Monday, October 31, 2005

Halloween

Woke up by dad's coughing at 5:35am. Had a slight pressure/headache in my head.
Got up and cooked broccoli and cauliflower for office halloween potluck party.
I was half asleep and put in the veggie before the water was boiled, then I had to take each one of them out by hand. After it's cooked I put them in a plate that's actually too big but didn't notice it until I had put the sauce in. Then I had to carefully move them out to a smaller dish. Then I realized the mustard had actually expired last year but it smelled and tasted ok. Then I realized there's not enuf sauce and I had to make another batch, luckily I bought extra cheese and yogurt.

Then did my usual workout, only ran 33 mins.

At work, found out that I messed up my version numbers. Now, I don't know which build is which version.... spent several hrs fixing it.

Potluck was fun. A few ppl dressed up in costume. The one who won had a fake pencil staking thru his face and a sheet that says he handed in his timesheet late.
There was a lot of food, I had:
- salad, pinch of chocolate rice crisps, fried noodles with peppers and pork strips, pita sushi, rice noodle roll, chinese fried rice, pasta w/ chili sauce, marinated smoked salmon jerkys, grapes, chips, sherpherd's pie, lasagna, apple pie, ice cream, mango mousse cake (with pomelo) and spring roll.
I already controlled myself to have small portion (eg. a 1/3 of a hand, my small hand) but still felt sick afterwards.
I skipped:
- pickles, potato salad, nainamo bars, pop, raw veggie w/ dip, baby shrimps with tomato sauce and sour cream, chicken wings, scary looking green finger cookie with almond nail, cookies that look like they'r from x'mas, and chocolate candies.

Another weekend

Fri - Bday dinner
Got off work early and went to Metro. Bought Ginseng honey for dad. Since we've got too much time on our hands, we had smoothie. I had the low carb Peach smoothie, John had Mean Cappuccino with fiber boost. John's smoothie was not mean at all, almost couldn't taste the cappuccino in it. I helped John finished his, and had to throw half of mine away since it's melted and was very yucky and I was totally stuffed.

Went to a chinese restaurant famous for its abalone.
We ordered a set dinner for four. There was abalone, fish blubber, shark fin soup with crab, squab, snow peas with sth that looked like squid (actually the insides of sea cucumber). The abalone was very fresh and very chewy. I only had a quarter of it since I knew I would have a hard time digesting it. Each of us had our own big bowl of shark fin soup. Everyone said it was very nice, but I couldn't quite taste it probably because it was too hot.
For dessert, most of us had the very fresh yummy soft mango pudding (with real mango pieces inside). I also tried a lil of dad's "Mawmaw jaja". It was very nice, many different kinds of beans and papaya... I think.

After dinner, I felt really sick and had to go straight home and lie down.
I think it's because of the smoothie, may be their milk had gone bad.

Sat
Got my yearly haircut for only 16bux. 2 bux more than usual since my hair is exceptionally long due to my own tardiness. Then, went home and used the red hair dye mousse that I bought a year ago. I totally regret buying it. It's said that it'll withstand only 8 times of washing. I bought it only because it's supposed to be better for ur hair since it does not contain ammonia.

After that, I went shopping with sis. Got a vest for almost half price off, and 2 cheap cheap sport pants (buy one get the other 50% off). These 2 I just bought them for everyday wear. I will be needing more sport pants for skating, preferrably thicker pants to act as shock absorber.

Played golf with Paul and his friend, Vincent. Only played 30 balls, Paul said I did good. I just played and not think about it too much this time. Had a cup of free coffee, it was so very yummy. Saw huge rabbits, one looked like he's wearing a white scarf. They scared so very easily, couldn't even get close to them, always 10 feet away from them.

Skate Canada at 7-9pm. Watched and taped it with John, and checking out hockey scores on the side. Mira was doing much better, had a clean long program, but TSN only showed one jump of hers. Good that I know where to download her long program.

Sun
Watched "House of Wax" with John. Had bunch of junk food, nut mix, Hershey's almond chocolate, girl guides cookies, and pork chop.

