mugging in kingston

重温心情...

2009-01-17T01:57:00.002-06:00

我口袋里　还有你给的温馨
我的手心　还有你吻的气息
低低的云　让想念的人喘不过气
而你的背影　会在哪里平静

跟踪记忆　我才能和你接近
除了可惜　眼泪没有声音
有一些人　容易动情也容易忘情
我爱过了你　心永远在那里

好想好好爱你这一句话只能藏成秘密
关上窗外的雨　反覆碰触你爱过的痕迹
好想好好爱你却没有权利　再把你抱紧
从今以后　如果你能快乐
就别管我想你

想对你说 You're always be my love
我还是好想你

the day i see it and i feel like crying.

2008-06-18T06:31:00.002-05:00

有谁知道

你曾在我的生命里
留下你的影子。。。？

why then?

2007-01-21T07:41:00.000-06:00

i didn't come back... different.

我依然相信。

一切。

无法说尽的一切。

Quotes of the Days I last spent in Toronto, and I depart for Singapore

2006-12-25T09:46:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“The average woman would rather have beauty than brains,
because the average man can see better than he can think.”
- Unknown -
22nd December 2006

“All I want for X’mas is you!”
- Mariah Carey -
23rd December 2006

Quote of my Last Day in Kingston

2006-12-21T08:22:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’.

I dream things that never were, and say ‘Why not?’.”

- George Bernard Shaw -

21st December 2006

last day here. last exam.

Quote of the Second last Day I spend in Kingston

2006-12-20T19:28:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“If the world should stop revolving spinning slowly down to die
I’d spend the end with you
And when the world was through,
Then one by one the stars would all go out
Then you and I would simply fly away.”
- Bread -
20th December 2006

saddam hussein.

i can empathise with him right now.

Quote of the Day I spent the whole day thinking

2006-12-19T20:02:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“少了你的怀抱当暖炉我还不习惯

给你的照片看不到我北半球的孤单.”

- -

19th December 2006

about afghanistan, about palestine and iran.

about life.

yeah, about life.

Quote of the Day I mug like never before

2006-12-18T20:34:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don’t realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.”
- Calvin and Hobbes -
18th December 2006

i will make it happen

no matter how much this is asking of me.

this world will feel my fury.

crossroads

2006-12-17T20:13:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“So we’ll whisper a dream here in darkness
Watching the stars till they’re gone
And when these memories have faded away
These days go on and on.”
- Vanessa Williams -

17th December 2006

crossroads

you know how i feel, how i feel is real.

you might not feel prepared,

but i am prepared to walk all the way for you

with you.

Quotes of the Days I spent in Toronto and New York City

2006-12-17T14:08:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“我知道你和我就像是豆浆油条；要一起吃下去味道才会是最好.”
- 林俊杰 -
13th December 2006

after a day and a night of heart-wrenching, memory evoking and sentimental tear-jerking xinyao and tcs/sbc songs in my brudder's car, we left kingston for toronto after a nice meal of ground meat in hoisin sauce over steamed rice and fresh, delicious cauliflowers. thank you auntie candy.

spent the night of the 12th under my brudder's kind hospitality. her place was really comfy and well-furnished. went gymming at her condo's gym the next morning because she had some work to clear, and when we got back to her apartment her sister was there visiting! with her beautiful and super super cute niece! =D

so cute right? =D so adorable!!

and we went shopping at pacific mall, this huge asian mall that was simply like a little hongkong. it was simply huge, and we spent like half the day there practically walking and buying stuff.

and before heading downtown for the evening, nicki introduced us to

Unionville

a quaint little village that looked so serenely and naturally aged, full of cottage flavour and excellent ambience with christmas lights adorning just about every little house along the streets.

Unionville Arms Pub and Grill

my brudder and i

pardon the blurry image, auntie candy tried very very very hard. 12 times to be exact. before she got this one in which we can see both the words and somewhat that faces.

looks a lot clearer right?

me, candy and nicki in front of Unionville Planing Mill. now a restaurant and gift shop.

dinner was an elaborate affair; in fact it was the event, to quote the lawyer, "of the semester". went downtown and met up with her! finally! =D

shengjie, xiuying, me, auntie candy, delphia and nicki

micnie, you have no idea how delighted i was when i saw you and the whole bunch of lawyers (including jordan, who so kindly took this pic of "friends of jing wen" for us) troop across the street towards us at the four seasons performance centre. i saw you from some distance away and you're right, it is the visit of the semester for me too =)

and so to commemorate the visit we topped it off with dinner at East! (exclamation mark pronounced)

the house pad thai

decidedly better than the one i had yesterday at Kingston's Phnom Penh Restaurant. and rather filling too. great choice for a meal, the restaurant had nice ambience and lighting too.

“Always forgive your enemies – Nothing annoys them so much.”
- -
14th December 2006

the day got off to a cool start with this cool sculpture along the way to chinatown.

and why were we going to chinatown, you wonder. so did we, since we were about to return to singapore in like a week's time. but this time, it was different. the purpose wasn't the location, but the company.

chinatown.

one good soul

at dundas-spadina intersection.

its been a long long time since i saw you. much has changed, yet much hasn't changed. i was just so glad to have you with us for the morning, and hoped the exam went well for you in the evening. =) pity star player couldn't come down from waterloo though...

tribute to chairman "mao"

euphemistic reverence of the great leader in the heart of the chinese district.

amidst his exams, yuehan brought us out to a wonderful meal of korean cuisine. we were grateful to have his place to stash our loots before explorations for the day.

juicy, tender pork ribs brewed in seasoned spicy soup, steamed rice and cold noodles.

and aromatic, mild green tea.

the host and his two imposing irritating guests =)

and of course after some guidance and direction from pee tao he returned to his preparations for his final paper. we ventured into queen street for upscale shopping and rewarded ourselves with a detour to

University of Toronto

the place where micnie's heart (and brains, and time, and money, and sleep) resides, for now.

the university college, if i didn't get it wrong. the original university building.

beautiful structures.

for buildings newer than queen's, they certainly look much more aged. the beauty and classic flavour, though, is unique.

after departing from a short tour of UoT, we made our way downtown to

i can't remember what its called. but there was a live studio show going on, and a crowd grew as people gathered to watch it from outside the building.

we skirted the building to take a pic of the interior of the studio through its glass walls, with the audience and live action

and a nice dinner of polish sausage bun with brudder after she knocked off work. thanks so much for your hospitality, you won't be seeing the last of me just yet haha... =D

“有人让我明白在乎一个人的感觉
让我明白为在乎一个人努力
是不求回报也会快乐的
我想为我在乎的人继续努力.”
- 王子变青蛙 -
15th December 2006

an overnight bus ride, a racist US immigration officer.

welcome to New York City!

the glitz

the business

the iconic

the historic

the grand

New York City can indeed assume multiple images, because it IS at the same time multiple identities. arriving at Port Authority Bus Terminal at 6am and walking down 42nd St, Times Square itself is a sight to behold. glitz, glamour, excitement together with dirt, grime, congestion and foul-faced dwellers.

having made our way to zhenhong's apartment and settled our bags, we embarked on a trip down the subway to the city hall and down broadway. along its vast length that cuts across manhattan island, we came to

Wall Street

the financial district looks insignificant at first, but going down this street and coming to the end of it, the street opens up into life.

New York Stock Exchange

huge christmas tree beside NYSE

George Washington Memorial

site of the American declaration of independence

at the same time, there were numerous other signs of varied and diverse life along wall street. apart from street sausage vendors who feed the financially busy of wall street, there are people like these:

and so many things are happening, its unbelievable. strolling across to city hall, we saw

men carrying reflectors, pockets of workers with name tags and vests, and a small party of people huddled at the foot of one of the greek pillars to the right of the entrance to this building.

yup, they were

shooting a movie!

the taxi is a standby which appeared instantaneously when the female lead flagged for one. traffic cars and human were stopped momentarily by the police for the scene to be filmed. it all took place within less than 25 minutes, and the filming party dispersed soon after.

after buying tickets to a show we travelled north where we met a nice old man who told us the truth behind chinatown. apparently the original chinatown was only 2 alleys, which today had been overtaken in prominence and activity by the entire zone along canal street.

confucius

memorial to chinese for their sacrifice in the building of American freedom and democracy

the man might be lin zexu, although i did not take a close look at his identity.

little italy

cafes and ristorante

from mulberry st to bowery street, little italy is right smack in the middle of chinatown. according to the city tour bus guide, italians living there today are more adept at mandarin than italian. how true this is there is no way to verify.

world trade centre station

the entrance to the subway and train stations that serve the vicinity of ground zero. upon this site two icons of american commercial and economic power used to stand high and proud until laid low by the hands of terrorists on 11th September 2001. that morning we discussed the plane crashes outside the A-level exam hall instead of fleming's right hand rule, newton's 3 laws and quantum theory.

remembering, reconstruction, re-creation

art pieces, paintings and photography works adorn the fences to the site of ground zero

the heroes who fell

those who died and those who sacrificed.

the most touching scene of remembrance. emotions flow free with the beautifully heart-wrenching tune of his silver flute.

i remembered the tune from one of the episodes to band of brothers... not sure about the name of the tune though...

patriotism

american flags surround the site.

times square in the evening is a nightmare to walk through. for those who immerse in the city's heartbeat and didn't get cardiac arrest trying, 8th ave, 42nd st and broadway present the most vibrant of nightlife and commercialism there can ever be on this planet.

planet hollywood at 7th ave

as proclaimed in this poster, it is here we dined for the night.

in the queue for entrance

full of movie props and iconic symbols in the history of entertainment

tv screens with mtvs all night long

live dj and vj too. the iconic theme restaurant indeed.

planet hollywood menu

auntie candy's pasta which tasted not bad at all

my maple-grilled salmon

don't try this. its not spectacular in any way.

the restaurant itself, part of which was detached from the bar and the vj section

great meal, it was filling at least. and the final item for the night,

the show at

Broadway!

yup it is! life-long dream come true. =D

broadway is indeed bustling with theatres and shows that run on years on end, garnering rave reviews after rave reviews, playing to packed audiences night after night. partly attributable to extremely discounted tickets blocked from sale and only released on the day of performance each day.

thanks to TKTS, the discount booth for broadway tickets, we enjoyed the show at Broadhurst Theatre on West 44th Street for 50% discount.

