Pieces of me...by CC

Girl power

2012-01-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

One week ago, I was in the midst of moving frenzy.
The day started quietly, packing the last few items, cleaning up what I could.
Then I went to pick up the truck.
Yes. I drove a 16 footer, all by myself. That, in itself, is a feat.

First order of the day was to pick up brand new furniture from The Brick's distribution centre. Of course, I was told to park the truck into loading area #20, the first one on the left, into a corner. My back parking skills are way better than my parallel parking skills, so maneuvering into that loading dock was tricky, but I managed to do it without crashing the truck into the concrete wall! Yay me! I had no idea how much room was left when I was backing straight into the dock though, so I had to step out, scope the distance left and get back into the driver's seat. Fortunately there was a kind soul there who saw me get out and back in, and he positioned himself at the back to indicate how much further I could go. *sigh*...that's what happens when you do things alone, you rely on the kindness of strangers and you hope there will be someone there who would offer help in times of need.

Next thing on the agenda was to drive back home. Cousins and friends were there already, moving stuff into the moving room so that by the time I got there with the truck, they only took 45 minutes to load it and we were on our way to my new home! Pizzas arrived like by magic (not quite, unless you count bribing a cousin as magic) and after some food and jokes, the truck was unloaded and all the boxes moved in. I would not dismiss the crew before my bed was assembled (that's foresight, right there, I was not going to deal with that big-ass bed frame by myself later!), so there I was in my new home, with 4 engineers re-assembling my bed!!!

That was not the end of the day. I had to go back to the old place, return the truck and trek back downtown. The schedule for the day was hectic, only because I had to do it all. I am grateful for the family and friends who came to help, but I would have certainly enjoyed it if some of that load was taken off me.

It is in situations like these, in life-changing events, or less dramatically, routine-changing events, that I wish I was not single. It would have been nice to have shared the planning details, the worrying and the tasks. It would have been nice, if there was someone I could count on for emotional support. Not that my friends are not here for that, but I can imagine that it is a different feeling when two people can share the same burden together. I guess that is why you need two to raise a kid, it would be overwhelming to assume the responsibility of another life all by oneself. Not that it is impossible, it is just harder on the body and on the mind.

Having said that, I was torn with other feelings as well that day. Feelings of incredible pride in the fact that I could endeavour to rent a truck and drive it and return it without a scratch. Feeling of accomplishment for such an undertaking as to decide to move and to see it to completion. And the immense satisfaction that comes from knowing I did what I had to do without breaking down physically or emotionally. I am an independent woman and just the realization of that, makes me feel the full potential of my inner strength.

Sometimes I wonder, if I can feel this powerful by myself, how invincible would I be if I was part of a team? My independence, as much as it is working for me (as the young, modern, successful professional living in the big city that I am) is probably the one major impediment to finding myself a partner in crime. How to find someone "strong" enough to be part of that team, that has been the challenge so far!
The feeling of needing someone else does not linger for very long with me. I stand by what I believe in, and that is (among other things) (1) what does not kill you makes you stronger and (2) I would not abandon a winning team unless it is for a better team. Thousands, if not millions, of women go through what I go through, it is not an extraordinary situation or an extraordinary life. But what I am going through is my life and my one shot at it and I am glad to be proud of what my accomplishments are up to date. Goooo girl power!

As the door closes, a window opens...

2011-12-30T15:17:00.000-05:00

As 2011 comes to an end, it is time to do a retrospective of the year, or at least of the main events.
My cousin sends out an annual 'newsletter' with pictures and comments, regarding how her family spent the year. I could do that too, however a single person's life does not have a lot of pictures, or rather, the pictures only have 1 subject, so it gets boring.

Nonetheless, when I look back on 2011 what will I remember?
It is the year my dad turned 60 and when I went back home to celebrate with him.
We went to South Africa for a little less than 2 weeks and I sat on an ostrich.

It is the year I got promoted to band level 8 at work.
That certainly does not say anything to you, unless you work for a bank and you know what band levels are. But that's not sufficient, you also need to know how many band levels there are and do they increase in number as you get promoted or do they decrease? I still do not know that one, because the previous bank I worked for has it the opposite way from the current bank I work for, so it's confusing. What can I do, I'm getting older, my memory is just not the same anymore. :)

It is the year I turned 30.
It's quite humbling to realize that time passes without you realizing it. I have just been invited to an 18-year-old's birthday party and I can still remember when he was a baby with chubby cheeks and I wanted to hold him and play with him in the sand. Now, what? What happens when you are old enough to remember 18 year old's when they were babies? Argh, you keep going of course, nothing you can do to stop time. You just hope it takes longer for them to turn 30!

It is the year I finally went to Vegas.
This has been on my travel bucket list for a while and man, did it hold its end of the bargain. Glad I went with a group of friends that was fun and I had the opportunity to make a couple of new friends as well.

Those are the main events of 2011...oh wait, there is another one worth mentioning!

It is the year I decided to move downtown.
So here's the window of 2012 opening. I want to say 'Oops, I'm moving again!'. This would be the third place where I'd be living by myself and it's as exciting as the first time I moved.
My resolutions for 2012 are mostly based on the fact that I will be moving to this new place, such as going to the gym every day, swimming at least twice a week, walking everywhere downtown, taking my bike during the summer, and the list goes on and on about how living downtown will make me lead a healthier lifestyle and how I'll make good use of the time saved through less commuting. Who's with me here? How many of you are actually betting against the odds? How many are betting that just as resolutions go, these are not going to hold in the long haul?
We shall see, 2012, we shall see.

I'm starting the year in good faith, hoping for many good things (and perfect babies for all my friends expecting) to come, many places to travel to, more time to spend with loved ones and renewed faith in humanity.
Don't disappoint 2012! We've been told it is the year the world comes to an end, but I don't believe in that BS.
2012 is going to be awesome...because I say so!

The knot was tied!

2011-12-28T15:36:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of this December, one of my best friends got married.
This was a big affair, mostly because it was the first time I was going to be in the wedding party. It is an honour of course, because the other 2 bridesmaids were her sisters.

If you haven't had someone close to you get married lately, you wouldn't know, but this whole wedding business is not quite a walk in the park! My friend had a wedding planner (services she won in a contest) and yet she was freaking out on the big day; thinking how long the hairdresser needs to do her hair, what happened to the photo booth, the guests not on the wedding favors' list, where is everybody, etc. It is a stressful day for any bride, I'm sure. Even more so when you cannot trust people to do what they are supposed to do because some of them are flaky! Despite all the rehearsals and lists, you still cannot predict everything that could go wrong.

All in all though, the day went on smoothly. Months of preparation for that one perfect day.
While I was standing there watching my friend making her vows to her soon-to-be husband, I couldn't help but think about the meaning of those decisive words. How many people take this literally and how many people take it as 'till divorce do us part?'. How many people can truthfully say that they know, without any doubt, that they will not fall in love with someone else, or at least, if they do, that they will not leave their spouse for that person?

That very same friend's parents argue a lot on a daily basis and she has often wondered if they have stayed together over the years for her sake and that of her sisters. No doubt that she is grateful that her parents are still together, I don't see her saying that she would have loved to have divorced parents. But she has often wondered aloud whether her parents might not be in love with each other anymore and that they are staying together because of the kids or because they don't know anything else other than being married to each other.
How sad is that? Are kids happier when their parents are still together, even begrudgingly so? Or are kids happier when their parents are happy, even if not together? Who knows really. Nobody could do research on the same subjects for both test cases and people are intrinsically different, what would make someone happy (like seeing your parents happy - separated) could make someone else resentful (why couldn't you sacrifice yourself for your kids?).

There is no right or wrong answer here. People's actions follow what they can live with. (That's the proverbial phrase of the week!). Just like people who get divorced may say that on their wedding day, at that point in their life, they were 110% sure of their love for each other and that it will last forever, but years later when it wasn't working for them, they couldn't live with the burden of being unhappy even for their kids or for anybody else. The statement goes the other way too though. For the couple who stays together for the sake of their kids, they do so because they couldn't live with the alternative, be it living without their kids or seeing their kids being raised by the other parent. People will do things they can live with in that moment in time even if that means wondering what could have been for the rest of their lives.

I do not condemn or judge any which way. I have experienced it, when I thought without any doubt that I love someone, only to find a few weeks/months later that the love was fickle, that I can live without that person and that he has not made that deep an impression or that the feelings so overwhelming once, do fade with time. Yet, nobody else knows better than myself how I feel. If I cannot say how long my feelings will last, who else can predict it? Wouldn't it be great if at the end of one's life, one could look back and make a list of all regrets and mistakes and go back in time and fix them so that one's life is as perfect as it could be? Unfortunately, we do not have such a mechanism or process. We make do with what we have, we make compromises, we decide what we could live with and trudge forward, making sure as we go along that we are making the best decision we could make at this point of time, with the facts that we know or the feelings that we have.

So then, the philosophical conclusion of all this analysis would be: to tie the knot with someone, nobody can say with certainty that it will last till the end of time, but it is commonly acknowledged that you are perfectly sure, at this point in your life, that you are in love with that person and that you will do what you can to make this marriage work, or you are 'settling down' with that person because you can live with it, with no regrets you cannot overcome later on. I agree that the first option is more romantic (because it provides the possibility that some people never fall out of love or that they will not know a greater love) however both options imply that there are quite some unhappy people out there and that's sad because we only have one shot at this life.

There is no hiding that making decisions is hard on me, I weigh out my options for everything, even the pettiest of things. But the upside of all this is that I lead a life with little regret. Every action, every decision has been weighed beforehand, and the one that made more sense, that represented less suffering, that had less likelihood of regret later on, was chosen. That mental list is revisited every time regret start bubbling up. This is what works for me, this is what I can live with and that at least, I know.

Back from Sin City

2011-11-28T08:09:00.001-05:00

5 nights. 6 days.
That's all it took for me to understand the expression 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'.
Not all of it stays there, I couldn't help but tell my friends and coworkers about my friend's beginners' luck at the craps table on our 2nd night there, where she ended up with $700 without investing any of her own money. Nor about our first cab ride out of our hotel where the cab driver got pulled over to get a ticket and we walked out on him without paying the fare which according to the law, we have the right to do.

Those are anecdotes that are funny to tell when getting home. But how do you explain what goes down there? I have always wanted to visit partly because people couldn't exactly explain how it is, building up on the allure of the city.
I embarked on the trip with an open mind, following the advice of seasoned tourists on what to bring and what we will be doing there. Little did I know that I'll be in the same room as Paris Hilton and LMFAO!

What do I retain of Sin City? The extravagance. The carefree attitude. It's a party town. At all hours of the day, you can see someone walking down the boulevard a drink in hand. We had jello shots at 3pm, my first ever and the worst tasting kind! I'll think twice before having a second shot! But again perfectly normal there to be drunk by 4pm. Or not ever get sober during your stay there. After all, alcohol flows freely in the casinos, you only have to tip the waitresses. The buffets are grandiose there. We had 'The buffet of buffets' pass for 24 hrs and we ate like we will not see food again for days when the next buffet was just around the corner. We watched 2 shows during our stay; the unavoidable Cirque du Soleil and The Peepshow, featuring Holly Madison. Again, nothing extraordinary about going to watch a show where women flaunt their busty assets in Vegas, it's almost expected. We planned to go to a strip club and to watch The Chippendales too, but The Peepshow was enough to put us girls off. I slept through part of it.

