throughout the course of the day, I learned how to distinguish the differences between the different types of uniformed men.
I had only been at work for barely half an hour when my co-workers pointed out the motorcade that was passing by our store window facing a deserted Front Street. Escorted by police on motorcycles and in a cruiser, we knew that a VIP was about to turn into our hotel. Standing just outside our store, we were able to look down into the lower lobby. I was extremely surprised that the first VIP I’d see was China’s President, Hu JinTao. His motorcade pulled up to the doors of the lower lobby and, with his entourage of about 10-12 body guards, he was whisked into the hotel. His hair was slicked back with everything in place and his trademark smile was worn on his face.
At 1pm, everyone was expecting the U.S. President to arrive and was hoping to catch a glimpse of him. It was almost an hour later when we finally got word that he had indeed arrived at our hotel, but he was whisked through a secret entrance. Bummer, eh? Strangely though, at that same time I actually felt more disappointed that I wasn’t at Far*East Movement’s meet & greet than not getting the chance to see Obama. But that’s the next part to my story. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
After a while, I started to pick up on the cues of when a VIP would soon arrive. Security would heighten in the lobby and then I would hear the sound of the police motorcycles making their way down the street, followed by the motorcade. Looking down into the lower lobby, I would see the black cars pull up. The flashing white lights at the bottom of the cars soon became familiar to me. I witnessed the arrival of Britain’s new Prime Minister, David Cameron, who only had about 3-4 bodyguards with him. He came upstairs and walked right pass our store to reach the board rooms. He was a young looking guy compared to most of the other world leaders. I also watched the arrival and departure of South Korea’s President, Lee Myung-bak, who was with his wife, entourage of about 10 bodyguards, and many other officials.
Then I heard about the protest that had turned violent - the burning of the cop cars and all the vandalism. A tv was placed just outside my store in the hotel lobby to show the soccer games. When the U.S. vs. Ghana game was over, it started showing the chaotic streets to the north of us. At one point, I looked outside my store window; Front St. was still like a ghost town. Police were out there patrolling, but that was about all the action there was. When dinner time came around, motorcades came to take VIPs over to the Royal York for their gala dinner and our hotel became quiet again.
With the riot in the city, our hotel was on lockdown indefinitely and there was no public transit in the area. It was at that point that I started to worry about how I was going to get home. I figured the rioters had to get home somehow and I didn’t want to encounter any of them en route. I decided to stay in the hotel until I felt it was safe for me to leave. After all, our hotel was probably the safest place in the city at the time.
So how did I get home? And what happened to the Far*East Movement meet & greet?
Okay, so I’ve got my non-delegate/non-protester outfit ready and I’ve got my badge. In two days, we’ll know if I’m successful in getting into work and whether or not I’ll make it out alive. (I suppose I really shouldn’t be joking about that, eh?) Over the past few days, I’ve been seeing a lot of Facebook statuses saying things like, “4-day weekend thanks to the G20!” Here I’m thinking…Great! While everyone who works downtown gets to flee for their lives this weekend, I’ll be heading right into the red zone where it’ll be immersed by RCMPs. Although I personally don’t think anything big is going to happen, you just never know right? At this point, I’m just hoping that the protests are going to be civilized and not violent.
The only thing that I’m unhappy about regarding this whole security setup is how inconvenient it will be for me to get around this weekend. One of my favourite music groups, the Far*East Movement, happens to be in town the same time as the G20 summit. They have a scheduled gig at Tattoo Rock Parlour for Sunday night and (no doubt about it) yours truly will definitely be there, but it was just last night that their meet & greet was announced for Saturday afternoon, and of course I’ll be stuck at work at that time. I don’t know if it makes me feel better or worse that they’re going to be just 3 intersections away from my store. If I can manage to get in and out of the security zone during my break, I might actually get to meet them. If not, I’m going to miss a very rare opportunity. ~sigh!
