Monthly Archives: October 2009

happy halloween!

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No trick or treating or partying for me this year. With the holiday season running in full mode now, my body is calling for every bit of rest it can get (even though I’d much rather be out shaking my booty). But not to worry, I have 3 boxes of Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars and another tub of Oreo ice cream in the fridge to keep me company :)

good times…

There’s so much to talk about, where should I start?! It was good times at Kat’s place last Saturday when we celebrated Anna’s birthday. Plenty of food, booze, and fun. Too bad a few peeps were sick and couldn’t make it. Kat was an awesome hostess who made sure everyone had their drinks. We also all got raped by Ray’s brownies; as Anna said, “it was like intercourse with every bite” lol

for you hockey fans…

The authors of “Leafs Abomination” stopped by our store yesterday to sign copies of their book. I happened to help them and was surprised that they were such nice guys. Though our conversation was short, it was pleasant chatting with them. Check our their book if you get a chance!

magic in the house…

The Orlando Magic are in town to play against the Raptors tomorrow afternoon, and guess where they are staying? In my hotel of course! It’s always interesting seeing basketball players at my store. Standing next to them makes me feel even more minimal than I already am because they are so darn tall. I think it was Dwight Howard who walked by today, nodded and said hello. I thought that was a really nice gesture. Although I don’t really follow basketball, I’d put my money on the Magic for tomorrow’s game. We’ll see what the results are.

artistry at work…

So you may have heard that I’ve recently started a small side project, a project that puts my artistic eye and 7 years of book-selling experience to work: I am helping a client design the cover of his book. Before you’re mistaken, let me clarify that I’m not exactly the one designing the cover. I am more so the consultant who critiques and suggests the changes or ideas for the cover. This project utilizes much of my merchandising, marketing, selling, artistic and design skills. Probably shouldn’t reveal too much of the details yet, but I can tell you it’s a political book that can stir up quite a bit of controversy. 14 years, a billion-dollar deal, political BS. It should be interesting.

I really value this opportunity to take part in the production side of things for once, after dealing with SO MANY books in these past 7 years. More importantly, I value the fact that the author agrees with what I have to say, respects and trusts my suggestions. For someone of his status to say, “Meeting with you is important, I want to finalize what we are doing with you” means a lot to me. I’m really looking forward to meeting with him this Wednesday to further discuss the details of this project.

Speaking of books, it wasn’t until just recently that I found out my picture is featured on the Chapters/Indigo website. I totally forgot that months ago, a photographer came to our store to take pictures of employees at work. Didn’t think they would actually end up using my pic :p

Alright, I’m saving the rest for the next post. This girl’s out!

mooncake season came and went

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Christmas used to be my favourite time of the year, but most people will agree that once you’ve worked in retail through Christmas you’ll never enjoy it the same way again. This is particularly true for me as I begin to ease my way into my 8th Christmas at Chapters. Over the years, the Moon Festival has slowly inched its way to the #1 spot. My family doesn’t really celebrate any of the Chinese festivals (or any other festival/holiday, for that matter) but we do stock our home with plenty of mooncakes. And that’s what I love most about the Moon Festival…the mooncakes!

In the past weeks, we’ve watched the Moon Festival go by, as well as the Thanksgiving long weekend. Both of which was rather unproductive for me. Following turkey day, I’ve spent pretty much every day at work and out with friends AFTER work. Today was my first real day off since last Tuesday (finally a day of bed rest!). It just occurred to me that I’m mostly hanging out with my guy friends these days. The majority of my gals are in relationships and that’s probably why we rarely spend time together now. I try to be understanding though. I know if I had a boyfriend, I’d want to spend more time with him too. So if they’re happy, I’m happy for them.

So lots have been going on in my end. Brief re-cap:

[ Saturday, October 10, 2009 ]

The iDC had a gig in Mississauga that night at a bar called Marcello’s. Danny, Adrienne, and I managed to find our way there, even though Mapquest almost led us right into the lake (thank goodness for GPS!). Robin later joined us and we all hung out after Paul’s set. A bunch of us went out for pho after, and I must say that I was quite jealous to learn they had such a great place for pho in ‘Sauga. Not only was it really good pho that was jam-packed with meat, it was also reasonably priced.

[ Sunday, October 11, 2009 ]

Andrew had originally invited Omar and I over for turkey dinner with his fam. But instead, I decided to stay home for dinner with my family that night. I met up with the guys later for drinks at Cafe Mirage, where I enjoyed a specialty hot chocolate and a slice of fudge brownie cheesecake :) Then we popped by The Goose to shoot some pool. It had been over 2 years since I last played. And to think that I used to spend almost everyday playing pool during my last semester of high school. heh Gone are those days!