I guess what made this trip so successful is that I was with the right crowd of people. People I am comfortable with, people who when I acted out of character, took it in stride and didn't let it get out of hand or out of Vegas...so far. Vegas does that to you, it extends your comfort zone and makes you do things you wouldn't otherwise do. It makes you feel like a party animal even if you're not. It makes you feel like a gambler. It makes you feel like the ultimate socialite going to shows daily. It makes you feel like you have all the time in the world because all you have to do is... Eat, Play, Watch (shows) and Dance.

Returning home, reality hit hard. Back to work routine, back to making my own meals, no limo to pick us up (we took a limo twice within 6 days there and I've never been in one before!) no neon lights in the streets of Toronto. Everything so bland. The effect is finally wearing off though, 4 days after landing back..... Until next time Vegas!

Profile ... deleted!

2011-11-07T00:30:00.000-05:00

This is it!
I give up on online dating sites.
Not that I had much hope to start with, and it's not like I'm registered on every dating site there is out there, but nonetheless, I have deleted my profile on the 3 sites I signed up on.

It all started because one of my friends convinced me that I have nothing to lose and it's a way to meet new people. It is true, you spend a lot of time reading profiles and looking at pictures and sometimes even get excited about someone's profile and meet them. But after 2 yrs of sporadically checking my accounts, I have decided that it is not for me.

This is what I have found:
- Guys lie about their height. It's annoying, but they do. As if you wouldn't figure it out as soon as you see them for the first time.
- People can write whatever they want on their profile, they may re-invent themselves, thinking that if they write it down, and start working on it, then it does not make them liars.
- The only thing you can get from a profile, is the way they think of themselves. None of the content may be true, or all of it may be true, but you wouldn't know until you know and that might be too late.
- Pictures are misleading. No matter how many pictures they post, the person in person might be totally different from what you expect.
- It takes some guts for people to meet strangers, whose only information they get from a website and therefore cannot be relied on. I do not know how some people do it, but I would not meet anybody I haven't talked for a while through emails or messages. Even then, they did not turn out to be what I expected them to be from these communications!!!
AND FINALLY:
- No matter what all the compatibility tests say, chemistry between 2 people cannot be predicted. Scientifically, 2 people could be 100% compatible, but when they meet, there's nothing. And it cannot be forced.

Some people just click and some just do not. Sometimes it can be helped. Sometimes, if given time, something suddenly comes out of nothing. For most people, they can tell if they click with someone right away. I have never been one of these people. Yes, there have been situations where I have clicked with people right away, but not for deeper relationships. So, to humour my friend, I have tried these sites and I have tried to give these guys some time for me to learn to know them and maybe develop some interest in them. But to no avail. It became rather boring to sift through the profiles, or to find one with the right 'tone' on the way they talk about themselves. I have decided that nothing a guy writes about himself could make me want to meet him in person. I was however letting them contact me and I would respond by email if they seem to be half decent. But this too was getting boring....

So, instead of having my information (and my self-written, not always true, profile) out in the cyberspace, I have decided to put an end to this e-dating life. Turning over a new leaf. If there is someone out there who can bear me, then he shall find me. But not on a dating site :).

And since I have decided all this, the only song I can think of is the one below.
(Béa, I dedicate this one to you!)

The art of of living alone

2011-10-30T22:47:00.002-04:00

This is a response to my friend SimpleGirl's blog post (The sad thing about having a flatmate - Oct 31, 2011)

I have now lived alone for 4 years. Moved 2 times, once out of my uncle's place and the other time to move into my first condo which I am now selling. So guess what, I'll be moving out again soon! Did I ever consider getting a flatmate ? Yes but I thought better of it.

It's true that living alone is not for everybody.

You need to:

Not die in your sleep, there's nobody to raise the alarm and notify relatives/friends
Be able to enjoy the sound of your own voice talking to yourself and laugh about it
Be able to trust that the cake you just baked is good without any feedback
Be able to deal with the silence
Have enough self confidence to step out of the house without asking anybody else's opinion (unless you take a pic of yourself and send it out for approval which I have done before!!!)
Not mind eating alone most days
Be able to clean up after yourself, there's nobody else you can blame for the mess
Replace the toilet paper roll yourself
Be able to manage your own moodiness, nobody to vent to at home or share ice cream with when PMSing
Expect to find the things you put in a spot to be at EXACTLY the same spot until you move it
Never be bored by yourself

Now I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to get home and have a 'lovely' flatmate making dinner for both of you or to have someone to have a laugh with. But that's what the Internet is for :). Anytime I need to talk to someone, I am lucky enough to have a worldwide pool of friends (ensuring every time zone is covered!) from which to pick my victim. A flatmate could certainly add some humanity to your house just as long as you do not mind sharing your space with someone else. Someone who would bring their quirks and habits to your space.
My concern is cleanliness. I'm borderline Monica from Friends so yeah, a flatmate would probably drive me nuts especially knowing that I have the option of not having one.

This is a pic of my place set up for showings.

Would I have been able to keep it as spotless with a flatmate? Unlikely.

Yes I like living alone, do I sound like a spinster yet? :P

The end of another decade...

2011-10-30T00:12:00.001-04:00

As I close the month I turned 30, I reflect on the past 3 decades and
what I have accomplished and how far I've come.
I cannot but acknowledge that the life I have is a privileged one.
When I was a teenager, I used to try to envision what my life would be
when I am done high school. I used to dream that I'd live in that
far-away country where there is snow, polar bears and bubble gum in a
roll. Here I am, a few years later, actually calling this great
country home! The journey from little me on an island in the Indian
Ocean, to 30-yr-old me, living by myself, building a career,
accumulating life experiences, has not been a walk in the park. Of
course a lot of people do what I did, some under worse circumstances
and with less luck than me. There's nothing extraordinary to it.
However, it does build character and emotional strength and I am proud
of the challenges I have overcome. I am proud that I can say today,
that my happiness does not depend on anybody else but me and THAT is
something to cherish.
All this, of course, would not have been possible, if my parents did
not allow me to follow my dreams. Nor would it have been possible if
it wasn't for the incredible people I have met along the way. Some of
them, I have unfortunately lost track of, but they are remembered
fondly every now and then. It's funny how things turn out sometimes,
but I feel blessed and grateful for all the opportunities and mishaps
I had and man, I've had quite a few. After all, 3 decades do not go by
without any glitch or windfall, especially for a drama queen like me.
They say age, as happiness, is a state of mind. Well my mind says that
I'm 23 and I will make sure it stays that way for a while. At least
until my body strongly argues to the contrary. This is how I choose to
embark on my 4th decade. No regrets, no turning back, forging ahead
and making this life count!
Qui m'aime me suit!

These 3 words...

2011-09-07T23:19:00.003-04:00

...they can change our lives forever. (Celine Dion?).

I. LOVE. YOU.
I caught a cute conversation between a mom and her daughter today. After a pause, the little girl just said 'I love you Mommy' and my heart melted. <3

This is quite common here, kids learn at a young age to express themselves in public and to communicate their feelings. In Mauritius, it is way less popular. We grow up assuming our parents love us without the need to ever hear it nor the need to express it in person. To this day, I don't recall ever saying something as uncensored and simple, as this little girl's four-word sentence, to my mom. And anybody who knows me knows that my mom is the person I love the most in this world. I have written it in cards and have certainly shown her by being the doting daughter. But all 3 languages I could have used to say it failed me every time my heart was so full I wanted to say it.

That should not be hard in theory. I have said those three words before, to guys I barely talk to these days. Yet I can't say it to the one person who carried me inside of her for 9 months.
Well....it's not just her. I don't think I ever said it to my brother nor to my dad..... Wait a sec, I don't think I've ever said it to anybody in my extended family except my cousin who kinda forced it out of me by repeatedly saying she loves me! So then, it would be easier said to someone if you have the practice of hearing it over and over again!

That would make sense. It is way easier to say 'I love you too' to someone once they have said it. It even makes it easier for one to initiate the exchange the next time too. It's the fact that we know the other person has said it and therefore will not reject our vocal display of affection. Not that my mom would reject mine, but she might be confused to hear it for the first time after 30 years. She might even be lost for words! The fault is all hers then. Had she raised me by repeatedly professing her maternal love for me, it would be easier for me to say it today. Maybe some of the exes would have been grateful for that too. It must have been hard for them to extract those words from me as I am definitely an 'actions speak louder than words' person. But then I'm obviously not with any of these guys today. I wonder if I had trouble saying it because I knew these relationships wouldn't last or maybe the fact that I couldn't express myself made these relationships not last....

In any case, back to you, Mom: I love you loads but I might never be able to say it to your face and it's all YOUR fault!
(You can blame it on grandma, that's fine too!). :)

Life and its plans

2011-09-04T08:55:00.001-04:00

As I approach my 30th birthday, I have been reflecting or has been queried about my goals in life. For a woman, the big 3-0 is daunting, especially if you are single and seemingly not going anywhere in life. As far as I can remember, I have thought that my 'vocation' in life was to be a mom. I have the maternal instinct, I love kids and I have what it takes to raise kids well I believe. Surely then, that would be plan A in the grand scheme of my life. To find someone to make babies with and raise them to be outstanding human beings.
Since this plan is not quite going as it should, what then am I doing with my life?
Am I living plan B waiting for plan A to happen? What if plan A never happens? Would my life be a failure then?
I am currently on a road trip with one of my best friends and we have brought up a lot of these 'life and relationships' topics up. So what comes out of it is: if plan A would make me absolutely happy, should I then settle for the first available man who comes my way? That would definitely enable execution of plan A. Would it mean that I would be happier than my current plan B execution? Surely in some ways it would be. Are there any other options than these 2?
Once plan A is engaged though, there is no turning back. It is that leap of faith that has been holding me back. It would be fairly easy to find someone who also wants a family and have an agreement that because that's what we both want, we will make it work. And God knows how many couples have found success in this scheme.
If there was a book of life plans, then I wish I could query it to know when to switch back to plan A.
It seems however that it all comes down to how much I want plan A to happen and shall I then make a decision to make it happen to keep on the same path till time to depart this life. Unless of course a plan C presents itself.

Citizen C

2011-07-24T14:18:00.001-04:00

I became a legal Canadian citizen a few days ago.
Unless one has gone through the process, very few would know what it entails. For most of us, we are citizens of the country we were born in, or grew up in. I have no clue how to become a Mauritian citizen, but going through the process of calling Canada 'my' country definitely made me think of what it means to be from that country.

Having been in Canada for the last 10 years less the 18 months plus holidays I took out of the country, I have, I think, assimilated enough Canadianism to fool people into thinking I am from here. With the odd intonation on some words and a hint of an accent, the ignorance of slang words and expressions, the obvious cluelessness when it comes to social or historical events that happened before my landing here, I blend in quite well with the hordes of immigrants who call this country home. Would I however think of myself as Canadian when asked?