When I first found out FM was coming to T.O. about two months ago, I was literally going ape. Remember last August when I revealed my summer love of 2009? He’s a member of FM! I had considered ordering their “Animal” album at the time, but later decided not to since I already got all their best songs on iTunes. However, I did make a vow that if they EVER came for a show in Toronto, I would get their album. I kept my word, ordered a copy, and now have it in my hot little hands. I ordered another copy for my buddy Danny but unfortunately only 1 of the 2 copies I ordered was sent to me. I’ll have to figure out a way to have Danny get that one CD signed for the two of us lol
This is very exciting! I’ve already spent the last 2 years waiting for FM to come to Toronto, so this weekend is going to be MASSIVE. :D
It had been a while since I was last at the movies. For months I was waiting eagerly for Shrek Forever After and Sex & the City 2 to come out, but for one reason or another I didn’t end up seeing either of them. The one movie I actually saw turned out to be one that I didn’t plan on seeing at all, and let me tell you…it did not disappoint.
If you haven’t gone to see Toy Story 3 yet, you MUST go see it NOW. I saw it on opening day with my friends from work and was extremely surprised by how great it was. Most movies suck by the time its third installment comes out. Even with Shrek’s success, I’d have to say that its 2nd & 3rd installments weren’t nearly as good as the first Shrek movie. I probably wouldn’t even want to see it if it wasn’t for its sentimental value. So with Toy Story 3, I wasn’t excited about it at all. But wow, what a surprise! I found myself laughing through most of the 2 hours, and although I didn’t actually cry at the end of the movie, I’ll admit it sure hit a soft spot. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I have to say that the Mr. Tortilla part was HILARIOUS! Do not miss it lol
Another computer-animated movie that I’m really looking forward to is Despicable Me. Anna was telling me about it after she saw an advance screening of the movie and she says it’s really good. Its trailers look promising too. Check them out if you haven’t already. “IT’S SO FLUFFY I’M GONNA DIE!!!” lol
I’ve always liked playing games. Video games, board games, just games in general. But it’s the one thing I didn’t do very much of while growing up. Even though I’m an only child, I was never spoiled by my parents with toys or clothes. They only ever spoiled me by putting me in Mandarin classes, math classes, dance, painting, swimming, and piano lessons. I guess they didn’t think I was going to learn very much out of video games. There was also no point in buying me board games when most of them require two players. Needless to say, most of my childhood was spent doing a lot of things that taught me a lot but weren’t a whole lot of fun.
A few weeks ago, I finally bought myself a Nintendo DSi. I say “finally” because it’s something I’ve been wanting to get for a long time (you might even remember me writing about it 3 years ago). It never ended up happening because I couldn’t find a white DS available at the time and I didn’t want to settle for a pink one. Then the DSi came out, and after much debate I opted not to spend my money on another toy that I probably didn’t need. But I couldn’t deny the fact that I really wanted one. A part of me just really wanted to have my own video game console.
In the past 3 years, there have been many occasions where having a DS could’ve been useful in helping me waste time. Like that 15-hour flight to and from Hong Kong where my on-board entertainment screen wasn’t working. More recently, while I was home for 8 weeks with my vision crisis, I kept thinking how great it could’ve been if I had a DS as an alternate form of entertainment since I was only able to see things clearly within 30cm. So soon after I got better, I went and bought myself a white DSi. I told myself I wasn’t going to wait any longer. (And if I did, I’d probably never be able to get my hands on a white one again.)
To most people, buying a toy may be a very petty thing. But it wasn’t just about a toy to me. It was about getting something that I always wanted as a child, something I never had. It may be completely useless and a waste of time & money, but at least I can say I found myself the missing piece to my childhood.
Have you heard of Charice? I only learned about her recently when her album was being played at the store, and I must say she has a beautiful voice. After reading about her and her humble upbringing in the Philippines, a part of me feels grateful that Charice is now able to live her dreams of being an international singer. She may not have the most beautiful face, but she’s a very talented young woman with great vocals. If you haven’t yet heard of her, do check out her stuff.
There’s been a lot on my mind lately and I’ve been wanting to write about it. I just haven’t been very motivated. Lately, I’ve been dealing with things in a bit of a nonchalant manner. It’s usually a sign that something is making me feel unhappy and I think it’s because of work.
I’ve been there for just about 8 years now, and I can honestly say I love doing the work that I do. I’ve always found it fulfilling, even though poor management is bothersome sometimes and I am unfairly compensated in my opinion. Apparently experience and seniority means nothing. With all these minimum wage increases I’m now working just 50 cents more than a newbie, even though I’ve been with the company for 8 years. How does that make any sense?! But anyway, I’ve remained at this job because I genuinely enjoy it and I’ve always said that I’ll continue working at a job until I no longer feel happy working there. It seems I am close to that point now. Maybe it’s time to start looking for a change.
