update

there's a guy next to me in the computer lab playing sound clips from south park. hilarious.

observations:

- three ladies dressed in pastel colours: pink, baby blue and light yellow. the way they were walking together reminded me of the three fairies from 'sleeping beauty'. i know the third fairy in the movie was dressed in green but still...

- a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman wearing a bowler hat, riding a bicycle

another disclaimer about running marathons:

okay, thanks for all your support! however, i will start with baby steps in the form of 5km runs, and then work my way up from there. my training package still hasn't arrived yet...

i was hanging out with some classmates on tuesday...one of them made dinner - shepherd's pie but with lamb mince instead of beef, topped with mashed potatoes and butternut squash; dessert consisted of homemade pear and wine upside down cake, MMM...talk about ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! the five of us cleared every morsel and crumb. when i think about the shepherd's pie i can still imagine what it tastes like, ughhhh...

date update:

i still haven't called the guy for a second date yet (long story), but he did email me asking if we could meet up this weekend...we will see...as for the french-canadian, still haven't heard from him since our initial online chat. i don't know if he's still on vacation or what?

i'm off for a curry!

CET

on second thought...

i think i'll add a disclaimer to my last post - perhaps if i extended my goal of running the london marathon to anytime in the next three years, while i'm here for school? yeah, that's better!

CET :o)

marathon anyone?

i woke up late today (taking advantage of my easter break, down to the very last minute), and have spent the last couple of hours sprawled out on my couch watching the London Marathon. It has inspired me to perhaps give it a go next year! well, it has inspired me to purchase the training guide from the marathon website; i'll have a looky through and then we'll see if i'm still motivated to run 26 miles! i have been feeling really lethargic since january, when i got back from christmas holidays to no more flamenco classes. i know it's a HUGE step (no pun intended) from flamenco to running a marathon, but i figured i'm still young, and if i discipline myself enough i think i can do it! besides, i've never been one to work out in a gym; i like joining classes that teach you a new skill, along with giving you a physical workout. the marathon will give me a goal to strive for, instead of working out because you have to to stay fit. anyhoo, it's a whole lotta talk right now and absolutely NO action, so we will just have to wait and see...

CET

the gory details

okay okay! i'm home now. i've just finished watching 'dead poets society' - always a favourite - and the film where i fell in love with ethan hawke, mmm...well, not anymore but you know, i was young then...

ahhh yes, where was i? spilling the gossip!

so i showed up at the tube station, 6:30pm on the dot. i'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting...and waiting. fifteen minutes later i texted my friend to see how much longer she thinks i should wait before calling it a day! just as i finished texting her, i saw a man come out of the turnstiles and make eye contact with me. i think he recognized me right away, though i didn't recognize him immediately. he had glasses on, and none of the pictures i saw of him on his profile had him with glasses (NOTE TO SELF: people never look like their pictures). anyhoo, so he apologized profusely and proceeded to tell me that he forgot his cell phone at home today, and was running late but had no way to contact me. he seemed sincere enough so i said it was okay, and we proceeded to find a bar for a drink.

now, i was fully prepared to have a drink or two, and if things weren't going well, then to make my excuses and leave. a few sips into my heineken however, he suddenly asks me if i have any plans for the night and if i would like to grab a bite with him!

it caught me a little off-guard, and before i knew it i was telling him the truth, that i didn't have any plans for the evening! DOH! why did i do that? i don't know what it is about me, but i have this innate ability to ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH, even when lying suits the situation better. anyhoo...

we had dinner at a sushi place - a chain-type place where they have the conveyor belt around the bar, with little plates of sushi making their rounds - the sapporo and the sushi flowed nicely (NOTE TO SELF: drinking is definitely a must on a first date). the conversation was pretty good, we just talked about our families, canada and stuff like that. he had a running joke throughout the evening that he's actually married and has a wife and kids back home in canada! hardy har har...

a few conversation topics of note: he knows and has been to my favourite place for chinese bbq pork in the whole wide world! it's in my neighbourhood back home in t.o., and i couldn't believe he's been there. secondly, i was telling him about my recent trip to amsterdam and he (who loves to travel) suddenly exclaims that WE should go to amsterdam during the long weekend two weeks from now! i'm like "huh? you've gotta be kidding me" but he's like "what if i told you to meet me at the airport next friday with a suitcase, and everything would be taken care of, would you come?" ummm, WHAT??? he was half-teasing, half-serious, but he does have the means (and the gumption) to pull something like that off, so i wouldn't put it past him. anyhoo, i told him i'll see what my mood is like next friday and we left it at that...

