when i was growing up, i never expected the day would come when i would have to say goodbye to yvonne, my only sister. well, she's been accepted to the psychology department at ubc to do her master's and phd, starting next week, and her flight was scheduled for today.
when i got to the airport, i thought i would be ok, but then when it came time for yvonne to board, it was an emotional moment. i started to think back to the innocent days during our childhood, and the time we spent growing up together. sure, she's still in the same country, and she'll visit approximately every 6 months, but it just won't be the same without her around.
yvonne manages to brighten everyone's day, and her enthusiasm is infectious. she's managed to make a difference in so many people's lives, and i hope her research in the area of early childhood learning disabilities will benefit many, many children in the future. she also knows how to have fun (okay, maybe sometimes TOO much fun) and she's a great person to talk to ... we've spent countless hours talking to each other over the years, and the advice she has given me has always been thoughtful and valuable. she's been a source of inspiration to me over the years and i'm really proud to have her as a sister.
yvonne, good luck in the future and best wishes in pursuing your dreams. i believe in you!
finally got around to watching collateral today. it's not as good as everyone made it out to be ... most of the movie focuses on the interplay between cruise and foxx's characters, and the suspense doesn't really start until the last half-hour ... i'd give the movie a passing score, but nothing more than average.
also, just wanted to say thanks to my bros vince, doug and thomas for their support and advice during a difficult time in my life that i'm going through right now. thanks guys.
at long last, we finally returned to the good old korean bbq restaurant at midland and finch after a 5-month hiatus. it's always great to return there, not just for the food, but just to see the old waterloo crowd again. time has really flown by - most of the people i know who are still at uw are either doing their phds or starting as profs!
anyways, good old stu came prepared this time by only eating a half-bag of potato chips and something else small (i can't remember the something else) for brunch. he, along with roy, shattered the old 3-hour mark, and established a new record of 3 hours and 10 minutes. (ashif was ill recently, or i'm sure he would have taken a run at the record as well.)
i've always wondered how the owners of the korean bbq place feel when they see stu walk in the door - i'd be quite surprised if they don't recognize him by now. the great thing about korean bbq is that there are no time limits on meals, like the ones enforced by the new japanese buffet places popping up in markham. it'd be hilarious (but also a real shame) if the restaurant created a new time limit just because of stu, roy and the others.
myself? i ate quite slowly (didn't have much of an appetite) and quit after 90 minutes. i'm clearly not in the same league as the waterloo carnivores ...
and lastly, stu has started scraping the grill again, just when i thought he had given it up! however, he doesn't scrape as thoroughly as he used to with the metal tongs. he only scrapes with his chopsticks and eats small pieces of charcoal ... but still ...
after hearing all the rave reviews about jonathan demme's remake of the manchurian candidate, i figured i had to go see it. so, i went after work today. all i can say is ... this is the best movie i've seen so far this year. it had me captivated from start to finish, and left me with a chilling, harrowing feeling at the end.
there's one thing i didn't understand about the movie, though:
***BEGIN SPOILER ALERT*** (i know this isn't much of a spoiler alert, but it will have to do)
how were shaw and marco able to break free of the hypnosis during the climax? the hypnosis seemed pretty effective in getting shaw to kill the senator and his daughter, and all this occurred AFTER shaw's implant had been removed by marco. it's quite possible that i missed something.
***END SPOILER ALERT***
i guess i should also rank the movies i've seen so far this year:
this list will probably change when hero comes out next friday, and/or if i get around to watching collateral ...
today was the day of the hart house singers' summer concert, titled summer airs and love affairs. it was supposed to be in the great hall in hart house, but as there was an event taking place at queen's park around the same time which was quite noisy, the concert was moved to the chapel in trinity college. once again, it rained just before the concert, but fortunately this time i was indoors. it was very strange, because at 1pm the sky was totally clear and it didn't look at all like it was going to rain.
due to reasons unknown, yours truly wound up standing in the middle of the front row for the entire performance. <aaargh! stage fright!> fortunately, the conductor was standing almost directly in front of me, so i was partially shielded from view.
i felt that our programme for this concert was a little rushed and we didn't have enough time to prepare. it might been better if we had eliminated one or two songs from the programme and concentrated on polishing up the remaining pieces. however, the concert went quite well and there were no noticeable screw-ups ... at least not until the third-last song when i found out i was off by about a bar towards the end. i have no idea if anyone noticed ... i'll have to listen to the concert CD to find out ...
i'm sure that most hockey fans out there know that the current collective bargaining agreement between the nhl and their players' association is set to expire soon, and without a new agreement, there will be no 2004-05 nhl season. i'll offer my 2 cents worth on the labour wars some other day. what i did want to mention today is that the rival world hockey association, revived by bobby hull after it ceased operations in 1979, is trying to take advantage of this potential work stoppage in the nhl by offering hockey fans a more exciting brand of "professional" hockey.
one look at the wha will tell you that they are anything but professional. they plan to start their inaugural season in less than 3 months, yet not a single player has been signed, and only one coach and one GM have contracts. i suppose the wha's players don't need a training camp, because no one has mentioned anything about a preseason. they only have 6 teams, yet they are planning on playing a 76-game schedule - do they still think these are the days of the original six? toronto was offered a franchise but will probably have to fold because they can't find a stadium to play in. hamilton appears set to suffer the same fate. personally, i wouldn't be surprised if the league folded without playing a single game.
while i applaud their efforts to generate more offense (their ideas include the elimination of the centre red line, 3-on-3 overtime with shootouts and 3 points for a win), their non-hockey people don't seem to have any idea how to run this business. in 1992, mario lemieux called the nhl a "garage league". maybe he should have reserved his comments for the 2004 wha ...