Ok, this happened on the Feb. 14th weekend, but I just managed to clean up some account space to post this picture up.



This might seem morbid of me to take such a picture, but this kind of stuff doesn't happen all the time, so I had to photograph it! This is a picture of the front of Barry's truck. (He's is in my karate class). When I went to karate that Friday, his truck was filled with dead birds. He said he was driving down a road and all these birds that were hanging out on the side of the road had decided to fly towards his truck (does this seem like a bad omen?) and Whap, whap, whap!!! - instantly, at least half (50) birds were killed. One bird even had it's beak stuck in the windshield (it was beak to nose with Barry), so he had to turn on his wipers to knock the bird off! There's a small hole in the windshield left. Crazy eh?

[Roz] Busy weekend! The LADS were moving all weekend into a bigger house a few blocks away. So on Friday night, Dan and Sean drank, and boy, was Dan wasted! He ended up vomitting later. There's also some interesting footage on Sean's video camera of Dan doing some crazy stunt. I'll get him to post the details. Saturday was moving day, so the boys moved the "little things" (i.e., everything but furniture). I got to see the house for the first time too. When you walk in, the entrace walls are bright yellow...and I mean BRIGHT. The living room is painted a super bold orange. The kitchen walls are this lime-yellow color. I'm not sure what to think - the walls are this crazy color and it just doesn't seem to suit the old, house - where most of the other walls are cedar panels. It just doesn't seem to go.

Saturday night was girls night out! Whoohoo! Michelle, Terry, Jackie, Susan, Joanne and I went to Yuk Yuk's. The show was awesome - all the comedians were super funny. I just about cried laughing so hard when the Headliner, Chris something (sorry, forgot his name - girls, can you help me out?) performed. He was making fun of teenage boys. Afterwards, we went to The Joint Nightclub, where we got drinks for $2 all night. Being a cheap drunk, I don't think I've spent more than $10-15 at a bar. Last night, I spent $25-30 on vodka slime hiballs. I didn't realize how drunk I was until we were on our way home, and I was sitting in the backseat of Susan's car. My head was throbbing and my stomach was churning. It was such a nauseating feeling. This usually doesn't happen when I drink b/c I don't drink enough to feel the pain, since I'm usually good after 2 Smirnoff Ices.

So Susan pulled over to let me hurl, but I couldn't force myself to. The whole way home, I held a plastic IGA bag under my head, trying to vomit. It wasn't until I got to my front doorsteps, did I managed to vomit. I had to practically lean all the way down to my knees (standing up) to make myself vomit. But man, did I feel soooooooooooo much better after. :o) Ugh, that was my very first time vomitting from drinking. However, I didn't feel too bad this morning (thank god!) NO HANGOVER!

[Roz-of course!] Yay! We won our soccer game tonight - but it was against the last place team in our league. And I'm not happy to announce that we've slid down to 2nd last place. Tonight, I think that we played good, but not awesome. We have done WAY better (i.e., TIED the first place team a few weeks ago) -and we had so many opportunities tonight, but we were playing messy. The final score was 4-3 (too close!!!), so we beat them, but didn't kick their ass. I scored the first goal - yay for me!

I'm going to be doing some catching up (very slowly) from last week. Man, it seems that that's all I am doing on this website - catching up! But I guess, better late than never, right? ;o)

Thursday, Feb. 13

Dan and I celebrated Valentine's Day early, and went to a Thai restaurant on Whyte called "The King and I". I always think it's a dinner theatre (doesn't it sound like one!?). The food there is amazing, exotic and different. I loved it! I definetly recommend going there if you're looking for a nice, snazzy dinner. After dinner, we went to Sam Roberts concert at Red's. It was a pretty good rock show! I think Sam Roberts is super cute too - and call me insane, but I think him and Keanu Reeves resemble each other a little bit. I figure it's the lips - they look identical, don't they!? You be the judge:




Bad picture of Keanu, but it was the closest one I could find at a similar angle and clear enough to see that their lips match. Too much time on my hands? Maybe. (Actually, that's not true).

Friday, Feb. 14

I went out with some friends to The Druid, a pub/bar I really like but don't go often (b/c it's inconveninently out of the way- downtown). I had an awesome night. There was some "Valentine's Hook-Up" game going on, where (single) people wear a label with a number on it. Then if someone is interested in that person, they can write them a note and leave in the corresponding mailbox. Kinda cute, but I don't know how successful it was, since I didn't see anyone take notice of other people's digits.