Les Miserables

powerful, exciting, intense and witty. produced by cameron mackintosh in its 40th year, david hersey's award-winning lighting design caps a breath-taking performance.

“Calvin: ‘I’m a genius, but I’m a misunderstood genius.’

Hobbes: ‘What’s misunderstood about you?’

Calvin: ‘Nobody thinks I’m a genius.’ ”
- Calvin and Hobbes -
16th December 2006

a day devoted to sighseeing rather than experiencing.

a city tour bus ride brings us around downtown manhattan, much of which we had traversed on foot yesterday.

snoopy and woodstock =)

lobby of the empire state building

while waiting in the queue for security checks to enter the 86th storey observatory, we saw a demonstration in the streets against police brutality.

the 86th storey observatory

a sight to behold, but not without much frustration and pity. those going new york and/or wants to know why, you can ask me in private. shall spare everyone my irate tirade against a system found wanting.

anyway, the observatory is open on 4 sides, so there are views of the entire city in all directions. majestic view.

our guide for the bus tour was a gregarious 70 year old brooklynite who has a chinese daughter-in-law and speaks bits of mandarin. he was throughout the ride testing his rudimentary mandarin on the 2 of us, but he was really funny and well travelled and played a harmonica to entertain everyone at various points of time along the trip.

random sights as the day drew to a close and the sky turns dark.

self-explanatory.

the advertisement on the right reads "Please do not touch, lick, stroke or mount the exhibit".

winston churchill garden

greenwich village

home to an entire street of art galleries, exhibitions and fine dining.

south seaport

the original bustling port of new amsterdam

brooklyn bridge

we saw it much closer up yesterday with our walk along the manhattan southern coast, but the fog prevented any photo ops. today, however, we got a clearer pic from further away.

and so ends the escapade to new york city. missed the statue of liberty. really a big waste. but caught broadway, so that more than made up for it even though i wished we hadn't been duped into the empire state building which made us miss the ferry ride to see the old lady.

overnight bus back to toronto and kingston, and resume my mugging in kingston.

for the last time.

Quote of the Day I tasted the saltiest pad thai in my life

2006-12-12T16:41:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute
That’s relativity.”
- Albert Einstein -

12th December 2006

in 2 hrs time we would be on our way to toronto.

good luck to all having exams later or tmr...

and i'm not gloating okay. my exam ends later than anyone else on this planet.

Quote of the Day Nicki arrives in Kingston

2006-12-11T08:30:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
- Lily Thompson -
11th December 2006

today i forgot to bring my digital camera out.

and nicki was proud that canada invented the steam engine train in the medieval era (AD1095).

the first steam train ran through kingston before they knew that place was called kingston.

welcome to kingston! =D

the montreal gang

2006-12-10T20:52:00.000-06:00

finally i managed to upload this picture of us all outside st. joseph's oratory, on the steps leading up to the basilica.

me, auntie candy, my hwachong junior woonteng, sister yit.

and note the guy with the "caught-in-the-act" look right behind us... thats daniel from hongkong.

he's a real cartoon guy, and about the first person i got to know upon arriving in kingston and queen's. in fact, i saw him on my first bus to kingston from toronto, and we had to share a cab together with 3 other hong kong students from the bus terminal to queen's.

the interior of st. joseph's basilica.

majestic beauty.

crissy's birthday gathering!

2006-12-10T19:50:00.000-06:00

pics from crissy's birthday gathering!

crissy was so nice to invite me to her birthday gathering at her place two wednesdays, at this cosy little nest she rents with claudia her housemate. what's really amazing was that she invited a whole bunch of people who have never met one another before.

crissy and the cake

and thats waheeda on the couch beside her

new friends in one night

from left, on couch

crissy the birthday girl
a columbian canadian from ottawa, i got to know her during my Islam history lecture because we sit next to each other during lectures. and we both love coffee. but she had finished up her columbian coffee by the time we went, so i still didn't get to taste the columbian coffee she had raved about during one of the class breaks. she'll be spending time in columbia the next few months as part of her development studies course. thanks for the invite, i had a great time!

aaron the salsa king
an accomplished salsa dancer, but i didnt get to talk much to aaron. but he is really charismatic and soft-spoken, and he is really tall.

claudia the housemate
claudia makes a mean cup of hazelnut black coffee. its really great, and her zesty pita dip is just as marvellous. especially memorable was the part when she and crissy were telling us about their terror of a housemate they had last year before they moved out to this 2-person apartment. scandalous stuff haha.

waheeda from kenya
the second person i know in my life who lived in kenya. she is an indian kenyan whose grandparents went to kenya to work, and grew up there before coming to canada to do her undergrad. she's been having a tough time which delayed her queen's studies for a semester, i really salute her for conquering her personal battles.

erin
now i really didnt get to talk to her at all the whole night. but i did get to know she is a geography major like crissy, and she brought tasty cookies to the gathering which we were all absolutely thankful for.

annaliz
i have no idea if i got the spelling right. i hope so... annaliz is a con-ed (concurrent education) major, which means she is getting a degree in education to be a teacher! and she is a geog major as well, so she is training as a geography teacher... she has taught for around 3 months at 5th to 8th grade. excellent conversationist, she has, by consensus of all of us there, the Canada's Next Top Model Look when taking photos.

daniel
a fellow columbian canadian whom crissy met this year, daniel is in engineering. half the time when they converse, it was in spanish, which rather intrigued me. and got me thinking the rest at harkness must be thinking the same when we chinese converse in mandarin in front of them. haha...

and there was david, who stays upstairs of crissy and claudia.

david studies urban design and city planning, a grad course at the policy studies department. born in kingston but moved to vancouver, he is now back and shuttling between kingston and toronto where he does his working attachment in city planning. a really gregarious guy.

and since it was a birthday, we were talking about how old we were. believe it or not. i'm the ancient one there.

at a ripe old age of 23 (genevieve once guessed i am 35).

so in one night, 8 of crissy's friends who have never met one another before became friends. =)

Quote of the Day I went for a Christmas Dinner

2006-12-10T19:42:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"没有灯光, 没有戏!"

- 灯光组'02(?) -
:)
10th December 2006

That, is the reason i am doing theatre. and lighting.

so many layers of That.

ah yes. the day i went for a christmas dinner...

eileen marsh is an old matronly granny in her 80s but still up and about with vigour, quiet but steady fire in her eyes and an eternal serene smile. arriving in canada in 1942 during the war, she settled in kingston with her commodore husband who was instructing at "the military college here" at kingston (i presume it was the RMC) and raised her 3 children in this quaint little city. and in this city she gave herself to Christ.

it was at her extremely homely, comfy and beautifully british-looking house at the junction of West St and King St East that we gathered for a night of delicious and filling Christmas Dinner, great coffee, excellent dessert (yes claudia they are still sinful, but then again thats why they are excellent) and Christmas Carols.

view outside the house in the sunset. good shot from auntie candy.

decorated for the occasion

chicken, butter sugared croissants, baked beans with cheese

strong black coffee

and a chair gave way under weirong. poor chair no i mean poor weirong. i hope its fine.
he's fine i mean.

and we were introduced to the Christmas custom of Advent. 5 candles (3 purple 1 pink and 1 white), symbolising Hope, Peace, Love, Joy and Christ, are lit in remembrance and celebration of Jesus' first coming at Christmas, and in preparation for His second coming to the earth.

full array of bone china tea cups and saucers

and we monopolized the stairs, the group of hongkong and singapore students, and sang Christmas carols to the music played at the piano together with the 50 other guests.

authentic and memorable canadian christmas experience indeed.

Quote of the Day I finally cleaned my desk

2006-12-09T18:59:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"We're so busy watching out what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."

- Calvin and Hobbes -

9th December 2006

the day is a special day for me.

after a month of hectic work and multiple other earthquakes and tornados that swept through my life, i finally have got time to clear out my desk and cupboards and get rid of stuff that have no reason for existence within my realm. for the first time, my desk is so uncluttered. and clean.

and today mr sheares took a well-deserved rest.

mr sheares is sitting, and thinking.