I have taken pride in displaying my bilingualism and my Asian descent despite being born in an African country. It amazes people that coming from such a tiny island, I am faring well in gigantic Canada away from my parents and closest relatives. It surprises even more that I am not alone. There is a big Mauritian community in the Canadian ranks, those who settled decades earlier when Canada was just this distant country where it snows and that promises success and wealth, to those who, like me, came to study with the financial support of their parents and stayed because it offers more opportunities that we would otherwise have back home.
Here, I did it again. 'Home' is Mauritius in this case. When I go visit Mauritius though, home is Canada. I am lucky that I may hold dual citizenship, I am therefore not obliged to choose. Of course I would choose according to my mood and advantage, that cannot be helped. But have I not been able to keep my Mauritian citizenship, the decision to become Canadian wouldn't have been that easy. Being Mauritian is part of my identity. In my heart I know I will always be Mauritian. It does not however mean that I feel any less kinship with my fellow Canadians. Canada is forging some traits of my personality just as well as Mauritian society moulded my identity. Give it another decade or so and I'm sure when asked, I will truthfully claim to be Canadian. For now at least, I may say that I am grateful to have been welcomed into the Great North's family with open arms, as the picture attests, by others who have gone through the process themselves as well as those who feel proud that people all over the world want to call their country home. Viva Canada! :)

The thrill of a new connection

2011-06-07T22:56:00.000-04:00

As humans, we make connections with each other daily.
Each conversation is used to strengthen an acquaintance into a friendship, build up ties with someone else, share experiences and learn more about each other. The accumulation of all interactions is what makes up a relationship between two people. My relationship with the people around me is subject to endless scrutiny and re-assessment by none other than myself. It would surprise me if it was not the same for others.

Although I do not have any difficulty striking up a conversation with someone I have met before and hence make connections quite easily after my initial awkwardness and shyness are gone, there's nothing like the thrill of suddenly finding myself deeply connected with someone else. Sometimes it is someone new, someone I was meant to connect with, someone who is my new BFF within a few weeks, if not days. Sometimes it is someone I have known for a long time, someone I have not spent much time with, but a series of events brings us together, within a short period of time and I discover the person anew. In either case, I can't help a feeling of elation when I make such a connection (or when the realization of it hits me!).

This is one of the things that carry me through life. The fact that I can make friends, and that these connections are priceless. Nothing like the feeling that someone else can finish your sentences, or understand your feelings without having to voice them out, or making jokes in sync with someone else. Ideally, that is what you would want in a mate. This would be everybody's quest in life: to find a mate with whom they connect so deeply and utterly that time spent together is never a burden even if life is not all smiles.

It is true that I'm almost thirty and still single. It is true that I'm picky. I own it.
I get such a thrill out of making new connections because it proves me right, it gives me hope. If I can feel warm and fuzzy about finding friendship when I wasn't expecting it, how much better would it be to make a connection with someone I'd be attracted to? And if that does not happen, then that is okay because nothing less would be acceptable on a daily basis. Somehow having witnessed these kind of connections personally is what made me this 'picky'. Have I not experienced the dramatic impact a few days could make on a relationship or a few select moments, it would have been easier to settle for the next guy knocking on my door. In retrospective, nothing at the beginning of any of these fantastic friendships gave any indication of the endless source of laughter and shared joys awaiting - awesomeness pure and simple. So who knows, an acquaintance today could be my next BFF, or that stranger walking down the other side of the street could be a newly discovered soul mate within a few months. The possibilities are endless if the mind is open to anything, my heart open to new connections....<3

Some people believe in 'sparks' and use the lack of it as an excuse to not follow up on a first date. I admit that I have done that too. History (my own, not the world's) has proven me wrong a few times, I have changed my mind about some people as I spent more time with them...I have felt connected with some people more as the days go by, without the presence of a 'spark' at the first, second or even third meeting. Some people just 'grow' on you, so people dazzle you from the start....In either case, no connection can be forced, no matter how much effort is put into it by one or both of the parties. That is what makes it all the more sweeter when it happens...a gift to savour and be grateful for every single day!

The Afri-CAN in me!

2011-04-29T06:44:00.001-04:00

I was recently back in Mauritius for a few days, but more importantly, I went to South Africa for the first time.

Like all other trips I took, I have done my homework before going there: researched places to visit, found out how to get around, what's the tipping rule, read reviews of the hotels, etc. Almost all the blogs/reviews online and all the tourist guides I have laid eyes on, warned tourists over and over about personal safety in SA. Personal accounts from friends and relatives were added to the mix to make us doubt the decision to visit such a country. So my parents and I landed there, with wary eyes and an overload of precautionary measures, tips from diverse sources on how not to be victims of any crime. Much to our surprise and relief, danger only loomed once and even that could have been just the fruit of a self-inflicted brain-washing due to constant exposure to negative aspects of the country that hosted the World Cup last year.

The first few days were distinctly different from the rest of the stay. The destination was Sun City, major tourist attraction at the edge of the Pilanesberg National park, about 2 and half hours drive from Johannesburg. We are talking 2+ hrs drive into the bush! More than 2 hrs drive of scenic views of plains and mountains and greenery!

We knew even before we saw it, that the population demographic would be less diverse than in Mauritius. Caucasians in the bush are still a minority, Asians are even more seldom encountered except in little retail stores found at the periphery of a supermarket. Yes, we visited supermarkets there. My dad takes comfort in familiar things like KFC, Spar and Shoprite (both supermarket chains). Defying the warnings, we ventured out of the touristy paths and NOTHING happened to us! Not that we didn't tremble at every opportunity though!

Like I was saying to one of my ex-coworkers when I was telling him about this trip, I come from AFRICA. He was giving me tips on how to protect my belongings in public and I said to him "You watch, I will NOT be robbed, I grew up in Africa". It would have been easy to succomb to fear and stay inside the relatively safe walls of our hotels. But far from it, we roamed the streets at night, walked everywhere we wanted to go in Cape Town and drove on uncertain roads in the wilderness. Yes we can. More on the trip later.

I've been 'adjusted'!?!?

2011-03-07T07:38:00.000-05:00

For the Adjustment Bureau, please press 1.

I've watched the movie The Adjustment Bureau on its opening day on Friday.
*SPOILER ALERT* Stop reading now if you haven't seen it and if you plan to see it at some point.

There are a few things that are at conflict in this movie. It seems to promote the belief that there is a God and He is called 'The Chairman'. He has a plan for everybody and to make sure His plan gets done, He has 'angels' with hats who look after EVERYBODY.

But the premise that God is omnipotent is undermined here. The movie is saying that God's plan could fail. I agree with that, because I want to think that we do have free will, so if God's plans fail, it is because we freely chose not to follow God's plan for us. That's all good, except for the angels sent to monitor us poor mortals. God's angels are powerless. They are tired and fall asleep on park benches, they can't carry a simple task on time and they use doors to get from one place to another. Even better, they have books to document where the doors are. Also, poor them, they cannot use the doors without their hats!

Imagine, angels with hats, not wings! They can't even fly! They look like humans!And they are seriously understaffed. I think I can wrap my head around the fact that God has helpers, to carry out His plan, but God to be understaffed? Also God is omnipresent, so He knows what is going on at all times, He is watching. Then why are there angels to monitor us ALL THE TIME?

And what about the ripples? In the movie, the angels wanted to stop Matt Damon's character at all costs. He was running away from them, and to try to stop him, they created a minor accident....
What about those people, where were THEIR angels?

I believe in God. I believe in his omnipotence. I sometimes question my faith, but I always go back to it even if I can't understand or prove anything. I understand the creative and artistic effort of the movie. But surely they could have given more credit to the angels?
It's always fun to analyze how people picture God, and how faith works in people.
The movie itself isn't bad, but it does build up on expectations and then has a flat finish.
Enough said.

2011-03-03T23:51:00.000-05:00

I have done a really bad job of updating this blog.
I guess my new year resolution (2 months later!) would be to write at least once a month!

I shall not stir the past and go over past events, so today's topic would be on something that has been in my mind lately.
Two weeks ago, I met a guy over lunch. I've met him online, he seemed nice, so I agreed to go for lunch. Nothing fancy, just the foodcourt close to our workplaces. He was polite, a little bit quiet, but he didn't show any sign of being a jerk. I had to keep the conversation flowing since he seems to have no inclination to do so. That is fine because people who know me, know that I can. Funny though that as soon as he mentioned he still lives at home, I lost interest.

He is 28, has a university degree, has a job at a bank, seems healthy, so there's obviously nothing to prevent him from leaving the nest...I have lived by myself for 3 years now. Nothing like it to make you grow into an adult, to take responsibility for EVERYTHING in your life. The laundry not done? Your fault. Nothing to eat in the fridge? Your own fault. No mom or dad to remind you to do the groceries, pay the bills, or to ask you to do anything for that matter. I'm not saying that people who live with their parents cannot do that, it's just not a proven fact that they can.

Now, if I was still in Mauritius, it would have been different. The culture there is such that people do not leave the family home until they get married. If I didn't come to Canada to study and then stay, I would probably still be living with my parents and there would have been nothing wrong with that. A lot of young people actually get married and stay with their parents. That's totally acceptable. Meeting a single guy in Mauritius who is well into adulthood and still living at home is not exactly out of the norm. There.

Here though, the culture is different, so the expectations are different. Teenagers leave the family home as early as sixteen. Not everybody does it, but it is common that when you get your first job (or second, or third, in fact, whenever you've decided you are financially secure) you can and will move out. Especially if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend or childhood friends who would move in with you.

So the 'grown-up' me is in conflict with the woman who would have been in the same position as this guy in an alternate universe where I didn't leave home and come here. Some of my friends say I should not dismiss him just on that fact...some say I'm totally right. I see both sides of the argument, I don't think he's totally incapable of taking care of himself, but part of me thinks that the guy is somewhat not ready to grow up or he would have moved out. There's nothing wrong with that, some people take longer than others. However I am NOT ready to take someone by the hand at this point or wait for him to grow up. I'm 3 years ahead in that game. Sorry dude.

Next.

The one with the clubbing...

2010-08-14T15:31:00.000-04:00

So I went clubbing last week, not something that happens often these days but I still quite enjoy it.
The club itself was in a back alley, not very comforting, but the people waiting to go in didn't seem threatening at all, so I paid the cover and went in.

The washrooms were posh, they were even giving away samples for hair products. How cool is that? Too bad that I only bring a small purse when I go clubbing and I can't stuff it with samples! Anyways, that's not the point today...

One thing that did mesmerized me though was that when we were on the dancefloor, an African-american woman, stopped a caucasian man in his mid twenties just a step away from me and I overheard her introducing herself. Fair enough. I looked away for maybe 3 seconds and when they came back into my line of vision, lo and behold they were kissing each other!! That marked me. What could they have said to each other, other than each other's names during that 3 second gap? Hi, my name is *bleep*, let me put my tongue down your throat now?

Now, I encountered an article in today's newspaper that talks about the "grinding" in clubs. This I find is quite interesting, but unfortunately, the link isn't up because it's the w/end newspaper I guess and you would have to buy it! But in essence, it talked about how, being difficult to talk in clubs, guys would just walk up to a girl on the dancefloor and grind behind her. Some of the women didn't find that degrading at all, they were flattered that the guy chose them and the next thing you know, they were kissing. This is what it has come down to. Guys do not approach girls, sweet-talk them and buy them drinks. They see, they choose, they grind and get kissed. If they are rejected, 10 seconds wasted.