Oh, and *gasp*, the unimaginable happened...my beloved baby #2 (my camera, of course) flew out of my hands and landed in another dance group, under some dude's legs. Without thinking, I literally dived for it, knocking over whoever was in my way. Don't worry guys, my camera is a-ok though! Whew! And here are some pictures from that night:

Michelle and I


This is Danny, who I happened to bump into and his friend from Calgary, Scott. Danny was pretty *happy* that night!


Me, Miche, and Jo (see, she just can't keep her eyes opened at all!)


Dan, Byron, Jackie and Michelle

*Ok, running out of room on my shaw account, so I'll have to figure stuff out to post more pix*

[Roz] Ok, so I FINALLY have a chance to catch up on our week:

Friday night

The night of my soccer team's fundraiser...and I sold ONE ticket...to Dan. Ok, well two if I count myself. Whoohoo! All you guys in school studying for midterms...well let me tell you something...you missed out on alot of fun! Ok... who am I kidding? It was a pretty bad night (not bad in the sense like last Friday night) but bad in that it was held at Cowboys, which use to be my favorite club but now is just a place for bad bad country music and eighties songs. Regardless, I had somewhat of a good time, but I know Dan didn't really enjoy himself since he can't stand country music. Awww, poor baby.

So to keep myself entertained, I went around taking pictures of interesting things....

This is the ugliest leopard suit I've ever seen...and it even had shoulder pads!!! I went around Cowboy's just to find this girl and take a pic to show you all just how bad this suit was! There was this guy sitting by her and he was beaming from ear to ear b/c he thought I was taking a picture of him! Ha ha! Hey single ladies, this technique is a good way to pick up men!


There was actually a WIZARD there to read your palms! Oh my god, how desperate is Cowboy's becoming?


I was trying to take a picture of this muscle-head guy with a bubble butt (no he wasn't good looking) but this girl got in the way of the picture and she wasn't sure what she should do, so she kept hesitating to move and here's the final picture: She looks terrified!


There was also one more interesting thing that I saw...this girl had the worst hair I've ever seen - well besides a femme mullet . She had a thick mop of bleach bottle blond layers on top, then brown layers underneath that were significantly longer - and then on TOP of that, she had long strands of hair spread out around her head, and they were at least 3 inches longer than any of her other hair. These strands of hair were bleached blond as well. It was so disgusting. I went around Cowboy's at least 3 times just to find her, but at last, no luck. Sorry folks!

Here's some pictures of the girls on my team:

Me, Rhiannon, Janine and Bev, our die-hard cheerleader who comes to all the games!


Rachel and Theresa feeling pretty happy that night -- Girls, you're lucky I didn't have my camera on the dance floor! ;o)


Cheryl and me


Jackie, me and Nicole


I think this was Dan's highlight of the night (besides me, right Dan?) *wink*


Here's Freddie, our soccer coach (left) with Clayton, Jackie's boyfriend.


Saturday Night Bowling

Jackie celebrated her 22nd birthday by having a bowling party! We had fun! I think the pictures say it all!


For her bday, we decided to get implants....


...and so did Byron. Dan and Joanne copping a feel.


Here's the first game scores...LOOK! I kicked Dan's ass! (Dan is "H" for Haggis and I'm "G" for Giggles- one of our nicknames). Not that my game was great anyhow...but I beat him and that's all that matters! Hee hee. Also, the machine screwed up, so my score should actually be higher! Grrr.


And Dan made me post the second game scores up...and he came back with a vengence. I have one thing to say...the first practice ball I got was a STRIKE...and of course I don't get any in the games. Grrr.


George, Byron, Dan and Quang carrying their Queen ;o)


Judging by Michelle's smile, it looks like she just knocked all the pins down!


And judging by Dan's face (and seeing that the ball's going towards the gutter!), Dan didn't do so good here!


George and Dan


We tried to take this picture twice b/c Joanne kept blinking...no luck! She blinked again anyways! L to R: Michelle, Mary, Me and Jo.


Jo couldn't even keep her eyes opened in this one with Freddie either!!


