Okay, I love sports

1. So, my mom bought a bike. She says she was inspired by the Olympic athletes. She's 48 going on 49, and she has never ridden a bike. With my dad overseas for business, she's got no one to teach her in Vancouver, so she's trying to teach herself how to ride a bike, with rear-coaster brakes nonetheless (which I never mastered). Her goal is to surprise my dad when he comes back to Canada. She is, by far, the cutest.

2. Norwegian curling team pants 1:0 Canadian cross-country skiing team fishscale suit.

On that note, the day I understood the point of curling (read: yesterday) is like the day I was granted my Canadian citizenship. I'm so proud.

3. Okay, somebody explain ice dancing to me. What the heck is it? But long live the quadruple toe in men's figure skating--to quote Elvis Stojko, "In what sport do you have to hold back in order to win?" ISU judging system is still a work in progress--it's not perfect, nor was the 6.0 judging system. I hope this doesn't get abandoned in the works. These athletes need to be encouraged to progress, not regress. Nonetheless, Evan Lysacek did skate beautifully, and I do commend the artistry of (my future husband #348204) Stephane Lambiel.

4. I have discovered my love of snowboarding. Shaun White isn't human, right?

5. I don't care if they're milking it, I love Alexandre Bilodeau and his gold.

6. I also don't care if any national media, Great Britain to say the least, is ripping apart VANOC for its various flaws; safety at these games, however, is something else. Petra Majdic's fall, the flips at the bobsleigh competitions, unprecedented number of DNFs at alpine skiing events and the tragedy of Nodar Kumaritashvili--it's terrifying, actually. I do not understand the logics behind the architecture of these athletic structures, of course, but it's disconcerting.

6. Tonight I'm going to see Shutter Island, but in turn I'm missing short-track skating. This is what they meant when they invented the phrase "win-lose situation".

A time of romance

'Shall I give you Miss Brawne? She is about my height with a fine style of countenance of the lengthened sort - she wants sentiment in every feature - she manages to make her hair look well - her nostrils are fine though a little painful - her mouth is bad and good - her profile is better than her full-face which indeed is not full but pale and thin without showing any bone - her shape is very graceful and so are her movements - Her arms are good her hands badish - her feet tolerable.... She is not seventeen - but she is ignorant - monstrous in her behavior flying out in all directions, calling people such names that I was forced lately to make use of the term Minx - this I think not from any innate vice but from a penchant she has for acting stylishly. I am however tired of such style and shall decline any more of it.'

-John Keats, in a letter to his brother George, mid-December 1818

(What do you call that, when we observe the wanted sentiment in every feature, bone, and limb in each other?)

Vancouver imagery

View at Burnaby Mountain Park

Simon Fraser University, some climb into the Trans-Canada Trail.
My aunt teaches here but I'd never visited the campus before.


Mintage on Commercial Drive. I got my (old) new favourite shirt here.

Lunch at Belgian Fries... it was probably the best poutine I've ever had.

SO MUCH OLYMPICS STUFF. Quatchi is definitely my favourite.

Gastown, of course. Nood is so awesome!

An uncle brought us a whole tuna, so we had to drop it off at a sushi restaurant to have it sashimi-fied for us. Soooooo good.

This one's from White Rock.

(Most of the pictures were taken by my sister Adelaide, who used to write a great blog (now retired), 's Stad, since my camera has a mind of its own.)

Short words

O Frailty.

Nu year

Happy 2010, friends! Hope your last days of 2009 was lovely, warm, full of good food and company. I went to the Tranzac for a phenomenal showcase of Canadian music, with Gentleman Reg, Laura Barrett, The Magic, all that for NYE--until the last minute I was set to watch the fireworks from my patio over a reflectory glass of wine, but it was a good choice to go out.

Well, it was -15 degress in Toronto, and 9 degrees in the coastal town that I've left behind. Vancouver was much kinder this time around--I did a 7-hour climb up the snowy Mount Fromme at Lynn Valley (whoo!), saw the views from Burnaby Mountain park, and I scored a Rene Magritte-inspired pipe shirt at Mintage.

Also, I read a story of a man, who had acquired a branch of orchids, and the love he put into this plant. He watered it according to schedule, moved its place daily to where the half-shade was the most ideal for his flowers, gently tied up its stem as it grew taller. And when he went on lengthy vacation some time later, meaning to find rest and purpose, he put his close friend to care for this plant. He called the friend weekly to make sure the plant was thriving, and thought about these orchid flowers whenever he saw beautiful flora in the wilderness. He found that he was obsessing over this plant, and when he came home, he promptly passed it on to someone that he knew shared more love with silent things than with people. Then he set on to part with one thing a day, to not let his rest and work be overshadowed by possession. So I've made that my new year's resolution--going on Day 3 of the year it's been pretty easy, but I'll see that as I go on in the year I'll know what I really need and what's weighing me down.

Sounds like a solid plan, yeah? Yep.

Pictures of the trip coming soon! It only rained 3 out of the 12 days I was in Vancouver, and it was warm warm warm.