Congratulations to both Anasha and Omar on the arrival of their baby girl, Kalaniah!! Born on June 5th, 2010 at 6:42am, she weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces. Both mother and daughter are doing well.
It was a quite a surprise when Anasha called me in the afternoon on Friday (her birthday) and told me her water broke. That’s definitely a birthday to remember eh; imagine spending your birthday going through labour. Anna and I went to visit Anasha and Kalani at the hospital on Saturday. It was exciting to meet my little god-daughter for the first time. She is just precious. Luckily for Anasha, Kalani is quite a quiet baby. She kept her cool and slept through most of the two hours we were there, while the other two babies who shared Anasha’s room at the hospital cried consistently. (”Imagine going home with THAT!” LOL)
About half a year ago, I started working on a small side project. You might remember me mentioning it in a previous post that I was working as a cover consultant for McGuinty’s book. Well, the wait is finally over…the book has finally been printed! And I received a copy of it in the mail the other day. It was extremely exciting to have the final product in my hands, signed by Gordon McGuinty himself!
I feel very honoured to have had the opportunity to see this project come to life. Prior to reading Trashed! (more accurately, its manuscript) I had very little interest in waste management, but after reading the book I found it to be quite an interesting topic. Not only does Mr. McGuinty’s book talk about his 14 year journey in the Adams Mine project, it also includes many interesting stories that are very inspiring. I think the book is a must read for anyone who is involved or is interested in business, politics, the media, the environment, and of course waste management. Did I mention I love the fact that it’s printed on high quality, ultra smooth paper? :)
Is anyone else suffocating from this heat? This past weekend was my last full weekend free from work, and instead of enjoying it the way I would’ve wanted to, I spent it in bed fighting headaches. Blame it on this hot weather. It’s putting me into a groggy mood and I don’t like it! >p
Friday was good though. Despite a hectic day at work and an unexpected run-in that I’m not going to talk about here, I had a good time just hanging out with some friends later in the day. Met up with my homie Danny for dinner in Chinatown - bbq pork rice AND veggies (can’t forget’em veggies lol). The original plan for after dinner was to find a bar so we could catch the Celts vs. Magic game until it was time to head over to College Street Bar. We came across a Tea Shop 168 on the way to the car and it happened to have the game on, so we ended up dropping in there for bbtea instead. I watched my boys get slaughtered by the Celts that night, while Danny was happy that his men played a good game.
After the game, we drove up to College Street Bar. The entire area was packed with people and it took us literally 40 minutes to find a parking spot. Unfortunately, due to the difficulty in parking, Robin and Adrienne were unable to join us. I would’ve really liked to have seen them (’cos I haven’t seen them in over 3 months!), but I had a good time nonetheless. Met Danny’s friend, Jackie, who is really fun. Along with Danny & Victor, we just spent the night dancing to some good tunes (courtesy of DJ Bank$). He’s spinning again on Friday, June 11th @ College Street Bar. Who’s down?
On the topic of music, I just wanted to share this video. You may or may not have heard of David Choi, but regardless I think this is a wonderful song of his and WongFu did a wonderful job with the video. Enjoy!
Today was my first day back at work after 8 weeks. I think that’s a record for me. I have never been away from work for quite that long, especially not for illness. It was a strange feeling returning to the place that, for the past 8 years, has been my home away from home. Strange in the sense that everything was very normal; everything being the work and the people. Nothing about the place had changed, but something was definitely different. I think it was me.
Those moments still live vividly in my mind. I remember it being a quiet night. I was sitting in the corner of my bed, staring into the darkness of my room. For three weeks, I had spent every minute of every day being cross-eyed. Doing anything that required my vision was extremely difficult. Day after day, I suffered headaches. I had gone for 2 blood tests and 2 MRIs, and there was nothing else I could do other than wait patiently.
I’m the kind of person who always looks at all possibilities of a situation and then plans for the worst. After extensive research on my illness based on the information I had on hand regarding my health, I knew that in the worst case scenario the cause could have been a tumor. It was something I couldn’t rule out until I got some results.