The Bowling Gang

MORE TO READ BELOW

The Funeral

My grandpa's funeral was held in a funeral chapel downtown. It was a small party of people - my parents, brother, Uncle John, Aunt Christine, Margaret (grandpa's wife), her son Eric and some close family friends of grandpa. Dad and Uncle John were wearing black sashes tied around their left arms. Is this just a tradition in my culture or do other cultures do this too? As the funeral director lead us all into the chapel, I saw my grandpa lying there in the open casket, looking like he was sleeping peacefully. It really didn't hit me until that moment to realize that he was really gone. Immediately I started to cry. Over the next half hour, we took turns bowing 3 times to grandpa, then talking to him alone. I talked to him for a good five minutes and just poured my heart out to him. I cried, I smiled and I remembered sweet memories with him.

A Priest came and spoke to us read us some prayers (in English since they couldn't find a Chinese priest), then lead us (and grandpa) to the crematorium - where we would see grandpa for the last time. Everyone kneeled down and we cried furiously. Dad and Uncle John turned on the crematory and it was a really intense moment of all our lives. We all headed back to the chapel, where we thanked the friends that came. Later, the funeral director handed us each a white envelope with 2 Chinese characters written on it. I don't know exactly what it said, but one character said "Lucky". Inside, was a coin (mine was 25 cents) and a candy. We were to eat the candy, keep the coin and use it only for candy or lotto ticket, and throw the envelope away. It would be bad luck to keep it (a superstition for our culture). I tried to ask why it was considered bad luck and what kind of things would happen, but no one seemed to have an answer.

We left shortly afterwards to a Chinese restaurant downtown, where we ate mostly vegetarian plates. They talked about the good ol' times with grandpa (my brother and I mostly listened since we can't speak Chinese that well). Then Margaret took out some souvineers for us to keep of grandpa. There were 3 watches he had worn sometime in his life, and dad took one of them. Grandpa had bought my brother and I jade pendants many, many years ago and he meant to give it to us, but never did b/c he found out from his goldsmith friend that it was not real jade. Since it wasn't real, grandpa feared that the lead (in the jade pendant) would not be too healthy for us (since it would rub against our skin). My pendant is really cool - it is long and looks like there is a picture of a chinese fortune wheel at the bottom of it. Mervyn's was cool too - it's a plain round circle with a hole in the middle.

This was my first funeral I've attended so I don't have any other experiences to compare it to. Although it is probably obvious which parts of the funeral originate from my culture, I'd like to know if there are any other significant differences compared to a Canadian funeral, if anyone is willing to comment.

Rest in peace, Grandpa

[R] I know that some of you want to know how my grandpa's funeral went, and I promise when I have a bit more time, I'll fill ya in (it'll be a long one!). It's 12:15AM, and I just got home from my soccer game about 45 min. ago. I am writing b/c I have to VENT out my anger and frustration about my soccer team - mainly, to those players who don't show up to games. Our team doesn't suck...we seem to suck b/c no one shows up for the games, so we get tired and we lose. That's exactly what happened tonight. We had 9 players (10 including the goalie) and the other team had at least 15-20, which is plenty of subs. The other team sucked. They are in 2nd last place (I just found out today we're actually in 6th place) and they have no shots, no plays, no aggressive players (ok, they are a bit pushy). It was just a pathetic game over all. We were leading 2-0 first half and then they came back with some goals (we were tired!) and I managed to get a goal by charging at the goalie and the ball bounced off my shin. Fluke shot totally. I wasn't even happy about it b/c I was too tired to be. So I'm bitching about those people who pay JUST as much as we do and don't come out to the games. It's not fair to the team and not fair to themselves! Grrr. We should have won this game. If we can tie the first place game (and that was due to having 15 players on our team, which proves my point!), then we could very well be at the top of the placings, but of course only a few of us are dedicated. On that note, I won't be going to next game b/c D and I are going to see Sam Roberts in concert! Yay! I actually had to debate whether I should miss the game or not though!

And on a happy note, I get to go to a Tobogganing Party with a Kindergarten class tomorrow with one of my lil' kids! Yay! What a good way to end a semi-stressful week! :o)

3d=Oh, and by the way, thank you God for answering Roz's prayers!

3d=well, at the end of the month we (the LADS - Lon, Adam, Dan, Sean) will be moving into a new house. Much bigger, a little newer, 2 full bathrooms, a basement above the freezing mark, and (most importantly in my opinion) a FIREPIT!!! I've always wanted one and I think it'll be great in the summer just to sit around on a warm summer night, roast some marshmellows, and chill out. We'll be having a party sometime when the snow is gone, and it's warm enough to wear shorts outside. I can't wait.

