Kiss my white ass [Lakeshore, ON]
Monday, June 27, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Feathered Freaks Invade Toronto
At first, they left signs on the shore...
Then they invaded this part of the continent...
Hail Toronto's new lords!!! Count DuckU and Countess DuckA
Then they invaded this part of the continent...
Hail Toronto's new lords!!! Count DuckU and Countess DuckA
Sunday, June 19, 2005
The Greatest Gift
I heard mass today and I was not as drowsy as I used to. I just heard one of the best sentences ever. The priest, in his Homily, popped a question:
What is the greatest gift a father could give to his children?
[I held my breath.]
The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother.
... Happy Father's Day to all the fathers I know ;)
What is the greatest gift a father could give to his children?
[I held my breath.]
The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother.
... Happy Father's Day to all the fathers I know ;)
Sunday, June 12, 2005
My Urban Adventure
With my weekend clothes in my backpack and two maps at hand, I took a deep breath and said to myself, I can do this...
It was 3:00pm when I left my hotel room. It was hot. It was 31C. I walked two blocks to Matheson Boulevard for my first bus ride in North America. (Ye, I've been here for almost 14 weeks altogether and have always been pampered with the company car.) I did my assignment the day before by calling up the bus company and ask for the bus schedule within my area. I opened my notebook and I read bus#7 3:19pm. I was 10 minutes early. I was toasting in the heat of the sun when the bus arrived. I was thrilled! I wanted to take a picture of the bus entrance but I was too embarrassed to do that for now... Maybe later, I said to myself.
After 45 mins in my first bus, everyone took off at the Westwood Mall which is just more than 10kms north from my starting point. I took another bus from Mississauga Transit's bus depot (behind Food Basics). As per Customer Service's instruction, I should take bus#40 which departs at 4:00pm. I laughed out loud alone when the thought came to me that I had no watch nor cellphone. I peeped through my backpack to check the time... I was too embarrassed to have anyone see me check the time with my bulky desk alarm clock... Haha... I was soo desperate for a watch I just took it with me! With necessity comes ingenuity. Har har!
To this point I can attest that Canadians are one of the friendliest people I have ever met (aside from Filipinos, ofcourse). One lady, who was sitting beside me, asked if I need any help going to where I'm heading to. We chatted for a while and I felt better. She took off on the next bus stop. Then I realized I lost my purse. KIDDING! I am commuting in Toronto, not in Tondo or Quiapo.
After about 30mins, I found myself at the Islington Subway Station. Finally!!! My first bus took me north, while this second bus took me south. Funny, there should have been a shorter/faster way to get to the Islington station. I just convinced myself that the lady at Customer Service wasn't playing a joke on me. It was a Saturday. Bus routes change on the weekends and commuters don't have much choice.
I dropped a tooney and two quarters at the subway entrance. I patted myself at the back. I'm halfway through my urban adventure.
Riding the subway was a breeze. TTCwas easy to follow. There's just one long line from West to East of Toronto then right smack in the middle is a U-shaped train route going Downtown and North. (Way simpler than the NYC subways I heard of... like spaghetti.) At the TTC Subway, signs were all over. I am confident I will find my out. I particularly enjoyed our passage from CastleFrank to Broadview because we were over the Don Valley Parkway. There was sunlight. Then it gets dark again. After 2 more stops, I took off at Pape Station. Took bus#81 and sat beside a Chinese-looking woman who seems to be schizophrenic. She just laughed and talked boisterously, but she did no harm. I felt calm.
Then I made my first mistake; I took off one bus stop too early. I walked for more than a kilometer and missed the building I was supposed to take. I snapped pictures along the way then walked back. My aunt was teary-eyed to see my in one piece. She said she was so worried about me. I was sweating and quite exhausted myself. I found comfort in her arms and chugged a tall glass of cold water. Thank God I made it.
In summary, I took two buses, one subway, and another bus to travel from Mississauga to East York on a Saturday. It took 3 hours all in all.
This afternoon, my commute back to Mississauga was less of a hassle. A distant relative I met last night advised me to take Westbound and take off St. George. I took another train going North and took off at Eglington West. I waited for about 10mins to take bus#32B, which had a female driver. Quite new to me. That bus was jampacked! I felt like I was commuting in Manila! There was no aircon and people around me were sweating... just like me. The bus route ended at Renforth so I had no choice but walk from there to Orbitor. It was a good 2km walk and I simply took advantage of the scenery. I took a few pictures I hope you'll enjoy...
Flowers by Eglington
That's our office, the rightmost building
Picnic table and the many trees that line Eglington
It was 3:00pm when I left my hotel room. It was hot. It was 31C. I walked two blocks to Matheson Boulevard for my first bus ride in North America. (Ye, I've been here for almost 14 weeks altogether and have always been pampered with the company car.) I did my assignment the day before by calling up the bus company and ask for the bus schedule within my area. I opened my notebook and I read bus#7 3:19pm. I was 10 minutes early. I was toasting in the heat of the sun when the bus arrived. I was thrilled! I wanted to take a picture of the bus entrance but I was too embarrassed to do that for now... Maybe later, I said to myself.
After 45 mins in my first bus, everyone took off at the Westwood Mall which is just more than 10kms north from my starting point. I took another bus from Mississauga Transit's bus depot (behind Food Basics). As per Customer Service's instruction, I should take bus#40 which departs at 4:00pm. I laughed out loud alone when the thought came to me that I had no watch nor cellphone. I peeped through my backpack to check the time... I was too embarrassed to have anyone see me check the time with my bulky desk alarm clock... Haha... I was soo desperate for a watch I just took it with me! With necessity comes ingenuity. Har har!
To this point I can attest that Canadians are one of the friendliest people I have ever met (aside from Filipinos, ofcourse). One lady, who was sitting beside me, asked if I need any help going to where I'm heading to. We chatted for a while and I felt better. She took off on the next bus stop. Then I realized I lost my purse. KIDDING! I am commuting in Toronto, not in Tondo or Quiapo.
After about 30mins, I found myself at the Islington Subway Station. Finally!!! My first bus took me north, while this second bus took me south. Funny, there should have been a shorter/faster way to get to the Islington station. I just convinced myself that the lady at Customer Service wasn't playing a joke on me. It was a Saturday. Bus routes change on the weekends and commuters don't have much choice.
I dropped a tooney and two quarters at the subway entrance. I patted myself at the back. I'm halfway through my urban adventure.
In summary, I took two buses, one subway, and another bus to travel from Mississauga to East York on a Saturday. It took 3 hours all in all.
This afternoon, my commute back to Mississauga was less of a hassle. A distant relative I met last night advised me to take Westbound and take off St. George. I took another train going North and took off at Eglington West. I waited for about 10mins to take bus#32B, which had a female driver. Quite new to me. That bus was jampacked! I felt like I was commuting in Manila! There was no aircon and people around me were sweating... just like me. The bus route ended at Renforth so I had no choice but walk from there to Orbitor. It was a good 2km walk and I simply took advantage of the scenery. I took a few pictures I hope you'll enjoy...
Flowers by Eglington
That's our office, the rightmost building
Picnic table and the many trees that line Eglington
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Birds Parking
Seagulls likewise find parking at the niagara parking lot.
Taken on my third visit to the Niagara Falls. Went there with a friend from here and with my college classmate who flew from LA for the weekend.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
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.
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.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
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.
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.
Monday, May 23, 2005
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.
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