Went to Save on and bought broccoli, cauliflower, and breadcrumb.

Went to skating. It is so crowded now, quite a lot of HK ppl. Next time I'm not gonna go, or maybe just go there for social reason. Saw Andrew and Philip. Actually it's not that bad, since many of the HK ppl like to just stick to the board and take group pictures. My sit spin is getting better. I can now fake one, even if i'm off balance I could just use my toepick and stick myself into the ice.

Went to Saveway and bought non-fat yogurt.

Cut broccoli and cauliflower and grate cheddar cheese.

Went to sleep at 11pm.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Something different this weekend

Sat, went volunteer with John. Basically, get to know John's assigned person. It was quite difficult, since she's having trouble with sentence structure. Most of the time I had to use Mandarin to converse with her, and found out that my mandarin is really rusty.
The volunteer took about an hour.
John bought me a real latte since they don't have decaf.
It was quite fun, having to really think how to explain things. I enjoyed it a lot.

Then, we went back to John's place. I read my "Shopaholcis and sister" while he worked out.
Later @ 5pm, we went to Stonegrill.
I had the seabass with lamb rack. It was more complicated than I would have liked. I kept worrying that my food wasn't cooked good enuf, or that it was overcooked. I really liked their portion, it was just enuf.
John had steak with stuffed chicken. The chicken was really nice.
We then ordered the apricot souffle, a cold served one. I'd never heard of a cold souffle. It was very good, like ice cream with less sugar. I especially liked the apricot syrup on the plate.
They gave us 4 small-valued coupons for use before end of November, which I'm sure we'd never have the chance to use. Seriously, it's not much of a deal to get $4 or $7 off of a $35 valued meal.

Sun
Woke up early, went to church. Sat around a bit then taped skating.
I was finally able to get Mira on Tape. Yay!!!!
Went to Aberdeen Center, originally planned to get an English Grammar book. However, I wasn't able to find anything that's good and is within 30 bux.
Instead, I bought John a Cantonese beginner book. It didn't look quite as complicated as last time I saw it.
Hanged out with John a lil then went back home and took a nap.
Then went skating, had a really good workout. My salchow seems to have improved a bit.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Movie/Wedding show/Skating

Fri nite, stayed work till 7:01pm. Got 104.9 gas, and it later dropped to 103.4.
Cancelled bubble tea plan, just stayed home, ate yummy almost thoroughly cooked chicken with corn and watched TV. Couldn't remember what I watched, probably not something interesting.

Sat, woke up early. Skipped workout cuz my right thigh muscle/cartiledge/joint hurts too much. Went to library, returned books and got new ones. Tried to find the Shopaholics 2nd book, got the 3rd one instead. Also borrowed a Heather Graham book that I had actually read before.

Went to see "The Fog" with John. It's like a TV movie, not that bad. The ending did not exactly make sense to me.
Tom Wellings was in it, but he looked so much average on big screen.

Later, had family dinner at Fisherman Terrace.
We had the set lunch for 4 ppl.
There were shark fin soup, lobster w/ satay rice noodles, scallop w/ veggie, chicken, and super yummy egg tofu w/ eggplant. As expected, we had the red bean soup, and then some sweet dumplings and almond cookies.

Afterwards, went home and had Tiramisu bday cake. It was so yummy but I was already stuffed with food and didn't feel too well.

Sun, woke up freakingly early (5:31am) and went to 8:00 church. Then, set up to tape the Marshall International skating competition. Left home at 10 and went to friend's place. We went to the annual Brockhouse wedding show together. It was fantastic!! There were so much good food.
    Appetizer
  • petite mussle w/ pastry shell appetizer

  • petite lobster w/ pastry appetizer

  • petite pastry that shaped like a fish appetizer

  • miniature crab cake

  • onion tart (puffed pastry w/ onion filling)


  • Meat
  • duck w/ couscous

  • shrimp and scallop (skipped this one)

  • tuna w/ avacado sushi

  • salmon sushi

  • california sushi

  • extremely spicy curry chicken pastry

  • rack of lamb

  • asparagus wrapped with meat


  • Drinks
  • champagne w/ half a strawberry (only had 1)