Quote of the Day... and a legal wrangle

2006-12-08T22:43:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"People who are sensible about love are incapable of it"
- Douglas Yates -
8th December 2006

and today is again eat out for lunch friday.

this time, sister yit was the complimentary chai.

and she had

General Tso's Chicken with Rice

i had my (by now) customary

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce with Rice

so this is what it looks like. for S$5 i get zi char quality fresh succulent shrimps and zesty black bean egg sauce with minced pork on steamed rice.

super tasty lunch.

writing this post i feel hungry already.

sister yit didn't look particularly impressed with her's though, she prefers Asian Star's version of the same dish.

had dinner at candy's, she whipped up a mean dish of pan-fried salmon. forgot to take pics though. =

and the night was supposed to be a mugging night. or cleanup night. or packing night.

instead it evolved into a legal tussle sparked by some suggestive posting on the head monk's blog which immediately became prosecution material. for privacy purposes i shall not divulge the contents, but i can only say that it ignited an intensive interrogation and eventual prosecution of the head monk where his monksmanship was questioned. eventually, however, head monk prevailed. so too did templehood. haha.

super hilarious msn kangaroo court. micnie your "Exhibit A" took the cake... hahaha i laughed my head off tonight... thanks for the enjoyment!!

so people, want to sue the pants off your nemesis?

i know the perfect lawyer. =)

riverbendblog.blogspot.com

2006-12-08T14:58:00.000-06:00

" Tuesday, September 9, 2003

The abridged version of [Bush's] speech . . .

"Friends, Americans, Countrymen, lend me your ears... lend me your sons and daughters, lend me your tax dollars... so we can wage war in the name of American national security (people worldwide are willing to die for it)... so I can cover up my incompetence in failing to protect you... so I can add to the Bush and Cheney family coffers at your expense and the expense of the Iraqi people. I don't know what I'm doing, but if you spend enough money, you'll want to believe that I do."
- posted by river @ 10.43 PM "

Extracted from "Riverbend"'s blog, in English. The blogger wrote in Baghdad, in the midst of American occupation of Iraq, and her self-proclaimed "rants" have been reproduced in publication. See Riverbend, Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq (New York: the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005), p. 59.

Excellent read, whether or not you agree with the views of this Iraqi blogger.

buy the book, or visit riverbendblog.blogspot.com for her ongoing additions on the Iraqi view from Baghdad.

Quote of the Day

2006-12-07T22:52:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Happiness? Thats's nothing more than health and a poor memory."
- Albert Schweitzer -
7th December 2006

i am done with queen's university! =D

well not really... i still have a final exam on 21st december, but today i finally finished and submitted my take-home exam for south african history. and returned all my library books. so i no longer owe queen's anything.

its -11 degrees now, according to weathernetwork.com, and its certainly feeling like the predicted "feels like: -18". puddles in potholes on the road outside harkness have frozen into thin films of ice.

brudder, i hope the weather would be well when you get here... and toronto would be warmer when i get there...

so looking forward to it =)

Quote of the Day

2006-12-06T23:41:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it."
- Swedish Proverb -
6th December 2006

i really love this quote. its so meaningful for everyone to remember.

finally done up and submitted my essay for Vietnam War.

yang lao shi, that book right at the top probably looks very familiar. and very forgettable too.

total of 19 sources for a 15 page research essay, with 57 footnotes and citations.

right now working on my take-home exam for south african history.

but in between had a really fun conversation with the head monk over msn, which was really funny and heartwarming at the same time. even in a place so far away, with someone across the border, we still can understand each other. haha.... temple talk.

head monk is right now in uc davis. and he told me about the things that a singaporean would miss most when out of singapore. according to a singaporean he met studying at uc davis,

"the 4 Fs."

"family"
"friends"
"food"

interesting. very true indeed.

evoking the wrong emotions

2006-12-06T13:21:00.000-06:00

" Fratello's Fusion Ristorante @ NUS Staff ClubFood to keep your energy up.....

*New Item*

Crispy Seafood Noodles @ $4.00

*Traditional Favourites*

Mui Fan @ $3.00

Hokkien Mee @ $3.00

Seafood Mee Goreng @ $3.00

Hong Kong Noodles @ $3.00

Seafood Hor Fun @ $3.00

Vegetarian Fried Rice @ $3.00

Beef Hor fun @ $4.00

Sweet & Sour Fish with Rice @ $4.00

& More......

*Western Indulgence*

Fish & Chips @ $8.90

Teriyaki Chicken Pasta with Black Pepper Sauce @ $8.90

Vegetarian Al Funghi @ $8.90

Pan Fried Dory with Sambal or Black Pepper Sauce @ $11.90

Grilled Boneless Leg with Raisin Sauce @ $11.90

& More...... "

NUS should stop sending out such ads to student accounts. total lack of sensitivity to students on SEP. tsk.

Quote of the Day

2006-12-05T19:16:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson -
5th December 2006

white kingston

2006-12-05T10:36:00.000-06:00

i talked to micnie last night about expecting kingston to turn white when i wake up the next morning.

looking outside, i immediately wished i had prophecized something else that i really wanted.

kingston had turned white.

empirically, the part of kingston within my line of sight from my room had.

alfred st, with stauffer library (the same street which 2 days ago was flooded)

and the sky was bright, the air was cold yet not freezing, and the sight was beautiful in the morning sun.

my first steps out into the snow

my hall don, steve's minivan

only later in the day, when weirong showed me a pic of what he had written in the snow on the windscreen, did i find out why steve had activated the windscreen wiper.

a snow-covered shrub outside harkness

stauffer library and the line of trees along union st

jduc in the snowy blanket retained its unique look

the road you see in front of it had been cleared of snow, but had also become messy with slush.

douglas hall with its christmas-sy look

the gateway at MacKintosh-Corry Hall...

looks totally different with snow... but still as pretty as ever =)

ontario hall

totally medieval

grant hall

not much of a sight in this pic though... except the roof is now all white snow

theological hall and the field in front of it

compare the above pic with the one i posted just yesterday in the bright sunlight.

its amazing how the weather changed so much from the rain and wind last friday, to the bright sunny day of isolated flurries, to the snowsquall overnight...

agnes etherington arts centre and its 3 rocks pretending to be snowmen

those are woonteng's and my shadows. and a lamp post's.

and yes folks you are seeing what you are seeing. a rare appearance.

my brother's winter jacket is still good for this weather with a fleece jacket underneath.

and goretex boots rocks.

we had wanted to do a snowman cuz there was so much snow! but we had to see our prof to get back our papers... and then we decided to go to lake ontario!

lake ontario

there's more of the lake beyond the line of trees

its not frozen, yet, but would be in due time... could be a while though... maybe january, by which time i would have left kingston.

by the time we got back to harkness the snow had already rapidly deteriorated... more of slush then snow, and too dirty to use to make a nice snowman. tmr morning then... the snowman would have to wait... =)

Quote of the Day

2006-12-04T19:26:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Its been said you only truly fall in love once, but I don't believe it. Everytime I see you, I fall in love all over again."
- unknown -
4th December 2006

today, a lot of unexpected pleasantries happened.

a gloomy cold morning.

went for breakfast, and came out of the dining hall to find

a sunny sunny day =)

thats grant hall

and theological hall with kingston field in front of it

and when at grocery shopping, met bernia at food basics! what a pleasant surprise! =)

and because we helped bernia carry her groceries to her home along wellington st,

wellington street

we got to see her home!

which was really really nice and cosy!

and

the house she stayed in (or half of it anyway) was once rented by

Sir John A. MacDonald for his sister!

wow. how cool to be living in a piece of kingston history.

and when i got back to harkness, it started snowing in the sun!

the flakes looked really pretty!

but none of these could compare to the two nice songs i am listening to over and over and over again...

thank you

receiving these songs really made my day =D

Quote of the Day

2006-12-03T20:00:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Life is one fool thing after another whereas

love is two fool things after each other."

- Oscar Wilde -

3rd December 2006

Quote of the Day

2006-12-02T19:52:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"The worst thing about being broke is watching the world go b(u)y."

- unknown -

2nd December 2006

were at VIP Restaurant yesterday for Sam's farewell dinner. in spite of the cheesy and dodgy-sounding name the food there is quite good... for lunch menu at least.

the dinner we had was.

palatable.

the pugilists tee up for the duel with a cup of tea.

and we forgot to take pictures of the food again.

so still no picture on the food i am eating here in kingston.

Quick Wit II

2006-12-02T12:51:00.000-06:00

"No man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist.

He has too much to do."

- William J. Levitt, developer of Levittown -

Quote of the Day

2006-12-01T15:27:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over."

- unknown -

1st December 2006

kingston... flooded?

2006-12-01T15:09:00.000-06:00

today saw the heaviest rainfall combined with the strongest gusts since the day i arrived in kingston.

alfred street,

which leads from earl street where harkness is to union street which is the main spinal east-west road through queen's, was

a) flooded ---> my immediate thought after seeing the water spreading from sidewalk to sidewalk and ONTO both sidewalks along the whole stretch of road between earl and union. pedestrians were stepping stones and jumping from porches to porches of houses along the Ghetto to walk the length of the road.

b) "overtaken by puddles" ---> monique's description of the road. aussie take on the collection of surface runoffs from the sidewalks which produced the above-described lake alfred.

which immediately made me wonder if the pap did such a good job with drainage in singapore that we take water-free roads on rainy days for granted, when there are SOOO many rainy days in singapore, with rain worse than today's in kingston. and every puddle which overtook the road became a flood to us.

or its just me.

sunshine after the rain

alfred st, the Ghettos which provided the stepping stones, and Stauffer Library in the furthest end illuminated by radiant beams.

and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. what a gloomy weekend it seems.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-30T21:48:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"There's a battle that goes on between men and women. Many people call it love."
- Edvard Munch -
30th November 2006

Quote of the Day

2006-11-29T20:26:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"You are the sun, you are my light

And you're the last thing on my mind

before I go to sleep at night.

You're always 'round

when I'm in need.

When trouble's on my mind

you put my soul at ease."

- Damage -

29th November 2006

a really old but really nice song that i loved a lot too.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-28T21:59:00.000-06:00

(by Mr Brown)

"I think we dream so that we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time."