I feel like the world is going through a degradation that is unstoppable. In last century, it would have been unimaginable for a man to touch a lady in public, let alone when they are total strangers. Next time I go clubbing, I should be afraid to even look at any guy straight to his face lest he thinks it's an invitation to come grind behind me.

The dolphin argument

2010-07-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

During my trip to Cuba, I had the opportunity to book a day on a catamaran which included lunch at a restaurant on Cayo Blanco and an interaction with dolphins.

Although I come from an island, I've only seen dolphins in the wild once, on a catamaran trip about 7 yrs ago. The dolphins were totally free, we were able to see them because the fishermen knew their usual whereabouts but it was entirely up to luck whether you'd actually see them or not. We were lucky that day, they came and swam alongside our catamaran for about 30 minutes.
My only other dolphin sightings were the occasional dolphin show in a marine park of some sort, never within arm's reach though.

So being told that we would have the chance to get our pictures taken with a dolphin was enough to get us all excited about the whole experience. The dolphin enclosure, which was a structure built in open sea, had a number of large pools that had platforms built-in for people to stand on and stairs leading down to them. The dolphin trainer, Abel, asked about 10 people to step on the platform at a time. We were allowed to touch the dolphin everywhere except for the eyes, the air orifice and the genitals. One of the three dolphins, whose name was Nemo, would follow Abel's instructions to swim slowly along the row of people on the platform and a second time to swim on its back, giving us the opportunity to feel the texture of its "skin" on its back and the underside as well. Then, we each got a "kiss" from Nemo before he showed us how to clap and wave goodbye. Then if you chose to, you could have your picture taken by a "professional" photographer and later buy the picture for 10 pesos.

In addition to all the above, I had 2 "intimate" moments with the dolphins. I was the first in the water with my group, so furthest from Abel when he started with instructions for us. One of the dolphins swam right towards me and I stood there, backing up a little with my arms apart and out of the water and Nemo came and poked my belly button. It was U N R E A L. It's funny the thrill I got out of it. I felt so special *sigh*.

Later on, while waiting patiently for everybody ahead of me to get their professional picture taken, I was slapping the water a little to see if one of the dolphins will respond and surely enough, I caught the attention of one of them. When he approached, I held out my open hand just under the surface of the water (I've seen Abel do it!) and it slowly swam to my hand and poked it before swimming away. I dreamed then of having a dolphin as best friend. :(
Nemo gave me a big, sloppy, tongue-out kiss for my "professional" picture. Yes, I totally felt like a princess.

One of my friends had something to say on my dolphin experience. When I posted the picture of the dolphin enclosure, she said that the dolphins should be released and said that I should watch "The Cove" if I don't agree. I have not watched the film, the Wikipedia page says enough. I know enough about myself to know that I would not be able to bear the movie. That said though, the other remarks that followed from my friend were like personal attacks, blaming me for slaughtering the poor mammals almost.

My friend's point was that dolphins should be free and not held in captivity. I agree to that, I don't think ALL of the dolphins in the world should be held in captivity. I however do not blame ALL marine parks or EVERYBODY who condone such activities that would bring them closer to dolphins in captivity. She pointed the finger at me because by going through with it, I was encouraging dolphin-hunting according to her. Okay, there's only a limited number of marine parks around the world, with only so much demand for dolphins. My argument for dolphins kept in captivity is that they bring awareness to the masses. After all, not everybody can afford to go see dolphins in their natural habitat. Someone who has seen a dolphin in a show is more likely to be interested in the fate of the mammals than someone who has been watching the Discovery channel.

Maybe I would have felt different if I witnessed a dolphin being ill-treated. The ones I have met though looked happy and playful enough. There was a 3-year old little boy from Quebec in our group and he cried his eyes out when his mom took him out of the water. Now tell me that this kid is not going to remember this day for the rest of his life and feel a special attachment for dolphins and you would be lying. Is this little guy going to grow up to become a dolphin-killer? Is he already a dolphin murderer because he wanted to touch an otherwise inaccessible animal? You tell me.

Cuba...the discovery of a communist country

2010-07-03T03:21:00.002-04:00

I came back yesterday from a week-long trip to Varadero, Cuba.
C U B A, such a sweet sound to my sunburned ears right now.

Most people probably associate that country to Fidel Castro, the US embargo, beautiful white sand beaches and what not. Yes, like most people I've done my research before going there. However, the research was mainly to address my comfort level when I get there, not on the country itself. So funnily enough it is only today that I have read the wikipedia page on Cuba.

Last Tuesday, I was on a day trip to Havana, the capital of Cuba. During the 2 hour bus trip there, the tour guide gave us anecdotal details about Cubans alongside the historical details that made the country what it is today. One thing that hit me right away was the number of people waiting by the side of the road. I soon realized they were waiting for a ride...not a specific ride, just any car that would pick them up.

Now, that fact in itself is puzzling to me who have never hitchhiked, the result of a sheltered childhood and the absence of a situation where I'd absolutely need to go somewhere without having the means. Now Cubans are not rich, so I would understand that the vast majority of the population would have to use public transportation. Coming from a "poor" island myself, I am aware of illegal cabs, especially in regions where the bus service is less than par. This was my original thought. These people by the roads are waiting for a car which would stop and take them wherever, for a minimal charge. But to my surprise, the tour guide was quick to correct me. The rides are free. Huh.

Ok, so if I was poor and had a car that is falling apart, why would I pick up people I do not know by the side of the road and drive them to where they need to go? Of course, out of the goodness of MY heart, but not everybody has a golden heart like mine. So here's another thought: the car does not belong to you. It belongs to the state and your position within the government entitles you to a car, but since everybody is working for the good of everybody else, you SHOULD stop and pick up people if you can! Errr...okay.

Yes, I was born and raised in a Capitalist country. The idea of not owning anything except the clothes on your back is MIND-BLOWING. Cubans are not allowed to sell their houses because they do not own their houses. They can agree to exchange houses and pay a tax to the government for it, but the government still owns their houses. When the tour guide told us about the house exchange, I thought of a conversation in my head that would go like this in between 2 Cubans:

Man1: Ola, I think my house is getting too small for the family and your kid is in high school in the countryside most of the week. What do you say we swap houses?
Man2: Ola. Hmm, true, I guess we only really need the room just for the week-end when he comes back, but we could all squeeze nicely into your house otherwise.
Man1: Is that a deal then, should we go pay the tax?
Man2: Okay, let me run it by the wife and give you a final answer tomorrow.
Man1: Awesome, let me know.

It's probably not the way it goes. The only way it could happen would probably be between relatives who would sacrifice themselves for the good of the people they love. Why else would they swap houses??

Have I read the wikipedia page beforehand, I would have had way more questions for the tour guide....That would teach me to barely skim the surface when "researching" my vacation destination!

Two-faced Bastards...

2010-06-12T11:59:00.001-04:00

or another version of "the grass is greener on the other side"!

Last night I was at a "play" that featured a stage with a curtain made up of blinds in the middle and the audience split in 2, on either side of the curtain, facing the stage. The audience had the choice of the side they wanted to be on, without the knowledge of which side was going to be featuring what. It was suggested that if you came with someone, to split and each watch a side of the play.

My side of the stage started with 6 comedians sitting, facing the audience and a discussion among themselves about what it means to be a performer. One by one, they left their seat and went on the side to undress and get into their costume before going through the curtain to the other side of the stage and started to dance. We could catch what was going on on the other side when the blinds were moved, accidentally or on purpose

For the first part of the play, I had the distinct feeling that I was on the backstage side of the curtain and missing out on the dance on the other side. Therefore throughout the play, any glimpse of the other side was like a peek into a better performance and a guess of what the stage on the other side looked like! I would say my side was not bad, it was funny, we had a dance component, and the producer/choreographer was seated just behind me and HE was chuckling every now and then! Ah but the nagging feeling that the grass is greener on the other side....

After the performance, we gathered in the lobby with some people who have seen the play from the other side. Funnily enough, they also started by thinking they were seeing the backstage because for them the play started with 1 dancer warming up and barely hearing the discussion on the other side of the curtain. We then discussed the numerous times when we could hear distinct sounds but could not make out what was happening on the other side. It turned out that we had the more explanatory side of the curtain and they had the more obscure, more artistic side. Now depending on your personal taste, arguments can be made for either side. For sure though, a number of the audience walked out of there feeling they chose the wrong side to sit on....

Random chats

2010-06-11T17:08:00.000-04:00

When I was a teen and the Internet was "new" to most people, there was IRC.
People my age, in my country, would spread through their peers which channel they were going to be on in the evening and sure enough, you would find the most popular kids on there (mind you, with ingenious nicknames). The excitement at the time was trying to figure out who is behind the nickname and to make friends in real life if we clicked on the net. Since I come from a relatively small country, that wouldn't be quite hard, most people were separated by 3 degrees at most. All conversations back then would start with the usual "a/s/l" (age/sex/location) question and go from there. That is how I discovered random chats.

This phase of my life didn't last very long, I quickly found it boring to be talking to people when you did not know what they looked like and hard to actually make friends with. The other day, I was watching NCIS and one of the characters in there was trying a "webcam chat roulette" site. Out of boredom, I googled it and signed up on the first website that came up in the search results.

Well now, apparently they are all pretty much the same...There's a button that allows you to jump to someone else if the one you are currently looking at does not please you. Both parties can "next" each other, so if you see a little shuffling going on, you KNOW you don't look good enough to be talked to...or rather, you have on too many clothes....Yes, unfortunately there is way too much nudity on that website. It seems to me that some people are just dying to expose themselves and these webcam-driven websites are just a field day for these exhibitionists!

This new experiment did not last long either for I do not take any kind of pleasure in looking at guys playing with themselves. I did however make a friend there. It also happened to be his first time on that website, which maybe explains why we were the only two fully clothed! We did exchange credentials to keep the conversation going and have learned to know each other through long w/end chats. Now is it creepy to meet people online? That's for another posting...soon hopefully!

The Rainy Olympics

2010-02-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

I'm finding Vancouver quite...wet.

The temperature is quite mild but the clouds wouldn't go away. So the winter olympics is set amid a rainy background. I wear boots every day, suede boots, but there's no snow to tread in. Mind you, I do enjoy not wearing layers and layers of warm clothes, but come on, these are the WINTER Olympics!

I have been enjoying the behind-the-scenes while volunteering though.
This allowed me to get closer to the outdoor Olympic flame just outside of where I'm volunteering as a techie.
And I got to see the CTV studios up close as well! Now, I just want to see Canada win GOLD!

The Mauritian at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics...

2010-02-11T20:29:00.001-05:00

So I've been in Vancouver for almost 48 hrs now.

A few things to note:
- streets are narrower over here,
- people look gooooooood here (I always tend to find people outside of where I reside better looking!)
- it has been raining since I got here....

So it's a good thing I brought my umbrella.
Yesterday was quite a fun filled day. I picked up my dress rehearsal tickets and a bottle of wine and walked around downtown a bit. I ended up at Robson Square where I decided to wait in line to pick up competition tickets. After more than 1 hr wait, I got them tickets, yay!