  • grapefruit fruitpunch (had 2)

  • tea, decaf coffee, coffee (only tried the decaf)


  • Desserts
  • carrot wedding cake w/ extremely tasty filling

  • tiny white chocolate cupcake

  • tiny dark chocolate brownie cupcake

  • tiny walnut chocolate brownie cupcake

  • extremely tasty cookie

  • not so good extremely sweet cookie

  • chocolate mousse

  • cheesecake

  • fruits with a chocolate (extremely bitter) fondue besides it

  • cream puff w/ strings of syrup on it (had 2 of this)

  • cake with chestnut filling (skipped this one since i had it too often)


  • Miscellaneous
  • heart shaped mint

  • cheese fondue, bread, cheese breadstick, broccoli, tomato, different kinds of cheese (only tried a small piece of bread with the cheese fondue)

My stomach was so stuffed that it's a lil painful in the end.

There was a fashion show at 1 and we stayed there till then.
Most of the models were just of average height or rather short, with one exception of a 40 or 50sth yr old lady with a 6 feet body frame and an elegant classy face.
Prizes were announced after the show. We didn't get any.
Music was fantanstic, I've got to find out what the songs were when I have time... maybe search for "French pop" in google.

After the show, went to John's place and just hanged around.

Then went home and watched an hr skating tape, then went skating.

Skating was disappointing again. I've lost the feeling that I had w/ my salchow. It was working right after I saw my coach did his, but not anymore.
But at least I got to see my skating buddy.

After skating, went home and watched Desparate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and a lil Smallville.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Currently reading

"Confessions of a Shopaholic"
It's a light and interesting read.
I can sorta identify w/ the main character, but my situation was never as serious as hers. My bank never sent me letter to ask for my cheque.
And, that phase had already passed me. I'm now much more interested in skating and living as frugal as possible than going shopping and spending all my money. Seriously, last week I was at Richmond Center and Daiso and did not buy a single thing in the end.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Something to keep in mind

Skating as an adult is a triumph of courage and physical fitness. Too often we become obsessed with what we cannot do. Reserve a moment on the ice to cherish what you can do, even if it is only stroking around the rink, for there are many people who cannot do that, whether they lack the emotional fortitude or physical capacity. Do not worry about the jump you cannot land or the three-turn that still seems awkward. For so long as a person can pursue his or her goals, the potential to achieve may be more important than the actual success. Allow the sensation of ice running under your blades to give you happiness. Skating pleasure does not have to come from goals met or tests passed. There is no true failure on the ice for adult skaters. Every moment is a victory, every stroke a joy. Treasure whatever you can do and the positive effects it has on your life.

My obsession with Salchow continues....

Having the right skate touches the ice a bit before take off is correct. However, it is not correct to just have the right leg does that and the rest of ur body still do the same thing.

It may appear that the right skate is touching the ice, but that is just a side effect. The main point is to actually have the right leg goes around, under, and up the left leg, the right leg will be getting closer and closer to the left leg. The jump happens when the right leg/thigh is right beside and above the left leg.

To do that we have to think of our body as a whole unit. My theory is that I should drop my right shoulder while swinging my right leg up, so that the axis of rotation (the rotation before the takeoff) is actually a lot more to the right.

And, don't forget what Kevin said. The right foot should be pointing towards the left while it's going around and up, i.e. lead w/ ur toes not ur heel. This will make rotation easier to happen, as ur body will follow ur foot while u swing it up and u want ur body to rotate left/CCW for the jump. I think this is also because if you're leading w/ ur toes, ur skate won't block the air, u cut right thru it. Same theory (or the alternate usage of it) y the end of paddles are flat and wide and not just a skinny stick.

Can't wait to test out all my theories!

Monday, October 10, 2005

Raining all weekend

John is suffering from a cold.
Met John's neighbour. Her cat's name is Banger (cuz he bangs into things often) and he likes to hold on to my hand and bite me when i touch him while he's lying on John's pavement.
Had "Thanksgiving dinner" on Sat with my folks minus my sis. Me and John both felt a lil sick after all that food. After supper, went home and watched hockey. It was so close, we almost won.