- Calvin and Hobbes -

28th November 2006

the one thing i cannot tell you,

is that in my dreams,

we have never been apart.

Ever.

Quick Wit I

2006-11-28T19:07:00.000-06:00

"How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or living in it.

How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to."

- Alexendra Fuller, Scribbling the Cat -

How are you seeing this country right now?

How am I seeing this country right now?

Quote of the Day

2006-11-27T13:02:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Start everyday with a smile and get it over with."

- W. C. Fields -

27th November 2006

books and essays

2006-11-27T12:56:00.000-06:00

3rd 15 page research essay completed. these are the books i have used for this essay, excluding 5 which i have either returned, or which i cannot bring out of the libraries.

and of course the few articles i got off JSTOR.

there Mr Sheares is having his cameo role in this erudite photo moment.

final class test in 3 hours' time. after which i can commence my 4th 15 page research essay.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-26T19:10:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"失意，是要你停下脚步听听四周的声音。"

- 王子变青蛙 -

26th November 2006

3rd out of 4 Fifteen Page Essays.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-25T19:21:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too. So we're really not that different, me and you."

- Collin Raye -

25th November 2006

Quote of the Day

2006-11-24T19:26:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"我要对你说爱你爱你爱你爱你

不管是黑夜或是黎明

不管是梦中或是清醒

深深爱你

多么幸福

让我遇见你。"

- 黄舒俊 -

24th November 2006

and today was eat out for lunch day. auntie candy and i both needed good food to perk ourselves up. its been a torrid yesterday for both of us. for pretty much the same bunch of reasons. life really sucks sometimes.

the "Ghetto"

a sample street of the conglomeration of brick housing (the "Ghetto") that throngs of Queen's students emerge groggy-eyed every morning to trudge to school. right down this Alfred St would be the Stauffer Library and Union Street, so its really near school.

nice idyllic view of the park in all its glorious baldness. the sun was nice and warm today, altho the air was very chilly. good walk to the cantonese restaurant, good food. pity my camera died on me just as i was taking pictures of our excellent zi char dishes (i had "prawn in lobster sauce with rice" which was fabulously tasty).

life's not so bad still. at least food can be good.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film."
- unknown -
23rd November 2006

Sombre Theological Hall on a sombre day, sombre mood.

The day didn't get any worse than I imagined.

It simply felt worse.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-22T18:45:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Promise me you'll never forget me because if you would, I'd never leave."

- Winnie the Pooh -

22nd November 2006

and in totally unrelated newsflash, my squirrel theory posted yesterday was empirically undermined. in a (comparatively) warm afternoon, on my way to lessons at 1530, i was passing by Stauffer Library when at the steep slope that formed sort of a waterless moat hugging the west side of the building, something moving against the backdrop of the building caught my eye.

this little fellow.

got up closer... he was still nibbling away, enjoying his photographic moment. the need for food near hibernation apparently relegated the threat of the evil camera lenses in their imagination. previously in summer they would have scooted in the blink of an eye. maybe they are simply too fat by now to move fast so they no longer bother to. which is somewhat true; they do move a lot slower now compared to summer and fall. is there any scientific corroboration i wonder....

and then from the corner of my eye i spotted more moving furballs on the ridgeline:

a second squirrel, a grey.

and a second black squirrel

perched so still, upright, that if his mouth hadn't been furiously nibbling away i would have dismissed him as part of the rubbish on the grass patch. and believe it or not he kept this zen position for the entire duration i swivelled towards him, walked audaciously up, snapped a shot, and kept my camera. last i saw him as i turned to continue my way to class he was as still as i first saw him.

apparently these furballs aren't only out scavenging on colder days. its all the acorns that had rained down on grass patches with the end of fall that made squirrels risk life and limb to overcome photophobia.

Shaw Festival and Niagara Falls!!

2006-11-21T14:24:00.000-06:00

yes i know once again this is loooong overdue and this has become distant memory even in my own little head. but still, the most famous natural attraction in Canada deserves an entry here as part of my adventures through maple syrup land.

furthermore, its not just about the frothy waterfalls! also on the agenda were The Shaw Festival and Stratford Festival!

BUT

because of logistical and transport issues as well as artistical preferences, Stratford was out. there were no shows compelling enough for us to overcome the logistical and transport problems and get our asses to the famed city of regional theatrical fame.

first, getting our asses to Niagara.

i had wanted a complete experience of modes of transport, and i was delighted (and auntie candy distraught) when the train ticket to niagara was sold out and we had to take a coach: we would get to go there on coach via toronto, and return by train! and it turned out cheaper somehow, abysmally.

on the day we got to the Kingston CoachCanada Bus Terminal, to our serious concern there was only ONE coach catering to the entire population of torontonian Queen's students dying to jettison back to toronto for Thanksgiving (which in canada falls on Oct 9th; we left for Niagara from 6th to 8th). so CoachCanada arranged to have us bundled to toronto on....

Yellow School Buses.

for the rest of the freezing cold 3.5 hr ride to toronto (no air-con=no temperature control inside the bus), auntie candy was verbally skinning me alive for my aforementioned careless vacation wish of a "complete travel experience" ("be careful what you wish for!!" she berated) in between our grumblings about the cold and our hunger.

nevertheless, we managed to get to toronto exactly on the dot as the doors for our connecting coach ride to Niagara opened. talk about timing, this vacation is all about that, since the planning phase. precision, to the milliseconds.

and a short 200m walk (in the freezing cold midnight winds it felt like a km or two) to our hostel.

Niagara Backpacker's Hostel!

a 19th century red brickhouse built by a doctor for his wife, it was bought over in the 1980s by Josh's parents who were French Canadians. they didn't know they bought for a bargain a historical relic, and auctioned off below value an antique grandfather clock amongst other historically valuable items left in the house. now run by Josh, his sister and his family as a hostel for budget holidaymakers.

our room, which we shared with 2 other backpackers from england and japan

beautifully designed on the interior with redwood, a must-stay when in niagara (unless like melisa you have lobangs that give you free rooms at Niagara Falls Hotel, 4 star), with excellent beds, blankets and comforters, showers and free breakfast of home-made muffins and excellent strongly brewed coffee at a budget cad 22 per night. we had the fortune of staying in guestrooms on the wing where Josh's family had their rooms, instead of the hostel wing where other backpackers stayed.

the next morning we made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a little atas town situated at a bend along Niagara River which houses the Shaw Festival.

Shaw Festival

an annual theatre festival showcasing and commemorating the works of George Bernard Shaw as well as other excellent pieces by excellent and/or acclaimed playwrights, the Shaw Festival attracts audience of all ages and demographic groups from all over the world every year.

Boulevard, Niagara-on-the-Lake

the obelisk clocktower in the background, of which i took an excellent picture that could not be uploaded for some reason, is a prominently useful landmark for theatre goers. it reminds everyone in the vicinity of the time with chimes on the hourmark.

horse carts everywhere in canada, here in NOTL as well.

this horse, on the direction of the driver, gracefully crossed a T-junction diagonally and caused abrupt stoppage of traffic in all directions. seemingly oblivious to the temporary pandemonium it has caused, the horse cantered as serenely as the driver sat triumphantly atop his perch displaying his law-bending power.

idyllic little town, splendid shows. auntie candy and i caught the critically acclaimed The Crucible at The Festival Theatre, the aptly named main theatre for the annual festival. excellent, powerful and amazing use of lighting and set amalgamation and coordination in look and transition. 2 hours later, after we had extensively deconstructed the literal, philosophical, theological, political and sociological significance of each and every scene in the 3 hour play, we returned to the SAME theatre where we watched High Society.

High Society

the scene changes was amazing; sets flew in and out with almost every scene change, stage-width props rolled out to the beat of the transition music and settings changed seamlessly. which further confounded me to the fact that they had made happen a total switchover of the entire theatre from one show to another, lights and fly inclusive, within the short span of 2 hours. and some foh and foh side lights were clearly re-focused, with different colour schemes from The Crucible. wow.

and that sums the day. two excellent shows for which i still owe my brudder in Richmond Hill cad 128, and a gregarious cab driver who drove us on the hour long, cad 30 ride back to Niagara. a Muscovite who lived and worked in Singapore for a few years, he alerted us to the fact that it costs as much for us to fly to vancouver from toronto as it does to fly to europe. moscow costs only cad 700. HMMMMMMMMM...... moolah permitting, i might just land in venice, rome or paris before i get back to singapore.

and the next morning we were off to the falls itself. the 20 minute stroll to the falls in the cool morning breeze certainly is uplifting and awakening, considering we only got back to the hostel at 12 midnight because High Society ended at 11pm. Josh's coffee was great, but the walk did wonders waking us up proper.

view of Niagara River along Zimmermann Ave.

nearing the American Falls on the left, and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right.

Rainbow Bridge
one of the bridges across which canadians can get into the state of new york along the river.

and we reached the jetty for the Maid of the Mist ride to the foot of the falls! the jetty unfortunately is making exhorbitant profit at nature's expense. witness the froth of petrol discharged from the boats which accumulate and coagulate at the sides of the jetty.

nevertheless, we partook unashamedly in this despicable act of nature genocide. aboard the Maid of the Mist we set sail, each tourist covered from head to toe in a ridiculous thin blue plastic raincoat THROUGH which many many tourists took photos in apparent protection of their cameras. oh i'm sure their pictures would turn out perfect. not blue.

