chaaaampion

felt like drawing something after sorting through all the art supplies at camp.
based on the champion mouse in MH.

day well spent.

In and Outs #4: camp week 1 edition

In
Experience, lots of it. I think a parenting book analogy would suffice here: reading a million books on parenting will never prepare you enough for actual parenting. You can know everything in theory, but hands on is totally different. Managing the campers required tons of improvising, pleading, threatening (jokes, speaking in a severe voice is needed though). It was loads of fun teaching them how to fold origami.

Riddles, lots of it as well. One of the volunteers that I was working with came up with this fool proof way to entertain the campers. Most of them stumped me as well XD Other tried and true games include elephant ball and concentration.

Other useful skills & abilities. I think my communication skills definitely improved from explaining how to fold a rose a bajillion times. Enthusiasm, or at least the appearance of, as well. One huge tip that I learned was that if you tell the kids to do something, you better as hell do it yourself.

Out
Sleep, I can't put into words how tiring it is. My waking hours lasts from 6:45 to 11:30, minus 1 hour of sleep that I manage to squeeze in on ttc. I can confidently say that I can fall asleep on most moving vehicles in less than 5 minutes. Good thing is that the tiredness only catches up with me after camp ends. The pace at camp doesn't even let a yawn in haha. But after coming home, I have noooooooo energy left to do anything, my choices of mindless activities include manga (Id, maybe some thoughts on this in a later post) and TV. Lie to me is gooood, I should watch Mad Men as well.


The kids "are hell wrapped in a cute little package", the proportion of the two varies day to day. I joke, they're alright. Some memorable ones include this boy who named 92 species of fish, this girl who can draw really well (though she denies that), and this absolutely adorable boy with blond curly hair.
Will get into a positive mindset for next weeeek.

blahhh

so tireeeed.
between camp volunteering and a good manga is no time for blogging.

will update...tomorrowww...maybe.......we'll see.
/sleep deprived

I feel bad ._. so here's some jay chou to cheer myself up xD



一盏黄黄旧旧的灯
时间在旁闷不吭声
寂寞下手毫无分寸
不懂得轻重之分
沉默支撑跃过陌生
静静看著凌晨黄昏
你的身影失去平衡慢慢下沉
黑暗已在空中盘旋该往哪我看不见
也许爱在梦的另一端
无法存活在真实的空间
想回到过去
试著抱你在怀里
羞怯的脸带有一点稚气
想看你看的的世界,
想在你梦的画面
只要靠在一起就能感觉甜蜜
想回到过去
试著让故事继续
至少不再让你离我而去
分散时间的注意
这次会抱得更紧
这样挽留不知还来不来得及
想回到过去
思绪不断阻挡著回忆播放盲目的追寻
仍然空空荡荡
灰蒙蒙的夜晚睡意又不知躲到哪去
一转身孤单已躺在身旁

btw the new album has arrived (along with my dad). It's the 10th anniversary edition, with pins *u*
swhoooooooooooo~

You're a doppelganger!

Went to wonderland yesterday! Main reason is for Tony's birthday, but motives also includes Jine's post ss&pre korea celebration, my last day of fun before 2 weeks of waking up at 7 and david's courage boost :]

Highlight: timberwolf falls.
I shall let the photo do the talking.

BAAAAAAAAAAAM. (click for fullview)

They went on the ride fairly early in the day, got COMPLETELY soaked. Also rained in the afternoon, so no one really dried off at all. Alex brought a change of 3 shirts, all 3 ended up completely wet ;D


Group photo after behemoth :]
A little ahard to tell, but we were all drenched xD (this post is a challenge to see how many different variations of wet I can come up with).

annnnd to end it all off, the ride itself

in David's words: "holy mother of jesus....fuuuuuuuu"

你能多看我一眼

Played Cranium today at Aprils, hilarious party game ;D

Haven't posted a cpop mv in a loooong time, here's a non Jay Chou one for a change.



阳光越过窗沿 我在阴影里面
才过正午13点 就漆黑一片
没有人看得见 我心深处的阴暗面

只能眺望东边 你的世界太远
撑到想象的极限 幸福有多甜
可黑夜已吞噬我 就是拉不到你的手

因为我活在西界 只拥有半个白天
一到午后夜色就蔓延
虽然和你面对面 却看不到我的脸
感觉到你不安的视线
在西界的那一边 只能有半个白天
暗自祈祷上天的垂怜
在长夜的边缘 给我一丝光线
让你能多看我一眼

12.17.10

Went to see Inception yesterday with people, and in David's words: "totally mind fucked by inception >.>" Di Caprio's assistant in the movie, Authur, is so cute <3

After the movie, the people and I sat at wendy's for a long long while trying to figure the movie out. Alex trying to figure out how they managed to escape at the end, Nick trying to confuse everyone, David about the guns (omg military!), and myself about how the architect is determined. In the end, we agreed that the briefcase is magical. "You have to belieeeeeeve"

moving on :]

(insert roy saying the soundtrack is by daft punk!)