I was talking in line with a very nice couple and I saw them again after having lunch in the mall. I was actually looking for a locker to put away my wine bottle, but guess what, for security reasons, they have removed all the lockers during the games! So when I saw them again, I offered to give the guy my bottle of wine and then had to explain that I can't hold on to it because I cannot bring any food or drinks with me to the dress rehearsal that night.

Next thing I know, the guy was directing me to a concierge of a nearby hotel where he used to work and I went there and the concierge guy accepted to store my bottle of wine, but not without asking some questions about how come I ended up at his desk.

That's one thing about these games....Vancouver is opening up to the world and I'm opening up to strangers apparently. Yes mom, I know I'm not supposed to talk to strangers but these are the winter olympic games!!!!!!!

Go Canada go! (Only coz Mauritius doesn't send any athlete to the winter olympics!) :P

Dreams....

2009-10-10T16:42:00.000-04:00

Do you believe dreams have meaning???
The other night, I dreamt that I was in my old bedroom in my parent's house in Mauritius, preparing to go to bed. Then I looked out the window and saw a couple of shooting stars...so I kept watching and then a ball of fire fell, turned towards my house, crashed somewhere behind my house where I couldn't see from my window.
In that dream, it was as if I was watching an action movie. I saw the ball of fire come towards my house and I ducked for cover, when I looked up again, there were 2 FBIs in the field next to my house (there's no field in real life!). The 2 FBIs were some actors I've seen in some TV shows, can't really remember which ones. Then the firemen came and then I woke up.

What the hell was that about?
How come nobody in my house woke up from that din?
How come nobody came to rescue me?

The dream was so real that I needed a few minutes to realize I was in bed. I felt the fire, I saw the damage, I heard the noise.
Now, they say you dream of the last thing you were thinking of before falling asleep....What was I thinking of before I fell asleep? 2 unknown actors? shooting stars? firemen?

If someone can find meaning in this dream, give me a shout...

Surprise!!

2009-09-25T07:58:00.000-04:00

My extended family loves surprises. My aunts plan surprise after surprise, they somehow always have some kind of hidden agenda. Question why they are doing something instead of taking the path of least resistance and they will shoo you away. There, you know they are brewing another surprise.....

There's 2 kinds of people. The ones who like surprises and the ones who do not. I'm thinking I'm more of the 2nd. That doesn't mean that I don't like to plan for one for people around me, I just don't like being the surprised one. Lately I was planning to surprise a friend, and when that didn't turn out the way I planned, I was quite upset and started taking it out on him. But wait a minute...was it his fault that I couldn't surprise him? I guess not. I was more upset about how I planned it than anything else. If I had done this instead of that, if I have said this instead of that, or if I had said this or that at a different time....

This made me think of other situations in life where a simple word/action could have an impact on the rest of your life. If a surprise could be ruined by a word, what else could be altered by a different word, at a different time, in a different way?....What if...

Age, marital status and appropriateness...

2009-09-14T02:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I went to the hair salon to have my hair done for my cousin's wedding.
The hair salon was operated by Koreans who barely spoke English. But even with their limited english, the woman setting my hair with curlers, after a couple of introductory questions, asked point blank how old I am.
Taken aback, I still answered her and immediately after, she asked if I was married! She didn't comment on my single status, but kept asking other questions like, where do I live, what kind of work do I do, etc.

Since hairdressers are usually known for gossip, I was wondering if she was actually just asking questions for small talk or if it was going anywhere in her head. In any case, I thought it was quite nosy of her, so I was relieved when I was handed over to a hairstylist.

The hairstylist was a young Korean guy and he asked me what kind of style I wanted for my hairdo. I had the hardest time to decide between an updo and a half up, half down style but when asked, I decided to go for the updo. The guy, though, said that a half up, half down style would make me look younger. Fine then, the younger look it shall be. Not surprisingly, a few minutes later, HE was asking me how old I am AND asking me if I was married!!! At least, he joked about it saying "not yet, right?". He also asked me what kind of job I have.

So, what is it about Korean hairdressers and the way they talk to their customers? Obviously, they must have some kind of script according to your age range because a relative who is a bit older than me, also had nosy questions, but they were of the nature of "what religion are you?". I wonder now....do they all go through a training that says "Chapter 12: questions to ask a woman in her late twenties..."?

What is it...

2009-09-11T19:22:00.002-04:00

about being abroad that makes you act differently than in your own city?

The plan today was to walk up the street and enjoy the neighbourhood.

So there I was chatting with someone by my side and walking at a fast pace to catch up with the others when passing a guy on the bus stop. I haven't paid attention to that guy, actually, I didn't even see him until he said "hi" to me, and then on impulse, I said "hi" back. Errr...yeah, that was a reflex and chances are, I would have done the same in Toronto...but I was taken aback, shouldn't my awareness level be higher in an unusual place?

Second incident was just an hour or so ago. The crew was taking pics by a dinosaur statue, by the side of a traffic-jammed street (don't ask!), and I was just waiting for them to be ready to set off again when I heard someone clear his throat behind me. So I turned and this guy sitting in a truck in the traffic jam was looking directly at me and when I turned, he made some appreciative noise and instead of just turning back and ignoring him (what I would obviously have done in TO), I smiled and then went on my way. When the light turned green and he passed us, he waved his hand through the window to say bye.

Okay, I was flattered....

In a tank top and capris and my hair in a loose bun, I certainly wasn't worth a double take. I get cat calls walking to work in TO sometimes. In heels and dressed up, it's justified....but I have never turned and smiled!!

So I'm not sure if it's the air here or just the fact that I'm on vacation...or maybe just the men around here....whatever it is, if I was just half as friendly walking down the street in TO, I sure would have loads more friends back home than I do now!

Update:
I was approached today by a guy in a wheelchair in a McDonald's. He wheeled his chair straight at me and said that I'm so beautiful it makes him wish more than ever to be able to walk!!!
And following my cousin's wedding, my cousin was telling me today that her cooking instructor asked about me at her wedding. I could have sworn the guy was taking pictures of me, but it wasn't obvious, he could have been playing with the settings on his camera!
Maybe I should consider moving here....

Not nerdy enough...

2009-09-10T16:26:00.002-04:00

I'm back after 2 yrs!

I was thinking during my flight over to L.A this morning that I'm not nerdy enough, I should really update my blog and this is the perfect occasion to start again.

So here I am, after waiting 2 hrs at LAX for my cousin to pick me up. (We redefine "fashionably late" over and over in my family.) I think I saw Christina Ricci while waiting, I got a snapshot of her, that I will upload later if I can find a software to crop pics on my new Aspire One. Some paparazzo took pics of her too, so I'm 90% sure it WAS her and she barely reacted to his flashes....

So here's to the first few hours in L.A....Now where are those burritos or fish tacos?

Fresh or hard-boiled egg?

2007-04-01T01:30:00.000-04:00

How do you differentiate between a fresh and a hard-boiled egg?

Answer:
Spin them really fast.
The hard-boiled egg will spin faster than the fresh egg.

Check it out!

World Pastry Cup

2007-03-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

I was watching a programme on French tv yesterday about this and I couldn't believe my eyes.

There is a world championship for pastries every 2 years in Lyon, France, and it's just astounding the pastries the participants create there.

It makes sense that this championship should be based in France, after all, France is world-recognized for its gastronomy. In 2005, the French team won the championship, and the world champion "patissier", Christophe Michalak, now works in a big hotel in Paris where the bar showcases the pastries as if they are jewels and people around the globe go to the bar especially for the pastries. I must admit the desserts do look appetizing and very very classy and if you were to take the word of people eating there, they are just a taste of heaven.

Those big-shot hotels in Paris have found a new way to attract fashion victims into their restaurants/bar/patisseries now. As designers do it every year, the hotels' bars offer pastries that changes every season. Hence, they have the winter-autumn collection, the spring-summer collection, etc. A new trend is also emerging where designers are asked to draw a dessert which would then be created/prepared/baked by the hotel's patissier. The results? Very intricate and classy desserts.

Now, me being a big fan of pastries, especially chocolatey ones, watching that show was almost too much to bear. I had to look more into it and I've found some pics of the world cup competition:

And that is just a sample. You can find more pictures here:
http://www.fmainardphoto.com/sirha/cmp.htm

This year's world cup winner was the Japanese team.

From Nose to Mouth

2007-03-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

Did you eat boogers as a kid?
For those who don't know, "booger" refers to dried nasal mucus. Yes, you read it right, the dried remains in your nose, that's what a booger is and yes, the question is, did you eat those when you were a kid? (or do you still eat them?)

I used to eat boogers as a kid and I'm not ashamed to say it. I have a smaller cousin who used to eat boogers as a kid and he outgrew it too, so I thought it wasn't unusual for kids to do that and I never even thought that some people don't know about that as a habit. I got a doubt yesterday though, while having a conversation about bad habits as kids, so I thought I'd check, maybe booger-eating only runs in MY family and we are a freak show without knowing!

But no, if you do a search on the internet, quite a few websites mention nose-picking and eating the harvest of that. Phew, that was scary. Imagine I had to go find my cousin and tell him that we are the only 2 people who had that bad habit!

Consequently to checking that it wasn't just me and my cousin, I also found out that eating boogers is quite harmless, it might even boost your immune system according to some experts. (Check it out here) However nose-picking involves risks that I am only aware of now, (and then it's just gross) so I'm glad I outgrew that habit!

Now, some people actually eat earwax...
I don't want to be pointing the finger or anything (I'm the one who used to eat boogers) but as comparisons go, I don't know which is worse: from ear to mouth or from nose to mouth, and that's one experiment I am not too keen on.

Chinese Spring Festival

2007-02-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, we began the year 4705 in the chinese calendar which is a pig year.
Humm, let me phrase that again: 2007 is the year of the pig according to the chinese zodiac.

Some believe it is not just another pig year but the year of the Golden Pig, which according to certain myths, means that the babies born during this year will lead a "fat and easy life" and possibly making loads of money. So if you are ever given the opportunity to be born again and are given the choice of the year, you better choose to be born in a year of the Golden Pig! :P

Here in Mauritius, we get a public holiday for the Chinese Spring Festival. The Sino-Mauritians usually celebrate by having family dinners, giving foong pao (red envelopes with money in it!), lighting up firecrackers (to scare away bad things) and of course sharing cakes with our friends who are not of chinese descent. Some people go to the pagoda during the day to pay tribute to the gods, and some fast on that day. The customs of the day differ from family to family because our chinese ancestors were not necessarily from the same regions of China and because less and less sino-mauritians follow all the customs nowadays. Some customs are too complicated for the younger generations to learn without understanding chinese writings, so when the elders who used to perform the services , along with them goes the knowledge they carry.

I'm going to write about the little I know about today.
First, the week leading to the Chinese New year is always busy with cleaning because on the day of the new year, we cannot sweep the floors because we will also be sweeping away money we could earn during the year.

Then, on the day of the new year, people are supposed to wear new clothes. I have no idea why, but it must probably so you can get new clothes throughout the year.
Then of course the tradition where elders give foong pao to the younger generations. That again is a custom that vary among families. Some families stop giving foong pao to someone who has started working and some stop only when someone is married. But mostly, the money inside is not quite important, it is more the gesture than the monetary value.