Maid of the Mist trawling into the mist and the morning sun

and we approached the American Falls!

in any case, the falls supposedly had a splash radius of more than 2 km from the foot of the falls, depending on the wind that carried the water droplets. thus we were rained with water droplets from the falls as far as just after Rainbow Bridge on our way to the falls. as the Maid neared the falls, up close it felt like a torrential downpour.

okay it wasn't that bad. we could still take pictures. this is the foot of the American Falls, with majestic powerful rapids.

morning sun caught in the mist

the Canadian Horsehoe Falls

by comparison spanned a longer distance across the river because of its horseshoe shape. in my opinion much more beautiful because of its comparatively more powerful and awe-inspiring feel.

man versus nature

the Falls and the tourist city that grew out of its fame.

Niagara Falls Tourist Area

embellished with casinos, hotels, retailers and thematic galleries, including Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and Warner Brothers galleries.

the problem with Niagara Falls is that it has, in my view, become much too touristified. especially the tourist area which was very expensive for a tourist destination. in addition to the cad 8 we paid for the Maid of the Mist ride, even the nature trek behind the falls cost us cad 14, which we decided was a ripoff for a nature walk. everything here cost money, except the work of nature itself which fortunately by its own magnitude of existence judiciously preserved for all visitors to the falls the free and unrestricted admiration of its magnificent handiwork; had it been any smaller, or the profiteers gotten any greedier, i suppose they might have built a dome to enclose the two waterfalls and charge entrance to even smell the air.

half a day came to a close, and we embarked on our way home. Via rail!

okay this is free publicity for VIARAIL, a picture taken off its website. from Niagara to Kingston, we got an hour's transfer time at toronto. went to a shop opened by a taiwanese woman to ask for directions to the nearest chinese makan, and she gave us a free map (which she said she would sell to non-chinese). hmmm.

bumbling around, we managed to find our way to a dimsum place that sells very nice changfen. the closest to singapore's chee cheong fun i have found in canada, but i'm sure i will find better chinese fare here in toronto... no time for this short stopover, we had to catch the train back to kingston. but the next trip, during my exam travel window (oxymoronic huh...) i will, with my brudder's and micnie's kind guidance (hopefully... haha), discover greater enclaves of culinary accomplishment which i believe adorn the city of toronto.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-21T11:48:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words."

- Calvin and Hobbes -

21st November 2006

and in unrelated news, i woke up this morning to a thin bed of snow on grass patches, cars and roofs. its been zero for most of today; according to weathernetwork.com, i'll wake up to -4 tmr.

Grant Hall with silvery snowy roof, against the morning sun

Quote of the Day

2006-11-20T00:20:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"Love is not blind; it simply enables one to see things others fail to see"

- unknown -

20th November 2006

6 page essay + 15 page research essay done. with cheesy titles to boot. 2 more 15 page research essays to go.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-19T13:25:00.000-06:00

by Mr Brown!!

"But logic never could convince the heart."
- Collin Raye -
19th November 2006

weather update...

somehow when the weather gets real cold i can always see squirrels come out by the dozens stocking up their hibernation hideouts with acorns and nuts...

this fellow was spotted on a cold cold morning in montreal.

and this obese fellow this morning outside harkness.

temperature dip coming up this week... its gonna be oscillating around zero from now on, according to weather forecasts...

Quote of the Day by Mr Brown

2006-11-18T21:36:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! How are all your essays going? To bring one and all daily relief from the hustle and bustle of work and exam revisions, Mr Brown shall bring you the

Quote of the Day!

Mr Brown
B.A., M.Sc. Lounging Kinetics and Nocturnal Freudian Studies
Ph.D Horizontal Philosophical Existence, on Spring Mattress

And now, bringing you.....

Yesterday's Quote of the Day!!

"Rivers know this; there is no hurry. We shall get there someday."
- Winnie the Pooh -
17th November 2006

And...

Today's Quote of the Day!!!

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."
- Jack Hardey -
18th November 2006

quotes are taken from

"This Belongs To Jing Wen: 90 Quotes for 116 Days",

from Jessie to Jing Wen.

enforceable by law.

my law.

Deep in Thoughts with Nowhere to Go

2006-11-17T16:37:00.000-06:00

this is one of those times when i would have pulled a singlet on, and go wandering deep in thought around my blk in hall, walking along corridors silent and pondering, stopping only to sit and stare and ponder even more. essays and life.

but there is no blk d here in kingston.

anyways here is what a corner of my room looks like. all these books for my current 2 essays and the upcoming one, a 6 page response and two 15 page research essays. Queen's library system allows us to borrow up to 99 books per year, or renew up to 99 times. no limit on the number of books we can sign out each time.

this excludes the pile of books on my table that are currently engaged with my brain.

and to top the day off today is 1CentPerCopy Day at the Printing Centre at JDUC. bargain of the year where academic photocopying is concerned. i now have Walter Benjamin's "Paris, the Capital of the Nineteenth Century" and selections of "Myth and Metropolis" with me for life. and it cost me 60 cents. i wish i had discovered this promotion earlier in the day; i might have jus borrowed auntie candy's book and Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence and rip them off the printing centre as well.

Ottawa, Capital of Canada

2006-11-14T14:45:00.000-06:00

i wasn't at all keen on ottawa given that

1. i was fully prepared to mug once semester begins and pick my fights in terms of travel

2. ottawa is boring according to my star player who had been to every conceivable travel destination in canada BEFORE he stepped foot into waterloo proper

3. i wanted to make sure i have money to spare for new york now that i decided i have a travel window before my one and only sit-in exam on the very absolutely last day of examinations on the Queen's academic calander for Fall 2006, and visiting Jerk in NY after visiting Micnie in Toronto sounds like a good idea. Broadway beckons too, hence the financial consideraton.

but since my good travel mates decided that after a tough week of commerce mid terms and deadlines they should reward themselves with a relaxing trip to the capital, and i can afford the time, i decided i should tag along too. after all, the capital is the capital, i'll only be here once, and its gonna be a budget trip. supposedly. so after much deliberation and self-rationalization to micnie over msn, i packed my bags for ottawa. much to the derision of auntie candy whom i convinced a month ago that ottawa is most dispensable as a travel destination.

lodging is a nice cosy little house called Ottawa Backpackers Inn. the owner is a malaysian-born canadian whose english sounds uniquely like simon's (a singaporean-born canadian masters student who stays at harkness), instantly familiar. maybe he is used to speaking to foreign travellers from asia, since lots of such travellers put up at his place. nevertheless, his warm voice and brand of english sounded immediately close to home.

even closer to home are 2 malaysian girls who are on cultural exchange to the US and travelling canada for the month as part of their vacation. bishan and jiawei. even their names sounds so close to home. the 2nd maybe a little imported, but singaporean nonetheless.

Ottawa Backpackers Inn!

the halloween mood lingers apparently. incidentally, this pic was taken on the morning i left for kingston, when we woke up to a snowy morning. we didn't actually stayed here; we were given an apartment in a red brick house right next to the inn. here it is:

our abode for the night

ottawa is noted for its pristine government buildings. as we walked down Confederation Boulevard we were greeted by grand buildings of stately stature whether or not their current purposes fall under the purview of the state functions.

Confederation Boulavard

bustling with vehicles and pedestrians, complete with banners on lampposts all along the street that created sort of a fanfare atmosphere amidst the stately environment. the weather was, however, too gloomy to inspire any substantial liveliness from these sleepy travellers who woke to catch the 7am greyhound bus to ottawa. still, the boulevard remains a sight to behold, in its own stately grandeur.

on our way to Parliament Hill, we passed this point along the Rideau Canal, which was supposedly (according to a touristy-looking signboard) the site where Byward Village, the first settlement of Ottawa, first sprung up. the site, in exact 30-digit MGR, is the little grey building with 3 red panels to the left of the canal outlet in the picture below.

Rideau Canal and Byward Village

Parliament Hill, a hill of unnoticeable gradient, houses the Parliament of Canada along with the East and West Blocks which used to be centres of important state departments.

the Canadian Parliament Building

wow.

anything is grand i suppose, compared to the ridiculous UFO we have in our heritage district. but i wouldn't discount any of the grandeur of this building here.

The East Block, till recently (okay not so recent but i forgot which year) housed the Prime Minister's Office. on its own the East Block is pretty breathtaking.

the East Block

West Block is under renovation so no pictures of its ugly state of reconstruction. its all walled up anyway.

all these are in the same complex atop Parliament Hill. inclusive of these, plus the huge plaza and lawn in front of Parliament Building, is this interesting fire that burns in the middle of a fountain at the entrance to the plaza. around this fountain are important years that marked milestones for Canada in its formation and development as a state.

so, history majors, what happened around the world in 1871?

the interior of Parliament is, to make a severe understatement, magnificently breathtaking. now i really understand why micnie faced a lack of expressive vocabulary in her blogs on her travelling exploits because every thing we see in this building is simply awesome. the architecture, the wall carvings, the bas reliefs, the ceiling decorations. all with outstanding artistry, solemn and brooding with political and historical significance in the stories they tell.

the House of Commons

the Left, the Right, and the Speaker of the House in the middle.

in the House, seats and flooring are green in colour to signify the autonomy of the House from monarchical interference. royalty are barred from the House in preservation of its political independence; the two bars right at the entrance to the House are physical barriers meant to prevent intrusion of the royal crown into House sessions.

one of two bars

the Senate, however, is where the monarch and his/her partner would partake in parliamentary sessions. in Canada, because the Queen is so far away in England watching the English Premier League, a Governor-General would sit in as the queen's representative in the Senate, performing on her behalf the ceremonial role of nodding his/her head as approval for the legitimacy of the PROCESS of Bills passed, not the Bill itself. constitutional monarchy indeed. the dignity of the crown is, however, preserved in equally ceremonial ways: the seats and flooring in the Senate are red in deference to the monarchical presence and sanction of the parliamentary process, and there is nothing to bar the monarch from entering the hall. not that i think the bar in the House of Common served any pragmatic purpose; no queen is so fat that she can't squeeze through the wide gap that Ministers of Parliaments file through to enter the House.

the Senate

also with the Left, the Right, and the centre for the Crown or its representative.

the pinnacle of magnificence in this entire building has to come at the most sacred location of all: the Library of the Parliament, where MPs and Senators spend hours browsing through tons of publications in preparation for the passage of Bills through Parliament. housing 50000 volumes (i hope i remembered correctly; the pamphlet says 17 linear km of meterials in its collection to date), the library has a regal and sacred air to it as a haven of academic excellence. the security guard on duty within affirmed that he had read all the volumes in the library. twice. i might just take his word for it. he was reading under a tablelamp when we arrived.

the iron doors to the library, which preserved the entire collection of government books and national archives during the great fire of 1916 which razed the rest of Parliament. the architectural design of the library, consequently, is markedly different from the rest of the building rebuilt in the aftermath of the First World War; the interior of the library, in Gothic Revival Style, is bright and welcoming compared to the grim stately solemness of the building that reflected the wartime mood of the Great War.

