RIP Grandma.

I know you're happy you're with grandpa now.

I will never forget you.
I love you.

Phone reminiscing

I still remember my first cell phone. It was a still foreign concept to me, even though everyone kept saying this was the future of communication. I was just a teenager, but when there was a cell phone up for grabs in the house, I said sure, and lo and behold, it was mine.

It was a Nokia. One of those generic black, rounded things with a neon green lit screen. I think I was one of the few kids in high school that had a cell phone.

Looking back at it, it was a pretty good design. I mean, it did the job, it was a simple design, and it still fit in your pocket. Better than the Motorola bricks that my parents used to carry around. This thing survived sooo many drops, being thrown in my bag, on my desk, being sat on, you name it. The best thing about it? I could play Snake on it all day.

I don't remember what phone I got after this. I think I ended using a few hand me downs. Some flip phones. A few Motorolas. And then I remember getting one of the smallest handsets ever. I don't remember the model, but everyone had it. And it was a Nokia. A beautifully designed phone. Even my Uncle was using it a good 6 years later when everyone had moved on to a Motorola Razr.

I had been using a Motorola flip phone for about a year in uni. I had my eyes set on the Motorola Krzr, a beautiful black little piece of technology that I had seen in Hong Kong some years earlier, and it was finally making its rounds in North America. I wanted it. I was set on it.



For my birthday that year, my boyfriend got me a cell phone. A Nokia. A bronze Nokia. Not a Motorola Krzr. I opened it on the subway when we were going home, and I didn't know how to react. I knew it wasn't cheap, but it wasn't my black Motorola Krzr.

That night I popped out my SIM card from my old phone and plunked it in the new one. I had to start using the new phone, since my other one was static-y during phone calls.

Huh. A bronze Nokia.

Slowly, my love for this phone started to bloom. It hadn't left my side for a solid 3.5 years. Yes, three and a half years. When was the last time your phone lasted that long?

As time went by, I began to figure out that Nokia's were solid. Robust. Reliable. I had never had a problem with this cell phone. I loved it so much that I refused to get a new one, even if it was given to me. Which actually happened. My contract renewed, and I picked a new Sony Ericsson ($0). But I had no desire to start using it. I had my life in this phone and I didn't want to part with it. It survived uni with me, my first job, a few trips, even a swim in the toilet (that was unintended, but she survived). I loved the soft shell case it came in, and it fit like a glove. People would be so amazed at how thin my phone was.

Last last year, she started to sputter. The battery started rapidly dying, and she would turn off periodically. Even texting while keeping it charged could suddenly make it turn off .. sadly I had come to the realization that our relationship was ending and that I would have to start using a new phone.



My quest for a new cell phone was not easy. I wanted to do so many things with it, and for it to look a certain way that I had convinced all my friends that I was looking for something that did not exist. Some of the biggest hurdles during my search:
- I wanted a numeric keypad. Sure, touch screen was nice, but I was pretty proficient at churning out texts using T9.
- No QWERTY keyboard. I didn't like those
- It had to be a Nokia. This phone made me so loyal to the brand that for the first little while, I wouldn't accept anything else
- I didn't want to spend more than $300-$350 on a phone. HA! Good luck. But I tried.
- It had to be compact. I don't like oversized phones.

Then other factors started to come into play ..
- Nokia was going to start churning out Windows OS phones. Err.
- All the Nokia phones that were actually decent looking, were models that were at least 2-3 years old.
- Everyone told me that browsing on a numeric keypad phone was hard as hell. Yea yea, I learned. Eventually.

Finally, I think it finally hit me. Nokia didn't provide me with what I wanted anymore. I had to convince myself that I wouldn't be happy with a Nokia. Browsing around Pacific Mall, glaring at all the fones in the display, I had to pick something .. and I did:


Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro.


It's a small phone. It's Android. It's got a QWERTY keyboard.
Yup, I had to do a lot of compromising with myself. But after owning the lil guy for some time, I'm quite please with it.

More to come!

Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end

- Paulo Coelho

Wow. This is f-ing awesome

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1103024--kmart-layaway-accounts-paid-off-by-mysterious-donors

What a brave soul .. this is touching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg

Iowa's House of Representatives is planning an amendment to repeal marriage equity in the state.
This young man's speech is very touching. I know that at 19, I would certainly have loved to had his character - kudos to him for speaking out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q

Food Algebra - Dumplings

So we ventured into new territory and tried to cook something out of our comfort zone (pasta, steak, general gwai-lo food).

Him: What are we having for dinner?
Me: I want to try something new!
Him: Uhh .. ok .. (worried look)
Me: DUMPLINGS!