The chinese new year celebrations basically should last for 15 days, at the end of which there is the Lantern Festival, which closes the festivities. It is at the end of the 15 days that people can go consult their "horoscopes" for the year and make promises to the gods if the "prediction" is bad, so that the year goes by with a little less unfortunate incidents.

The rest is quite unknown territory for me. I am sure there are loads other customs and traditions that should take place, but none of which I understand the purpose or timeliness. Sino-mauritians tend to comply to as many customs as they know of and to omit the unknown parts, so I am quite content doing just that also.
On that, I wish everybody a good year of the pig!

Valentine's Day or SAD...

2007-02-15T00:55:00.000-05:00

February 14, a day lovers around the world await for.
Wanting to check the origin of Valentine's day, I've check wikipedia and as well as finding the different believed origins of Valentine's day, I've found that Singles Awareness Day (SAD) is celebrated on the same day.
Yes, it is true that if you're single and comes Valentine's day, you feel like the loneliest person on earth, especially if all your friends are in a relationship. So it makes sense that SAD is "celebrated" on the same day, but Asians take it even a step further, they have a Lovers-go-die club which is a club against lovers or couples (isnt' that just far-fetched or is it just me?).

The day has come and gone.
Whether you are in a relationship and you celebrated with your better half (or chose not to), or you're single and didn't celebrate (or maybe had a drink for SAD), the day is over, and gratefully, we won't have to bear the constant reminder of the media that we need to celebrate love for another year. It never used to be this commercial in MU before, but I guess with the influence of the West, Valentine's day has become quite popular over the last few years.
As one of the radio hosts was saying yesterday, why celebrate love on that day only? Why not celebrate it every day of the year, 365 days a year? The most recurring questions during the day yesterday were "so what did you get from your boyfriend/lover/husband?" or "What did you get your boyfriend/lover/husband?". Does celebrating love resume to giving gifts then?
That's what the media wants it to be about and that's what makes the day even more painful for singles.

If you're single and you survived the day without going insane, feeling lonely or sad, congrats to you. It takes a lot of wisdom to recognize that it is just an excuse for people to buy more and be theatrical about their love. Love doesn't have to be this big, as said in 1 Corinthians 13, it does not BOAST.

If you're not single and you celebrated (or not), keep in mind that there are 364 other days where you could be just as considerate for your loved one :P.

It's all coming back to me now....

2007-02-12T23:12:00.000-05:00

The long-awaited list was out yesterday afternoon making a few chosen very happy and leaving hundreds deceived. Every year, school leavers await their results with impatience and those who have been hopeful to win a scholarship await the list of scholarship winners with a mixture of eagerness and stress.

At 18, you think the world would stop if you deceive your parents. At 18, you think it's everything to live up to their expectations. At 18, you think your future rests in having great A levels results. I can't imagine the stress of the very smart, those whose dreams and aspirations all stem from being a scholarship winner and hearing their names on the radio. One "laureate", as we call them here, was interviewed yesterday and she admitted not being to eat or sleep because of the imminent announcement of the results. Have she not won one of the scholarships, the same student would have been devastated and disgusted with life.

Flashback: February 2000. Having a combination of subjects that didn't allow me to compete for the scholarships, there wasn't going to be my name in the papers, nor being announced on the radio. But I was just as eager to hear the names of the scholarship winners so that I could congratulate them if I knew them. It's funny the frenzy around that list. When the list came out for my year, all of my friends' names were in the newspapers, not because they were scholarship winners, but because they were good enough to be ranked. Yes, it is something else when you see your name on that newspaper, isn't it? My mom says it's pride. The parents can be proud of their kids when they put their names on those papers because of their academic prowess.

So what happens to those kids whose names weren't in the papers then? Does that mean that their parents can't be proud of them? Yes, my friends were all in the papers, but they were there not because they happen to be among the very smart, but because they chose a "side" where competition is not that good. I, on the other hand, had excellent results but, as my mom points out, would never have the recognition provided by the papers.

7 years down the road, it doesn't mean anything now. It didn't even mean anything when we all went to university. Nobody cares that you were or weren't ranked for your A levels, nobody cares that you were in the papers in tiny Mauritius. I'm sure it certainly made a difference for the scholarship winners, their parents didn't have to provide thousands (if not millions) of rupees for their studies, but that didn't make them more likely to succeed than others who didn't win.

It's outrageous the pressure parents put on their kids to win those scholarships. It's outrageous that success in Mauritius is mostly measured in academic results.
For those who weren't in the papers or for those who tried their best and still didn't make it to the top, I want to say: chin up, life doesn't resume to one exam. There will be loads of opportunities for you to succeed, it's up to you to take them and to find your way to the top.

Brain drain or the exodus of the new generation...

2007-02-06T05:14:00.000-05:00

Today, I've read an article in the NY times where the subject is about Germany and the loss of its younger and highly skilled population.
I couldn't help but notice how true it is of the Mauritian population also. People try to seek a better future elsewhere, be it in Canada, Australia, the States, the UK or even Singapore and in doing so, the best and brightest, most often than not, are lost to their home country. Here in MU, it is becoming ever so common that school leavers go abroad for college/university education and rare are those who ever come back. In fact, those who do come back to stay are usually those whose parents own a business (and hence, it's been understood that they will take over), those who couldn't get their residency papers in their adopted countries (therefore couldn't stay there), those who couldn't find work in their adopted countries (lack of money always bring children running back to their parents) or those who never adapted to life outside of their home country.

This exodus of the young could only be understood if you've lived here in MU. I've tried explaining this to my friends back in CA, and they could never understand why people would want to leave paradise island for snow-covered Canada. The prospect of earning more money (and in a currency that is recognized world-wide) aside, ".. the natural beauty and the sense of possibility", as the article so beautifully describes, is enough to appeal to the young and ambitious. Not only that, there is now another category of middle-agers who, trying to be a step ahead, are emigrating so that their teenage children could benefit from lower university fees when they finish high school.

It is interesting to note that those who study abroad and then come back to MU can expect to earn a slightly better salary (in some companies) than their peers who studied at the local university. This is only because there is the idea that the level of education abroad is better than the one delivered locally. I am not here to debate whether the level of instruction of the University of Mauritius is comparable to international levels, but if for anything else, just experiencing the world beyond our small island gives those who studied abroad a slight advantage. That said, I'll put my case to rest on that subject.

Another interesting fact is that often those who emigrated in their youth nurture the idea of coming back to MU in their old days. They may not want to stay all year round, the health care abroad being substantially more trusted, but they certainly wish to flee the cold winters abroad and find sunshine in our homeland.

So what changes should be made in MU to stop the brain drain you would ask?
Nothing much an individual could do, although if you're Prime Minister and you want to make your people WANT to stay, you could find a zillion ways to help. But I'm not here to criticize the government or anything else, God knows I'm not really an expert in politics or economy. I think, all people need to be happy here is (just like everywhere else) a little bit more money, less tax to pay, better health care and way way more entertainment!
But then, that's only my opinion and a very simplistic way to solve the problem.

For those who are just back in MU, from someone who's been back more than a year now, you will definitely get used to it again.........maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a week.... but within a year for sure!

Slouching beings

2007-02-04T04:59:00.000-05:00

I've been watching people walk by recently, people at work, people at supermarkets, people on the streets.
One noticeable thing that most people have in common, across generations and race, is that they slouch.
"Children carry huge over loaded backpacks, adults lug briefcases to work, and thousands of people spend hours hunched over a computer whether for work or play. " **
Because slumping into our chairs is easier than consciously sitting straight, people get into the habit without realizing it until someone brings it to their attention. Even then, most people will hold their spine straight for a few minutes before forgetting and reverting to their slouching positions.

Ageing already brings a slight slouch to our posture, but now, with worse sitting and standing postures, not only the population as a whole would soon be subscribing to regular visits to a chiropractor, but by the time we reach old age, we would all be bent in two with a who-can-do-better list of back problems. In countries such as CA, where chiropractor fees are covered by health insurance if they are justified and recommended by a doctor, more of taxpayers' money will be involved into paying for the cost of bad posture.

It takes real effort though to sit straight, bring back your shoulders, and walk tall and to remember doing this all day. But remember: "Change takes willpower! However … the rewards of good posture are well worth the effort. You will feel great and your physical appearance will look tall and confident! "**

**quoted from an article about posture tips.

Hump country...

2007-02-03T00:05:00.000-05:00

You could take the same route every single day of the year.
You could know the road by heart, every single turn, every single pothole.
You could even say that you could drive your eyes blindfolded on that road.
Yet, one morning you wake up and do the same stuff you've been doing for the past x years and driving leisurely down that road, woahhhhh hold on, there's a SPEED BUMP on the road!!!

Here in MU, this happens quite often. Out of nowhere, speed bumps appear overnight. They put them everywhere, on smaller roads as on bigger main roads, near schools or near supermarkets, anywhere they think people usually speed. They spend thousands of rupees making those humps and then they spend as much to remove some of them because in someone's eagerness to make humps on the road, they didn't realize that they are hindering vehicles that need to speed, like ambulances or fire trucks.

Out of the capital, on one of the main roads for buses to go up north, there are 3 humps on a stretch of 100 m, just in front of a temple. Yes, I agree that there's been quite a few accidents there because of speeding drivers, but those humps cause monstrous traffic jams during peak hours because that being a busy road for buses, the humps slow down buses and other vehicles more than they should.

I'm not saying speed humps are bad, but hell, why put them all over the place?
If that goes on, MU's roads will become just a succession of humps, one after the other so that everybody would need 4x4 to drive around.

Ant invasion

2007-01-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

As the weather is getting irritatingly hotter, my house is getting invaded by ants from all angles.
They crawl in from the roof, they come in through the doors and windows, they invade the car, they come through the pipes, they build nests in my drawers, they crawl over the laundry...they are just EVERYWHERE.

Black ants that are just annoying and crawl at the speed of light, red ants that bite like crazy and that look for sweets, tiny red ants that just give you the creeps...you can find them all in my house. My parents have found that they can kill the ants by chalking up the places where the ants are likely to show up, so having lines and lines of chalk running up, down and along the walls is quite ordinary at home.

Sometimes though, when the ants are actively attacking something, be it some crumbs or food left on the table, or just a piece of cloth, it's better to use a spray that will kill them instantly! So sometimes you'd find my dad armed with a spray, killing the ants with poison spray in very strategic places. The thing is, however, that the ants might retaliate stronger, where you have once killed hundreds of ants, you come back 1 hr later to find thousands of them milling around the dead bodies of their contemporaries. I've just read an article that suggests it is best to kill the ants with a poison that they will bring back to their nest, therefore killing the whole nest in one go. I need to find such a poison so that my dad could retire from his role as the ant-fighter at home.

In CA, ants seldom come into the house. You could leave a chocolate on the table and find it weeks later at the same spot, without an ant around (you might not want to eat it though!). A good thing about Canada also is that food don't go stale as quickly as it does here. A bag of chips, left opened for a week, would still taste the same and as crisp as ever. Here, I've found bags of chips still sealed that have gone stale before the expiry date. So in a quest to keep away ants and to keep food from getting stale as much as possible, I've had to get back into the habit of using airtight containers and not leaving crumbs behind.

