TIMBIT!

It's Timbit time! Geez I love thi s place, even if they've start ed seriously sugar coating everything.

Sorry, to the dough!

Did you know that according to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day? Certainly gives new meaning to that song who's name I don't know, but goes "just another manic Monday!"

Good old Norman . . . or Bái Qiúēn

The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley (apparently . . . Which I find really strange, because I was never called Jesus, Richard or Elvis when I was there. But everyone knew Norman Bethune (Canadian doctor who worked with the People's Liberation Army).

Apparently when you have a long narrow room which runs along an outside wall, Canadian architects can't seem to see the logic in putting more than one window it larger than two feet across! Architects and Engineers are the most demanding faculties? Geez. seems to me that they graduated in Korea.

Nats

ReBoot

I know, I know, I've been dreadful. I could, like other bloggers blame it on the summer heat, when responsibilities are set free like birds in Myanmar, but just like those birds, they always find their way back to their owners. It's been 30 degrees for the last year for me, so that excuse is out of it. In all honesty, I've been going through a few life changes. As you know, if you've read any of my old posts, I was a resident of Thailand for the last year as a volunteer at the Mercy Centre. That year has ended, and a return to what many would consider 'the real world' of work and bills has ensued.
So something about this blog will have to change, because now I'm a bona fide university student! One of the collegiate masses. . . Sweet. How it will all go down is for me to find out . . .  and for you to read about?


Now, my poor neglected reading duo, you're still going to get some good stories and the same righteous anger as before, but now my subjects won't be the world of NGO working as much as the stupidity of pubescent, acne stricken children. I honestly can't tell how old these people are . . .

Seriously though, I've just started, and I already feel miles ahead of these newbies.
Guess that's what you get for taking a year off.

Coming soon to a theatre near you,
The Muse with a Twist!
(wait... does that make me a twisted muse?)

Nats

FIFA Fever

Popular bands SNSD and Super Junior modeling appropriate attire

It dominates CNN and Korean TV ads, Music and fashion . . .
What is it?

It's the FIFA WORLD CUP!

Now, I'm as stoked as anyone about the most widely watched sporting event in the world, but I've never seen it like this before.
Every single ad in Korea now has some reference to how it can be used in relation to soccer; Belcube cheese cubes, ice cream, fried chicken, insurance, credit cards . . .  Music has suddenly taken on a 'let's go kick ass because we're the best' attidude and it's become almost politically incorrect to wear any color other than red. This is just in Korea, and I'm sure to some extent it's international, but this is my blog and I've only seen it in reference to the Fighting Reds. They certainly take this quote by Bill Shankly to heart:

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."

Yesterday was the first Korean game against Greece, and though I didn't see it (only one channel here has live coverage, which is one of the few that we don't get), I sure heard it. They set up TV screens in the park near our house, and come game time, man were the restaurants doing good business. We could count the goals made and missed from two blocks away.

I don't think there's anything more invigorating as being in a place where the entire city of over 10 million people are watching the same event and cheering.
I'll keep you posted on how it goes if they lose to Argentina.

Nats

Timbits!

One thing I miss about the Great White North is Tim Hortons. If you don't know what that is, not only are you extremely deprived, but I also seriously pity you. Tim Hortons is Canada's answer to the USA's Dunkin' Doughnuts and Krispy Creme, and boy does it ever destroy them. Neither American franchise has made a dent in the Canadian coffee and doughnut market because they just can't match Timmy's. Anyways, they have these little doughnuts called 'Tim-Bits' that come in assorted flavours for your snacking pleasure. So, in honor of my imminent enjoyment of said culinary establishment, I give you 'TIM-BIT!' your little random fact, quote, word, or tale.

Every once in a while my friend sends me an interesting word from a dictionary which we then proceed to destroy and redefine. Thus, I give you a wacky word from time to time and fix it up myself.

The word of the day?

Defalcation: the act or an instance of embezzling or a failure to meet a promise or an expectation.

Personally, I see 'defalcation' and think of a process by which falcons are removed, or, unfortunatly, 'defacation', whose definition we won't get into.  Interesting non sequitur, did you know that falcons are often employed at airports to keep smaller birds out of the engines?

Nats

Oldies Rule!

hmmm. . . . I guess the title pretty much says it all . . .Why this is, I have no idea, but it's just a fact. For some reason, perhaps because of Global Warming, music in this Century just isn't as good as the old one. Now, that's not to say I don't indulge in some Flo Rida, One Republic, and All American Rejects, because I do, and I enjoy it. But somehow lately all I want to listen to is Cyndi Lauper, The Beatles (who, I'm sorry, will always rock), ACDC, Toto . . .  Ironically the 1990s gave us some good stuff, and yet our Generation (ok, my generation, not that of the Who) who has come up with the Mac, PC, and hip hop, can't spin a single, legendary track.

