Pirates... in cupcake form

Since my blog is pirate titled, I felt I must include an entry about the pirate cupcakes I made this evening. My co-worker *LOVES* pirates... and Robert Pattinson, and it's her birthday tomorrow. I know I'm not talented enough with cake and frosting to make a Robert Pattinson cake, so she's getting pirate cupcakes instead. There's nothing super-fancy here; just store-bought cake mix and icing. Apparently my local grocery store doesn't sell black icing, so I had to improvise using a dark chocolate fudge frosting instead.

Although the design is super-simplistic, I like the overall finished look of these and think I'd easily make them again.

Bicycles!!

In an attempt to not only get around places faster, but also to find my inner child; I decided to buy myself a bicycle. After what seemed like an eternity of weighing the pros and cons of first the purchase, and then specifically the kind of bike I wanted, I decided upon a 6 speed cruiser style bike.

Having not ridden a bike in over 12 years, I was quite scared of falling and hurting myself. Surprisingly though, the saying "it's just like riding a bike" was beyond correct in my case. Sure, I was a bit wobbly in the store as I tested my bike, but after a lovely afternoon of bike riding along the harbour, it's like I never stopped riding.

Every morning I ride my bike to work, I briefly become an 8 year old version of myself and have to work hard not to squeal "Weeeeeeeee!" in excitement as I breeze down the hills.

Over the next few months, I'd like to accessorize my bike further, with some mirrors and perhaps a snazzy basket for both the front and the back.... I might also buy some streamers :D

Crosswalks and Death Defying Acts

As I walk to work each morning, I feel more and more like poor little frogger, trying to cross the street without getting hit by a car.  It doesn't matter if I wait for a light and cross with the walking man symbol or if I were try and run across the street without a light.  No matter how you slice it, crossing the street has become a dangerous game.

Many times when I have the right of way to cross with the lights, drivers will ignore the pedestrian crosswalk, and pull out to make a turn almost hitting those of us crossing the street.  Has bowling for pedestrians become the new game that the non-drivers don't know about?

The other thing that really irks me about drivers in this city is when a car pulls out into a very busy intersection, trying to make a right hand turn on a red, and effectively blocking all pedestrian traffic from safely crossing the street.  NEWSFLASH:  You're in a car, I'm walking... no matter what, you'll still get to where you need to be faster than I will. 

I know I can bitch about this all until I'm blue in the face, but at least maybe one driver will read this and realise that they can make the road safer by following the rules of the road and giving us pedestrian folk the right of way.

Debt... We All Have to Deal With It!

As most every 20 something out of school knows, you graduate with an insane amount of debt.  Sometimes it's manageable, sometimes it's not.  Like many others in my situation, my debt load has been a burden for some time, but slowly and surely I am paying it off, just like any honest, hard-working person tries to do.  Yes, there's been some financial ups and downs, as well as some naive stupidity with credit cards, but never once have I said that I wasn't going to pay my debts. I'm not a bad person, I just had debt that I wasn't good at dealing with while I was a student.  Lesson learned, and I'm paying for it.

Fast forward to this morning, where I wake up to a message on my answering machine from a collections agency I've been "working" with to get a very minor debt from my afforementioned naivete cleared up.  Mr. Collections Agent leaves me this long winded and haughty "you're not keeping up with your end of the deal" kind of message, and all I see is RED!  

Excuse me?!?  Hell no, he didn't just say that!  

What it boils down to is that Mr. Collections Agent is accusing me of dishonesty and failure to keep my end of the agreement we had.  I then get threatened that they will re-neg the arrangements made a few months ago if there's no payment by Mondy.  To clarify, the arrangements were that a payment would be made via online banking, the first Friday (pay) of each month.  It's nice and easy do this, because it's just like paying any other bill online.  I monitor my account very closely, and make sure there's always enough for the payment to go through.  Sure enough, I check my account, and the payment was processed yesterday, EXACTLY as per my agreement with Mr. Collections Agent.

Typically I would just call back and be polite about the misunderstanding; however, this time due to the nature of the message left for me, I kinda lost it.  When I feel like I'm being bullied and backed into a corner being blamed for something that's untrue, I really get upset.  Fuelled by my anger and righteousness over my payments being made on time, I called back.  Unfortunately I got voicemail, but that didn't deter me from saying exactly what I wanted to say.  