On that note, I dare the stupid ants to come, I'll sit tight with my chalk and poison spray and defend my territory.

It's in you to give....

2006-12-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

As we approach the New Year's eve w/end, I have heard a lot about the NOT-drinking-and-driving campaign here in MU. This week after Christmas, the news have been about how the police force stopped vehicles on Christmas eve for alcohol tests and how many drunk drivers were tested.

We all know that we shouldn't drink and drive, yet some drivers still do it because they either think they are above the law or because they think their tolerance for alcohol is better than most people. What these drivers do not realize is that by driving under the influence of alcohol, they not only put themselves in danger, but they put the lives of other people in danger too. Most often than not, in road accidents involving drunk drivers, the innocent are more hurt than the drunk driver himself. The Don't-Drink-And-Drive campaigns usually try to remind people of those risks come the holiday season.

That said, the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) usually have a massive campaign to make people donate blood during the holidays. Here in MU, I haven't heard that much about giving blood although I am sure the need for blood is even more critical during this period. The blood banks in MU already run low most of the time, so it is only normal that during the holiday period, with people getting busier at home and with parties, fewer donors have the time to go to a blood collection point and unfortunately more accidents occur during this period meaning more people needing blood.

Since the blood collected can only be used within 35 days, every healthy person who can donate blood should be encouraged to do so to relieve the need for blood nation-wide. Blood to spare is something most people have... yet, there is still not enough to go around. It is something money can't buy, only something one person can give to another. In fact, one blood donation may help save up to three lives.

As the CBS campaigns usually say: "It's in you to give. Give the gift of life, donate blood."

If nothing else, that could be your good deed for the coming year.

Goodbye 2006, hello 2007!

2006-12-28T02:27:00.000-05:00

As 2006 is coming to a close, this is the time to reflect on the year just gone by and for some of us, to make new year's resolutions.

Looking back over the events in 2006, it seems that this year has seen its quota of natural disasters, political scandals, unfortunate killings and accidents and sporting events. Personally, the year has been way more peaceful than in the world, the highlights being getting a new job then changing companies, a trip to Birmingham, and making loads and loads of new friends.

With only a few days left in 2006 though, let's not linger over the past, and let's look forward to the new blank page ahead. I am sure that the question that will pop up sooner or later would be about my new year's resolution.

What's a new year resolution you say? Check out the answer on wikipedia:

A New Year's resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved, although many resolutions go unachieved and are often broken fairly shortly after they are set.

According to a few surveys online, the most popular new year's resolutions are:
- Spend more time with family and friends.
- Get fit/ lose weight.
- Quit smoking.
- Enjoy life more.
- Quit drinking.
- Get out of debt/ save money.
- Learn something new.
- Help others/ volunteer.
- Get organized.
- Get a better job/education.
- Eat right.
- Reduce stress/take a trip in the year.

I, by experience, know that my new year's resolutions do not hold all the way because I tend to forget them after 1 week. Yes, we are all getting older, some of us a little bit wiser, some a little bit balder, some a little bit fatter. The bottom line remains that we don't need a new year to come by to realize that we need to take action, either it is to lose weight, eat right, quit smoking or decide to take a trip. However, some of us do like to have a set date to start something even though the goal might not be reached anytime soon.

Having said all that, I have decided that my 2007 resolution would be NOT to have a resolution.

What's your new year's resolution for 2007?

The countdown has started...only 3 days left.

Fireworks, firecrackers, etc.

2006-12-27T23:33:00.000-05:00

It is the custom in MU to set off fireworks or firecrackers for celebrations like Christmas, New Year's, Divali, Chinese New Year.....bah, any festival or celebration in fact.
So, in this season of holidays, it is very common to see/hear fireworks around the island...EXCEPT I never expected to see what I saw last night.

I was driving down the motorway after work when, lo and behold, I saw fireworks being set off from a GAS STATION! It is to believe that Mauritians from Roche-bois have no clue whatsoever of the danger of lighting up fireworks in a highly inflammable area like a gas station. I had no time to check if they were being set off by kids or by "responsible" adults, but in any case, the gas station was open, so there must have been the said responsible adults around. An accident could so easily happen and the sad story would be on the headlines the following day claiming that nobody thought such an awful thing could happen.

In CA, the law prevents citizens to set off fireworks or firecrackers if it is not during the Victoria Day week-end (the w/end preceding May 25), Canada Day (July 1st) or New Year's Eve. Some provinces allow fireworks for Divali, but I haven't seen any on Divali during the 5 yrs I was there. It is justifiable why Canada would have such restrictions on fireworks: people do not realize until it is too late that what they are doing could put other people in danger. If such a law was to be implemented in MU, I bet a lot of Mauritians would be outraged that their kids do not know the pleasure of setting off firecrackers and fireworks. Safety comes first though, so I wish there could be something to be done about this....Right now, all I can think of is maybe stop by Roche-bois and kick some uneducated @ss over there. I must say that this particular region in MU could give me unlimited inspiration for blog entries. :P

It is on this happy note that I wish y'all a Happy New Year 2007.

Viva fireworks!

My Christmas tree

2006-12-03T08:44:00.000-05:00

Today, I've put up my Christmas tree.
For the last 7 yrs, I either didn't have a Christmas tree or couldn't be bothered if I put it up or not. And my parents didn't bother either when I wasn't here.

But this year is different, I am home and I WANTED to put it up. So this morning, I dug out my old plastic Xmas tree and that's what it looked like:

I was glad it could still stand up and wasn't too bad looking though it's a bit tilted at the top. (But that only makes it look like a natural one, haha!)
After an hour of bending, stretching, sweating and what not, that is what it looks like:

I've tried to simulate snow with cotton balls....but humm....I ran out of cotton balls. So you can see some snow at the top, but it didn't reach the bottom branches :P

A few of my friends asked if it isn't too early to put up my Xmas tree, after all Christmas is still 3 weeks away....The answer is NO! The beginning of December is as good a time as any to put it up. Some people decide to put it at the beginning of December, some 1-2 weeks before, some on the eve, some a few days before. It is up to people's preferences and sometimes to family traditions. In my family, I've always been the one to put it up (and take it down) every year ever since I'm old enough to do it by myself. So it was always up to me to drag it out year after year, to my convenience.

I'm glad I've put it up this year. Not only it gives a festive mood to the house, but who knows, Santa might drop by on Dec 25!

Nail in the fence...

2006-12-02T11:41:00.000-05:00

I've hurt someone I love this week and it reminded me of this email:

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.

"A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

What's in a beautiful face anyway?

2006-11-14T13:49:00.000-05:00

Familiar with the expression "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?
Well, BULLSHIT! It's all in the math!
According to an article published in USA Weekend magazine in 2003 (there are more recent ones, I just liked that one!) attractive faces are those which are more symmetrical and have a certain ratio (1:1.618) which recurs in beautiful things.

"...beauty is simply balance: The more symmetrical a face, the more appealing it appears. "

And not only that, beautiful people tend to be more succesful, get more attention and smell better (???). The same article refers to another research which compares attractiveness to a mask created with the above-mentioned ratio.

Welllllllllllll.....how's that for a good take at the mirror?
In terms of symmetry, nature has been kinda scatter-brained with me (what's with the single dimple?) so I'd still rather think that the idea of beauty IS subjective.

And somehow after reading all this, all I can think of is "There are things money can't buy, for everything else, there's MASTERCARD!" :P

Kaho naa kaho???

2006-11-13T13:26:00.000-05:00

I'm not into hindi songs, nor bollywood movies, though some of my friends caught that craze a little while back.

Today though, my friend sent me an indian song: Kaho naa kaho.
I didn't actually know what it means, but I've listened to it and my mom came running saying "Who's listening to indian music in the house?".
Just to say how unusual it is!
I don't understand a word of chinese, but we listen to chinese songs, that is not quite weird to me or to anybody else. But somehow it is kinda weird if I listen to indian songs....GO FIGURE!

Anyway, having just a tad bit too much time on my hands today, I found the english translation of the song:

(Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein yeh sahaara hai
In love's journey, this is my support
Vafa ke saahilon ka yeh kinaara hai) - 2
On the shore of faithfulness, this is my coast
(Baadalon se oonchi udaan unki
Her mannerisms are higher than the clouds
Sab se alag pehechaan unki
Her distinctiveness is different from everyone
Use hai pyaar ki kahaani mansoob
Love's words are attached to her
Aati jaati saanson ki rawaani mansoob) - 2
The flow of my breath is attached to her

Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein tu hamaara hai
In love's journey, you are mine
Andhere raaston ka tu sitaara hai
On dark roads, you are my shining star

Tu hi jeene ka sahaara hai
You alone are my life support
Meri maujon ka kinaara hai
You are the shore for my waves
Mere liye yeh jahaan hai tu
For me, you are this world
Tujhe mere dil ne pukaara hai
My heart has called out to you

Kaho na kaho yeh saansein bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, this breath of yours says it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Labon pe naam tere bas hamaara hai
On my lips is only your name
Yeh tera dil bhi jaana hamaara hai
This heart of yours is also mine, darling
Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein yeh sahaara hai
In love's journey, this is my support
Vafa ke saahilon ka yeh kinaara hai
On the shore of faithfulness, this is my coast
(Khwaabon mein tujhko sanwaara hai
In dreams, I have perfected you
Jazbon mein apne utaara hai
I have become completely absorbed in you
Meri yeh aankhen jidhar dekhe
Wherever these eyes of mine look
Tera hi chehra nazaara hai) - 4
Your face alone is the sight they see

The power of....WIKIPEDIA!

2006-10-21T05:10:00.000-04:00

So since Thursday, I've been on Wikipedia:

The principle is simple: you can edit and add to any article you find on wikipedia and it is published right away. Moderators probably crowd the place as soon as there's a change, but the thing is, if the moderator have no clue on the topic, chances that your changes are going to stay are high.

We did a little experiment on Thursday at work: we changed the article on Mauritius and put obviously wrong information on there...I don't think anybody would believe Aliens came to mauritius 2000 B.C. although no one can prove the contrary! The changes didn't last 24 hrs although my team lead added my name to the list of prominent Mauritians and it stayed there.

Yes, I am the newly, self-proclaimed Duchess of Mauritius.
Until I'm erased off wikipedia, please refer to me as SAS Carine.

A party nation....

2006-10-21T02:30:00.000-04:00

Today is Divali...It is the festival of lights...

"Divali is the most jovial of all Hindu festivals.... it marks the victory of righteousness over evil in the Hindu mythology. Traditionally, clay oil lamps were placed in front of every home turning the island into a fairyland of flickering lights; these have now been replaced mostly by decorative electric lights."

We've got 15 statutory holidays in MU whereas there are only 10 stat holidays in CA.
But of the 15 stat hols we have this year, 6 fell during the week-ends. Yes, in MU, we don't have stat holidays moved to Mondays or Fridays, they are fixed by whichever religious bodies have authority because they follow the festivals of the different faiths on the island.

The richness of the Mauritian culture comes from the different religions that make up the Mauritian population. We, mauritians, as a nation, we celebrate all the festivals from Chinese New Year to Eid-ul-Fitr. We share the cakes and the good wishes and the good humour and the diversity. That's way better than having BANK holidays, for example. :P
One of my Canadian friends asked the other day about Thanksgiving. No, we don't have thanksgiving here in MU, not because we don't have anything to be thankful for, it's just not something we have set up here by the first immigrants.