Most. Stunning. Looking. Graphics. Eveeeeeeeeeeeeer.
More promo images @ abduzeedo

brunch: bean stir fry in a tortilla

I can't call it a burrito cause it's....it's not mexican at all o_o

Loosely based on Simple Dollar's Breakfast Burrito, here's how I made it (serves 2+leftovers for lunch):

Chop&sautee an medium onion with some oil until your prefered level of doneness (mine was caramalized). While the onion is cooking, prep the tomato and other veggies, anything works here. I've used green pepper and celery. Just make sure to chop them up in equal sized pieces. When the onions are done, add garlic(chopped), the tomatoes and the beans. A note about the beans, if they're canned, drain them; if they're dried...soak them AT LEAST overnight and boil them for AT LEAST an hour (I learned this the hard way). Cook for a while (sorry no better estimates here) and add the remaining veggies. While that cooks, beat 2 eggs (one per person served) with some salt. When the veggies are ALMOST done, add in the eggs and stir frequently to bind everything together. Season with whatever you want, I used chili powder, soy sauce, some more salt, and lots and lots of black pepper. Finally, serve on a tortilla and bed of baby spinach (or any other veggies that can be eaten raw).

Also made some Blueberry and Peach Clobber. (I loveee smitten kitchen, the photos are gorgeous and the blog is so pretty *u*)
No photos cause I ate it too fast "orz It was a coincidence that I just happen to have all the ingredients on hand :]

Lastly, last week's

We had guests over so I tried to be fancy ._.

In and Outs #3

IN
Look who's here for a visit again!

(clicky on all the images for full res)

MUSTARD AND HONEY! I've been good and not calling Mustard Clover.
Darn they've grown from their last visit eh? They were adorable, what happened! (I kid haha, they still are) This time they're here for a longer stay, sigh, more cage cleaning haha.

N'awwwwwwww *u*

Gritaly Excitement!
I think at this point in time, I'm more excited about packing for the trip than the actual trip. This is totally one big fat excuse for shopping XD Perfect reason to buy the Urban Decay Naked palette (funny thing: temptila's review for it ranks higher than the actual product page on google)! I'll wait a bit for that though, instead I've got a recycled&retractable ecotools kabuki brush (think I'll be linking to reviews from now on). It is the soooooftest synthetic ever! *u*Also picked up a NYC blushable cream stick. Face = the best canvas ever.


OUT
The murderous weather, please? I guess this is nature's way of balancing out the cooler summer last year. My air con makes the most terrifying noise (similar to any machine breaking down), so I'm barely surviving in tanks+shorts.

Braces, please? *insert laughter and mocking from friends*
Last visit to the dentist resulted in good and bad. Good that I no longer need to wear elastics and the composite was drilled away (don't want a drill in my mouth again, it's not the worst of feelings, but e___e). Bad that well, the braces itself won't be coming off in a long while, lucky it'll be gone by gr 11 summer. WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO TEETH?

bits&pieces

dump from my bookmark toolbar:

1)LHC Sound Library
I might have a bias towards LHC (can't wait until they publish stuff in plain english *u*), but this is just so cool.

2)Gundam!

"Freedom Gundam" - 4 Foot Papercraft from Taras Lesko on Vimeo.

This is dedication.

3)Castle, medieval style.
I shall assume that my interest in this is a sign that I made the right choice to pursue being a civil engineer.

4)Immortal Robots!
They'll be the ones to take over the world instead of rubber ducks. I wonder how the real Bina feels about the robot, isn't it one bit creepy that there's this self aware robot that looks like you, knows your memories, behaves (to the best of it's ability) like you? But then again, we're just a mass of cells o_o

the adventures revolving around shepherd's pie

This was me and Grace's 3rd attempt at eating shepherd's pie.

1st time: grade 8 zero day. Forgot why we decided to walk into a random food court and randomly order shepherd's pie. But mannnn, that was some good pie *u* We don't even remember what it tastes like, but it's goooood.

2nd time: Went on a weekend in grade 9, but unfortunately it was closed T_T

this time: We have been planning this since last year haha, never got a chance until yesterday.