Mr. Collections Agent definitely got an earful from me on his voicemail.  I clearly stated that as per our agreement, payment was made (yesterday) on the first Friday of the month, and that this agreement was made while I was at work, and my co-workers heard me state the terms of payment that I could adhere to.  I provided the transaction number for yesterday's payment, and then said that since I'm adhering to my end of the agreement, it's bullshit that I'm being contacted for breaking the agreement.  Also, I threatened to sue for harrassment, should I receive any further calls about not living up to my end of the agreement.  I ended with "have a pleasant day"... which was said with a tinge of sarcasm, but that'll probably go unheard.  

I truly don't like to swear at people who are just doing their job, but after listening to that message and also recounting my past dealings with this "lovely" person, I was beyond pissed off.

I can't wait to be rid of this account so I can focus on more important things and not waste my energy on dealing with Mr. Collections Agent ever again.

There's Got to be Something More...

I've been out of University for a few years now, and have attempted to make the most of my position in life, but I can't help but wonder if there's something more, or if this is it. I did what every high school student is told they must do to be successful; however, what they don't tell you is how you can be happy and successful. I know that work isn't supposed to be all fun and games, but I do believe it needs to be a place that allows for you to be yourself and continuously learn, whilest still being a productive member of the workforce.

As most people in my social circle know, I left my job in Toronto because I felt like it was sucking my life and my soul right out of me. After experiencing the process of becoming a soulless drone in the "centre" of the Canadian universe, I know I never want to end up like that ever again.

Currently, I don't feel like I'm making a difference in the world and it bothers me that my talents are seemingly going to waste while I continue to plug away at my job. My time working at my current job has been fun, but I know that there's something bigger that's been planned for me.

Now, I've got an opportunity to progress in a direction I should've gone a few years ago, but I couldn't see the forest for all the trees. While I know I can't let this opportunity pass me by, I have to quickly figure out the mechanics of the entire situation or just jump right in and pray to every known God that it'll all work out in the end.

Sent from my iPhone.

An introspective look at how the world can make you feel messed up beyond repair

I’m going to be completely open and honest in this post, and if it comes across as too out-there or crazy, so be it. This is how I’m feeling and I just need to get it out and let go of it completely, since it’s not healthy to keep it all bottled up. It’s been brought about by fear of failure and uncertainty about where I really belong in my very awkward stage of quasi-adultness.

I’ve had these problems haunting me for a while. The problem is that I’ve never felt quite good enough or that I didn’t quite fit in. In fact, I feel awkward beyond belief sometimes. Some would say it’s an esteem issue, and maybe they’re right, but I think it also stems from wanting to be perfect and ultimately being afraid to make mistakes and learn from them.

I remember always striving to be the top achiever in every single class, to find myself being a good enough student, but never quite good enough to be the best in class. In terms of fitting in, I felt that at one job, I could be likened to the country mouse – some small town girl in the big city who’s nice enough, but didn’t really have what it took to fit into the grand scheme of things. This is all very odd, seeing as I’ve lived my entire life in a relatively large city and I got on well with everyone, but the sense of being an outsider was still there.

When it comes to criticism, it’s never been an easy thing for me to handle. It’s kind of like my own personal kryptonite. It makes me want to curl up in a ball on the ground with my hands on my ears saying “la la la la la! I’m not listening....” When I do actually achieve something, I find it very difficult to take praise for it, perhaps because I feel I could’ve done it differently/faster/better. I’m really my own worst enemy in terms of criticism.

I’ve also learned that I have a very hard time with conflict, which is kind of horrible, since life can be full of conflict. It causes me extreme anxiety – the kind where you can feel your veins pulsate with each heart beat, your hands get cold like ice and shake, your stomach does turns and flips and you feel like you could pass out at any moment. Sometimes, my brain even computes criticism as a kind of conflict – a personal attack on me, and this leaves me in a state of internal retreat, where I feel completely incapable of standing up for myself and joining in the conversation like a real adult would. I just absorb what’s being said, and don’t even bother explaining myself anymore because I’ve never been successful at putting together coherent arguments, and it just makes me more flustered and upset. At least if I stay silent, I don’t regret saying anything, instead I just come up with things I should’ve said about an hour after the discussion takes place because I dwell on the things I’ve internalized.