Check out the list of festivals and the list of holidays for 2006 in MU.

My day...

2006-10-18T00:08:00.000-04:00

The thing about being in MU for my birthday is that there's a lot of surprises.

First, I was awakened at 3:50am by a text message wishing me happy birthday. I looked at the msg but was too sleepy to reply, so I went back to sleep. I was awakened again at 6am by a phone call from my mom's friend from Reunion island. Following her recent visit here, she hid a gift behind the closet for me to find on my birthday!!! As soon as I was out of bed, there goes a series of text msgs getting in, one after the other, from various friends who remembered... Even my brother who already sent a card by mail text messaged me again. When I was in CA I didn't use to receive ANYTHING from him for my birthday!!!

So the day goes on...
My ex-coworkers visited me during their tea break at 10am just to wish me a great day.
Then at 11:30, 3 of my friends at work disappeared and came back with cake and pop.
We all go into the meeting room for me to cut the cake but I couldn't convince anybody to sing for me :P.
That was my 3rd birthday cake since Sunday. When I was in Canada, I'd be lucky if I had one whole cake for my birthday in any given year!!!
I spent the day in a state of euphoria....A lot of my friends here and abroad remembered and thought of me and I felt loved, cherished and utterly spoiled. After 6 yrs of not expecting anything special for my birthday, I must say that this is way more than I would ask for.

The day would have been perfect if it wasn't for the ADSL not working when I got back home.
I installed the brand new webcam I've received as a gift and then went out to have dinner. By the time I got back home, I had to call customer service 3 times before I could finally get online and stay connected!
Webcams are great if you want to know whether u've got mannerisms, eh...I'm awfully aware of each time I was scratching my nose or my head...But the silences while waiting for the other person to respond is spent watching that person type or concentrate, which is certainly entertaining in itself!

Just when I was saying good night to everybody online, there was a power cut! In pitch black darkness, I had to find the way to my room and look for batteries and the flashlight (thank God I got that 2 yrs ago for camping!) . See, even in the mess in my room, I know exactly where things are! :P
It's not rad to brush your teeth and shower to the light of a flashlight, and even worse when you don't get hot water for your shower. It's not rad to end the day like that, but my birthday this year was just too awesome thanks to my friends.
It sure changes from a birthday that goes unnoticed in CA...

Mon père, ce héros...

2006-10-15T23:50:00.000-04:00

I drive an automatic car....
I agree, it's not the best when you want to accelerate because you cannot just shift gears and accelerate. Although you might have your foot down to the floor, the car will only accelerate at its own pace and (automatically) shift gears when it needs to, you cannot force it to do so faster. This has its own implications, for example, I cannot race at start because hell, it takes time for my car to reach 100Km/hr. But that is not the topic today.

So I drove to work this morning and I set off a bit early because my dad used the car during the w/end and the tank was half full -- or half empty (whichever way u see it). I have the odd habit of filling up on gas every time the gauge reaches mid tank, so I thought I'd stop by that gas station on my way to work. I'm a creature of habit, I'd admit, and I always fill up on gas at the same gas station near my home. Today though, it was easier for me to go to that other gas station on my way to work, coz it's on the motorway and it's easy access and exit, far from the traffic jams.

So there I was, driving in, stopping and here comes the attendant, all smiles and merry and he asked me even before I had time to stop the engine, how much gas I'd like. As far as I know, there is only a limited number of self-service gas stations in MU, so having someone serve you is quite normal around here (not the case in CA!). I told him to fill it up, and I stopped the engine, and looked for my wallet, while the attendant was busy....what was he doing? ... He was wiping my windshield! Oh wow, I thought, that's service! I didn't think more of it than that coz I was eager to set off again, it was 7:25 and in 5 mins, one of the lanes on the motorway would close so I'd be stuck on a one-lane motorway (don't ask!). When the tank was full, it amounted to Rs. 1056....Hell, where would I find that Rs. 6 now? Guys at MY usual gas station would round it off! Anyway, when he was paid and I was ready to set off again, MY CAR WOULDN'T START!!..

BUGGER...AND ON A MONDAY MORNING!!!
So first thing I think of is: I gotta call my dad. My dad goes the same way 3 days a week, and we talked about it this morning, so he knew I was stopping at that gas station. Cellphone, speed dial 3, "Dad, the car won't start, I'm at that gas station, did you pass yet?". THANK GOD, my dad was just behind me, he was there in 20 seconds flat. He didn't even stop, just passed me on the right, shouted through the window to shift the gear to "P" and drove off. So that is just what I did, I shifted the gear from D3 to P ( don't ask me how it got there, I have no idea since I would drive on "D" and not on "D2" anyway) and set off. I made it before the lane closed, got to work 5 mins later all safe.

So now, I don't know how to feel, if I should feel happy about the car being ok and that I made it to work early or if I should feel sad that I passed for a dumbass so bright and early on a Monday morning....Mind you, it was my dad and he's seen the worst and the best of me, but still.....That's not the best way to start the week....IS IT? Let's just hope the day goes on improving....

Only in Mauritius...

2006-10-10T10:26:00.000-04:00

I drive to work everyday.
Just that would be enough for me to post entries on my blog everyday.
There are things you see on the roads in my country (yes Javed, last time I checked, I was still Mauritian), that you can't see anywhere else....

Today, I saw a 4x4 drive over the "island" separating the lanes on the motorway and merge into traffic going in the opposite direction....Ok, maybe that's forgivable, there was a huge traffic jam ahead because of an accident and I understand some people will do anything (and I mean EVERYTHING) to avoid traffic jam.

But I once saw a van stop on the right lane (the fast lane!) of the motorway and let people off right in the middle of the motorway. What was that about? Did the driver even THINK about the people driving at 120 km/hr on that lane and that stopping might cause a huge domino accident? Nooooo....he probably just thought that since he's got to stop, everybody else on the motorway should stop too! Now, let's not think about the cars coming on the left lane who might just not realize some people are getting off the van and knock them off coz that would just be too graphic for my imagination.

I've also seen a family of 4 travelling on a moped! The dad holding a kid in front of him and the mom doing the same on the back seat, kids not wearing helmets or anything! I don't think they realize just how dangerous it is to carry more than the indicated number of passengers on those thingys....I think mauritians have no clue that the indicated number of passengers allowed on those is 2 MAXIMUM!

And what about the man sitting on his moped facing oncoming traffic on the motorway this morning? I think he wanted to cross over to the other side of the motorway when all he could have done was to ride 100m up, take the roundabout and ride down the lane he wanted to cross!

Now, that's only a few examples....
Driving in MU is like an obstacle course: you gotta watch out for cars just coming out of nowhere, cars hindering traffic because hell they can, bikes, mopeds, hens and roosters, barking dogs, kids playing football (soccer!) on the streets, low branches of the trees by the road, hawkers and their wares (taking up half of the street) and of course the oh-so-many potholes along the way. And let's not get started on the bus drivers who think that since their vehicles are larger, they can pass other vehicles in any situation, even if that means oncoming traffic has to come to a complete stop. And mind you, if you are coming in the opposite direction at full speed, they'll flash their brights at you so that you stop far enough for them not having to slow down to pass the other vehicle!

If all the drivers in MU went to a driving test in any other country, I don't think half of them will get their driving licence no matter how many times they try. I got mine in Canada on the 2nd try :P
But it's true what they say: if you can drive in MU, you can drive ANYWHERE!

The grass is greener on the other side....

2006-10-09T01:32:00.000-04:00

Since I've been back from CA (almost a year now...), I've been asked quite a few times WHY I didn't stay there. The reason is quite simple, I've been booted off: work permit expired, not renewable.

It's true what people say: you're never as patriotic as when u're abroad. Though I've been back a couple of times during my 5 year stay in CA, from time to time I'd be homesick. I'd miss my parents, my room, my dad's car...all the little things that make MU what it is for me. I'd miss the dholl puris, the samoussas, the briani, the alouda, the beach, the almost-always sunny weather.... These would be missed when it's -25 degrees outside with wind chill and I've got to go to work in 30cm of snow, but before I head out, I gotta put 3 layers of clothes on, not forgetting the boots, the scarf, the hat, the gloves and a lot of courage. When I've been waiting for that damn bus for 15 mins in bitter cold, that's when I asked myself "What the heck? why did I leave my little paradise island again?".

Then I would find myself talking about MU, being proud of coming from such an exotic place....Most people in Canada have no clue where MU is found, so I told them, it's a tiny dot in between South Africa and Australia. Believe me, that's the fastest way for them to understand! Since the coming out of the animated movie Madagascar, Canadians are more likely to know where Madagascar - the country- is, but before that, it was just HOPELESS to try to situate MU by telling them it's next to Madagascar! I could totally make them believe that MU has only 1 main road and a crossroad, that we feed on fruits right off the trees, that we reside in huts, and even that we walk around wearing leaves. There were times when Canadians would ask, with a puzzled look on their faces, "So why did you leave that paradise to come here?".

Now that I am in our little paradise lost in the Indian Ocean, I find myself missing snow from time to time. I miss the hush when all goes to a slower pace because of heavy snowfall. When you're walking in knee-high snow, trudging your way to your house, and around you, there's nothing else but snow and all you can hear is your heart beating and your labored breathing. I miss snowboarding and ice skating, I miss the hot dogs and the chips (crisps, according to Brits). I miss all things Canadian....like the "eh?" they add every now and then at the end of their sentences....

One year ago, I felt like I belonged there. Nothing at home felt like home, I was uncomfortable with the heat, I was complaining about the crazy drivers, the fact that you can't go out without bumping into someone you know or the gossip. For 3 months I stayed home like a hermit, chatting with my Canadian friends on MSN till the wee hours and waking up at noon, resisting to adapt to the lifestyle here. Then little by little, I got used to the mauritian ways again. Now, I'm one of the crazy drivers..... When in Rome, do as the Romans do they say.

People are never satisfied with what they have. When I'm in MU, I think of CA, when I'm there, I think of MU. I wish there could be a way to merge the 2 worlds I belong to.....instead of always feeling like the grass is greener on the other side.

The first entry

2006-10-05T01:53:00.000-04:00

Here we go, my first blog.
Ok, it's not good to start with a lie, I do have a blog on Mauritius Interactive (MI) but then it is for members only. Although it's free sign up, not a lot of people would go through the trouble, especially if they think it's for sino-mauritians exclusively (which it is NOT).

But this is exciting and the idea came from Javed.
I still do not know what I will blog about, I had trouble with the title!
But since people notice that I often refer to my years in Canada, I think I will not run out of topics to compare Canada and Mauritius.

This morning, for example, there was an accident on the motorway (we would say highway in CA) on the opposite direction and some drivers ahead of me were causing a traffic jam on this side of the road because they were slowing down to watch! Ok, maybe traffic does slow down a little bit in the opposite direction in CA, but imagine a huge traffic jam in both directions on 401 on a Thursday morning because of an accident in ONE lane? Just not thinkable. Come on people, just move on, you can read about the accident in the newspapers later on.

I just got started...