The Library of the Parliament

Queen Victoria

queen mother of the empire with the coat of arms of Ontario on the column in the background.

Parliament burning

the fire of 1916.

view from the Peace Tower

view from the top of the clocktower. right across the bridge is secessionist Quebec. if it really happens every single of such bridges would become a customs checkpoint. there are a handful of them visible from where we were at the top of the tower.

i couldn't resist this doubly oxymoronic picture.

Parliament Hill took up a good part of the day. a fruitless search for a recommended Italian restaurant wasted a bit more of it before we settled for morrocan fare at Byward Market. since we are in the capital, museums are in order. ottawa has quite a number of recommended ones. we looked at the time, and went for one we could fit considering their opening hours.

the National Gallery of Canada. protected by a gigantic spider at its entrance.

Herr Friedrich Nietzsche

the root of all historians' philosophical miseries

a year on, i am still in confusion over "On the Uses and Abuses of History for Life", although "Beyond good and Evil" was a more comprehensible exposition of utter contradiction.

for the empire, whichever one it is

Inuit Art on japanese paper

looks very Nippon-fied.

an Inuit sculpture i really liked

and finally we managed to hunt down the Italian restaurant that the innkeeper recommended us for our dinner. Mamma Grazi's Kitchen corresponded to the Singaporean food index: queue means good, long queue means really good. we waited for half an hour before a table for 5 was finally pinched out of thin air by cheerfully overworked staff.

the Daily Special of shrimp and salmon penne in cheese sauce and olive oil.

due to the short tenure of my stay in ottawa, i could only catch Parliament Hill and the National Gallery of Canada in the one day tour, and Byward Market the next morning. i would have stayed for the Just For Laughs show on sunday night if i didn't have lessons early monday morning, and i would have taken pics of Byward Market, if not for the heavy snow on Sunday morning itself.

that's it for ottawa, back to my essays! again!

Sights in Kingston II : Ontario Street

2006-11-14T13:26:00.000-06:00

okay this is supposed to be Sights in Kingston I but i got so excited over Curry Village and the sans culotte Marie Antoinette that i had to put that as Sights in Kingston I. no matter, this long overdue but probably not much awaited entry would provide some introduction to the colourful sights of Ontario St in downtown Kingston.

Ontario St houses the admin functions of Kingston as well as some of its best sights, restaurants and nightlife. the picture above is the front view of City Hall, the same building as the very first photo you see on this blog on Kingston. scroll down if you need to; i am too lazy to provide a link that cultivates laziness in blog surfers who find it too tedious to scroll down.

and below, right behind City Hall itself is this colourful and bustling Ontario Street Market Square, home to push cart vendors who set up stall every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays selling all sorts of things from flowers to freshly plucked berries and fruits, and even clothings and maple syrup products. pretty touristified. in variety as well as in price.

City Hall and the Market Square

the Kingstonian Bazaar

a little house in a corner of Wolfe Island.

really comfy looking little cottage. looks like a good place to retire =)

still along Ontario St. the street is actually bordering and parallel to Lake Ontario which is freakin big. and the street is home as well to the Confederation Basin. Kingston, once the capital of the Confederation of Canada under the Prime Ministership of Sir John A. MacDonald, is keen to celebrate this little piece of heritage. Confederation Basin is one such example.

A nice place to chill out in the chilly wind beside the lake.

the Park at Confederation Basin

further down the Basin there is among the very first Railway Station in Canada, now the Kingston Tourist Centre.

parked aptly beside it is the first locomotive train to arrive in Kingston, seen in picture below.

and when in Kingston, do as the Kingstonians do. apparently a very cool thing to do is to get some White Mountain Ice Cream and slurp the unbelievably humongous cone of ice cream sitting by the Lake at Confederation Basin in the summer. very Kingstonian.

White Mountain Ice Cream Shop counter

they have ice creams and yoghurts in three sizes: regular, large, and "Mountain". those huge home-made cones you see at the back of the counter are, you guessed it, regular. "Mountain" lives up to its name indeed.

beside the ice cream parlour is the most Canadian building you can find in Kingston, constructed as residence by one of the first merchants in Kingston in the early 1800s. converted to the Prince George Hotel (the first hotel in Kingston in any case), it now houses an Irish Pub called Tir Nan Og, as well as two other pubs.

The Prince George Hotel

urban legend has it that the building was so wonderfully well-preserved in its "originally Ontario" style in spite of a fire that broke out because once the alert was sounded, firemen from the Fire Station across the street dashed to the mission in order to save the three pubs. so it pays to house booze in lieu de memoire. singapore could take a page out of this book in their innovation to reuse heritage buildings.

this is the abovementioned City Fire Department, the first Fire Station in Kingston from which firemen triumphantly emerged to save their fave haunt across the road and prevent the apocalyptic halt of easily accessible booze supply.

now housing the premium Texan-Mexican restaurant Lonestar. excellent food, great ambience and noisy birthday celebrations on weekends. birthday boys and girls are to stand on their seats with a huge green mexican hat on their heads and the staff would sing one of a variety of special cowboyish birthday songs for him or her.

also along this street is Curry Original, a rival to Curry Village which laobeng recommended me. apparently both are quite good and similar, because they are owned by bickering brothers from the same north indian family. Curry Village is the breakaway, but both offer excellent indian fare with spicy, fragrant curry. oh man i miss sankar venkateswaran and little india. more on makan in Kingston in a later post.

that's all for now... back to my essays!

Queen's University

2006-11-13T23:46:00.000-06:00

Queen's University, Main Campus, is situated just by Lake Ontario and a easy 15 minute stroll from downtown Kingston. Bordered by Collingwood St to the West, Barrie St to the East, Earl St (where Harkness Hall is) to the North, and Lake Ontario to the South, Queen's University Main Campus is a most idyllic university to be studying in. Lots of greenery (not now of course, its winter now; there were luscious greens in abundance when I first arrived 2 months back), spacious sidewalks and limestone giants in silent grandoise lined University Ave and the intersecting Union St.

Right across University Ave which is the street behind the sign in the picture you see above, is Joseph Stauffer Library, the main library of Queen's and a colossal of modern architecture. Futuristic on the outside, prim and proper on the inside, Stauffer is an amazing enclave of resources for most of my courses. It features a 5 storey spiral staircase right through the centre of the building. The online catalogue search system, however, sucks to the core. If you don't type in EXACTLY the description the book or article is filed under in the database, no book for you. Yeah its like playing charades, only that there isnt really a joker acting out the clues in front of you.

Stauffer Library

with University Ave in front of it.

To the left of this picture is the intersecting Union St. Going East along Union, right next to the library, is the John Deutch University Centre that houses the Queen's University International Centre, post office, Printing Centre, Tricolor Market (a student run store selling everything under the sun) and the Queen's Pub. The last three, like many many other facilities on campus, are fully student operated. Queen's is the first student government body in Canada; the level of student governance and involvement in both the University and the Town itself is EXTREMELY high and incidentally the Queen's Radio is the first radio station in Kingston.

JDUC

A peaceful looking brick structure that looks like its slumbering amidst all the other buildings around it. Notice electronic notice board in front of the JDUC.

This intersection is where I begin my day every morning after coming out of Harkness Hall along Earl St and going down University Ave. Going down South along University Ave from this intersection, I go past more limestone beauties such as

Douglas Library

Notice JDUC in the background. The sidewalks along Queen's are especially spacious, and dotted with trees and bushes. In these photos the sidewalks look devoid of people because these photos were taken at an unearthly hour of 7.30am (to most students here, it is unearthly; one Singaporean caught on and now to her 10.30am is, believe it or not, "the crack of dawn"). By 10am, however, these wide sidewalks aren't wide enough to accomodate the hordes of schoolgoing muggers who swarm the campus especially along these two roads. Add in roller bladers babes and skateboarding dudes, its a good thing there aren't many cars along roads in Kingston and Queen's in particular.

And below is once the tallest building in the City of Kingston; a Kingston By-Law once stipulated that no building could be built taller than this clocktower:

Grant Hall

No longer in effect, but it remains one of the tallest structures in the entire city itself. Hence my previous comment about seeing the city skyline from whereever I am in the city.

Right beside Grant Hall, all on University Ave, is this nice-looking quasi-medieval building adorned with towers on both sides of its front stairs.