And for anyone else who cares...HA!!!! I TOTALLY knew it !!! I *hate* the whole J.Lo and Ben Affleck idea - I totally thought they got together for publicity's sake from the beginning. They don't even seem to *match* or click when I look at them together. Not that I care much about Hollywood life (except for Keanu Reeves' of course!) but Jennifer Lopez (I HATE the name J.Lo too!) and Ben Affeck together annoy me for some reason. Everytime someone mentions them together, I just have to roll my eyes and think, Good God, they are just together b/c Hollywood thinks they should be. You get one good looking top-of-the-females-star person, and then a good looking top-of-the-males-star person and BAM - a manufactured couple. How genunine is that? How convenient is that for their status? Grrrrr. I give them 3 more months. Just read about how pathetic Affleck is over her (i.e., $3000 worth of roses to make up for their fight-what a WASTE of money)! Makes me sick, especially since this money can go to charity. Oh, and if he cheats on her? She gets $1 million dollars. Whatever happened to being down to earth, Jenny from the Block?

Just to start off the week on a nice note...here's a beautiful photo: (PS~ happy 22nd birthday Jackie!!!)

I woke up about 45 minutes ago (10AM) and went downstairs to ask my parents when we would go visit grandpa. We didn't end up going last night b/c dad phoned after seeing him at the hospital last night and said he was fine and sleeping. He said he was okay and that since he was new at the hospital, they didn't understand grandpa that much yet. So maybe they over-reacted a bit to my grandpa's illness. This morning, before I even got a chance to ask my parents, my mom releases the news that grandpa has passed at 3AM.
"You mean he's not alive anymore?" I asked stupidly, shocked but yet relieved at the same time. "Are you and dad okay?" I glanced at my dad who was reading the morning paper. My parents nodded, they didn't seem too sad. I know they are relieved that he is in a better place and not suffering anymore as well.

Thoughts raced through my mind as I went to sit down at the dining room table, across from dad. "Dad, I hate to say this and it'll sound mean, but in a way, I'm glad that grandpa has died b/c he is not in pain anymore," I said as tears started rolling down my face. Dad agreed.
"Are you sad?"
And dad just sincerely said, "It's a cycle of life, and it was his time. He is in a better place now".
I nodded. Then streams of tears ran down my face furiously as I managed to tell my parents that I had prayed to God last night to ask grandpa to be at peace, whichever way that would be...him either getting better or him moving on to the next stage. My parents are athiests, but they have enrolled my brother and I in Catholic schools our whole life. I don't know if my brother believes in God, and I don't even know if I REALLY did until today. I have always believed that he did exist somehow, someway and somewhere despite all the skeptism about how he came about. But after praying and talking to Him last night, I feel like he really did listen to me and answered my prayers.

My dad and I discussed about how grandpa had a depressing last 10 years. Not to get into too much details about my family history, but about 12 years ago, my grandpa went back to Hong Kong for a few months and came home...married with a new bride. This would be either his 3rd or 4th marriage. Apparently, we discovered the truth about her when her and my grandpa had an argument one night. It was so intense that it caused him to have a stroke. As months and years unfolded, we learned that she really married him so that she could get Canadian citizenship to be with her 3 (grown-up) sons, who lived in Vancouver with her ex-husband. Later, they moved in with her and grandpa here in Edmonton. She's always been very greedy with grandpa's money, and he wasn't even rich. She has been collecting cheques from my Aunt and Uncle (who is my dad's brother and grandpa's son) from Ontario for herself, instead of putting it towards health insurance for my grandpa. Needless to say, we don't think much of her as she is a very cruel hearted woman (or should I say monster?).

The hospital called her first yesterday to tell them that grandpa was severely ill and she didn't want to go see him. She said she would go on Sunday (today). Still sitting at the table with dad, I wondered outloud if she felt guilty and dad says that she probably does. "But I don't know dad, she doesn't have a conscience, it seems". I don't care if she feels guilty or not, but if she does, I'm sure she is punished by it. My Uncle John from Ontario is coming tomorrow morning to discuss funeral plans with dad and grandpa's wife.