That night, as I sat in the dark, a series of thoughts went through my head. I remember thinking to myself that if it really was a life-threatening illness, I would be ready to face the journey ahead of me. I was even willing to accept that this could eventually be the end of my life. I would’ve really liked to have been able to spend the remainder of my days doing some of the things I loved; traveling to see the world, taking photographs of beautiful things, enjoying time with loved ones, even just reading. But at that time, I couldn’t do any of that. Even if I had all the money in the world, I didn’t have the one thing I absolutely needed to do those activities. And that was my vision.
After that night, something changed. The girl who had spent half her life chasing after death realized she was afraid of dying. It had never occurred to her because taking her own life away when she wanted to (or at least when she attempted to) always gave her the feeling of control. But when she was faced with the idea of her life possibly being taken away from her, not by choice, she no longer had that control. And losing that control was frightening. It was like holding your life in your own hands, knowing that at any time someone could come by and take it away from you. Terrifying.
I didn’t end up surviving a life-threatening illness because it didn’t turn out to be one. I was just threaten by the thought of what could have possibly killed me. Ironically, I think it was that thought that saved my life. I guess I’m a survivor after all.
It’s been just over a month since my last post; strange how so much can change in 30 some-odd days. I remember exactly what was going through my head at this time last month. Let me just say I am glad that it’s all over now. I’ve been very excited about being out and about again, so rather than talking about the illness I was dealing with for a month and a half I’m going to leave that for my next post and talk about what I’ve been up to post-illness instead.
As some may know, I had a baby shower to plan for Anasha on Sunday, May 16th. I was very VERY lucky that I had gotten better just in time for the big day. It was one of those events I really didn’t want to miss. Luckily, I was able to leave the house for the first time in 2 weeks just 2 days before the baby shower, and in those 2 days I ran around like a mad woman trying to get everything together. Thankfully, my co-host and I managed to pull it off and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I know I had a great time just being among people again. I completely indulged myself in the celebration and didn’t have a chance to think about myself for even a second. THAT felt really nice.
On Thursday, I made a special trip downtown to the Accreditation Office to have my photo taken. As you may have heard, Toronto will be hosting this year’s G20 Summit at the end of June. There has been a lot of buzz about it in the media over the past couple weeks, especially concerning the security for the summit which is promised to be massive (with good reason). Since I work directly next to the Metro Toronto Convention Center in what they call the “red zone”, I’ve had to submit my information to the RCMP for a background check in order to be accredited. The application process was pretty simple. It was finding the Accreditation Office that was difficult because the office was a “secret location” in the core of downtown Toronto. When I arrived at the given address, there were no signs that indicated where the office was. I only found out, after asking security, that the entrance to the office were a set of white doors on the outside of the building. No signs, nothing. Standing on the inside of the white doors was a security officer. Talk about “top-secret security”.
After I got my photo taken, I met up with Omar since he was in the area. He managed to convince me to go on a spontaneous trip to High Park. We spent about two hours walking the park and I got to take some nice pictures. Unfortunately, not all of them came out that great because we were there in the evening and the sun didn’t provide as great a lighting as I would’ve liked. Plus, I was quite disappointed at the fact that I missed the blooming of the cherry blossoms this year; I guess there’s always next year. It was really nice to finally enjoy the outdoors though.
It has been exactly 3 weeks since I was last able to work. Honestly, it feels much longer than that because getting through each day has been such a struggle. But despite the unfortunate nature of this experience, I’ve been pretty lucky that things have been happening unbelievably quickly for me. Like Ann said, hopefully this luck will stay with me and things will turn out okay.
So far, I’ve been pretty happy with the medical attention I’ve received. My optometrist, Dr. Craig Millar, was REALLY good (it was actually my first time seeing him). He was very patient and thorough with my examination, and even asked me do two extra tests to verify his observations. Not only did I not have to pay for those two extra tests, I ended up getting a refund of $70 for my eye examination because OHIP covered my case.
My family physician, Dr. James Leung, then reviewed my report from the optometrist and decided to schedule an urgent appointment for me with a neurologist. He reiterated that an appointment with any specialist these days can be anywhere from a 2-week to a 2-month wait. Well, Dr. Leung sure worked his magic because 5 days later, I was seeing the neurologist.