It’s kind of amazing how being introspective and writing all this down makes me feel better, more human, and less like I’ve failed miserably. It also makes me wonder if I’ll ever really feel like an adult, or whether life is just one big game of dress up where we all play at being adults.

Cooking!!

One of my new-found joys of living in my own place is the ability to cook whatever I feel like cooking. My newest creation (last night's dinner) was just too yummy to keep to myself. I made a vegetarian version due to lack of meat and not wanting to spend extra money, but it'd be completely awesome with chicken as well. My vegetarian version cost just $6.12 at the local grocer, and made about 4 servings. No, I don't have a title for it, I'm just going to call it awesome.

Ingredients

For Stir Fry/Saute
Cooking Oil
1 diced cooking onion
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into medallions
1 green Bell Pepper, cut into strips
1 yellow Bell Pepper, cut into strips
15 mushrooms, cut
4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp granulated sugar
red pepper flakes (to taste)

Teryiaki Tofu
1 package firm tofu
2 Tbsp teryiaki sauce
2 Tbsp water
2 cloves minced garlic
1" piece ginger root, peeled and grated

If you are using the Teryiaki Tofu with this recipe, prepare it first, since it needs to marinate.

Instructions
Teryiaki Tofu
Place tofu between paper towels, between two plates and place a large can (like tomatoes) on top to remove excess liquid. While the tofu is being pressed, in a small bowl, mix together the teryiaki sauce, water, minced garlic and grated ginger. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes and marinate in the teryiaki mixture for 15 minutes - 1 hour depending on your time restraints.
Bake tofu at 350 degrees until crispy. If you want a nice dark brown crust, broil for a few minutes before taking out of the oven. Alternately, you can pan-fry the tofu pieces until crispy on all sides and then drain on paper towels.

Stir fry
Heat oil (approx. 1 Tbsp) in non-stick frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add in onions and carrots. Cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and peppers. While this cooks, in a microwaveable bowl, put the peanut butter and soy sauce together and microwave for approx. 30 seconds or until you can easily stir the peanut butter. Mix in the minced garlic, lemon juice, granulated sugar and red pepper flakes. If the sauce is too thick, add some water until it's the consistency you desire. Pour sauce directly over the stir-fried vegetables and let cook for 1-2 more minutes.

Serve over rice with the tofu and enjoy.

Montreal vs. Hamilton

After returning from my trip to Quebec, I've decided that either the city planning, transit systems and bohemianesque way of life need to be transplanted in Hamilton, or I'm just going to have to pack up and move to Montreal (when my lease expires next year).

First off, Hamilton could take a few pointers from Montreal's transit system. I'll be completely honest here, I fell in love with the Metro. Everything is accessible via this intelligently planned rapid transit system, and even the online maps are interactive and clickable, giving information about each station and some of the nearby attractions. Each stop is even shown on Google Maps, which made it even easier to figure out how to get where my friends and I wanted to go. This was definitely an improvement over the horrible HSR site and trip planner that I'm so used to, and the insanely complicated and non-intuitive interface of the TTC site.

On top of the ability to easily pre-plan our travels on the Metro, I also must give a huge two thumbs up to the people who decided that three day tourist passes should exist for only $17, which is a definite steal when compared to the very restrictive day passes you can purchase for use on the TTC. Rather than spend $2.75 each time we got on the Metro, all three of us bought these tourist passes and could use them for unlimited travel on all busses and the Metro in Montreal. Although we only used the passes for 2 days, by the time we'd finished our sightseeing ventures on Saturday and Sunday, the passes had saved each of us close to $5 in fares.

Another thing that I really believe needs to be adopted here are the small parcs that are maintained in various places around the city. It'd be a definite improvement over the vacant lots and decrepid abandoned buildings that line the streets of Hamilton.

