Ali's Incoherent Ramblings

Celebration!!

2009-11-11T18:17:27Z

I finally bought some stuff for Christmas!! YAAAAAAY! The generic stuff I wanted to give everyone. ....now all the personal stuff... that I may have to find in HK. O_O

...at the same time, I really hate Christmas shopping. I love giving... but the added stress of finding gifts for people in time for shipping and all that is not fun.

At least I have some stuff out of the way, anyway. :D

Hopefully, I'll actually get to LJ replying today too! *crosses fingers*

FAIL

2009-10-30T07:08:24Z

Should have realised I wouldn't have enough time today.

I basically came home today at 10 pm with groceries in hand, a birthday gift for a best friend and slightly tired.... I was hoping to cook stuff today and not deal with it tomorrow for a Halloween potluck. Result? It is now 1 am. I have the following:
- One slightly salty, incredibly garlic-y tasting veggie pizza (woo for 1/2ing the recipe and not the garlic powder, and I had added a salt...when I didn't need to)
- And two batches of cookie dough in the fridge...

..so yes, fail. Salty pizza + Unbaked cookies = FAIL.

If I get off early tomorrow (BLAH! Who the hell knows if I get to do that), I have to get home, slice up the pizza (which is ALSO refrigerating right now and only if my mom hasn't already hacked the crap out of it by then b/c it's taking so much space). I'll have to roll out the cookie, cut up the cookies and bake them. And then find time to review my japanese for tomorrow's quiz.

Blah. Blah! BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH....

And work is not going to be fun with the lack of sleep. So much for going to bed early today. (lol)

And..
GODAMMIT, SAKURA! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO DUMB!

And why must I be so affected by fictional characters. *shake fist*

*...whine, whine, whine, whine...*

-_- ... Naruto spoiler...

2009-10-29T15:49:46Z

GODAMMIT, SAKURA!!! WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB??????

... and breathe...

LOL!

2009-10-14T00:52:24Z

Got this off of the 'Got Bento' website. Watch a mom make breakfast, feed her child, make a bento, dress her kid (and herself) in < 5 minutes. Freaking hilarious. The kid is so cute and he wears the kinder uniform! OMG! I love Japan's kinder uniform! *huggles*

Thanksgiving Dinner - Partial Fail!

2009-10-11T02:40:49Z

ha ha... moooore recipes. And oh yes, hope everyone (in Canada) has a good Thanksgiving weekend!

Butternut Squash
Source: Patty

1 butternut squash
2 garlic clobes, smashed, peeled and chopped
2 slices of butter (like you would see on TV commercials - ha ha..) broken up into pieces
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven at 350 F

Slice squash in half lengthwise and scoop out all the seeds.

Place squash cut-side up onto a baking sheet.

Perforate the squash with a fork to allow the squash to cook faster.

Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Put garlic and butter pieces along the entire length of the squash.

Bake for 1 hour.

Really nummy recipe from my good ol' buddy ol' chum, Patty. ^_____^ ha ha... My mom quite liked it and I was surprised how good it turned out. It was simple (even easier for me b/c I used a small butternut squash and could use the toaster oven *peace to no preheating*) and right now is the perfect time to be cooking (and EATING) squash.

I still have a spaghetti squash sitting in the fridge so I shall see what I can do with it later this weekend.

Partial fail? Because of this recipe: Garlic Soup (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/richard-olneys-garlic-soup-recipe.html). It was actually working out really well until I heated the broth with the egg in it and a lot of the egg cooked.... leaving me with a pot of steamed, scrambled eggs. FAIL On the bright side of things, the eggs did taste pretty good so I would like to try again. LOL.

On the bento side of recipes, I finally made the 'Tamago no takarabukuro' (http://justbento.com/handbook/recipe-collection-mains/eggs-treasure-bags) with some success. It was pretty tasty especially the carrots, but there were some minor issues. I bought the smallest chicken eggs possible (apparently extra small eggs are called 'pee wee' LOL!) but the biggest inarizushi was still too small to be tied up so I ended up holding the inarizushi over the pot of boiling broth with chopsticks. ha ha.. It was a fun and interesting recipe but I don't think I'll probably won't be making this one too often.

Edit (2009.10.14)

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
- cut squash lengthwise
- take out seeds and strands
- bake for 50 min - 1 hr @ 350 F or until easily pokable (lol)
- scrape flesh out with a fork

MORE SKI EQUIPMENT!