(yes, i am saying "anyhoo" a lot in this post but i feel it's warranted jason l.)

he suggested another bar for a drink after dinner, but i really didn't feel like doing the noisy bar scene tonight. i suggested we walk to trafalgar square, and that is what we did, sitting on a bench by the fountains and chatting for a bit. he made some comment about being cold and wanting me to give him my coat; i think it was his weak attempt at getting me to snuggle up close to him, which i wasn't about to do. this is a first date and so i don't even know you, plus i'm not liquored up enough to get cozy with someone i've just met! the date was going well but i decided to call it a night; i wanted to end it while it was still good, before it started to drag on. he was a bit disappointed but i wasn't about to be swayed. so we walked to the station, took the tube a couple of stops (where he got off the carriage and switched lines) while i continued my journey home. he made me promise to call him as soon as i got home, so that he knew i got home okay. and that was that.

conclusion? verdict? he is a nice guy. i didn't feel any immediate chemistry, but it was nice to spend the evening getting to know someone new. i'm more chuffed at the fact that i made it through my first casual date in one piece! i was a little nervous, giddy and jittery at the beginning, but by the end of it i was as cool as a cucumber. way to go CET! i actually kept what jason l. said about a date being "just getting food and drink" in my head, and i think it calmed me.

will i see him again you ask? yeah, perhaps on our way to amsterdam, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...no seriously, he left me a message on my cell phone while i was chatting to my sis; he basically put the ball in my court, telling me to call him if i am interested in meeting up again. i think i will probably call him; if there's ultimately no spark between us i don't mind, as i'm sure we can always hang out as friends. plus he is cute and personable, so i can always introduce him to my friends! see, i'm always looking out for you guys...

time for bed!

CET

i'm a wimp...

the internet guy that i'm suppose to meet up with just called and i didn't answer my phone! he left a message earlier asking me out for drinks this friday...i texted him (yes, i copped out) and said how about coffee instead, as

a) if the bar is loud and noisy (which it tends to be on a friday night) we won't really get to know each other, other than knowing what our voices sound like screaming at the top of our lungs;

b) drinks on a friday night might lead to dinner and a looonnnggg evening...not that that's a bad thing, but what if drinks aren't going well, you're not very well going to say "okay, thanks for the drink, i'm going to go home now" on a friday night!

c) drinks = more drinks = intoxication = perhaps liking the person because you are drunk and he is drunk = leading to things which normally would not happen = you get where i'm going with this??? i want to get to know someone while sober, then i'll know for sure whether or not i am attracted to them based on our interaction, not based on the amount of alcohol consumed.

can i just say how absolutely INEXPERIENCED i am??? i've had relationships before, but it was always the "friends first, then lovers" thing. this whole 'casual dating' business is completely foreign and new to me. i need advice people! and quickly! friday is approachin'...

CET

p.s. chatted tonight with another potential suitor...french-canadian, living in london, habs fan. i felt much more of a rapport with him than with the first guy. frenchie's on holiday abroad til next week, after which we're suppose to meet for a pint. i feel much more comfortable with the thought of having alcohol with him than with the first guy for some reason...


UPDATE: okay, i'm not a wimp! i plucked up the courage to call him back (lying of course, saying i was on the tube on the way home from dinner with friends when he called) and we arranged a time and place to meet. ADVICE URGENTLY NEEDED!!!

useless facts you need to know about vomiting

i'm working on my tutorial assignment on anticholinesterases at the moment, specifically organophosphates; they're used in household and agricultural pesticides and insecticides, not to mention as a biological weapon (e.g. sarin). anyhoo, this post is not to throw around big scientific words (OR IS IT???), but to share some interesting facts about emesis (or vomiting, one of many symptoms of organophosphate poisoning) i found out through the lovely wikipedia:

- Whales vomit regularly (every 7 to 10 days) as a means of the ordinary digestive process, to expel inedible things they have swallowed.

- The domestic cat is well known for its tendency to vomit, particularly when attempting to dislodge hairballs from its throat or upper gastrointestinal tract. Dogs also vomit often (frequently after eating grass) and are also known for eating their own vomit, a fact even cited in the Bible: KJV Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." (THAT IS SO NASTY! MMM, VOMIT...)

