sidekick sonia

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savour) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~ E.B. White

posted by Sonia @ 11:07 p.m. 0 comments

The spacebaron my keyboard at work isn’tworking properly. The result isthat I’m getting all these horrible typosinmy emails and Word documents. Either that, or ittakes meforevertowriteasentence because I haveto go backand fixit every coupleofwords.See!?! It’s getting worse and worse asItype! I needtofind anewkeyboard...

What I’m really trying to say is:

The space bar on my keyboard at work isn’t working properly. The result is that I’m getting all these horrible typos in my emails and Word documents. Either that, or it takes me forever to write a sentence because I have to go back and fix it every couple of words. See!?! It’s getting worse and worse as I type! I need to find a new keyboard...

posted by Sonia @ 3:37 p.m. 2 comments

Mountains, hills, they're all called "san". ~ L.M. Dong
(my dad)

Family History Lesson No. 1

The marriage of my parents was a semi-arranged affair. His real mom and dad having passed away when he was quite young, my dad travelled to Canada with his adopted mother c.1967, the last year the Leafs won the cup. After completing his high school credits and finishing up his tech diploma at George Brown College, he wanted to settle down, so my grandma checked around with all the other ladies in Chinatown to find out if they had any relatives with whom she could set dad up with.

The result was that my dad was introduced to my mom through my great-grandmother (my mom's grandmother), whom my grandma had met way back when they both lived in China. At the time, my mother was still living in Hong Kong, having raised my aunt and uncle to adulthood by herself since the age of 14 (mom's mother had passed away that year, and her dad had gone to Brazil and wasn't ever able to come back...a story for another day).

Mom and dad exchanged pictures and letters in the usual way, gauging their interest for each other. My mom was able to come to Canada in 1974. They had a pretty winter wedding, and they've been together ever since.

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Family History Lesson No. 2

Sitting down to dinner yesterday, us kids decided to inquire into our family history a bit more. Already knowing that dad likes to, let's just say, "elaborate" while telling his stories, we were firmly duped.

Kids: So, dad, how far away was mom's family's village from your family's village?
Dad: Oh, it was far, very far away. Over a mountain it was.
Kids: We know how you and mom met, but how did grandma (dad's side) come to know great-grandmother (mom's side)?
Dad: Your grandma used to live in the village next to your mom's family.
Kids: Does that mean she travelled over the mountain to find grandpa?
Dad: No.
Kids: So how did they meet?
Dad: Grandpa came over the mountain to see her. He travelled so very far. Then he brought her back over the mountain.
Kids: Wow, that must've taken a long time. Did they ride on horses or mules, or have a carriage to sit in?
Dad: Of course not! We walked everywhere in those days!
Kids: So how many days/weeks did it take to travel over the mountain?
Dad: Oh, about 2 and a half hours.
Kids: Per day?
Dad: No, in total.
Kids: What? That's not very far at all. That's not a mountain, that's a hill!
Dad: Mountains, hills, same thing.
Kids: No, it's not the same at all! You made it sound like it was an epic journey for grandpa to bring his bride home!
Dad: It's more interesting that way. Mountains, hills, same thing. It's all the same in Chinese. Mountains, hills, they're all called "san".

posted by Sonia @ 1:02 p.m. 1 comments

Ride the Rocket - The Better Way. ~ Toronto Transit Commission

Here goes my transit tirade...it was inevitable...

I’m a big supporter of public transit. I’m very happy that I get to sit on the subway or GO train, sleeping or reading on the way to work. I mean, who wants to idle on the DVP or 401 for an hour (at least) each sleepy morning and another hour after a hard day’s work? Or watch not only cyclists, but pedestrians pass by while trying to squeeze into the adjacent lane because of construction up ahead? Or deal with those insensitive drivers who fail to signal, blame it on you, then throw their empty coffee cups out their window towards your windshield?

Not me.

However, there ARE a few things that bother me about public transit...pet peeves, really, but I’m beginning to notice that these things are bothering me more and more.

So, if you’re ever thinking of taking public transit, or if you’re already a transit-goer, take note of the following, because I might just blow up with Rocket rage one of these days!

Top 5 Transit Transgressions

1. Not getting up for elderly, pregnant or disabled people - What happened to common courtesy???

2. Wearing backpacks – Take the backpack off and hold it in front of you or set it on top of your feet – this takes up much less room and greatly reduces the risk of knocking over the kid behind you and giving him a concussion when you turn around!

3. Leaving the newspaper on the seat or floor – Yes, I suppose I can give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're leaving copies of the Metro around so that passengers succeeding you can read the paper too...but I’m really not that optimistic. People are just lazy. Put the papers into the recycling bins! Chinatown is dirty? Look at the subway!