I've never been to a funeral before. The only time I've seen dead people was last year when my sociology course called Death and Dying went to a morgue. However, these people were covered in white sheets so I couldn't see them really. My mom just came into the room and told me for the funeral to either dress in all black or all white. "All white? Is that the Chinese tradition?" Mom nodded and said, "Yes, and also it's an insult to wear all white at a Chinese wedding for that reason". Interesting.

What's more interesting was that I had a dream about death last night too. I dreamed that some sort of high profile secret agency wanted me dead (not sure why) so I had to pretend to be dead. Many people in my dream helped me out by covering for me while I tried to escape the city (?) or whatever place I was in. I had to stay at their places over night and during the day I would travel to my next destination. I don't remember if I had to dress myself in diguises or not, but it seems to be a faint memory that I did. At one point in the dream, I remember that one of the agency guys caught me and was checking to make sure I was dead. I remember him being skeptical and saying to people who were helping me out, "If she's really dead, she will be able to do this"...whatever this was. So I remember that I was being SO obvious, I was totally breathing and getting ready for him to do whatever he was going to do (and I was expecting the worst). Somehow, I passed the test and he left. That's all I remember.

Roz] After so much looking forward to last night, it ended with a big disappointment (seems to be a constant factor in my life this week). It started out quite awesome, with me already lightheaded at 6pm from drinking many shots of Armeretto (ha ha). D and I bused it to the university and snuck past the ushers (we didn't have tickets) - and it was funny b/c it wasn't like we tried. We were looking for Kelly, who had our tickets and ended up walking into the arena. The game started out slow, but quickly picked up. I really enjoyed my first time watching the U of A Bears Hockey team. We kicked their ass, 5-2. There were alot of little kids there, which surprised me b/c I expected more students than there was. The other Sensei today asked me if the crowd was still as crazy when he went 20 years ago. He said that the students would have garbage can lids and serving trays and they would bang it against the rink windows and cheer that way. Pure rowdiness. Sounds like pure fun, but it was pretty calm last night. The only so-called "crazy" thing I saw was a dude dressed in a white scrub suit wearing a boat shaped hat made from newspaper trying to start the wave with the crowd. I wonder if there was an order to limit the rowdiness over the years? Anyone know?

Then, Adam, Lon, Janelle, Dan and I headed over to the Powerplant (campus bar), which is usually packed on Friday nights. Well...things have changed! It was sooo dead. I haven't partied there since my first year I think (3 years ago), and it was crazy crowded back then. Janelle and I danced on the stage (which is the dance floor) and some guy tried coming to dance with us, so we turned our backs to him and started dancing with THE WALL! It was hilarious. And this happened TWICE. You would think he would take a hint after the first time he got dissed. I couldn't stop laughing at Janelle b/c she was making it so obvious! (Janelle, we're so mean!)

A few drinks later, everyone (but me) were feeling pretty good, if you know what I mean. I had to drive home, so I didn't drink after the game. Anyways, an incident happened and it affected the whole group, which snowballed into bigger issues for all 5 of us. Because it was a personal incident, I won't go into details. Like any other couple, Dan and I got into an argument/fight, and things snowballed for us too. By the end of the night, we both were feeling pretty awkward. I would have never predicted the night to end the way it did. It was one big f*cked up night. Everything is back to normal now though (I think) and I pray that this coming week will not be as stressful.

I just find it ironic that I look forward to the weekend so that I could take a break from work-stress, and it starts off on a BANG (but not the party-kind-of-bang) of more disappointment. I suppose that that's life and I shouldn't bitch about it, but hey, that's what I have this website for! It's life, it's reality, so shit like this is bound to happen sometimes. I accept that.

On another sad subject, I'm going to go see my grandpa tonight at the General Hospital. He's extremely ill and I don't know how much longer he has to live. He suffered a stroke back when I was in gr. 6, and he lost most of his vision when he came out of it. I never saw my grandpa again....He use to be the happiest man, full of energy and laughter - and after the stroke, he wasn't the same man. It was really hard to accept and see him depressed and lifeless. Over the years, grandpa's health has been deteriating. I am guilty of giving him a social death. I haven't gone to visit him much over the years b/c I can't stand the pain of seeing him so unhappy. It's uncomfortable, it's horribly uncomfortable. I don't even know if he knows who I am anymore - or that if he remembers I exist. His mind is going too. I haven't prayed to God in a long while, but I sent him a prayer tonight for my grandpa to please put him in peace, however way that will be.