2009-10-08T04:50:40Z

And I don't even think I'm going to snowboard that much this year, but I've already gotten a new helmet, new goggles and now... I have a new ski jacket. WOOOOOOO! And then I'm probably gonna find out that my board is rusted or something and won't be able to go... ha ha..

...

ha.. *knocks on wood*

...

*runs to check on snowboard*

Anyway, it's been a little crazy ever since September started. Tomorrow is Thursday (my day off) and I'm really thankful for it. I'm also thankful for this coming Thanksgiving weekend just b/c I don't have painting, tai chi and indoor soccer. ha ha.. I mean, I love doing everything but it's kinda nice not having to worry about getting things done beforehand, making sure I have everything packed in my backpack if I'm not going home or making sure I get home on time to make it to wherever I'm going. Plus packing lunch. Having groceries to make lunch. .... yeah. It's just been a lot.

Watercolour painting is actually going slowly but nicely. No longer the EPIC FAIL that I mentioned in my last journal entry. I still feel like a bit of a dunce.. just b/c I didn't even know how to add water to the paint. But at least I feel like I'm progressing. The last couple of things I've painted out weren't too bad. Hated it (sorta) while painting, but liking it after walking away from it and letting the darn thing dry. ha ha...

The rest of the stuff I'm getting used to and I can almost do all of the 24 forms of tai chi! Weeee! Soccer skills are crap and hip hop is progressing slow enough that I'm actually follow along. I also think I've just gotten used to adding moves to the end of a routine that we would be working on... or at least no losing my composure when I screw up and everyone around me is doing the dancing perfectly. lol.

In other news, my cousin has made me one of her bridesmaid. 0_o I just found out this week and though, my mom vaguely mentioned it a year ago... I didn't hear anything of it ... until well, this week. ha ha... We're gonna see if they can make a dress and I guess alter it in the two weeks I'm there before the wedding. I'm already dying b/c basically I'll be the blimp in the same dress as a whole bunch of stick thin (HK average size, dammit!) bridesmaids. I'm pretty sure my bridesmaid dress will have enough material to clothe all of them combined but I'll just have to bear with it. My cousin is actually a really nice person so I'm pretty excited for her. I hope she doesn't mind there's a bridesmaid hiding in the corner b/c she has absolutely no idea what she's supposed to do or say. I'm so uncultured. ha ha... I'll have to go bug the others to find out what happens at a traditional Chinese wedding.

funky_squirrel @ 2009-09-22T10:13:00

2009-09-22T16:14:40Z

Watching Tanvir the tiger pace back and forth deciding whether or not to try to get down. He climbed up a day ago and is too scared to go down. ha ha.. Great entertainment. ^^

P.S. Work = dumb... but nothing new there.
P.P.S. Ali with watercolour painting = SUCKS + EPIC fail. I shall have to practise. lol.

Eastside Studio Crawl

2009-09-16T05:42:19Z

A whole bunch of studios in Calgary will be open this Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm. My teacher was announcing it to us yesterday and it seems like a pretty nice way to spend a Saturday. :D

"Go behind the scenes and discover the magic crafted by some of Calgary’s best known and emerging artists. Nearly 175 artists located in Ramsey invite you to explore over 40 Studios and investigate the creative processes of their work. From the mythical delight of art jewelry to the graphic diversions of drawing … the sparks and steel of contemporary sculpture to the click of looms and whir of spinning wheels … from the drizzle of ceramic glaze and glimmer of printmakers’ ink to the dynamic wash of oil, watercolor and acrylic … the Eastside Studio Crawl promises a unique and exciting art experience."

For more information: http://burnsvisualarts.com/

I really hope to check out Jeff de Boer's stuff. I actually posted an entry on him about 2 years ago (http://funky-squirrel.livejournal.com/165336.html). Mouse armour!! Though, I don't know what he's been working on lately.

Chicken Karaage

2009-09-14T18:20:32Z

So the weekend came around and after a week of just throwing whatever I could find in my lunch box, I decided to make a few things. Of course, this was also the weekend I had my potluck with Patty and them, and my parents STILL thought it would be a good idea to bring leftovers AND groceries... but yes, our fridge can now feed a small nation...

Anyway, got off on a tangent there...