[ Tuesday, October 13, 2009 ]

After work, Aaron and John Y. accompanied me on my mission in finding boots. Not only did I find myself a simple pair (that’s also waterproof), I ended up coming home with a new blue peacoat as well! It was only the start of a very tiring week, but it was also a very successful shopping trip :)

[ Thursday, October 15, 2009 ]

Met up with Danny after work and we drove up to Casino Rama for the Kelly Clarkson concert. Maaaaan, can that girl sing! Listening to her sing live was exactly like listening to her on cd. Loved it! I was satisfied after she sang my favourites – “Because of You”, “Walk Away”, and “Already Gone”. Since we missed dinner, Danny and I drove back to the city for some pho after the show and spent the rest of the night talking about music. I didn’t get home until 2:30am.

[ Friday, October 16, 2009 ]

Had to wake up at 7am in order to be ready by 8am for Andrew to come pick me up. With barely 4 hours of sleep, we drove to Niagara Falls for the day. It had just finished raining when we got there, so we went for a nice refreshing walk along the side of the Falls. Then we took the Incline Railway up to the Fallsview Hotel, where we wandered through the casino before heading off to Denny’s. I had the Grand Slamwich for the first time and found it to be a good alternative to the Heartland Scramble.

After lunch, we walked down Clifton Hill. We visited the Louis Tussauds Wax Museum, where we had fun taking pictures with a variety of interesting people. I’ll admit it was a bit scary standing next to the wax sculpture of MJ. His presence just felt really eerie. We also went to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum before grabbing Starbucks and hitting the road to go back home.

[ Saturday, October 17, 2009 ]

It had been a while since I last saw Richard, so he met up with me after I finished work on Saturday for dinner. It was my first time dining at Baton Rouge. I’m glad Richard suggested it because I absolutely loved the steak there. It is possibly my new favourite place for steak. After dinner, we wandered around Eaton Centre and just randomly took pictures. Thanks for the wonderful dinner, Richard! (…and for moving back your conference call for me) Next time…YOU’RE NOT PAYING!!

By the way, Zombieland was AWESOME! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. It’s funny and entertaining.

Rule #32: Enjoy the little things :)

i pick kleenex over puffs

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Sorry for not having been very active online these days. Between my many days of work and being sick, I’ve been spending every bit of free time resting. I made a real effort to discipline myself in taking medication so that helped a lot. Ended up only being really sick for 3 days with the sniffles. There was no coughing, just a constant runny nose. So don’t worry, I don’t have the swine flu :p

While I was sick, I made an amazing discovery. Neocitran is a surprisingly good remedy! Have some of that and keep a box of Kleenex® Lotion Tissue at your side. You’ll be well prepared to fight that runny nose. I pick Kleenex over Puffs because I think Kleenex is slightly softer than Puffs. Believe me, using soft tissues make a HUGE difference on your nose!

Kevin and Winnie came back from New York for a few days this week and I managed to catch them during their short stay. The fam went out for dinner on Monday night at an authentic Japanese restaurant in the Yonge & Eglinton area called Fin Izakaya. Jacky’s Japanese girlfriend, Mika, recommended the place and it did not disappoint. Besides the ‘sperm’ looking/tasting dish (more commonly known as Nattō), everything else was good. The pork belly, the chicken skewers, the horse mackerel, the clams, and of course the Unagi. I would highly recommend the restaurant, but definitely wouldn’t recommend trying the Nattō.

After dinner, Mika suggested we try this little dessert house up by Yonge & Finch. It was called Yogoberri and they served yogurt, cakes and waffles. A rather homely place owned by Koreans. We had a good time just catching up. It’s been a while since we last had the whole family together.

So while I’ve been patiently waiting for my two favourite tv shows to return with new seasons (that would be Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives), I caught up with some TVB dramas. First on my list was Emergency Unit (學警狙擊), mainly because I was curious what caused the whole hype about the character, Laughing 哥. I remember being in Hong Kong at the time and EVERYONE was talking about him. Now I know why.

The story line was quite captivating (an undercover cop trying to turn over a drug business). It reminded me of the Young and Dangerous days. I particularly enjoyed watching the Laughing 哥 character. I think the character was exceptionally well portrayed by Michael Tse, considering I actually felt heartbroken when his character died. Throughout most of the show, you’re led to believe he’s a gang leader. You only find out his real identity as an undercover cop shortly before his death so it really has an impact on you. The interesting thing is they never really confirmed his death, so it’s quite possible that Laughing 哥 didn’t die and the character will return in the next installment of the show. At least that’s what I believe :p

On the topic of entertainment, can someone tell me why there are so many movies this year with the number 9 in their titles? Following District 9 (which I thought was a great movie even though I rarely ever watch sci-fi) was 9. I went to see it last week and was quite disappointed with it. Besides the visuals, I didn’t think there was a lot of depth to the story. But to be fair, I did fall asleep for a good 15 minutes through the movie (just like I did while watching District 9) so I probably shouldn’t be too harsh with my comment. I can’t seem to stay awake at the theaters if I go after work because I’m always so tired. Gotta fix that!

Tomorrow after work, I’m going to see Zombieland. Will let you all know how that one is…that is, if I don’t fall asleep again. lol