Went skating on Sun. Could not implement my theory (upper body twisting a lil before stepping onto the 3-turn) on Salchow, could not prevent overrotation on the straight 3-turn. However, I watched a lil skating this morning, and had another theory. Before I start the 3-turn, my weight should be going towards the back of my left skate and I should have my free leg leading, and before I jump I should have put down my free right leg on the ice a bit to facilitate the deep curve on the left leg instead of having my left foot doing all the work and twisting my ankle. But, today is Thanksgiving day, gonna be too crowded at the rink, will test it out later when I get a chance.
My skating buddy did not show up, saw Andrew tho. He told me Sasha Cohen got a gold. I had no idea.

Watched Desparate Housewives with John. Went home and watched Smallville.

Woke up at 7:10 today, not too early. Finished all my taped shows, Supernatural (totally forgot I had taped that), Alias, ending of Desparate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy.
At work during Thanksgiving, doing preparation for release tomorrow. It's all dark and no one is here. Took me a while to find the light switch....

Friday, October 07, 2005

More Skating

Kevin taught us some exercises for double loop. I think by the end of this season, I'd have learned all the double exercises but would still be doing single jump.
Kevin, being optimstic, said that next week I'll be ready for double loop. Don't I wish....


  • skate forward in a straight line with left knee raised up and in front of right leg and arms (shaped like a circle) in front, then put down left leg but keep it crossed in front of right leg and at the same time pull in arms

  • 3 backward outside edge 3-turn followed by a single loop

  • 3 backward crossovers followed by a back spin with only 2 rotations

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Game

I just got this from a friend, coincidentally this is exactly (or the simplified version of it) what we were playing at that one night in Kelowna.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Workout/brunch/Skating/TV

Sun
Woke up early, watched some skating tape, went to church.

Ran with John on the dyke. It was so windy on the way back, and it started to rain a lil. I had a good run, however, my heart didn't feel too good in the end esp when I slowed down to stop.

Afterwards, went to Milestones with UBC friends, one of them came back from HK. I had Egg Blackstone, egg benedict with spinach, bacon, and ham. Learned that she got an MBA. So many of my friends are getting MBA..... I feel useless and dumb. Oh, and also learned that another one of my friend's getting married. She was at a photo shoot and that's y she didn't show up. Ppl are so secretive, she should have at least send us an email. The egg benedicts were so small, I didn't feel anywhere near full, so I proceeded on to finish the few fried cripsy potato cubes on my plate. Bad choice! I felt sick after an hr. However, when I got home, I saw pastry and started eating again.... had the whole Napolean cake and almost a whole old wives cake. Then, I felt really bad, had to lay down in bed for 2 hrs, also because I was too cold from going outside.

After the nap, I went skating. Tried to do the step sequence that I thought I could do, turned out that I could only do half of it. Either I's not at the right position or that I plain forgot what I was going to do. No improvement on my salchow as well, after my rather straight 3-turn, I still didn't know how to deepen my inside edge to prepare for the jump.

After skating, went home and watched TV. Caught a lil of "Charmed", and watched "Desparate Housewives", "Grey's Anatomy", and the first half of "Smallville" (they r repeating it on Space channel ^^), and dropped dead in bed.

Aquarium

Sat
Went to bank with dad, put most of my money in GIC :(.... so poor now.

Went to aquarium with John. We saw tropical fishes, Beluga whale, otter critters, shark, and a lil of sea lion. There was no big octopus or killer whales, but the Beluga and the otters were extremely cute. I was so surprised that the Beluga could move their forehead like a person wringling his nose, it's as if it's about to sneeze.

Went to Aberdeen Center, bought veggie and pork wonton soup and fried pork buns, and lost my cute useful water bottle :'(. I felt like crying....

Then we went back to my place and watched TV, and the taped Nip/Tuck. We didn't enjoy it too much. John found out that I have NHL and NFL network. They were probably in the package with the TSN channel that I wanted for figure skating.
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