So I made a couple of things from this really great website called 'Just Hungry' - http://www.justhungry.com/. There are a lot of good recipes and the majority(?) of them are Japanese. I actually got my tamagoyaki recipe from there and there are quite a number of bookmarks saved from that site that I want to try at some point in time. Like this creamy-ish miso soup recipe... maybe once the fridge clears up a bit.

Chicken karaage
Taken from: Just Hungry (http://www.justhungry.com/2004/04/karaage_japanes.html)

2 - 4 boneless chicken thighs - can be skinned or skinless
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin - orig. recipe called for sake or sherry... w/c I didn't have. :D
cornstarch
preferred oil for frying

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces

In a bowl, add the chicken, grated ginger, soy sauce and sake, and mix well. Marinate for 1/2 hour

Add cornstarch until each piece of marinated chicken is properly coated.

Heat the oil. Toss in enough cornstarch into the marinated chicken so that each piece is completely coated. Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time until a deep golden brown.

After frying, place chicken on some paper towel to soak any access oil.

Serve with some lemon

Notes:
- With the soy sauce I had, I would probably have changed the ratio to 2 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tbsp of mirin
- Recipe called for min 1/2 to max 1 hour, but I think this is dependent on your soy sauce and personal taste too. I swear my mom must have bought an uber salty soy sauce or something. ha ha...
- I have no idea how much cornstarch to use or what the chicken is supposed to look like after coating. Some was covered like you would to bread and deep fry food.. while others the corn starch and mixed in with the marinade more and looked gooey. Either way, the chicken turned out tasty.

Carrot Rice
Taken From: Just Hungry (http://justbento.com/handbook/recipe-collection-mains/carrot-rice-two-ways)

2 rice cooker cups of uncooked rice
1 cup of fresh carrot juice
1 tsp. tomato paste
1/2 onion
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper

Chop up the onion finely. Sauté it in oil or butter until limp.

Wash the rice as usual. Add the carrot juice to the rice cooker with the washed rice, and top up with water to the 2 cups mark. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook the rice using normal settings.

This makes some lovely rice... and it makes a lot... so much so that I may be eating it all week. ha ha.. It's all good because it is tasty. I might try a couple of other combinations like 1/2 the rice but not the rest of the ingredients just to see how it goes. I think maybe even adding in cooked peas and grated carrots would be a good idea as well. I shall test and try and adjust accordingly. :D

Random Thoughts

2009-09-11T02:54:01Z

Found my old diary. How perfectly embarassing. First reaction was to take a paper shredder to it and possibly burn it.... but weirdly enough, didn't have the heart to do it. Oh well, back to its hiding place it goes.

Japanese class starts tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, my mind is a complete blank with what I learned the past year...

... wait, there might be a PLACEMENT EXAM?! WTF! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!

funky_squirrel @ 2009-09-08T13:56:00

2009-09-08T19:57:00Z

Nooooooo! The bento box got sold!!! *cries*

Lulu's Lemon Loaf

2009-09-06T00:31:47Z

My mom is doing some CRAZY mahjong this weekend (O_O) and has basically left the good ol' kitchen to little ol' me. Meaning? I get to try recipes to my heart's content. Actually, I was gonna try these recipes anyway, but this time around, there will be less nagging and the lack of fear of having someone *cough*mom*cough* hovering until she gets her hands on some dishes and promptly starts washing them.... regardless of whether or not you were done with them (or if you had actually used them in the first place). It doesn't sound that bad, but trust me... it is.

Anyway, a couple of recipes from my good ol' friend, Patty (and her mom). Last night I made stuffed squash (zucchini and acorn squash were used), lemon loaf and tamagoyaki.

The tamagoyaki recipe was taken from this place - http://www.justhungry.com/tamagoyaki

I'm still trying to figure out the proportions of sugar and soy sauce for my liking, but the important thing is... it didn't look like a total disaster!! YAAAAY!

The stuffed squash was a recipe from Patty's friend. I used the wrong kind of cheese but it turned out not bad. I think I liked the zucchini the best, but I might be a bit biased in that regard (I ♥ zucchini).

Stuffed Squash
Source: Patty :D

6 large squash (or equivalent)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter - or use olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 ten once package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1 cup chicken flavored stuffing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

Brush cut side of squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place squash cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes.

Scoop out the pulp into a bowl, keeping shells intact.

Reduce heat to 350F.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat (or alternatively use olive oil). Add onion. Cook 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in spinach and squash pulp, cook 3 – 4 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, stir in stuffing mix, cheese sour cream and salt to taste.