Ontario Hall

After which I arrive at Ban Righ Hall for my breakfast every morning! A sample of the feast I have every day for a hearty breakfast:

Buffet every morning.

Scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, waffles/pancakes. potatoes of various denominations and manifestations, coffee, fruits featuring apples bananas oranges and peaches, yogurt, muffins, cereals, etc etc etc all to choose from. Makan unlimited.

After breakfast I lumber across the road back to University Ave, and opposite Douglas Library lies this secluded little gateway with accompanying metal arch. I step in and there ahead lies the place I have most of my lessons everyday.

Mackintosh-Corry Hall

I simply love this little path, it brightens up my morning everyday. It looked awesome with red leaves and all in the autumn, but even now in winter it retains some charm in spite of the botakness of the trees.

The little gate! And more greenery lining this path!

So hence concludes my little mini tour of my route every morning from stepping out of home to lessons... back to my essays...

siesta

2006-11-11T21:07:00.000-06:00

Mr. Sheares

as you can see, my Mr. Sheares and I are taking a break from my essays right now. Mr. Brown, as usual, is snoozing in my bed.

and there sits on my table this little deck of cards of wit and humour that jessie was so sweet to write and compile for me for the duration of my time in kingston. one card every 1.2 days, and i absolutely love the wit and humour =D

Charles M. Schultz,

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."

=)

News from Kingston I : FC Beercelona

2006-11-06T21:47:00.000-06:00

the season is finally here; the league has started!

was supposed to be part of my Harkness Hall team, but the team got inflated with increasing recruitment of non-Harkness international students, so in the end we formed two teams. and by random luck i was slotted into the team of mostly non-Harkness people. which is good cuz this team is a joy to play with. fast flowing football, committed individuals, exciting passing game. thoroughly enjoyable.

and this team is a funny one. we all speak english, but we usually need two attempts to understand one another when conversing. two germans, one scot, two englishmen, one french, one finnish, one singaporean chinese and two indians from smu. and we usually celebrate our FC Beercelona victories with a good toast of beer. actually no because no one wants to bring the beer.

anyway FC Beercelona had won its first game 3-0 two sundays ago, and yesterday powered to a 11-1 victory! table toppers right now!

Montreal ! !

2006-10-31T20:22:00.000-06:00

any tenure in canada cannot be complete without a trip to the cosmopolitan french-speaking city of Montreal. in our first foray out of kingston (we were pretty much dying to get out of there; it seemed so boring then. i discovered later that there were still sights to be seen, as evident from the previous post). in any case, the chronology of my escapades in canada no longer follows any chronology. this came much earlier, sometime in the 2nd week of september.

after a 3 hour bus ride out of ontario and into quebec, we arrived at the bustling city in bright sunlight and cool weather. perfect start, and to top it off we had a meal at this french-looking restaurant. the French waitress couldnt really speak english. a cosy little eatery, with nice ambience and nice staff... and food that was not bad at all... in fact, we got to eat the authentic canadian cuisine we heard so much of prior to our trip:

the Poutine

a highly fatty, hi cholesterol couch potato fast junk food served on restaurant plate. fries with chicken, sauce and cheese... salty, tasty, undoubtedly fatty. calorie burning on the cards for the next 2 days.

and my first proper food in montreal was this tasty dish of shrimp alfredo fettucine, with some tangy dip which didnt seem to go with the pasta. pasta's not bad though, reminded me why i like cheesy pasta... and fresh succulent shrimp... -licks lips-

montreal is famous for its night scene, in more ways than one. our adventure after the sun set brought us into the realm of one of these. here in the pic below we see the restored Marguerite-Bourgeoy Museum at the end of this street, which led us from downtown Montreal into...

the cobblestoned streets of Old Montreal. absolutely mesmerizing.

for us sedate, unpartying, boring academics and history freaks (okay there was only one history freak. the rest were equally sedate though), the night scene of Old Montreal was a sight to behold. freakin cold, but absolutely pretty with the night lights and busking at the plaza beside the city hall.

here, the buskers have gone home to sleep, the crowd dissipated (and purses decimated by the buskers), but the plaza remains ever so enticing in its nighttime beauty.

further down the street, we have...

the Marche Bousecours.
an old majestic presence converted into a shopping place within.

rue de la commune east

going down to the Old Port of Montreal, through which the city first made its fortunes and built its commercial presence, we enjoyed the breeze (read: biting cold wind) by the waters before making our getaway into warmer pastures. today, the port has been restored but instead of commercial shipping, it is now berth to private yachts, boats and such. what the old wealthy abandoned, the modern aristocrats devoured. and of course poor touristing students like us too, suckers for this touristified package of a historical district, took in these mesmerizing sights.

in the daytime, however, downtown Montreal presented a totally different proposition. somewhat seedy, with streets that were always bustling and streets that were always calm in a dodgy way... and we fumbled our way to...

Chinatown!

where we had our lunch at this cantonese restaurant that purported to sell Singapore Styled Fried Noodles. i never knew such a thing existed. i was right. it looked like nothing we have in singapore. thank the culinary gods. no pictures here on that fiendish dish.

Little Italy likewise was a hub of migrant lifestyle that preserved itself somewhat in its own enclave even as the cosmopolitan nature of the city infused the district with modernism. below is the Marche Jean Salon, the signature marketplace in Little Italy.

huge brocollis in little italy,

and little berries in little italy.

the cultural accomplishment of montreal in terms of architecture no doubt paid worthy homage to its european style, especially of the renaissance architecture we see dotting the montreal city landscape.

here below is one such scenographic juxtaposition. the Cathedral of the Queen Mary, a miniature replica of the St Peter's Basilica in Rome, in gleaming sunshine, and a commercial skyscraper emerging from behind the basilica, providing holy protection for the preservation of this cultural heritage.

and here we have St Bourget, the patron saint of the Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde...

and finally the last featured cathedral... or rather a basilica. the majestic and awe-inspiring St Joseph's Oratory (not the Notre Dame Basilica which Celine Dion got married in; sorry folks they had a wedding on the day we went so we were barred from entering... and whatever nice pics i have of it but didnt put up was because somehow i could not upload them onto photobucket).

if you can see there are 2 men kneeling on the steps right down the middle of the pic... they are 2 devotees who climbed the steps on their knees, reciting the Rosary at each and every step. the interior was amazing but again the pictures i could not upload.

in case you were wondering who i was travelling with, these ladies are three quarters of the singaporeans in the entourage. from left, candy, woonteng, yiyun... yes there were more... a handful of hongkongers and us singaporeans. again, this pic is the only one of my travelling mates here because the other pics i could not upload i dunno why. luckily this one could though; i really liked the composition with St Joseph and the Oratory in the bkground. haha...

and in case you were also wondering,

i never appear in ANY of the pictures i have taken. simple reasons.

1) human presence to me taints the picture

2) i am the one taking the pictures

this list of featured attractions were by no means exhaustive, either of the sights to be seen or experienced in montreal, or of the places we explored in our short few days there; this selection was heavily dependent on the pictures that i managed to upload, and i have such a nice pic of the interior of the basilica but i can't get it up! so the pics here were not as marvelous a portrayal of montreal as i would have liked it to be... still, it was a wonderful place to be, montreal... and it marked the beginnings of our exploration of the land of maple syrup!

up next (when i am done with three 12 page essays): Niagara Falls!

stay tuned, whoever are still reading.

Sights in Kingston I

2006-10-31T20:04:00.000-06:00

discovered in kingston upon intelligence from laobeng.

MINOTAUR - puzzle and games shop

lots of other cool stuff bearing witty wit... like this zen writing slab.

and yang lao shi this is cool i just had to take a pic of this to let you see... a marie antoinette "ejecting head" action figure! a choppable head basically. she comes with removable dress and wigs btw, so she is convertible to a sans-cullotte.

and laobeng, the curry village right beside it is really delicious! thanks for your recommendation haha!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T19:51:00.000-06:00

its halloween in canada on 31st october, and pple are dressed up to go to school. as spiderman, factory workers, fairies, witches, miss china universe, a pack of cards, a carved pumpkin, whatever. and in Harkness, we have...

Pumpkin Carving Competition!

this, is the pumpkin carved by one of the dudes on my level.

looks like a cat... and below is one that really caught my eye.

happy halloween everyone!

spoils to share

2006-10-31T15:28:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone!

You who hold faithful to this cobwebbed blog, are thus now rewarded!

this is looong overdue. sorry folks for the lack of update, but as what i have told some concerned souls, i was keeping in spirit with the title of this blog. i was mugging in kingston.

so indeed, kingston is a cosy place. apparent below, ain't it so? my bed looks so personalised. it looks boring.

fret not for my sanity, there are a lot more things in my room now. this photo is dated beyond historical records, it should belong in some neanderthal archives. well it should, since its dweller remains a neanderthal. most especially cluttering my room now are foodstuff (really. not dirty laundry, nor touristy presents like bags of keychains and niagara falls tshirts) that i have amazingly managed to unearthed in reputedly the most british of ontario's cities. and as i told jessie, previously i didnt, but yes i am now missing singaporean food! but only when i started to prepare them myself. how ironic.

and so from the picture of city hall you see what characterized kingston architecture. yup even my campus looks like a multiple replica of the city hall. limestone were apparently the most abundant construction materiel; cathedrals and churches here have been known to be erected on limestone quarried directly from the ground on which those buildings are now situated, some 150 yrs ago.

so question of the day: what do they stand on, now that the limestone are above ground and making up the very buildings themselves? hmmmmm.....