Now, Dr. Leung warned me about this neurologist. He said there are two things you must know about Dr. Kester Kong: 1) you CAN NOT be late, and 2) don’t ask too many questions. So I looked him up on www.rateMDs.com and out of 7 comments, 5 were negative. By the time I arrived at his office, I was quite skeptical about the doctor. Then to top it off, an old man who was waiting beside me said Dr. Kong is very mean. You can imagine what I was thinking at the time.
When I finally met Dr. Kong though, he didn’t turn out to be half as bad as what I had heard. He joked with me and we even talked about books. He is a very fast person who talks fast and moves fast; I can see how he’d be impatient with some older people who ask endless amounts of stupid questions. But he was thorough in explaining to me what was happening and he made sure to explain it in a way that I can understand. We seemed to get along. He said he would put in an urgent MRI request for me and that he would make sure I get it done within the month (note: MRI appointments tend to have a month or two waiting period). Again, I was very lucky and I got my first MRI done a week and a half later.
The doctors have gotten me this far in 3 weeks time. There’s not much more I can do right now other than wait for the results. Believe me, I’ve done a lot of research (*typical virgo here!) and I know how minor AND serious this condition may be. It could be as serious as having a tumor in my head that’s putting pressure on the sixth nerve or it can be idiopathic and it’ll go away eventually without us ever knowing what caused it. Not knowing is frightening. Good or bad, I just want to know. And I’d much rather know sooner than later.
I was in for my blood test results this past Friday. To my surprise, the reports showed that I am quite healthy; I was kind of expecting to maybe have some deficiencies (or maybe I was just really hoping to find the cause of this problem so I can stop wondering what it is). I was also pleasantly surprised to learn I have successfully lowered my LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) to a near optimal level and have maintained a high level of HDL (good cholesterol). At least I’ve been doing SOMETHING right :)
The good news is I’m healthy internally, as far as my body goes. But that also means the root of my problem is inside my head. I’m a bit more afraid of that because the head is such a complicated structure. According to my neurologist, there are basically two possibilities: 1) there is something (that shouldn’t be there) putting pressure on the nerve, or 2) there is just something wrong with the nerve that will naturally resolve within time. An MRI is the only way to see what is going on inside my head, and I’ve been very lucky to get an appointment for this coming Friday. I should be able to have a more definite answer two weeks after that.
The uncertainty of what lies ahead is frightening, but I’m doing my best not to think about it too much. Just taking it a day at a time. I think the most painful part to this disruption of vision is being isolated from the world. For someone like me who is always working and always out dining with friends, going to the gym or just doing something, being forced to do absolutely nothing feels like punishment. Everyday I long to be able to go outside, but it is incredibly hard for me to do it when I can’t see properly. And so my only avenue to keeping in touch with the rest of the world is…well, online. [In case you’re wondering how I’m able to type, the trick is covering one eye. But I can’t do that for too long otherwise it strains my functioning eye. I pretty much use this trick whenever I really need to see what I’m doing.]
Sincere thanks to Danny for stopping by last night with this yummy cheesecake. He should be very proud to know he contributed to my daily servings of fruit :p
4 years ago, there was a time when I lost my vision. It was just temporarily, a mere 20 minutes or so, but to me it felt like eternity. I guess I should have taken that as a warning. My body tried talking to me, but I didn’t listen. And now, this is what my world looks like.
It happened very suddenly. Like most people, I had never heard about this condition before. It is called a “6th cranial nerve palsy”. Basically, it is a dysfunction of a nerve in the brain that affects the muscle surrounding the eye, preventing the eye to move horizontally as it should. In other words, my left eye can’t really move. This causes an onset of double vision [medical term: diplopia] because the eyes are no longer aligned properly.
Many people have asked how I am doing and are concerned. As far as I know, this is not a life-threatening condition. However, I have yet to confirm it is not caused by other minor/serious health issues. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes via Facebook comments, messages, emails, tweets, texts, and phone calls. I cannot express just how much this all means to me right now. I ensure you, I will keep everyone posted and will do my best to remain positive.
My message here today is simple: Cherish what you have now and don’t take the little things in life for granted. The little things such as your vision. Often times we neglect the things that come to us naturally and take for granted what we are born with, let it be our motor skills or our family. I hope this experience inspires myself and others to become more appreciative of life.
Turn around and take one look at this world, at the beautiful people around you, and just be thankful you are alive.
