Thank God, we're different

One crazy girl plus two others make one crazy feat: to be strapped together and hung 50 meters above the ground and make a sudden free fall. Yup, we braved Canada's largest free-fall swing, the Xtreme Skyflyer™. We made it our grand finale after a day of rollercoaster rides in Wonderland. Woohoo! Allow me to quote my workmate on his take on rollercoaster theme parks... "They make you pay to inflict pain on you!!!" Hilarious!

The three of us were already strapped in apron-like suits when the operators of Skyflyer told us to move to the next tower so we could immediately take our turn. Crazy me, I agreed. My other workmate agreed (coz he's just as crazy as me). The other one doubted. She said, the other tower we're moving to may not have had other riders that day... in technical terms, it has not been tested yet for that day. And just like that, I told the operators we'd rather stay in our current tower and wait for our turn.

I am glad she doubted about taking the new tower. I am glad she thought differently from us. Had we chosen the new tower, we have no video to take home and show off to our friends. The "Skyflyers" in the new tower did not have their flights videotaped. (We did not mind paying another 10 bucks each to take home the video. It was worth it!)

Again, I am glad she thought differently from us. She is a QA Engineer, while we (my male officemate and I) were developers. She had the tendency to doubt and test first before fully trusting on anything. This has been helpful in our practical lives. As shallow as it may sound, I earned a better appreciation of our differences... whether it's our differences in tasks, talents, skills, ethnicity, attitudes, etcetera. It's God's way of telling us that we need each other. Thank God, we're different.

Peacocks and Men

Male peacocks are like men.

My workmates and I were having snack in the dining hall, when, by the glass window, a male peacock showed off its beautiful fan of long, colorful feathers. The kids were staring at it and were making peacock-like sounds. They were probably trying to confuse the feathered guy. Not too far away is a female peacock. It was plain brown. It was feeding on some seed of some sort near the boulders that separate her from the beautiful male; pretending not to notice the dozens of peacock eyes that seemingly stare at her, yearning for her attention.

Some men are like peacocks. They slyly attract women's attention by showing off their six-pack abs under a Lacoste shirt--one that can feed a poor family for one whole day. They tell you about their latest gadget and how they afforded it with their high-paying jobs (quote-unquote). Others manage to utter a litany of their titos and titas, cousins or barkada who are the current people in authority or were former bigwigs. But, the most interesting of them all, are men who pretend to be shy and softspoken, but somehow interrupts another male to make a statement... "I haven't been there before but is it like Hawaii? Coz I've been there man... twice!"

Male peacocks are beautiful. Some men are beautiful (inside-out). Therefore, male peacocks are like some men.

The sun at 6:54pm

I took this a while ago from my Uncle's Car while at Eglington Avenue. It was exactly 6:54pm. This time of the year, the sun sets at around 9 in the evening.

Dream Food, Dream Book

Late this week, my workmates, a few friends, and I had dinner downtown. The place was a busy restaurant that serves Thai Food, one of my favorites. We had gotten there twice already but their food, for me is worth coming back. They challenge their customers: "How hot can you get?". They render this Chili scale in a funny way:

• Mild - some dishes are already a bit spicy
• Medium - a little kick
• 1 Chili - nice
• 3 Chili - Thai medium
• 5 Chili - Watch out!
• 10 Chili - Are you sure?
• 15 Chili - Some like it hot
• 20 Chili - Can get stomach upset

I tried 1 Chili last week, so I ordered Chicken Panang in 3 Chili! Whooohoo!!! I liked it. Though I finished last this time. Yummy. I will go back to Toronto for this! Haha. They are not paying me for this but if I got you curious about this food trip, it's at 335 Yonge Street. Try to visit their website Salad King. Sorry I can't tell you why they named themselves Salad King, they'd sound to serve just salad with that name, but in case you figured it out or heard someone figure it out, send me a message or post a comment. I would love to hear it!

The best part is yet to come.

I finally had a copy of the book I have been looking for, for months now. I'm so so so so thrilled to finally have a copy, incidentally, as I risked going into The World's Biggest Bookstore (Yonge corner Edward... walking distance from Salad King) - while my workmates had gas spasms waiting for me. The book is Diving and Snorkeling Philippines (Lonely Planet Pisces Books) by Heneage Mitchell



Sure I found it online but the shipping cost to Manila would be a rip off. I posted an email to diversions yet it seems like noone has a copy. I am just so happy that night... so happy and excited to finally take diving lessons as soon as I get home. I was smiling in my sleep.

I tucked myself into bed tonight but...

I tucked myself into bed tonight but I can't sleep. My mind is still wandering and somehow wants to express itself. I could blame this to the can of soda I chugged an hour ago whilst having sushi with a workmate. He was right, soda right before bedtime would make me sleepless. Yeah.. yeah... so what?.. a little caffeine should not hurt... but here I am pounding like crazy on my laptop. Or maybe it's because of what I saw on TV half an hour ago. I still can't stop thinking about it. It was a reality show called "Naked in the House"... thought it was another sexually explicit show of somesort. [They are quite lax here in Toronto.] But it was intellectually and artistically stimulating! It's a competition for photographers of all levels. Each photographer were given, plainly the ff:

• one beach house (filled with house objects with character... some old, some new)
• one camera (an SLR ofcourse)
• one lens
• one roll of film with only 10 frames
• one naked woman (she's gorgeous)
• and 30 minutes - no artificial lighting, no assistants

Like each of the photographers, I crunched into thinking how to take great pictures only with these elements! This was a reality show and I witnessed each photographer's frustration (saw a lot of those), anxiety (one said nothing but "This was more difficult than I expected"), wit, talent, humor, punctuality (one came in very late - quite unusual for someone in North America), arrogance (one almost feels like he will end up winning), etcetera. At the end of the show, each photograph was hung on the walls of a gallery and were judged accordingly. Some of my favorites came out to be winners! There's this closeup shot of the naked woman smiling and very relaxed on a hammock. Her face was given more attention but with her right breast exposed, it looked more natural and liberating. The winning photo was taken by a student. She was young and very promising. Her shot was of the blue sky with some clouds (cumulus and some cirrus, I think) then the naked woman having her body face the camera (again, makes both her breasts exposed) but her face over her right shoulder, towards the same side of the sky. Simple, yet beautiful.

Now I realize I have a hint of interest in photography. Now I ponder, should I start developing this into a hobby? I remember putting up my own website hundreds of years ago. I filled it up with pictures of me and my travels, but I especially kept a small part of it for seemingly "artistic" photos - still life, contrasting colors, with my THEN high-tech sony cybershot DSC-S50... Circa 2000. I bought it for around 500 dollars in Circuit City. [There goes my first allowance in foreign currency in my whole IT career. Haha!] I still rememer those days. Those were the days when everyone kept asking me, what kind of camera do you have? Is it true that it does not have film? ... Now everyone has one. And mine has become bulky and obsolete, but, nonetheless, interesting!!! (Because of it's size, and it's LCD that swivels! I like that feature a lot.)

I don't know how to concluded this blog. I am just glad I can sleep now. My mind has spoken; now my body shall take over... and march into bed. Good night everyone!