Tsunami update

When I woke up this morning, the radio said that the toll was 120,000. I just checked again and the latest update is 135,000. Such a tragedy and it is far, far from over.

117,000

The latest numbers have crept up...

In my own life, I went out for dinner with my sister and our cousin and his family to a Japanese restaurant in Metrotown. We were all so stuffed. Yummy. 2 days in a row. My sister did the all-you-can-eat portion; we all encouraged her to keep on eating since she's going to miss sushi for 8 months when she goes back to school!

I'm popping by P's work tonight after I get off; we'll hang out a little bit and then he'll drive me home. Tomorrow night will be my shift on the MV Britannia. I have been assigned to the "wild" party cruise so if it's anything like I recall last year, it will be one heck of a night. Shift starts at 6:30 and goes til 1:30 but I anticipate a 1.5-2 hour cleanup and disembarkation period. Plus I'll be working tomorrow during the day as well...

100, 000

The latest in the papers lists 100,000 as the death toll from the southeast Asia tragedy. An update from CNN lists 116,000 as the current number. :(

post-Christmas happenings

Around the world, the biggest news to hit has been the massive earthquake out in the ocean that has affected so many countries from Thailand, to Indonesia, to India, to Tanzania and Malaysia. The earthquake resulted in tsunamis that have ended so many lives. The count is currently at 80,000 (45,000 in Indonesia alone) but they expect this number to rise, and fear is great for those who have survived who now face polluted water and not enough food. Such a tragedy! It happened on Boxing Day, but I didn't even hear about it until the next morning.

As for my little life in comparison, after getting off work at noon on Christmas eve, P. came to pick me up and we headed over to Aria for the lunch that I promised him. It was quite an amusing and relaxing lunch although part of it was due to him goofing around with our waiter. It was a bit misty out and after lunch, I hadn't decided what to do when I suddenly thought of visiting the aquarium. It was a good choice as there were absolutely no crowds. I was still feeling a bit out of sorts with one ear mostly plugged for a good portion of the day. We watched the beluga show and then watched as they did a graceful ballet underwater. Finally, we left and he got me home about the same time that I normally would have if I had been working! (This was definitely a better way to spend the day though...!) He handed me a huge gift - a bag of Marks & Spencer goodies. In return, I gave him a sampler of tea bags (since we had discussed going for tea earlier and never did do so.) I had wrapped the box up in plain paper seeing as I had only had the bright idea to buy that for him ON Christmas eve morning. I decorated the paper with lyrics of Christmas songs we had referred to in our email correspondance. Then I went home, ate dinner and went to bed early as I was feeling completely wiped.

Christmas morning: Woke up all throughout the night - haven't been sleeping well at all with this illness, unwrapped a couple of presents from P. He gave me a box of tea as well! But his were tea leaves from M&S. Then when I actually got up, it was already around 9:30 and raining and we unwrapped our presents around the tree. I didn't get very many so it wasn't like I had a whole lot of reason to get up early. My sister got me a DVD - Serendipity. I liked this movie so much when I first watched it; I watched it twice in a row - the second time with the commentary. Now I can watch it over and over...if I can find the time!

Christmas dinner was spent at my godmother's house. A good time overall but found her friends (a couple) were quite loud and I was still partially deaf! The kids (moi included) played DDR2 against one another. I thought I wasn't that bad but apparently I was! My sister danced against me and we both scored "D"s.

Boxing Day: Up and at it early to go to see the TCM doctor, NOT to go shopping, although I managed to squeeze that in while my mom had her appointment. It was another rainy day but the sun showed by the time we were heading home in the afternoon. Metrotown was pretty crowded but I still think that Boxing Day isn't such a big deal anymore due to many reasons: good sales throughout the year, sales on Boxing day aren't that fantastic, some companies also start selling online and promoting the same Boxing day sales online, people have become less materialistic. Ha. Just kidding on the last one. I picked up a couple of things from H20+ and Chapters but that was it. In the afternoon, I went with my sister to www.plum.ca where I snagged a sheer shirt that I had been eyeing during the summer. It had gone on sale in the summer but when I went, they were sold out. This one must have been a left over from somewhere - and bonus, it was 50% off! Then we swung by Winners where I picked up a beautiful photo album with a genuine leather binding made in Italy that retails for well over $100 but was on sale for $43. I got it knocked down further to $39 because some of the velum sheets were crushed. Then I went home and crashed.