Sad, isn't it?

Letters from Strangers

A few weeks I broke up with my boyfriend of 23 months. I know, a high school romance is rather eye-roll inducing, but perhaps people forget how much time you spend with your. . . 'friend'. As adults, we expect to have our own work, our own hobbies, our own friends (and yes, I know that's a generalization), but in high school, especially a small one like mine, everyone knows your business, you're friends with everyone, you take the same classes, play on the same teams, and there's nowhere that you haven't been together.
You try putting two 25 year olds in such close proximity to each other for a year and see how they like each other at the end of it.


Anyways, it was hard. Rarely do we see evidence of a breakup neither party wanted, and so everyone gets hurt. One of my favourite blogs, yes and yes, had a guest post called 101 Ways to Cheer Yourself Up (link to part one only), which I love. I regularly use number 81 with A, but there are some really good ideas in there. Nothing I tried helped though, and so I sent the writer Steff Metal pf New Zealand an e-mail about why I felt so bad, including some stuff about my family, and within a day I got the following response:

Hi Natalie

Thanks for writing and saying such nice things about that article! I think it's probably the best piece I've ever written, and my inbox has been flooded by this outpouring of warm, sad, happy, depressed, moving and hopeful stories. It's been a real experience :)

It really does sound like you're having a terrible time at the moment. And yeah, there are people starving and homeless and whatnot, but we're not talking about them, we are talking about you, and you seem really down and sad :(

You sound like one of those girls who wants to look after everyone, and heal their pain any way you can. You put all your own feelings on the back burner to help your mum and sister and friend, and you're doing this all with a broken heart and feeling like there's no one to talk to because everyone else's problems are so much more important.

Sometimes you have to admit to yourself that you are in over your head.

Sometimes, to truly get over something heartbreaking, you need the time to mourn. Time alone. If you can't find that time at home, maybe there is a church or temple nearby you can go. Even if you are not religious, sometimes just a quiet place where you can go and meditate and cry for an hour or to and everyone just leaves you alone. Sometimes that's a saving grace.

Sometimes, the ONLY thing that can get you through one of those breakups is the belief that if it was meant to be, you will meet again, a little bit older and a little bit wiser, and it will be perfect. If it was meant to be, you haven't said goodbye forever.

Sometimes, you can't care for others unless you're also caring for yourself.

Sometimes, we get in survival mode,

It's not your fault.

If I could wave a magic wand and your life could be perfect right now, what would you be doing? NOT who would you be with or who's pain would be healed, but what would, you, be doing that would fill you with peace and happiness? Painting? Traveling? Making wedding cakes? Building houses? Training circus animals? Seriously, what would it be that would fill you with absolute joy - a thing that makes your heart race and your face break into a smile?

That's what you should be finding time, even if only 5 or 15 minutes a day, to do right now. That's what you need to survive. It's right there inside of you.

Sometimes, you just have to say to yourself, "I need some love too," . That doesn't mean you desert your people , but somewhere in there, you need to create a space where you JUST think about you.

I could be completely on the wrong track here :) But I hope something I say helps, just a little.

Let me know how you're doing.
Steff

Now, I haven't had the decency to answer her, but I think that's partially because it was so nice. This is to a complete stranger, and it really helped.

So when you feel like crap and your world's upside down, do something nice for someone else. If there's decency in someone else's life, its easier to believe there will be in your life too.


Or take up a hobby, as she suggested; I've gotten into cross stitch and photography, so we'll just have to see if the world rights itself.

It's Alive! It's Alive!

That line, the "It's alive, it's alive!" that supposedly from "Frankenstein annoys me as much as my mother saying "the bells, Esmerelda, the bells!" and attributing it to "the Hunchback of Notre Dame." She does it in jest, but seriously, don't misquote the classics!

Anyways, I just thought you'd like to know that I am alive and well, though a little more holey than before. The dog bite didn't do me in, and neither have I been seriously injured in the eruptions in Bangkok. To be honest, as interesting a blog post those options would make for, I've really just been behind the Great Firewall and with the Mothership. Somehow whenever I'm with my mum my routines just go to pieces, and in China, well, Blogger is among the illustrious websites (Facebook, Youtube, etc)  the government has deemed too dangerous for general consumption.

Otherwise, I'll bring you up to speed speedily, most of which I'll get into at a later date.

I broke up with JW and I'm suffering for it, I spent $1500 getting treated for a dog bite, I pack my bags for university, I went to China to stay with my manic depressive friend A  for a month before her graduation and get a job, and E had a break which meant I got a call telling me to come home. So, since my last post, I've been in Korea, China, and now Korea again. Oh, the joys of International travel.

Lots of things to blog about though, so I guess silence really is golden.