- Owls will expel the undigestible bones and fur of their meals after partial digestion of the nutritious parts rather than passing them through the digestive tract. (THAT SEEMS LIKE A VERY SMART THING TO DO; I GUESS THAT'S WHY OWLS ARE WISE.)

- Some adult birds regurgitate food to feed their young, triggered by a feather or a beak of their young. The food can be either incompletely digested or partially predigested, depending on the species. Some bird species may also use regurgitation as a form of defense, vomiting when wounded or molested. When an intruder or a predator comes near a fulmar on its nest, the bird vomits oil up to 3 feet at the enemy. Larger animals, such as wolves, may also regurgitate partially or undigested food to feed their young. (DON'T COME NEAR ME OR I'LL PROJECTILE VOMIT ON YOU!!!)

- When in danger, the sea cucumber may eject its entire digestive tract. The animal is able to re-grow another one. (THAT IS SO DAMN COOL.)

- Some large mammals, including horses, cannot or rarely vomit. Many rodents are readily killed by commercial poisons because they lack the ability to vomit, which can be problematic for some pet owners. (LESSON LEARNED: DO NOT RAISE DISGUSTING RODENTS AS PETS.)

so this is something new i've learned for the day! whoever said schoolwork isn't exciting was LYING.

CET

silly monkey

here's the latest pic of chili, on his very own doggy-sofa! hilarious!

CET

cadbury cream egg cake

check this out, it's hilarious!

i wish i thought of that.

CET

lots to tell!

did i tell you before how i signed up to a dating website? well, another canadian living in london got in touch with me via email and we spoke on the phone tonight! eek!

it felt so awkward and new and exciting and...like high school! the butterflies, the giddiness, the expectations...i don't know though, i think i sounded like a geek/little girl. i was a little nervous and kept laughing at the end of my sentences, and after a while the conversation lagged a bit...i don't know what to make of it all. it was one of those "getting to know you" conversations, i.e. ask a question, give an answer, other party repeat, you repeat, repeat again, etc...i mean, my mind perhaps couldn't think of the questions fast enough?

he's a stockbroker for some big company here in london, got transferred from toronto. doesn't seem like my type (i.e. very corporate, very "bay st") but he seems nice and i'm willing to meet up with him at least. i was msning with mutton face when all this transpired, and we were saying that with every date you go on you're one date closer to someone worthwhile. i don't want to say "the one" because i don't believe in it, so i'm saying "someone worthwhile". let's hope so!

i'm suppose to text him my number (as he gave me his number first) and then we'll set up a drinks date from there. i'll keep you posted! i don't know why i feel like such a kid at the moment, like everyone's a grown-up and i'm just "playing" grown-up...he's four years my senior but from his pics he looks just so manly and grown-up, while my pics are of me looking very young...anyhoo...

i've been holed up in my flat the last couple of nights - everyone i know in this town is out of it this easter weekend, on holidays or with family. even my flatmates were out of town on a romantic weekend getaway. so it was me, my tv and my laptop. at first i didn't quite know what to do with myself, but after a while it was okay. i actually stayed up until 6am this morning reading belle de jour, the diary of a (now ex) london call girl. needless to say it was interesting stuff! she's got a book deal now and her posts are few and far between, but her insights into the sexual psyche of her clients, and just the crazy things they've asked her to do, are more than worth the lack of sleep i've had. she's also an excellent writer, and very well-versed in english lit.

i finally ventured outside the flat today, just to dump some recycling and buy a few veggies before scurvy hits. i noticed a weird-looking duck in the creek where the skull was, in a very nice little nest with very fluffy little ducklings! so cute. i watched them for a bit before moving on.

eyes are tired, must sleep!

hope everyone had a happy easter weekend!

CET

recovered and alone

okay, i think i'm sufficiently recovered from amsterdam and sue's visit to blog now. slept for 9.5 hours last night and while that may not seem like much, it was just what i needed. woke up at 11:30am today, bliss...

amsterdam ROCKED. it was so much fun showing sue around (as this was her first time, my second) and discovering new places myself! we went to the anne frank museum, the van gogh museum, took a boat cruise along the canals (where sue promptly fell asleep), and in general just did a lot of wandering. amsterdam is a beautiful city and so compact; everything is easily accessible by foot.