Subway down to downtown we go, with a (very long) detour at Lush. The sales lady was super nice, which a) guilt customers into purchasing b) make them want to come back. Needless to say, I ended up buying another mask (mini story: this is my second time going to Lush with the intention of buying Cupcake, and second time walking away with a different mask) and Grace bought a emotibomb. The sales lady even gave us some free samples without us asking ;D

Stopped at some other stores before finally making our way to Helena's Magical Kitchen (St. Patrick's station, near the AGO). We got all giddy while standing in line, who wouldn't with such nice owners+good smelling food. But....buuuuuuuut they sold out of shepherd's pie "orz
*insert big big disappointment*
but it's alright, the meat pie I got tasted great too. It's just that...sighhhh. All this (and previous) effort and they sell out? SIGHHH.

Spent the rest of the afternoon seesawing in a nearby park and then later at this adorable cafe beside the AGO. Despite my love for video games/computers/internet/msn, it was really nice to just sit somewhere and have a long chat with friends :] Why can't we go out for picnics instead of play brawl/halo?

4th time: soon. I will be extremely sad if I don't end up eating it ;_;

flowers

if by some bizarre chance froggy Kevin reads this, lol flowers!

but yes flowers.
After browsing through some crafting blogs, I made some paper flowers to make myself feel better.


click for awesome lightbox fullview~
Rose, carnation, carnation. Last one looks a bit off since I forgot to make an extra cut on the petals. I'm really liking the contrast created by flash, should try using it when photographing brunch too, saves an extra step in photoshop XD Oh yeah, all photos on blog are slightly psed (unless otherwise stated). Mostly for sharpening, colour fixing, general better looking. Wish I had Xiaxue's ps skills, life would be easier haha.

Right, flowers.

Rose and carnation petals.
I bought all the supplies in China during a visit loooooooong time ago (prob 05?). The business card of the store is in the first pic, though I doubt the store is still open. If anyoneeeee knows where to buy this kind of wrinkly paper in Toronto, please leave a comment! They're usually sold twisted up into ropes.

Group photo ;D

(clickkkk)
Tallest carnation was made yeaaaars ago. The bouquet would be much larger if I haven't given them all away, gotta work on replenishing my stock XD

omnom

I have brunch photos (from last week), but I'm just too lazy to transfer them onto computer. So they'll come bundled with next week's~

On the world cup note, YEAAAAH SPAAAAAIN! Though I'm only a supporter of them cause I dislike the Netherlands, grr Brazil should be up there instead of them.
Went over to Jason's with bunch of people to watch the game. Our focus was on the fouls for the actual 90mins of the game.

that's gotta hurt @_@ It so deserves a red!
So many yellow cards. "pinnnnk card!" And so FIFA ends.

Back to food. This is the result of my labour:
View To go to in a larger map
Google map'd a whole list of places I want to eat at. 16 in total as of now.
Om nom nom nom nom.

effiecient buildings of the future!

Mannnn camp was worth it!
The waking up was brutal, weather was murderous, but we learned sooooooooo many cool stuff.
(long post, sit tight)

but first my rants :]
waking up: lost sleep is supplemented by napping on subway trips there and back. I've developed a skill to lightly sleep and yet still be mindful of the stations being announced. Though I would still never commute my way to university.

weather: majority of the week was unbearably hot. I'm not kidding, I have to wear long pants and the buildings (GB and SF) are not air conditioned. To add to that, my course has a lot of tours that involves walking outside "orz Then again, I'm just bad with the heat. On the last day (today), it decides to rain like crazy. I appreciate the cooling and all, just not the getting soaked from knee down with an umbrella.


so now the part that makes the previous paragraph all worth it.
Monday: intro, general energy stuff, relation to buildings. T'was an okay day, group work was fun though. My group absolutely sucked at conversions ;D

Tuesday: Building envelope, and heat/moisture/air transfers. Again, lots of conversion. People weren't kidding when they say that engineers eat math for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Got to play with an infrared therometer *u*
Visited HART HOUSE, it is the most amaaaaazing student center ever. I would go to UT solely for this. I don't have pics of the place, but yeah, it's amazing. It contains 2 gyms, a swimming pool, library, art gallery, great hall (modeled after the one in King's College aka where the Harry Potter great hall scenes were shot), and a restaurant that was voted the best place to have lunch in Toronto (Gil, we're soooo going there ;P). Just awesome!