Spoon mixture evenly into squash shells. Place on the baking sheet and bake 15 – 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

What you actually do with the cheese is unknown. I think you either put it on top of you mix it in with the mixture.

Lulu's Lemon Loaf

Source: Patty's mom :D

This was about 10 years in the making. I still remember the first Christmas that Patty's mom made this. LOL. It was so good. I almost made myself sick by eating as much of it as I could. Turns out, it's not too hard to make. XD

1/2 cup shortening - or butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 lemon, juice and rind

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening (or butter) and sugar.

Add eggs to creamed mixture and beat until fluffy.

In another bowl, mix dry ingredients together.

Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to creamed mixture.

Once mixed, add lemon rind.

Preheat oven to 350F

Pour batter into greased 9"x5" loaf pan. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Bake for 50 minutes.

Once baked, remove loaf from pan. Pour a mixture of 1/2 cup of sugar plus the lemon juice over the top of the loaf. Allow the mixture to drip over the sides. If you don't like things too sweet, use less sugar.

Cool and serve.

I wantsssss it...

2009-09-02T22:25:32Z

Dammit! I've been making bentos this month (not sure if this'll continue once stuff starts rolling) and I don't need any more boxes but I wantsss it.

Only it comes out to be about $40-plus CAD to purchase it. *sigh*

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Japanese-Bento-Lunch-Box-Bag-Fork-Stainless-Natural_W0QQitemZ110430358825QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b6298d29&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

It's so cute...

Morning Whine...

2009-08-24T14:10:24Z

I hate Mooondaaays.. I wanna go back to sleep... BLECH.

5 hours later...

What would Jacque Cousteau do?
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2009/08/20/-philippe-cousteau-jr-5-green-things-my-grandfather-would-have-wanted-you-to-do.html

Don't eat shrimp—it's one of the most unsustainable fish. For every pound that's caught, 10 or 20 pounds of other stuff is killed and dumped back overboard. Its the number one killer of juvenile sea turtles in Mexico.

JUVENILE SEA TURTLES?!

peace

2009-08-06T03:34:54Z

Off to Van city soon.

LION KING WAS AWESOME!! (Tho, I wish Timone did a certain dance from the movie and not the charlston. Come on... the charlston?!)

P.S.

HAPPY UNBELATED BIRTHDAY, AMMIE-CHAN!!!

P.P.S. Had dinner at the Green Chili and it was nummers! Really recommend it if you ever feel like Indian. *drools* mmm... paneer...

Catch Up Time

2009-07-31T16:01:46Z

Catch up? Ketchup? mmmm... ketchup... I actually did the whole eggs and ketchup this morning. Had to buy it from the local cafe so I used ketchup packets and ... let's just say it was mighty tempting squeeze any excess ketchup into my mouth. LMAO!! I know you're all grossed out! Leave me be! ha ha..

ANYWAY...

Vacation?! Tenku Bakudanyaki GO! Believe in the heart of the ... snack food...

July is almost over and since it's the long weekend, me and the CFO are the only ones in the office today. I'm actually taking my vacation next week and going to Vancouver(VANCOUVER, BABY! Some kickass jap and chi food coming my way!). Not much to do this time around considering I'm going with my mom. She wants to do outlet shopping in Seattle and I want to go to Whistler and go to some parking lot to eat Tenku Bakudanyaki (I feel like I should throw something and shout, "GOOOO!"). Found about the 'grilled bombs' on one of my favourite food blogs - link here [http://ugonnaeatthat.com/2009/07/11/richmond-grilled-bombs/].

I would probably go to Richmond just for the tenku bakudanyaki... it's kinda like how I drove to Saskatoon for ice cream. *cough* Aaanyway, guess I'll have a fairly laidback trip this time around. I'll see what I can convince my mom to do. ha ha...

Blowing up outer space one hydrogen bomb at a time

Finally attended another observatory open house and had a really good time (with the exception of flirting/giggling people standing behind me and having the girl spill water on my leg. D-U-M-B!). One guy went over the Apollo 11 stuff and his memories of it. Really insightful and he had clips of the lunar module landing, Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon and stuff like that. I can't even imagine what that must have been like or any space mission for that matter. Just wow.

