So cute! I can't help myself

As a person who reads many (many!) articles about celebrities - please don't judge, it's my guilty pleasure, I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate my unhealthy habit into a career haha - I have to admit there is one person who I LOVE to see everytime. I love the way she dresses, her haircuts, and she can do no wrong in my book.

Look at her! Don't you just wanna pick her up and hug and play with her? Maybe it's prejudice because I still react the exact same way to cute dogs I see on the street, but I like her more than Brangelina's kid, whose name has escaped me because of my reaction to this picture.

SO CUTE!

Morning Smile

I got to work pretty early this morning, so decided to go to Rabba and get some grub for the day (to avoid eating junk food).

I walked in at 8am, and there was a pair of thug-looking guys that walked in right behind me - they were talking tough, dressed in "ghetto" wear... I left them to go get my soy milk, and walking back I saw them debating loudly over some food item - I walked closer and realized it was yogurt, and they were arguing over which one had more "probiotic bacteria" and therefore was better for them.

Yet again I learn... don't judge a book by its cover. Or that yogurt marketing is damn powerful.

Ummm... Yemen? Sup wit dat?

Ok, so reading this article today on CNN - disturbing. I have to admit I don't know much about Yemen, outside of that borderline annoying Friends episode where Chandler tries to move away from Janice.

But c'mon!!! Letting your pre-pubescent daughter get married to a 30 year old, knowing he was going to attempt to consummate the marriage and had a violent streak. Where is that considered acceptable?! No matter what the age, why would you ever give your CHILD over to that kind of situation?!

I'm outraged and disgusted, and selfishly thankful that I was born into a normal, democratic and first world country.

But above all, power to this strong, amazing little feminist for standing up for herself and getting a divorce at 8 years old!

I'm a lover, not a fighter

Ahh, a quote from one of MJ's cheesiest (cheesiest!) songs sums up my entry today.

I do not like conflict!

I really realized this yesterday, when 2 of my friends were exhanging sarcastic comments - they of course were not serious about it, but I could not handle even the possibility that they meant what they were saying. Everytime a situation comes up that has potential to turn into a confrontation, I feel incredible uncomfortable and tense and need to either get rid of the confrontation or leave. It's kinda that same feeling I get when I watch American Idol and someone is butchering a song and I just cannot watch because I feel so bad for them.

I don't think of this feeling as a weakness - why should avoiding confrontation be considered a bad thing?? I find most of my friends who DO look for it end up with needless drama in their lives, and that's not an admirable quality.

Buuuut I have to say a few exceptions exist to this disposition. First: if you are a drunk girl at a club, getting into my dancing space and starting to annoy me, I will call you on it. And then may or may not nudge you out of my space. And then may nudge you harder... you get the point, just don't do it. Second: my relationship with my mom (all regular rules go out the window :)

Carrie Underwood - Praying For Time - Idol Gives Back 2008

This has been playing on my iPod over and over for the past week... wow

Auto Trader Commercial - Woman leaves Husband.

Ah! My friend Jake (a.k.a. Ryan) is in a commercial... a man of few words but it's still hilarious :)

Burn out or just lazy?

My bro recently came back from a really nice vacay in Cancun - he had just spent 8 months straight at work, with most of those managing a project that was launching right before his trip. Needless to say, he was burnt out and needed the time to relax.

The funny thing is, when he got back from his trip, he still had the same "burned" feeling - he had no refreshed feeling, didn't even feel as if he had ever left! I started questioning my own trips, and realized that I almost never feel that refreshed feeling ever - in fact, I end up feeling worse coming back because there is the fresh memory of ultimate happiness.

Don't get me wrong, I get that I will not be on vacation for my whole life - I don't even want to be! And although I know that the natural judgment is that of laziness, but when I really like to do something, I know I put the work in and enjoy investing my time. Am I asking too much, or even something unrealistic, to like my job? And not feeling this constant burn out and dread when thinking about my Mondays? Is it only a lucky few that get to combine their passions with a job - are the rest of us stuck in simply a "whatever makes us money" position?

Ring Around the R-Rated Rosie

So I've been showing my age recently - I've been condemning the "young people these days" and comparing them to "the good old days when I was a teenager"... you'd think I was a grandma already. But my reaction to the following story in appropriate! Seriously!

It wasn't told directly to me, but happened to a father not long ago... he has 2 young teenage daughters (something like 14, 15) and left them at home for an evening. On his way to his event, he realized he forgot something at home and went back to get it. He noticed a few extra cars in the driveway, and came in and saw that the group was in the basement. He walked in on this little scene: 3 boys sitting in a circle, facing out with their pants off. 3 girls, including his daughters, standing in front of the boys, singing "Ring around the Rosie, a pocket full of posies, blah blah blah, we all go DOWN" and then dropping down in front of the guys, ready to "go down" on them. Which is what they almost did until he freaked out and threw everyone out of the house. Except his daughters, who I'm sure he locked up forever.

