The first update of 2005!

Wow... There's just so much pressure to make this post really good since its been such a LONG time. May be Ken is right... and this blogging fad is going die. But I must admit, I enjoy reading about other peoples happenings. Although there are some blogs that are REALLY dry... I hope mines not like that. I want to entertain my audience and offer 'life saving health tips'... haha
But yeah it seems that all my posts start off the same way... "wow its been a while, or sorry for the lack of posts... etc...". I think I can manage one post a week, so visit every once in a while.

Anyhow it's a new year... and a new year equals change. So as you can see there's a new look for my blog. Aww yeah... still green though.... green is so awesome. What else is new... oh yeah changed my profile pic to a newer one. hmm I think thats it... Hope y'all enjoy it.

So what's been up with me? I guess I'm back from Singapore and my month of travelling. I'm back at UofT and things haven't changed a bit. It feels as if I never even left. Although I think I grew and changed a lot while abroad. Man there's so much to write about this... but I don't want to bore you. I'll just post little tid bits in each post. But its something about being away from home, away from your friends, away from all the comforts... You just learn so much about yourself and mature. I can't believe I was debating on whether or not to go on this exchange back in June/July. It was seriously an amazing experience... every part of it... I'll call this part I of the Singapore story. Here's some random pics of my adventures:


Look at that... Why buy Levis when you can buy these quality Leon Armstrong & Co. jeans? Who came up with this name anyways? Anyhow... if you haven't clued in... These are Levi's Jeans knock offs. hahaha.... may be i'm the only one that finds this funny. I found these bad boys at "Fa Yuen" Street... (if you ever want to get your very own). I wish I had a picture.... but in Thailand people were wearing and selling "Tim Hortons" t-shirts. They were selling them as if Tim Hortons was some big designer brand. I guess Canadians would be the only ones to find that odd... For my non-Canadian audience, Tim Hortons is a coffee shop (contrary to Thai belief)... for more info click here


It's a bit blurry... But this is the dessert menu at "The Boathouse" restaurant in Phuket. The restaurant was amazing! They gave out free roses to the ladies at the end of the meal... Live music, superb service, you can sit outside right by the beach, great food, super high class and best of all it was sooooo CHEAP!!! It was basically a 5-star restaurant for $10CAD. Anyhow... I'll read out what it says on the menu... The dessert is called "Black and White". The captions read "Three scoops of chocolate chips, combined with white and dark chocolate chips $160THB". Now come on?.... doesn't that sound a little overboard? haha.... thinking back... I should've ordered it just to see what it is. I think I ordered the moose.... *droool moose! sooo good! anyone know where i can get good moose in Toronto?


Check out my docks? I basically never wore them once while I was in Singapore. When time came to take them out of my suitcase (about 5 months never opening my suitcase)... They were all moldy inside and out... and there were these little tiny critters crawling on it. So nasty! I threw them out and bought a new pair in Hong Kong. haha! I guess its constanly humid and hot in my room in Singapore. I had no A/C! just a window with no screen.... stupid mosquitos and gekos.


Here's a picture of my feet. I'm chilling at a beach in Phuket watching a pretty sunrise.... ok ok who am I kidding.... it was a sunset... haha no way can i wake up for a sunrise. Costs about $200THB to rent a chair and umberella. The water was crystal clear but really salty so it was kinda odd swimming in it. The sand was perfect and soft. The beaches in Thailand are paradise! hehe... I guess the worst part of this was the week after. I didn't wear any sunblock and my entire body was sunburned. My face, neck, earlobes, arms, legs, body, etc... were all peeling! I seriously looked like I was diseased. I would sneak up behind my friends and scare them!.... haha so funny....


This is pizza I ate in Japan. Instead of bread dough, they use diced cabbage. Instead of tomato sauce they use egg. Instead of cheese its some flaky onion fried stuff topped with japanese mayonaise and some sort of brown sauce (not sure what). And no peperoni, cheese or the standard american stuff. They use shrimp, seafood, veggies, etc... And instead of baking it.... you fry it youself infront of you on a tapenaki grill. Sounds kinda gross eh? But it was sooo tasty! If you go to Japan... you must try it. I must thank Carman (a UofT exchange student in Japan) for treating me and suggesting it. Haha... we kept talking about the business idea of starting up a restaurant in Toronto selling this stuff. Anyone want to invest in my restaurant? haha.... i'm serious........!


This was near a washroom in Kamakura, Japan. I thought it was a pretty garden. My garden in front of my house will look like this one day (minus the washroom sign). Japan was so peaceful and beautiful. Wow... breathless.

Ok I think thats enough pictures for now. Here's some video action for you:

1) Click here to download. This is a video taping of a Christmas tree on Orchard road in Singapore. They had some CRAZY Christmas trees over there. But this one takes first prize. The thing dances... A dancing Christmas tree?!?! Those crazy Singaporeans... I think there's a little person inside underneath the tree peddling to make it move.... haha

2) Click here to download. Check out this crossing in Japan. Its in Shinjuku... near Kabuki Cho (the largest red-light district in the world). They say this is one of the busiest crossings in the workd. 1500+ people cross this streat every light change. The cool thing is when the light changes... you can cross diagonally, and across. So efficient. I went during a non-busy time... but this was the best shot i got.

3) Click here to download. Daniel Beddingfield + Delerious?!?!?! According to Ken....what an odd combination. But I think this is a great song! Its called "Every Little Thing". Listen to it to make yourself feel sad and depressed. haha... It's off their new CD "World Service". Best one yet.

Ok I think thats enough story telling for now. More next week!

To conclude this excellent post.... Here's some interesting stuff you might want to read about:

1) Check out this very truthful and accurate article. Click here If you are lazy... this is the title of the article... "Women Lack 'Natural Ability' In Math and Sciences, Harvard President Says" Hahaha...

2)

Randy Moss is one of my favourite players in the NFL. I was really disappointed when Minnesota was knocked out. But if you haven't heard the story. Randy Moss was fined $10,000 by the NFL for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay fans after a touchdown during Minnesota's playoff win. This was his response to the fine:
Reporter: "Write the cheque yet, Randy?"
Moss: "When you're rich you don't write cheques."
Reporter: "If you don't write cheques, how do you pay these guys?"
Moss: "Straight cash, homey."
Reporter: "Randy, are you upset about the fine?"
Moss: "No, cause it ain't [expletive]. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't [expletive] … Next time I might shake my [expletive]."
Randy Moss is hilarious!

3) Here's some interesting stuff I got out of a health article I read... basically copy and paste...: What would happen if you married your cousin? "The real question is what would happen if you two had a kid. There's about a 5 percent chance of infant death, miscarriage, or assorted birth defects when first cousins pair up - double the chance for those in the general population says Wayne Grody, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medical genetics at the UCLA school of medicine. The reason: First cousins share one-eighth of their genes, so there's a greater chance of two abnormal genes for the same trait coming together. Second cousins and those who are further removed run no greater risk than any other couple. But with only one family at the wedding, you'd recieve far fewer presents."

4) From the same article... What would happen if I threw a penny off the empirestate building? "If it fell perfectly, the penny would reach close to 210 miles per hour. But this isn't a perfect world. "The penny would somersualy like crazy" says Lou Bloomfield, Ph.D., author of How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life". It would reach terminal velocity - when the downward and upward forces are equal - meaning it'd max out at about 50mph. If it hit you on your head, it would hurt, but you could also catch the sucker if you tried. A pen, on the other hand, would fall like a javelin at 200mph.

Phew.... ok thats it. Come back next week. It sure is nice to be back in Toronto with all my friends....