The other lecture I attended was about the military roots of space program. Doesn't sound that interesting, but it actually was. The guy who did the lecture was really good (great humour) and it was really interesting on what ideas were being put forth to gather data on the moon and other spacial stuff - let's just say many of the ideas included detonating nuclear bombs in space. ha ha.. Good times. I'm actually heading off to Sylvan Lake tonight so hopefully I'll be able to grab Patty's telescope (if her parents are home and not busy) and take a look at the sky. Woo hoo!

Extracurricular Detente... and then FUTURE MAYHEM (echo, echo)

August is gonna end up being fairly quiet on the extracurricular activity front.

Drawing classes finished this week and it brings a tear to my eye. Definitely learned a lot and also got to try a lot of different media which was amazing. I'm definitely a fan of the tonal(sp?) paper...I think it might be b/c I'm lazy and it adds shading ALL by itself. LOL. Anyway, it was fun and I wish I could take drawing classes every week. It helped that I was secretly competing with another girl in the class. I don't think she's the same way as me in the silently competing front, but she's a really good drawer. There were times where I would give up (like doing eraser drawings over graphite covered paper.. BAH!) and she would show me her drawing and I would end up redoubling my efforts. ha ha... I'm so lame...

I did do some drop-in dance classes this week. It's called Bolly hip hop and it was fantastic. It's such a nice style and the teacher is very good. Tiff wanted me to try it out before I signed myself up for a whole semester, and I'm glad I did. Unfortunately (and fortunately?), it was cumulative so I had to stumble (or stand there and look like an idiot) my way through the routine until I got to the new part that we all learned together. I honestly had a lot of fun. The song that he decided to do was really laid back. I'm hoping we'll get the same kind in fall - I love that style.

Fall is where it's ALL going to pick up again and I can't wait... I'll be broke but I can't wait. Hopefully will be doing some watercolouring classes, Bolly hip hop (YAY!) on Wednesdays, Japanese school (double YAY!) on Fridays, Taichi (huh?) on Saturdays, and indoor soccer... where (with another 'hopefully') Johnson won't send me flying to the ground at one point or another. ha ha.. It's gonna be busy, but now that I've immersed myself into a schedule, I quite like it. Always something to do.

P.S. I'll also be seeing Lion King next week! It's gonna be SO AWESOME!
P.P.S. Yes, I know this entry is made of all sorts of crack... I'm seeking help...

funky_squirrel @ 2009-07-30T23:38:00

2009-07-31T05:39:44Z

gyah! Lika! I got your postcard and stickers in the mail today!! Thank you very much!! Though, you're not supposed to b/c my cards are still unwritten and ... unmailed. T_T But thank you very much!! I wonder where I can wreak havoc with my newly acquired stickers?

funky_squirrel @ 2009-07-26T01:38:00

2009-07-26T07:39:32Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERENIRENIE!! May you get a Ryo-shaped Birthday cake!!

Lika's FMA responses - PITA style (lol)

2009-07-19T05:57:22Z

This'll bring back memories. ha ha...
Lika - Since I'm so bloody behind on replies anyway, I thought I'd stick them in one place and gush with you in one GINORMOUS (okay, not that big) blog entry.

Alright, here goes:

Indeed, FMA is all sorts of worthiness for gushing and squealing. I'm not exactly most emotionally stoic, but I've laughed and shed many a tear reading FMA. The characters alone are flipping fantastic and I could gush about each of them for hours on end (with Armstrong tears and poses for emphasis).....but I won't do that here. ha ha...

Print vs. Screen - Response

Never watched the anime but the manga is one of my favourites. If the anime is as angsty as you say it is, Lika-chan, then ther's a good chance I wouldn't last very long watching it. ha ha... I'm okay with angst, but there damn well be some happiness soon or I'm turning off the TV or throwing the book away. ha ha.. Anyway, one of the reasons why I do like the manga is, yeah, it generally seems to flow better and much, much (much, much, much) faster.

I've only seen 2 episodes of Bleach, but I was very impressed with it. That hasn't happened in a long time. The main enemy for anime would be all the crap they put in between the "actual" plot. Manga is generally straight to the point (or maybe it seems that way with anime b/c I already know what's going to happen. ha ha..). I know I enjoyed the Sailormoon episodes as much as the manga, but I think it is mainly b/c they were just so different from each other. I think I've pretty much given up on episodes. Howl's Moving Castle as well - though, I did read the book second. They're so different that I see them as 2 different entities instead of an adaption (which the HMC movie was definitely not. ha ha..).