GOOD GOD! Am I such a prude to think that this is ridiculous, disgusting behaviour!? I must be, because apparently this "game" is common among teenagers - all this time, schools and agencies have been lecturing against teen pregnancy - what they didn't realize is that horny teens will always find a way to be sexual, and work around that fear of pregnancy (i.e. have oral sex instead, there's no risk there right?)

And not to sound like a flaming feminist, but it seems like it's always the girls that have to perform the sexual acts in order to please the boys - it seems like they always give something up - in this case their self-respect - to be accepted. To that I say don't do it girls! Your respect and body are valuable and very unique possessions! One bad choice and you can spend a lifetime trying to build them back up again.

Or maybe I'm just old.

An Olympic mess

Reading the news lately? The Olympics in China are causing quite a ruckus... and we're still 4 months away! Seems the fact that the Chinese government is a big bully is pissing a lot of people off - myself included.

I still can't believe that the Olympic Committee chose Beijing over Toronto - why are we acknowledging, and in fact rewarding and investing in a country that is so outdated on the definition of freedom? I am curious if any countries will take a real stand as we get closer to the actual event - I feel badly for the athletes that want to participate in this huge event, but shame on the organizers for allowing such a controversial country to host the Olympics.

You CAN have a Hollywood ending...

So... I was celebrating my birthday with my friends in Toronto last weekend - we all got together for a really nice dinner and night out at Ultra on Queen St. I was having a really great time, until I put down my purse to boogie with my friends - within 5 seconds, I felt someone brush past me and when I looked back, my purse was gone! I don't think I've ever been that upset... I spent the rest of the night holding my mankee (long story), with a tear stained face and rage-filled eyes, staring at every single person leave the club and checking if they were carrying a brown clutch. Obviously no luck.

The cops called my house at 6 a.m. and introduced themselves as the "Toronto Police calling for Monika". Well that nearly gave my dad a heart attack, but the good news was they found my purse, wallet and keys. Of all people, a homeless man found my dumped purse in the parking lot and turned it in! We tried to find him to thank him but no luck. In the end, I grieved the loss of my iPhone and camera, but moved on.

Lo and behold, this Saturday morning a Mississauga man called my house asking for Wassim - turns out he FOUND the phone and wanted to return it!! I got my iPhone back, with some scratches and protruding parts, but if possible I love it more despite and because of its flaws - at least now I know no one will steal it again....

Whateva

Sooo cute - wonder what she'll be like in 10 years...

Ok, I take it back

After watching more episodes of SATC, I realized that the chicks on that show can get REALLY annoying!!! Holy crap, some of the things they do absolutely drives me up the wall, and are often things that most of us girls have the better sense not to do. The Carrie and Big relationship is a terrible one, and she is the girliest, most needy and clingy girl ever - I can see how girls in new relationships could act like that, but to represent a woman in her 30's that way?? Terrible.

ANyway... I've decided that I can sometimes tolerate Miranda - she at least makes some sense - and Samantha - at least she puts it all out there with no shame and in a crazy and funny way.

Moko the good Samaritan dolphin

So I was reading CNN as I usually do when I'm bored at work, and came upon this story about a heroic dolphin in New Zealand.
It's about a stranded whale and her calf, and they couldn't get out of the sandbar and were almost going to be euthanized so that they wouldn't suffer, when the dolphin swam over (apparently hearing the distress calls) and helped them swim out to open water... how great is that!? I love hearing stories like that.

Hottest pic

I was going through the Allure website, doing my reading about trends as I always do, and I came upon this picture and thought it looked really cool a.k.a. hooooot.

Yummy (in a non-lesbian way).

Sex and the City

After going for a few months without some real shopping - yes, I am finally cutting down on frivolous spending and becoming fiscally (?) responsible - I went on a mini-binge on Sunday after being cooped up because of this damn snowstorm. *Note - I am not going to comment on the amount of snow we've been having cause I don't know how many more times I want to kick that dead horse.*

Anyway... Best Buy had a sale and after talking myself out of several purchases (drooool gorgeous computer screen) I bought the entire set of SATC seasons. After watching a few of them yesterday I realized how GOOD that show is!!

First off, every guy friend I have that has admitted to watching it loves the damn show. And Mr. Big - which I didn't get until I watched the shows again and realized he is the smoothest guy... no George Clooney but he holds his own. Of course the characters are outrageous, but I have acted like each one of those girls at some point in my romantic life. And the conflicts and themes are presented and wrapped up so nicely: of course I wouldn't use the show as a real guide to my romantic life, it's like a little therapy session everytime you watch it... on top of all of that, when you're trying to describe a situation to your friends, it's much easier to start with "remember when Carrie did this?" - brings everyone to the same level. Genius.