St James Church, a small church on Queen's Main Campus. pretty little thing, elegant and dignified in a little corner of the campus. yet none of the buildings here are ever dwarfed by other more majestic cousins situated right next to them. more pictures of Queen's buildings akan datang. fact of the day: a by-law of the city once stated that no building in kingston could be taller than the first clocktower erected on Queen's campus, now still standing as part of Grant Hall. it was a mere 5 storeys tall. even today it is hard pressed to find more than 2 tall buildings downtown; for a city, it is amazing how i can always see the sky from whereever i am standing.

and my first trip around town on the first day i arrived! a 40 min ferry ride to Wolfe Island! this small island on Lake Ontario that lies between Kingston and New York. in fact there is a customs checkpoint on the island that allows Kingstonians to drive over to NY viz this ferry and the island, taking another ferry on the other side to cross the border. cool huh. farrell was right. if i swim long enough, i should be able to climb ashore Gotham City.

anyway as you can see the ferry operates every hour on the dot. means we had exactly one hour to explore the humongous small island. didnt catch much (didnt know what to catch either on our first day in kingston) but managed to snap a pic of this quaint little church built in early 19th century (i think it was 1821..?) and the sunset behind it... and the trees are still green; its still summer. a freezing one.

so that was the first day in kingston. thankfully, our days did not turn out as prophetically apocalyptic as our initial fears postulated at Subway after the outing: we needn't resort to eating Subway Daily Specials everyday every meal just to save money. we subsequently decided to 1) not save that money, 2) cook cheaper meals, 3) go for dining hall meal plans which turned out rather nice and most importantly, nutritious. more on food in later posts.

our second outing was more of sightseeing. weirong's landlord's son from his first marriage who isnt staying with weirong's landlord anymore but somehow still got to know weirong and agreed to bring us around kingston decided that the time and date was ripe for the mission, and so off we went across the Great Cataraqui River to Fort Frontenac and Fort Henry. to gain access to Fort Henry we embarked on clandestine covert operations.

first we rendezvous outside Royal Military College of Canada. for the un-NSed this is not some passionate gathering of the sexual nature. it simply means we get off the bus and start reading the map. we looked up from our map and saw this:

okay it wasnt so dramatic. we got off the bus and saw this; there was no map. we had a guide remember? so we took pictures. to think farrell once entered this gate. think again, he never did so as a cadet; he was a company sergeant major in the canadian army, not an officer. this place is responsible for the latter. still, specialists and NCOs rocks. nothing against officers. really.

looks like chinese high? grand looking place, with the RMC flag flying. in fact the canadian national flag is derived from the RMC flag in design; they held a competition to encourage submissions of designs for the canadian flag, and the winner replaced the insignia in the middle of the RMC flag with a maple leaf. minor changes were made still, but the flags remain extremely similiar.

and NS has value after all. Fort Henry required admission fee. we decided to blast our way in and maybe they might pay us the admission fee instead. so we hijacked a tank from the RMC. see the tiny singaporeans in the below pic?

operation success! tank successfully occupied, we mounted triumphantly atop the weapon of mass destruction. eh wait. the tank cannot move. is it because we have a taiwanese in our midst? no must be an enemy sabotage. so we do what singaporeans do best in a situation of impasse and crucial decision making. we take pictures.

pictures taken, time wasted, we climbed down from our conquered yet immobilized beast of war. singaporeans being singaporeans, some of us had to step on the "for exhibition only: do not climb or mount" signboard pitched in front of the tank to get our feet back on the ground.

after the nonsense we were in fort henry. the fort, built in 1812 and upgraded in 1836 to defend the Rideau Canal against Yankee invasion, was the reason such an invasion never took place, much like singapore's south-pointing guns during world war two. in doing so, the fort preserved ontario from american conquest. its capability was never put to the test, however, also much like our south-pointing guns, for their original purpose. it never saw action, except as prison for rebels captured during the 1837-38 rebellions.

the plaza or parade square, where cannons now lie in exibition; below, ammo and guns... the shells are empties now, but still weigh some bit...

and this is the view from the cannon above. martello tower covering the cannon's arc of fire in forward position. these martellos would dot the coastline of lake ontario as first line of coastal defence, from the land, against hostile vessels, which we did see on the ferry ride to wolfe island earlier.

home sweet home! till next time, that's all for now! essays coming up!

chronological recollections... 29th august 2006

2006-09-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

my family at the airport at noon, 29th august 2006... somehow any entourage bidding me farewell evaporated to the evils of lectures and tutorials because i seem to be the only one not flying off at some unearthly hour... and yup family includes you dear =)

me and my jessie!

campus of limestone giants

2006-09-04T23:28:00.000-05:00

and oh i didn't mention... while Kingston isnt full of these kinds of buildings, Queen's University is. like micnie's U of T... maybe not so grand... but all limestone giants from centuries ago, beautifully restored and preserved. and yeah its a kind of place you can bring a book and picnic outside your lecture venue. idyllic. le serenissimo. beautiful. amazing. pictures akan datang.

of squirrels and freezing summers... Kingston, Ontario

2006-09-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

Kingston is a wonderful town indeed. it has as many squirrels as singapore has shrubs. everywhere u turn u see one. but the mind-baffling thing is everytime u whip out a camera, u NEVER see one. or rather, the one u just saw u no longer are seeing.

otherwise, Kingston is a cosy, comfortable town with downtown Kingston, Princess Street, just a relaxing 20 minute walk away... people here are mostly friendly and accomodating; cars stop at a green light to let pedestrains across the road. something i will never ever see in singapore. and being a university town helped lower the overall age profile of the residents in Kingston; either students, or very old seniors who have been living here for ages. the former seem to dominate still, though. this huge building here, City Hall, is actually showcased on the Kingston website itself, a local grand dame that housed the local administrative departments.

home on the other hand, is in a cosy little room at Harkness International Hall... a little run down, but cosy nonetheless... and friendly pple around me, all smiley and nice... only the residents here seemed to booze quite a little, so for teetotaller chiew this is a new environment to get used to. the weather started out cool and chilling with summer sun, but for the past 2 days, though, has been uncharacteristically cold, alike last semester's Great Singapore Winter. i've been here almost a week, and just had time to get down to writing these entries, and i'm still not very acclimatized. freezing my butts off...

so sorry folks no other pics yet... havent had the time to upload, so i shal just post these descriptive narrations of my initial emotions, impressions and events transpired. given my long-winded expressions and bombastic vocabulary so often groused about, if you so choose to swear off reading my travel blog, i can fully understand. anyway this is about me mugging in kingston, though mugging hasnt really started. "when pictures are up, you will see them." spoken matter-of-factly, this sounds rather farrell... can't blame me, i'm in farrelland.

alfred monk

2006-09-04T22:38:00.000-05:00

my sincere apologies for the lack of updates on my mugging escapades so far in the land of maple syrup and in particular, the town of a thousand squirrels who jus seemed to pop up all over the place wherever you turn. its a miracle i have yet to see one run over by a car. hey do not label me a sadistic furry mammal hater i love squirrels ok i think they are seriously cute and cuddly. its just that there aren't enough cars around the town of Kingston to run them over even if they line themselves in deep slumber across the campus. downtown, of course, is a totally different proposition.

anyways, back to the subject matter pertaining to the title of this post.

i was aboard CX828 from HK to Toronto and had just taken off into the polluted grey skies of the Jewel of the East when the cabin crew apologized that the inflight entertainment was facing some problems and our choice of multimedia enjoyment would be limited in scope somewhat. irate passengers trying to tune in to tom cruise blowing the world up in MI3 were visibly but remarkably silently cursing their good luck; i had watched Thank You for Smoking from Singapore to HK before transit, and i settled happily for Ice Age 2 on this entertainment deficient flight. no loss in utility here.

after ice age came the listless period of sifting through channels of blank screens when i chanced upon Tony Shaulbus (is this how i spell it? no tagboard yet folks, sorry... so pls just comment on my poor vocab of acting talent names and correct poor deprived me) in his very very recently award-winning show, Monk. for the uninitiated (or simply for other muggers like me who thought this was a show about shaolin monks sitting in meditation pitted against Columbian Nachos chanting in prayer), Alfred Monk is the star of the show, a stellar detective yet oddball in life. ironies abound in this show, which i thought was superb in the social paradoxes portrayed. the said thing abt Monk is that he had lost his wife and still stayed close to his in-laws -don't snigger, though i admit that i somehow put this across a little wrong- he hence had fond and painful memories of his beloved wife who had passed on, but who upon doing so left such a deep scar in his life that he had yet to overcome.

and in this particular episode he had to help his Hollywood producer dad in-law solve a case of cheating gameshow contestant and collaborating gameshow host, the latter held to blackmail by the former for causing the death of a personal assistant. to do this, Alfred Monk had to put up in his in-laws' place, where he had fond memories of him and his wife visiting the family home and which struck him so deep in his painful heart. Monk was a frank and unassuming personality, and he was genuine with his emotions. seeing him the way he was, i could not help but be reminded of how i wasnt in put up a brave front when i left my family and my dear jessie at the airport to take this 22 hour inflight entertainment-deficient flight to toronto. i'll miss them so so much. and seeing Alfred Monk pained in missing his wife so dearly, i know i miss mine too. 119 days more, and i'll be back by your side.

i love you dear.

joke of the day

2006-08-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

what sound does a small grape make when it's stepped on?

"....whine...."

that was the lame joke of the day. hoped you enjoyed it.

mugging in kingston

2006-08-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

i am a full-time mugger in kingston who would post ALL my essays here. do not expect any travel pictures. anyway what are travel pictures? are they edible?