It was actually really fun! Honest. I had scoured for dumpling recipes, combing through the websites with the nicest looking dumpling pictures (biased, I know) and seeing what combination of ingredients we would use. We settled for the following (mainly because it was whatever was in the fridge)

- store bought dumpling wrappers (too risky to mess up if made from scratch)
- lean ground pork
- green onion
- shittake mushrooms
- egg wash (for the wrapper edges)
- sesame oil
- soy sauce
- chicken broth
- salt
- 5 spice powder
- black pepper

I kind of wanted to document the process, but he's not exactly one of those ppl who snap pictures of food on a minutely basis like me so I ended up snapping a few photos (read:took 3 pics in total) of the process. In the process I came up with ... FOOD ALGEBRA! Lo and behold, my brain child creation. Mash 2 things together and end up with an end result:




How did they turn out? Not bad, for a first try. But a few things to change up for next time:
- Cornstarch. Or flour. The filling ended up too dry
- Seasoning. More. Lots more. Salt really does do wonders, no matter how much I try to erase it from my diet. Could have used a bit more of everything
- Better proportion. We couldn't really taste the veggies. It should be like, 2 parts veggie and 1 part meat! That, and you don't want to taste all meat and no wrapper. Need to half the amount of filling per dumpling. A few were really beefy (well, porky)

Early on we realized that assembly line formation would be the best way to do this. He would plop the filling in and grease the edges, and I would fold. My origami skills from way back seem to have paid a helping hand, since they looked pretty presentable. It was a fun couple-y experience!


A side note: My Photoshop skills are pretty lame. But I get around. The above Food Algebra pic was put together with Photoshop 6 (yup, ancient stuff). Pics were taken with my Canon P&S and the background was created by DragonArtz (based on their Creative Commons License)

Uhhhh ..

There's something seriously wrong with this.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1095633--afghan-president-pardons-woman-serving-time-for-being-raped

I love this pic

This is touching. Who says karma's a bitch?

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1088632--winnipeg-man-reunites-with-u-s-woman-who-saved-his-life?bn=1

You know you have an amazing boyfriend when ..

.. you are having the bitchiest day ever and all you want to do is explode at someone (namely him even tho he's not at fault), and when he sees you, he gives you a kiss on the forehead and surprises you with your favourite dessert.

<3 you

:)

Jeebus. This story broke my heart.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1059479--disabled-pickering-boy-took-his-own-life-after-he-was-mugged-and-bullied

RIP Mitchell ..

I am so angry right now. My blood is boiling and there is nothing more I want to do than sit in the shower and cry. That, and break a 2x4 in half.

I had taped the funeral for Jack Layton from yesterday and just watched it now. I don't know how his wife kept so calm and composed but kudos to her for giving everyone else support. Even I cried a lot just watching the service on TV.

I'm glad he wanted his funeral to be a celebration of life, not of mourning and sorrow. If only he could see how he brought so many Canadians together.

Transcript of eulogies from the Toronto Star

RIP Jack. See you on the other side.

RIP Jack Layton .. you will be missed dearly by Canadians.

Read his letter to Canadians here

"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
- Jack Layton

My condolences to Olivia Chow and the Layton family.

You know you have a good boyfriend when ..
.. he tells you everyday that you're beautiful
.. he always drives you home, even if you're in the opposite direction or out of the way
.. he surprises you with your favourite dessert after a miserable day at work
.. he lets you drain his phone battery playing games
.. he lets you rant about your day even though his day was 10x worse
.. he always makes sure your needs are taken care of before his
.. he lets you take the first bite of a donut and the first sip of coffee
.. he waits patiently for you even when you're the one who's making both of you late
.. he somehow sees the silver lining in the worst possible situation
.. he goes out of his way to take you to your favourite restaurant
.. to be continued ..

You know you have an amazing boyfriend when ..
.. all of the above

<3 you
:)

“Killing is the biggest sin to commit,” he says. “There’s no honour in killing. So why use that term?”

He's right.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1035512--domestic-violence-or-honour-killing?bn=1

In the end, no one wins .. although, an eye for an eye does sound justified at its moments

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1032995--blinded-iranian-rejects-eye-for-eye-punishment-of-attacker?bn=1

Amaaaazing weekend. He surprised (well, almost surprised) me with a weekend out of the city. Had a great time!!

Thanks hunnie .. love you :)

I hope Oslo heals .. you are never alone.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1032455--the-survivors-the-victims-a-shooter-and-his-manifesto-how-the-norway-tragedy-unfolded?bn=1