the BEST part of the trip was the heineken brewery! for only 10 euros you get three, half-pint glasses of heineken, a self-guided tour, and a gift of a heineken tin with a half-pint glass inside. SWEET! before the tour sue and i only had a bagel and coffee each, so the half pints went to our heads pretty quickly. all the staff there were funny and jolly, and sue and i had a silly exchange of words with the cute guy working the cloakroom. all i'll say is it consisted of him juggling, and the words "he", "she", "me" and "we". you had to be there.

so yes, we smoked pot and yes, we smoked a lot of it. the spliffs were HUGE! we were at one of the more touristy "coffeeshops" and i have this theory that the dutch love their 80's and 90's music, because wherever we went that was what we heard. smoking da weed, listening to colour me badd, ahhh, good times...

i took sue to the red light district and she commented on how "un-raunchy" it is. sure the girls were at their windows with nothing but bra and panties on, but it is a job after all; some were standing, some were sitting, chatting with other girls - a lady in one window had a little kitchenette right behind her, complete with kettle, teabags and mugs...sexy i know!

we had some pretty good food while in amsterdam too. the first night we had indonesian at the same restaurant i went to the first time i was in the dam. sooo yummy! the second night was mexican at a pretty authentic mexican place - as authentic as you can get, being in amsterdam - in between we had our share of waffles, waffles and more waffles. waffles with ice cream and whipped cream, stroopwafels, mini-stroopwafels, mmm...

sue left yesterday and BG probably won't be here until sunday at the earliest; the flatmates also left today for a weekend in belgium, so i'm here in this flat all by my lonesome :o( i miss my sue! having her here was just so much fun if i haven't said it already.

oh, and BG's drama: she was detained at pearson because her cousin and her cousin's husband were also travelling on the same flight (after already being detained from the day before), and her cousin's husband happens to have the same name as a known al qaeda terrorist...it's a long story that i won't go into here, but honestly, what happened to BG was ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS and SOOOOOOOOO WRONG!!! i am so angry for her. we've always joked about it but when it actually happened it was so shocking. i just want her here in london NOW!

CET

drama and da herb

holy man, finally home after three days of livin' in a purple haze...well, not that purple, more like a lavender or mauve.

sue and i traveled to the land of windmills and tulips, of herbal relaxation and red neon lights…for those whose who were born yesterday, that place is amsterdam. there is much to tell, the most important news being the absence of the brown goddess. MAJOR drama in that department, resulting in our fave BG not being with us on our nights of mindless revelry...BG, we were thinking of you often, and missed your presence at the "coffeeshop"...

more details to come, must recover first...

CET

taking a breather...

before the brown goddess arrives at heathrow this evening. sue, BG and i are off to amsterdam tomorrow for three days.

sue and i saw tan off at paddington station this afternoon, and right now i feel kinda sad. well, i'm a little anxious about flying (i get that from my dad) and also a bit down now that tan's left. the three of us had so much fun - windsor castle on friday, greenwich on saturday, dinners, drinks and nights out - there's something to be said for being with people that know you inside and out, and love you for who you are. they've seen me happy, high, drunk, sober, heartbroken and completely in love. i miss that.

no worries though, as by the time BG arrives i will be insanely excited! we spoke on the phone last night and it's ridiculous how this day could not go by any faster. BG's also bringing a whole bunch of stuff from my family at home, so i can't wait for that too.

anyhoo, i am glad for the brief respite at home today before things gear up again.

OH, and i forgot one bit of news: sue accidently let slip over dinner at ex-T's house that i have a blog! eek! i quickly changed the topic of conversation and he didn't bring it up for the rest of the evening; i hope it stays that way!

CET

for nunuk and jason l.

okay okay, so i've been away from the blogsphere for a while!

sorry but this will have to be short, as i need to pick up my friend tan, who's just arrived from dublin.

holy tourist batman, sue and i have been hitting the pavement all around london doing every touristy thing imaginable! we did the big bus tour, sitting on the open top deck of the double decker bus...we've been to hyde park, kensington gardens, green park, st james' park, millenium bridge, tower bridge, london bridge, tower of london, leeds castle, london eye, british museum, houses of parliament, big ben, platform 9 3/4, etc. etc. etc....we have not stopped! being a tourist is hard work - i have yet to sleep in on MY holiday.

it has been so great having sue here, i am so happy that she's staying with me. it's like having family here, which feels especially nice given that i don't have the best flatmates. yay sue!

okay, sorry i haven't posted in a while, and i probably won't have time to post a lot over the next few days/weeks, but BEAR WITH ME! i'm flattered you check everyday, and will try my best to keep you all up to date.

love CET