Day after boxing day: Went to the local mall to check out the sales. My sister had gone snowboarding and taken the car so my only chance of heading out was before my dad went to work in the afternoon. Picked up a couple of things and then went home and napped. For some reason, I have not been sleeping well during this illness. It was a gorgeous sunny and a bit foggy day. Watched a part of Mystic River. Good mystery...

Yesterday: Tried to sleep in again on another gorgeous day. Morning was rushed as I tried to get a few things done before we headed out. I had an acupuncture appointment at 1pm, and my mom had hers at 2:30. My sister dropped us off so she could get her hair cut. When she collected us, we went to Oakridge where we shopped some more. Disappointing sales to say the least. Then as we were running late, they dropped me off at P.'s office where I had to sit and wait until he finished up. He was an hour late but thankfully, I only had to wait about half an hour since I had been running late as well.

We went for a Japanese dinner out in Richmond. I hadn't had anything to eat since noon and by the time we ate, it was around 7:00 so I was starving. I slowly and carefully chewed my way through my food as the acupuncturist had suggested I do so I let him do all the talking. When we were leaving, a little kid in a family of 4 was making some comments to his parents. P. had to be mouthy and said something. To my shock and surprise, the kid responded right away with, "I wasn't talking to you!" I couldn't figure out if I should have laughed (since P. deserved it) or whether I was appalled at the manners/temper of the boy.

We were close enough to Steveston so we drove that way and parked and walked. We were in complete darkness except for the full moon and some lights from the parking lot. Walked our way through the flats and found a large rock to sit down on. It was super cold out but felt warmer when we sat down. We chatted about a variety of things - from the meaning of life to practical jokes at Christmas. And he held my hand.

christmas eve

I have to say that this has been one of the most memorable Christmas' ever and it isn't because it's been brilliant. I've been sick, my parents are both sick, and my sister is probably trying really hard to stay at the edge of it all. The only good thing about today is that we got off work at noon. Am waiting for my ride and then I hope to spend the rest of tonight resting up at home. I had to miss the family Christmas dinner last night as I was just not feeling up to it. My godmother invited us over to her home for Christmas day dinner so I'm excited to go, only wishing I felt a bit better. This is such a hard time of year for her as my godfather had only passed away in early spring. I want to be there to support her, and because she's such a strong and awesome lady.

Grey and misty out at the moment...I figure it'll be a wet Christmas but that's what you get living on the west coast. Hmm...I DO look forward to opening up my presents tomorrow morning though! :D

christmas blues

I'm feeling about the same as I did yesterday - sometimes super sleepy, but I could hear this morning. Then a couple of hours into the day, my ear started plugging up again. :( So I've been a bit deaf today. I cancelled dinner dates with various friends both yesterday and today. I don't know if I can make the lunch on Friday since we have our family dinner tomorrow night and I don't even know if I can do that! (mom's side). I'll try to crash early tonight even though my sister is arriving back from Pittsburgh. Sleep. I need it badly.

winter solstice

Finally. The shortest day of the year. I can look forward to longer days now. Holly Cole turned out to be an event...or a chain of incidents that were mishaps. I waited for my date at one entrance - he at the other. So we were both wondering where the other person was. The usher asked if I had my ticket and I said no, that I was wating for someone. He asked whether I was to meet at this entrance. It was then that I said I didn't know there was more than one entrance! So I ran out around the block to the other side where my date stood waiting anxiously for me to show since it was just about 8pm. We ended up not even sitting in our assigned seats but shoved ourselves into the aisle seats. I think we were in someone else's seats...they showed up late and almost beside me. I say 'almost' because my belongings had happily claimed the seat next to me. At intermission, we moved to the lobby where I ran into a colleague from another firm. We parted ways and sat down where we were assigned. Much better seats (centre) but unfortunately, I ended up having to lean to the side so I could see past the guy's head. Holly Cole herself was ok - really confirmed that she wasn't my type of singer. Good voice when she actually sang rather than 'rapped'.

At the end, she was signing autographs so we lined up; he bought her CD. We waited in line for a good 20 min. as she had to give backstage tours. She signed her generic "Much Love, Holly Cole" and handed back the CD. I gave it back to her and asked if she'd write down his name. She did. He thanked me. I guess he was a little star struck or something.

We went back to the car to find that he had been given a ticket just a few minutes earlier. If we hadn't waited for the autograph, we would have been fine. So that was that.