As for the bohemianesque way of life I speak of, it just seemed to me that while every one we met in Montreal had a little niche in their respective neighbourhoods, the general feel of the city was one of acceptance, art, culture and civic pride. I feel the same about Locke Street here in Hamilton, but it was just so incredible that the entire city seemed to be on the same page.

Musical Nerdiness

I've owned my ipod for over a year now, and haven't downloaded music from itunes or any other sites, just because I own so many CDs I really, really love. That said, I came to a realisation last Thursday night as I was prepping my ipod playlist for my upcoming road trip to Montreal... I really wanted "Informer" by Snow on my playlist. Did I own it already? That's a loud, resounding NO! In all my glorious nerdiness, I proudly logged onto itunes and clicked on my selection. Yes, that's right, my first (and probably only) itunes purchase was a one-hit wonder from the 90s. On second thought, I wonder if they have anything by Milli Vanilli...

Inconsiderate Laundering...

I realise that I'm not one to talk with my hoardes of clothing, but it really bothers me when I go to do laundry and one person has taken it upon themselves to fill all four of the available washing machines in the laundry room. Yes, the washers are fairly tiny, but really, 4 machines at the same time?!? That's $8 for washing and at least another $8 for drying, because I'm sure that they're not going to hang dry four loads of laundry in their apartment..

All I wanted to do was a load of laundry, pack my luggage and eat my dinner. :S

A Room of My Own

I'm now approaching the two-week mark in my apartment. Slowly things are starting to come together, although there's a few boxes still unpacked, and shelves not put up yet. There's also some stuff left up at my parents' place too. At this point; however, I need to get my shelving installed so I can continue to put stuff away where it belongs. Installing these shelves is a bit of a challenge, since some of the walls in my apartment are concrete, while others are just drywall. Eventually, with an electric drill, screwdriver and wall plugs, the storage solutions will be complete.

My apartment's now starting to look more like a home, rather than just a box in which I sleep and store stuff. This past weekend included a shopping trip to the greatest big box store of them all: IKEA! I went in with a distinct list of items that I thought would make my life easier, and along the way, with my sister's advice ended up scratching items off and substituting other things. As a result, I now have an end table, wall mounted CD/DVD shelving (which I thought was excellent, due to lack of floor space), a shelf for above my stove, knives for cooking and finally, curtains in my living room/dining room area. Upon bringing everything home, I'm thinking about a couple more of the CD/DVD shelves to make room for books on my bookshelves. Yay! This means another trip to IKEA in the near future!!!!

Why Drivers Suck!

I'm a pedestrian and bus-rider. That's how I get around, and I'm cool with that. What I don't like is when people in cars are completely inconsiderate or downright rude to pedestrians. I'm pretty good at following rules. As a young child, I learned that the walking man symbol meant it was safe to cross the road, the blinky hand meant don't start crossing, and if you're in the nearing the other end of the crosswalk, hurry your ass up and get on the sidewalk so you don't get hit. Obviously, the solid red hand was a STOP! Don't cross! I also learned the meaning of red light, green light, yellow light, just like all the other children in kindergarten. Maybe just the pedestrians hold and retain this knowledge.... because it sure seems to me like a lot of drivers need to go back to kindergarten for this rudimentary training on traffic lights.

A few weeks back, I was standing at the corner of Locke and Main, waiting for the light to change and ultimately, my turn to cross Main St. to get to my bus stop. I watched the light on Main change to red, and seconds later, the light changed, signalling I could cross. I looked to the right (for the out of towners, Main's a 1 way street), and started to cross. I'd made it to the second lane when a taxi came barrelling right through the red light and lays on his horn at me, as he almost hits me. Um, the last time I checked, running a red light was against the law, but that's alright, I'm apparently just a mere moving speedbump... no value to my life at all.

Today, it was nice and rainy. As most Hamiltonians know, the roads are filled with potholes, or better yet, the roads are all potholes... I'm walking along Main when a white truck speeds along in the curb lane, hits a pothole that's filled with cold, dirty water; thereby creating a wave of water that was about 5 feet tall. How do I know it was 5 feet tall? That's because I got drenched from just about the top of my head, right down my left side, and I'm about 5'2". Thanks a lot jackass! I got to go shopping looking like I peed myself, and I was super cold for the better part of the afternoon since the water was pretty damn cold it's not quite balmy weather yet. Awesome!