4. Standing in front of the exit door when there is no need – If the train/bus/streetcar isn’t crowded and you’re not getting off at the next stop, MOVE. You’re in the way of both incoming and outgoing passengers.

5. Not wearing deodorant – Enough said.

posted by Sonia @ 4:58 p.m. 1 comments

I miss James, but I can't call him becuase he's in Minnesota. He's been there for the last five days, training with the IT geeks down at head office. I know, I'm generalizing. They're probably not all geeks - it's just more fun to imagine that they are. I'm sure they're nice people - actually, I know they are because they're throwing a bbq for James as I blog!

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Summerlicious is here! Yay! Yummy food priced affordably at nice restaurants. What's not to like about that?

I hope I'll have the opportunity to go eat with some good company (nudge nudge, wink wink)...

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Now all I can think about is food...

I can't eat because it's too late. I'll just feel gross if I go to sleep right after eating - it's like I'm asking to become rounded at my waist - and I'll feel even more guilty about paying those monthly fees for my much under-used gym membership than I already do.

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I was at this function with James last weekend - a cocktail party in the home of one of his colleagues. Sounds very chi chi, doesn't it? Well, it was. That house was really, really super-nice, and beautifully furnished too (everything shipped up from Los Angeles!). Anyway, there were all these people there that I wouldn't have expected to be there: the Russian painter, the hairdresser, the personal fitness trainers. And we spoke to these people, the usual small-talk, because that's what people do at cocktail parties. James and I aren't fans of this "small-talk", but I can do a decent job, and on occassion I can even get right into it, if the mood strikes.

However, the mood didn't strike that night when one of the personal trainers started talking to us:

Trainer: Do you have a gym membership?
Me: Of course!
Trainer: Do you use your membership?
Me: Of course!
Trainer: That's good, that good. Most people don't. Don't you think that's a waste of money?
Me: Of course!

What a load of crap! Shortly after this exchange I came up with an excuse to go to the bar.

---

Time for bed. I'm done with my random ramblings for the moment. I'm probably not making much sense anymore anyways...

posted by Sonia @ 1:08 a.m. 1 comments

One of the poets from the reading I went to (see blog from yesterday - no, I'm not a pretentious art-fart) said that writing about difficult, sad and otherwise negative moments is more interesting than writing about happy moments. I've always approached writing with a similar mindset - I mean, I don't know if the negative moments in my life are very interesting to other people, but writing about these events allows me to vent out my frustation in what (I believe) is a less stressful and less annoying (at least to my friends, who don't have to listen to me go on and on) way to "let go" of problems/issues.

So what about the happy moments? Are they really less interesting? Well, I don't know...I guess I'm just selfish and want to keep all those memories to myself. Maybe I'm just not into sharing...

There are other reasons too, I suppose, for not shouting out to the world that I've got it good and that I'm happy and in love: I don't like making others feel like I'm boasting or competing for "happiness points" and I also find it tough to write about happy events (especially when they pertain to love) without sounding super, super cheesy.

I also think that those who are around me a lot know whether I'm happy or not, anyway. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about my relationship here (one that has recently passed the one year mark in happiness). I know he knows I love him. I know that he loves me too. It's really just as simple as that. Why get complicated?

As he said to me, may our story be one that never ends...

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Cheesiness surfacing...must go...

posted by Sonia @ 12:31 a.m. 0 comments

I went to a poetry reading today.

Not suspecting that I would be chosen, I entered a contest to win tickets to attend a reading by poets who were shortlisted to win the Griffin Poetry Prize.

I won.

Initial reaction: Yay! I won something!

(Right now you're thinking: geez, this girl is some crazed artsy-fartsy type who's going to go on and on about poetic form, provide you with some pretentious review of the poets' works, then tell you who she thinks should win the prizes and why, etc, etc. You are SO wrong...)

A couple minutes later: Ummm...what am I going to do? I don't know much about poetry at all! I mean, there are some poems that I like, but I might be totally lost in there. I'd feel quite silly then, wouldn't I?

---

I went to the poetry reading with my sister. I saw her dose off a couple times, but I stayed awake. I actually liked the experience as a whole, and even liked and appreciated (with my limited knowledge) some of the poems. Of course, a great deal went over my head, but hey, it was something new and it was free, so I'm not complaining.

Here's part of a poem that I enjoyed:

Whatever you meant to love, in meaning to
You changed yourself: you are not who you are,

Your soul cut moment to moment by a blade
Of fresh desire, the ground sown with abandoned skins.
And at your inmost circle, what? A core that is

Not one. Poor fool, you are divided at the heart,
Lost in its maze of chambers, blood, and love,
A heart that will one day beat you to death.

~Excerpted from “Monologue for an Onion” published in Notes from the Divided Country: Poems by Suji Kwock Kim.

posted by Sonia @ 11:50 p.m. 0 comments