Number 1, 2, 3

Number 1 - I am a HOUSEWIFE!Izumi

ROFLMAO!! Izumi rocks this world! It's the whole monstrous strength, martial arts and AMAZING intimidation factor! ha ha.. The whole breaking into and leaving the North fortress constantly thing just cracks me up. I love her housewife comments, but I think she definitely qualifies as a mom as well. ^_______^

Number 2 - Olivia Armstrong

She is wicked awesome!! She makes me think of the good kind of evil if that makes any sense. So smart and strong, it's surprising she isn't sitting on top of the world. But man... her and Major Armstrong... I want siblings like that! They're bloody fantastic. The abuse! The love and respect! ... and you know it's there though you'd probably die promptly after mentioning it. ha ha.. Her and Mustang are great too - the mutual hatred is hilarious.

Number 3 - Hawkeye

She uses guns to threaten men to work! Nuff said. ... okay fine, she's absolutely amazing too.

Random Character Gushing

Wow, Winry's journey was more painful in the manga than I would have expected it to be. I think she's amazing, and it's refreshing to have a female character that kicks ass even without fighting capabilities and superpowers (not that having fighting capabilities and superpowers in any way takes away from the sheer awesomeness of the female characters who do.)

Indeed. I liked her enough in general at the beginning of the manga, but I think it was because I found her to be quite funny and her relationship with Ed and Al was endearing. More recently, she's been made of all kinds of awesomeness. She's really grown in the manga and I think that with each time the manga focuses on her, she just gets stronger and stronger (and without knowing any alchemy). Her interaction with Scar is proof enough. I actually forgot that she had her own pain and loss with her parents. Everything is so focused on Al and Ed's journey and road to redemption, so you forget it, but it's nice that her pain and loss doesn't completely define her.

Ending with a Gluttony moment because I love this dude. Look at him. His face when you tell him he can eat someone is EXACTLY like mine when you tell me that I can have that slice of cake :D

ROFLMAO!! I think Gluttony is my way of life! We're in the same boat here! Wasn't I just talking about pie and crepes earlier? XD

(Riza) Her world revolves around Mustang, but she's not blind to his flaws nor does she take everything he says at face value. She's his voice of reason and she's more than able to argue with him and put him in his place. When you come down to it, that's probably why her dependency works so well. She's clear-sighted about it.

Really well said here. The relationship of those two are so difficult to explain. I definitely could not have put it better. The last few chapters have been amazing for them (definitely 95, as you mentioned). I think Mustang is essential to her existence, but that whole saying "with every great man..." really fits those two. They're really essential for each other.

Hmmm... okay, enough for now. ha ha.. You've probably inspired me to go read all the FMA chapters all over again. They are so good. I've actually spent hours trying to find particular chapters b/c I want to read them again, but end up reading all the ones in between as well. ha ha..

P.S. Forgot to mention in my last post, GEOCITIES IS CLOSING!!! Plans of website domination through use and abuse of free geocities accounts have been thwarted forever. ha ha.. It's been a fun ride and I went in and grabbed most of the files. Don't think I'll repost any of that stuff since most of it is complete and utter crap. ha ha.. The writing is so embarassing. The good thing is that it's forcing me to look more seriously at domain and web hosting. May move my webspace over there and maybe some of the websites with the newer stuff.

HOOOOOOOOT....

2009-07-19T04:28:08Z

Wanna throw myself into a giant pile of snow right now. Maybe tunnel me to the center and never come out again until night.... yugh yugh yugh... To the weather's credit, it's dry heat and it's only been stifling ever since I came home from shoe shopping. I swapped my worn-out, hole-y, black privos for... new black privos. *cough* I almost bought another pair of shoes b/c I'm looking for some casual shoes I can wear on the weekend that aren't the privos (saving those for walking to and from work). Problem is I also bought 2 pairs of dress shoes a few weeks ago. *sigh* I do this all the time. Don't buy shoes for about a year and then go nuts. This is not good for my wallet.

So yes, other than crappy stifling house, the weather isn't too bad. I walked to our brand new, highly convenient train station and took the train to Kensington. I had actually went shoe shopping yesterday at a mall and a stand alone store, but didn't have any luck. I knew there was a decent store in Kensington so I thought I'd give that place a try. I haven't been to Kensington for awhile now and I thought I could stop by the Heartland Cafe for some coffee and some pie. yum yum...

