pattiez's blog

After reading Stephen's new post, I figured I should write one too. I've been insanely busy this semester. I've confirmed that the busy lifestyle is what I love. I love the feeling of going from one place to another. The need to have a continuous to do list. It's so fulfilling to see a page of "to do's" all checked up and having it spill to another page. It's weird, but I'm not exactly "not weird".

It sure doesn't feel like summer though. The weather has been horrible. Toronto gave me a real summer to compare to, so Vancouver is disappointing me right now.

May highlights:

I'm not sure if I mentioned about my first official day of coop. Well, the wind blew out the power... twice. I ended up going home after 3 hours of work; two and a half of which we were out of power.

We spent our first anniversary in front of the television watching the very disappointing round two game four playoff game. Oh, and he made steak dinner. Yum.

Toronto! It was nice and relaxing. I really appreciated the luxury of taking Friday off from coop as well, so my trip was Friday to Monday rather than just Saturday to Monday. The concert was amazing. Our last meal before returning to Raincouver was outside in the patio. We enjoyed a nice meal with a cocktail and 27 degree weather.

Just on Friday, I went to a meeting with the organization that's paying for my coop. I found out when they were introducing me that they wanted me to do a short speech. Improvising in front of 23 established professionals is not exactly a easy thing.

The past week, I've had about 5 hours worth of meetings for YWiB (www.ywib.ca). Come to think about it, compared to the amount of work that has been done, 5 hours isn't a lot. I'm excited to see our programs and events launch by the end of the summer. The hard work will be worth it!

I finally tried the new ramen place: Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. It's a ramen chain that originated from Japan. I really enjoyed the soup. The cha-shu was delicious! It melted in my mouth. Om nom nom. I didn't enjoy the noodles too much, despite the apparent claim by Japanese people that Santouka cooks their noodles perfectly. I would prefer it if it was a tad softer. Just a tad. Oh, and locals claim that Santouka is the most authentic ramen shop in Vancouver. That may be true, but I've had ramen in Hokkaido and well... it's not the same.

Labels: canucks, co-op, concert, food, food adventure, him, holiday, Japan, trip, vacation, YWiB

I can go on and on about my thoughts on Valentines Day. However, I have a paper to write so my post will be condensed. Valentines day, in a nutshell, is a cute holiday that has been hegemonized by our consumerism society.

Anyway, despite this, I enjoyed a simple day with him. He picked me up early (my kind of early) in the morning to go out for breakfast. When I walked out to his car, he surprised me with handmade roses in a vase. I love presents that don't die. Plus, he actually surprised me. Yay! Then we head down to our usual breakfast place and enjoyed a yummy meal to start off our day. Prior to the hockey game, we made a detour to purchase some pastries for dessert tonight. After the game we had just enough time to grab decent seats to watch Valentine's Day (the movie). Yes, it's corny to watch Valentine's Day on February 14th, but I like corny. He dropped me home after the movie for my Chinese New Year dinner with my family. We enjoyed a delicious hot pot dinner while watching the Olympics. Okay, it's not good to watch television while eating dinner with the family. However, we didn't let the television distract us from carrying on conversations! Watching Canada receive her first gold metal on home soil was amazing.

Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, and Vancouver 2010 Olympics happening at the same time? Sure, that's great, but spending time with my family and him? Now that's golden. I don't need a designated day to love the people in my life.

Labels: canucks, dessert, food, him, movie, Olympics

MS Awareness Week has finally started!

The day started with us blowing up the fuse =) Okay, I suppose it wasn't that smart to plug in a popcorn machine and a portable hand washing station to an outlet that was already providing power for three laptops. Oops?

Anyway, if you want to find me, just follow the smell of fresh (and hopefully not burnt) popcorn.

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He thinks I'm stressed because I'm too busy. Me? Busy? Never! I still see white space on my schedule!

...er, white space on some days anyway. Rawr =/

Labels: fail, food, him, MS, sma

I know I can't complain because Stephen's schedule is always scarier but...

AHH! I'm not looking forward to the rest of November. Tonight, I need to finish the first half of a 45 (or so) pages project. Sadly, I only started it today. Horrible, I know. I only realized my schedule when I was talking to him and seeing when's the next time we have time to see each other. It doesn't look that bad on my calendar!

It's really just club stuff that's taking up most of my schedule. I'm not even that active in SMA either! I try to attend all the events, and I'm only planning the Charity Series. Oh well. Hopefully I'll lower my participation in SMA so I can start writing for The Peak (a student newspaper at SFU). Plus, I want to get on the organizing committee for the MS Society events that are coming up (MS Walk, MS Bike Tour, etc).

I need a social life too. I miss having one, but schedules conflict. Sadly, a lot of people I know don't maximize their time. I'm sorry, I had to point that out. I wish I went out more. I don't need to go out as much as he does, but I miss it. Although looking back, I never really had the social life I wanted to. I've always been bombarding myself with work, volunteer, and extra-curricular activities. (Hmm, maybe school should have been in the too.)

Since I mentioned school... I attempted to try harder in my courses this semester and it is evident in my results. I received an A and an A- on my midterms. *dances* I still have horrible study habits, but I notice that being attentive in class really helps. Yes, I realized that after 6 semesters in university. Fail. =P

I think at this point of my life, I need a good balance of school, community involvement, family, work, him, friends, and alone time (not in any particular order). Someone help me!

Labels: him, MS, school, sigh, sma

So I was craving chocolate cake. Dense and rich chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream and hot fudge to be exact. (No, it wasn't my time of the month.) He picks me up to fulfill my long, awaited cravings. =) It took us an hour to find Homestyle Two-Bite Brownies but I felt like a little girl that finally got the doll from the store window. We ended up at his place with a bowl of warmed brownies and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream; and we enjoyed the dessert with He's Just Not That Into You on the tele.


Was what he did over the top? No. Okay, maybe with the exception of having the patience and determination to hunt for my two-bite goodness. But it was just so sweet =) Yeah, that's right, I'm showing him off. (At least I'm being honest about it... unlike those people that post up a million pictures of everything they do.)

Spoiled much? Nope, just loved =)

Labels: dessert, food, him