This past weekend, I worked on a private charter. Simple bar shift. Unfortunately, not much tip either. But it was fine because it wasn't raining. Sunday was spent waiting for my date, P, who was ultra late. He didn't notice the time and ended up having to rush down to pick me up. We headed to Brackendale to do some eaglewatching. The one nice day of December it seems so far. Gorgeous and sunny but of course by the time we got there, the sky had clouded over (them mountains you know) and it was starting to get dark. We did spend a little bit of time watching the ones sitting on the sandbar and in the trees. This is the first time that I've seen spotted eagles, and SO many eagles all at once. There were maybe 20-30? I overheard a lady say that this was nothing compared to what she's seen in the past. It was cold so we left and drove around Squamish a bit before heading over to Grouse for dinner. That was a surprise. He said casual place...the Observatory is far from casual. Dinner was late - we sat down at 7:30 and the place was full too on a Sunday night. We didn't get our main course til 8:20. Was delicious. I had scallops. He had earl grey tea braised lamb. We had a chocolate dessert and left around 10pm after we took a photo by the tree - his request. I haven't quite made up my mind on P; very, very smart guy but is it possible to be too smart for me? Ironically, when he tried to figure out where I worked, it turns out that our firm sent him some letters for a bank and he ended up having to pay legal fees for 4 letters; indirectly, he paid my salary! We're supposed to get together again, possibly Christmas eve for lunch.

holly cole and the vso

I didn't see them on the water, but I spotted two eagles sitting on a cargo container down by the docks. I almost missed them too but happened to glance up at that moment. Both had taken a corner of the box. Not sure what this all means, but at the association luncheon today, the vendors had a raffle for prizes. One woman won THREE prizes; there were only about 7 so it really sucked. First, she won a nice fleece vest and cup, then they drew her name for a $100 gift certificate to Sears, and THEN, they drew her name for $150 cash! I could not believe it. She couldn't either. And she wasn't even a member of the association... I couldn't believe that they didn't have some sort of rule saying that you can only win once. I normally don't win at these things so it isn't too big a deal for me, but two more/different people could have won prizes. (Not only did she win the $150, there were 3 prize draws for cash - $25, $50, and $150 by the vendor and of course she got the top prize.) Argh. Looks like someone's guide is looking out for her.

I'm going to Holly Cole and the VSO at the Orpheum tonight. Hope it's a good show. While I'm not a major jazz fan, I do hear she's good. :)

bird spotting

A brief note that I saw my eagle perched on a pile-on facing east. Also, during the staff meeting, a seagull flew and landed on the ledge outside the meeting room and sat down, then screeched 12 times. Later, it got up and screeched 6 more times before it flew off.

eastern eagle

I also spotted an eagle sitting and facing east on the way to work on the train on Monday. East means: healing, creativity, illumniation, divination, and intition, new birth and sunshine, new learnings, strength of will, communication, expression of new.

breakout misery

For some strange reason, I got really itchy on Monday night and wound up scratching myself all day long on Tuesday. I ended up with red welt marks all over my torso and I was still itching terribly. When I got home and showed my mother, she freaked out and told me to put on calamine lotion on me. I couldn't sleep last night either. We suspect that it has to do with some food I ate but I can't really pin it down. I itched all day long although my mom said the marks were better. Went to the doctor who said it was some allergic reaction and told me to take benadryl. This sucks so bad especially since I'm heading off to Seattle tomorrow and the doctor told me to stay away from swimming so no hot tubs either. :(

holiday festivities

Christmas season is starting and things are quite busy at work. I can't believe I haven't even written for over a week. Last Friday was my firm's formal dinner and we 'hired' a former prime minister to come give her speech. Dinner was splendid as usual at the Four Seasons. I went over to a co-worker's place to change - beautiful condo smack downtown, across from work. But it was pouring and we tried to call and get a cab and couldn't get through. At the party, I met others who did call cabs but they ended up having to wait 20 minutes. So we trekked out on the streets while I walked gingerly with my long dress in one hand and the other holding the umbrella. Thank goodness the walk was relatively short.

I saw my old boss and met my new one's 'partner' (opposite sex but I guess they're doing the common law thing.) My old boss got all nosy and asked whether J. was from here. I guess she thought maybe my ex had come to the dinner. Man, I wish she'd leave me alone on that. She started grilling us on how we met. I knew it. And I know she's going to keep asking questions at the next luncheon!

These dinners do tend to be the same after a while though. Same old. Ah well. The last one for me at this company.

Weekend was alright.