Anyway, got the privos and found out that Heartland Cafe was closed!!! Devastation. I guess the owner of the building (who is also the owner of Teatro?) did not renew their lease so he could make his own little cafe.. Sucks. So I decided to try a new cafe called Gratitude Cafe that I passed by earlier. I guess it's a vegan restaurant and all the titles of the dishes start with 'I am...', and when you order and when they bring your order, they'll repeat the order as 'You are...'. I got 'I am inspiration', a banana and peanut butter crepe, and when the lady put it on my table, she said, 'You are an inspiration...' 0_o A little weird and the funny thing is that she had already turned around and walked away before I processed what she said. LOL. The crepe was delicious and really really pretty. They also served their water in these large, glass bottles. Not your average, run-of-the-mill glass bottles, but pretty, differently shaped ones. Thought that was cool. Service kinda sucked but it wasn't like the staff weren't friendly. It's hard to explain. They seemed like nice people, but they didn't really talk to you except to take your order, bring your dish, take your dish and take your money. The rest of the time they kinda stuck around the kitchen. *shrugs* It was an interesting experience all the same.

Crepes are probably one of my favourite things to eat. I actually made some tonight when I got home. Savoury this time. Grilled prawn, zucchini, green onions, mango and swiss cheese. mmmmmmm... I'm starting to really enjoy BBQ... after I got over my fear of the thing blowing up in my face. ha ha...

Hmmm... I guess that's it. Oh wait, yes, I forgot - Actually, one of the reasons I went out to the cafe was also to draw people - my sketchbook assignment. The teacher told us not to be creepy, but I couldn't do it. LOL! I did a really rough drawing of a guy and I practically slammed my sketchbook closed. Ha ha ha... Seriously. Couldn't do it. Don't know how ppl do it. An invisibility cloak would have been useful at that point....

Also, YAAAAAY FOR PATTY BEING BACK IN TOWN!! Seeing her tomorrow at the Sun & Salsa Festival. Woo hoo!

quick recipe blurb

2009-06-30T14:39:06Z

Made a quick salad over the weekend (one of many meals I had over the weekend now dubbed the glutton weekend) it had 1) lettuce, 2) mango and 3) diced swiss cheese. It was good. I'm wondering if I should add stuff to it next time - something salty like prosciutto or bacon.

P.S. I bought some processed cheese slices awhile back. mmmmm... I forgot how damn good they are. ha ha..

Edit (2:21 pm):

I am slowly dying of boredom!! Could this day go any slower?? I hate documentation...

Edit (2:24 pm):

Weeeeee! tomodachi totally posted some Orlando Blom photos on her latest entry and I'm freakin' giddy. *sighs dreamily*

Naruto

2009-06-26T15:07:29Z

So, Sakura was particularly frustrating this week. I mean... cry? Even Naruto had this total WTF expression on his face. At first, I thought that it was ridiculous - that Sakura was doing something in the background to trap the other ppl... I mean, it felt... awkward... but no, it turns out that she was just crying. Or maybe not. I dunno... Probably. I guess we'll wait until the next chapter.

But still...

*shakes Sakura* WTF is wrong with you?!

head desk

2009-06-26T01:50:23Z

Soooo.. I probably didn't get the job. They were talking about how they need people right away and I need to give a month's notice to my company. One of the ladies mentioned that they would also be hiring people around September 1. *big, big, BIG sigh*

Plus, there's the tried-tested-and-true "I feel so stupid" feeling after an interview didn't happen and that usually means I didn't get the job. It's true! Usually if I'm not smashing my head against something promptly after the interview, it means no job for Ali. The head smashing came much afterwards..

Also, why oh why did I not take the opportunity to ask what their QA processes were? WHY????

Alright, I'm gonna go wallow a bit in self-pity and then maybe do some drawing homework to make me feel better.

....

*big, big, big, big, big sigh*

T-minus 2 hours

2009-06-25T19:37:33Z

So a face-to-face interview in T-minus 2 hours. OMG OMG OMG OMG... *buries head under sand*

AAAAAAAAAHHHH...

2009-06-19T19:37:06Z

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG O... M... G....

*smothers self*

Edit (2:20 pm)

OMG... IT'S OVER. I think I'm going to die from the euphoria. Job hunting is the most nerve wracking thing in the whole wide world. I'm going to try to relax now.