Wednesday: Awesome, awesome day. First the instructors (they were so nice!) showed us some cool videos of The World's Greenest Homes:

(rui was awesome enough to show me this earlier)
Also New York's Paltz Dome and Hamburg's Eco House
In the afternoon, we designed our own low energy houses, incorporating passive/active strategies and guidelines for occupancy behaviour. (click on the images for full view and descriptions. Sorry for crappy quality, cell cam)

It's pretty amazing as we only had around 2 hours to plan and build the entire thing. My lovely group members cut out the foam using xacto knifes (props). Here's an extensive features list: sky lights (coverable by PV cells in summer), light tube, optimized windows (glazing and orientation), adjustable roof with solar panels, precipitation collection system (with the turbine xD), and well insulated envelope. It would be awesome if this was an actual house, I'd love to live in it.

Thursday: missed T_T woke up reeeeeeally light headed, so opt to stay home and rest.

Friday: Toured a church near Sheppard&Bayview, it's amazing as well. It has coloured glass as skylights, which is pretty and saves electricity! A whole bunch of other eco features as well (like a hydroponic living wall!). The most innovative feature was how they hide the distribution system for the HVAC, amaaaaaazing.
Played jeopardy in the afternoon, despite the questions being about stuff learned on thursday, my group still managed to win! :] I was the only one who knew the answer to final jeopardy harhar *ego*

in short, DEEP is an amaaaazing program. Definitely worthwhile!

ENV-1

First day of DEEP camp! I'm in Environmental Engineering's efficient buildings of the future.

my first impression: the buildings on the campus are so nice *u* (at least on the outside, inside's..normal).
second thought: Frick it's so hot "orz There's no AC in both of my classrooms and we made/will make quite a few trips outside.

Anyways, I learned some pretty cool stuff today. Topics of the day were why we need (energy) efficient buildings and what energy is.
Let's define energy! It is "A thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work. The most common unit is joules". Other terms I learned includes site&source energy and embodied&operational energy. The most confusing thing? converting units "orz I had to go from feet to meters to megajoules to kilowatt hours. Also from speed to calorie to joules to milliliters <_<"

Looking forward to the rest of the week haha. Civ eng seems haaaard xD

five leaves

ED of Sarai-ya Goyou, which I personally like better than the OP, but that has a better sequences..gahh.

Anyways,
good ending to the anime, everything in full circle :] Matsu's surprisingly insightful, I'll just leave it at that. People who haven't watched it yet, please do. It's not OMGWOAHTHATSAWESOME, rather it's perfectly paced and fitted together.

on the other hand, chocobo racing sucks "orz lightning dodging sucks, whatever other mini game I have to play to get ultimate weapon sucks. blaaaah.

找到你

Updates on stuff that's going on,

first off:

^that's my life for the past few days and probably will continue to be for a while. I'm notoriously slow at jrpgs. Plot's been interesting so far, I'm guessing Rikku is Yuna's cousin and Tidus will somehow get sacrificed in the final battle.

secondly:

OPI for sephora: Teal we meet again. What's with nail polishes and punny names?
Focus on the gorgeous colour of the polish instead of my poor application skills please. I need a better tool than a cottan swab to fix mistakes.

lastly:
Meant to post this with the Saiyuki post, the lyrics sorta relate.
I apologize for the bad quiality, the ones on youtube either have crappy video or crappy sound ._."


殺破狼 曲：陳忠義 詞：陳忠義 編：陳飛午/陳忠義

沉睡了千年的身體 從腐枝爰飛拑d醒
是夜鶯淒涼的歎息 解開咒語

遺忘的劍被誰封印
追隨著簫聲和馬蹄 找到你

最光榮的犧牲 是武士的宿命
揮刀的瞬間心卻在哭泣

生 是為了證明 愛 存在的痕跡
火 燃燒後更偉大的生命

殺 是為了歌 破滅前的壯麗
夜 是狼深邃眼睛 孤獨等待黎明

看不見未來和過去 分不清生死的差異
不帶走喜悅或遺憾 離開這裡

破曉和月牙在交替
我穿越過幾個世紀 只為你

櫻花瓣在飄零 這悲涼的風景
長袖揮不去一生刀光劍影

我 是否已經注定 這流離的宿命
我殘破的羽翼 直到你 是你讓我找回自己

Mango Passionfruit // Yuzu

Original plan: I wanted to eat desserts, Janice wanted to go downtown.
Modification 1: Wanted to avoid G20, so going to Eglinton for desserts.
Modification 2: More people tagged along.

Final result: La bamboche (Manor rd&Eglinton)
Out of all the lovelies available, I had a mango passionfruit macaron, yuzu (japanese lemon) macaron, and earl grey cake.

Mmmm macrons. The middle bottom one is the manga passion fruit.
The cream of the macarons are heavenly, as well as the entire earl grey cake. It's now tied as number 1 with tiramisu.

point: SO DELICIOUS <3
If you guys are ever in the area, go try one of the forementioned items. They are so worth it.

happy canada day :]