Another one of my pet peeves is when cars block the intersection or part of the sidewalk as they're pulling out of a parking lot or driveway, making it impossible for a pedestrian to safely cross the road or continue on the sidewalk. This happens, at some point, every single day.

I also love when you're already in the middle of legally crossing the road, and a driver becomes impatient and decides to honk their horn, yell obscinities or ultimately, try to cut in front of you, and narrowly miss mowing you over in the process.

Last time I checked, the pedestrian; not the car, has the right of way.

Matthew Good, and some Celebrity Look-A-Likes!

I got offered a couple of tickets for the Matthew Good concert at Hamilton Place, this past Friday. Of course I accepted the tickets, and after a few minor issues were ironed out, I'd also found someone to join me that night. My sister met me at work and we went for dinner before the show, since there were 3 hours between when I finished working and the start of the concert.



We arrived at the venue and the first thing out of the ticket scanner's mouth was, "man, those are awesome tickets!" It's always a good sign when an employee verifies the awesomness of your seats. We were 9th row, dead centre.



As we're sitting there, Brenda's commenting on people as they're arriving and finding their own seats. Two rows ahead of us, this group of people come in and Brenda just blurts right out "Oh my god, it's Sideshow Bob!" The people in front of us heard, and started laughing. Seriously, this guy's hair was friggin huge, and completely blocked my view. For those who are skeptical as to whether I'm exagerating, see the picture below - courtesy of Brenda.


Was he courteous enough to bring a hair elastic to tie it back out of every one else's line of sight... NO. That said, after the opening act, it was determined that they were, in fact, in the wrong seats. I enjoyed listening to the opening act, I just couldn't see much because of the mass of hair in my direct line of sight.

I swear it was celebrity look-a-like night and we weren't told about it. A guy came in and I swear he looked exactly like Screech from Saved by the Bell and Brenda noticed this older leathery looking guy in a leopard print cowboy hat and dubbed him "Crocodile Dundee". Then the lights went out, the performance started and we couldn't search for any more look-a-likes.


Matthew Good came out, performed for an hour, took a picture of the audience and then went off stage to the sound of roaring applause. He came back out and continued for another 45 minutes. I've got total respect for anyone who can play an acoustic guitar for an hour straight, but to go for another 45 minutes is incredible. My own fingers start to hurt after 30 minutes.

One of the funniest things he said was that when the lights are on, Hamilton Place looks like it's stuck in the 1970s, but when the lights are out, it looks like Battlestar Galactica, and that in his opinion, that's awesome. Not only is the guy an awesome musician, but he's quite amusing too. Makes me love nerdy guitar players even more.

Favourite Things

Okay, so a few people have said I'm not posting enough anymore... Fine, I agree and I'll even admit that I'm lacking in the ascerbic wit department lately. So, in an effort to appease Michelle, the 'Blogger Extraordinaire', I give you my top 5 lists (in no particular order).

Alone-time Activities

1. Playing the flute, guitar, and piano
2. Curling up with an awesome book
3. Photography
4. Writing
5. Beating Guitar Hero on Expert... almost.

Activities Whilest Commuting

1. Applying makeup on the bus, without poking my eyes out with the mascara wand or eye pencil
2. Solving killer sudokus and logic problems
3. Reading
4. Listening to music, trying to drown out the other, less considerate ipod users on the bus
5. Sleeping... yes, I sleep on the bus, and no, I've never missed my stop, ever!

Songs

1. Disenchanted - My Chemical Romance
2. Country Roads - John Denver
3. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach
4. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
5. Mario Takes a Walk - Jesse Cook

Books

1. Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
2. Dracula - Bram Stoker
3. Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
4. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
5. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

Movies

1. Big Trouble in Little China
2. Ghostbusters
3. The Goonies
4. The Court Jester
5. Return of the Jedi

Recipes to Cook or Bake

1. Chicken Bengalia
2. Chocolate Miracle Whip Cake
3. Spaghetti & Meatballs
4. Curried chickpeas with apple and rice
5. Christmas Sugar Cookies