The one crappy thing is that the show ended way too "Hollywood" - they broke with their tradition of somewhat following reality, but highly doubtful Miranda would end up with Steve?? Come on. Making that movie is a $mart move - hellooo Mr. Big.

Dubai

So it's almost been a full 4 months in this long distance relationship - with the difficulty of keeping up that kind of relationship, we decided to reward ourselves by visiting each other in very nice places. Paris was our first destination (over the holidays and New Year) and this time around, W chose Dubai. It was about a 12 hour there and 15 hour back flight, which actually wasn't bad when you consider hours of your own movie watching time and comfortable seating.

I landed in Abu Dhabi at 8am and got a chauffered car to take me the 1.5 hours into Dubai city to our resort. It was a gorgeous place, where you get your own apartment in a villa (village of villas). The reception area opened up to a tanning/pool part, with restaurants lining the property until the beach/water. One of the popular places to go out, Sho Cho's was on our resort, and a few really good restaurants with thai and lebanese food.

We spent a lot of the time just catching up and tanning on the lawn chairs, meeting a bunch of W's friends and seeing the city and trying out a local place called Buddha Bar. I got a nice tan, and got to observe a culture that I thought would be radically different from what I knew, but it turns out Russians are all over the place as either business barons or escorts - felt a lot like Poland!

I don't know if I could live there, cause of the distance from my family/friends and the incredibly unbearable heat during the summer (up to 50 degrees C, my God)... but I would definitely want to visit again and add a lot more to my list of things to do, now that I know what to expect.

Had to show this

Although it over a week old, there was a huge story about a fire set to a building filled with Turkish immigrants in Germany. The fire was so aggressive that people couldn't get out in time, and a few people were stuck on the higher floors. The uncle of a baby was leaning out the window trying to get help, and saw a firefighter on the street below him. Apparently in a 2 second decision, he decided to save the baby by THROWING IT OUT THE WINDOW.

Insanity!!

P.S. The baby is ok.

Classy

I read this article today about a judge that sentenced a drug dealer to jail and subsequent deportation. Just read the smackdown the judge gave to the already-convicted moron:

"Your Honour, I've been in custody for almost two years. I've
lost my kids and my wife. Have mercy on me and be fair. I'm only human. There is no blood on my hands."

But Harris [the judge] was scathing as he meted out his sentence.
"You came to this country with a basketful of opportunities and you remained here unlawfully," the judge said. "Since then, you have lived a life of crime. You have adulterated the landscape with an indolent life.
"You came to one of the fairest countries on this planet. Here, you received food and health care for free.
"You lived among hardworking people who put their lunch in a bag and go to work, who pay their debts, kiss their children and cut their lawns. Gentle people.
"You got protection against the wrongdoing of others.
You received freedom, sir. Freedom.
"You received the opportunity to work, to grow, to prosper and to love. And what do you give back? You give back poison to the young and the poor.
"You are the grim reaper, the executioner, the undertaker of the young and the poor who came your way.
"Those 459.7 grams of crack , if divvied up on the street, would feed the addiction of 2,250 others.
"That was a colander of poison. And you say you have no blood on your hands."

BURN!!!

Catch up

So it's been almost 2 monthe since my last post... In that time, I've managed to celebrate Christmas, New Year's Eve in Paris, come home and decide I was going to switch jobs, start my GMAT course, celebrate a 5 month anniversary (only my second one!) and now plan a second long-distance rewards trip to Dubai.

I feel like I am in a time of huge change but also routine - to an outsider, nothing earth-shattering is happening to mon, yet in my own mind I'm racing at a mile-a-minute during the entire time I'm awake. I haven't gotten to the stage yet where I can verbalize or really express what is I want to do, but I do know for certain that I want a big change in my life: and right now it feels like a new job. I want to switch careers, countries, industries, you name it - after promising myself 3 years ago I would never be in a technology company or work for a bank, my title is: Business consultant for a large IT oustourcing company, specialized in financial services. How ironic.

Smarties - do you eat the red ones last?

I have some Halloween candy left over, which consists of mini Smarties boxes which are really the perfect size. I like to dump out the whole box, and put matching pairs of Smarties in one pile, and the ones with no matching colour in another. I like to eat the single colour ones one at a time, which is first suck on them until they break down the middle and eat the cholocate, and then the shells. Once I'm done that pile, I like the eat the pairs the "normal" way, with one on each side of my mouth.

Weird? Yes. OCD? Perhaps. But it makes me feel sooooo good.