That awkward moment after you haven’t seen each other in too long

Like when you run into an old acquaintance at the grocery store after work, frazzled from a long day, trying to rush so that you could get home and prepare dinner while thinking about the forty other deadlines clamouring for your attention. You distractedly try to carry on a conversation, while being painfully aware how obvious it is that you’re not quite sure how to conduct yourself after such a long separation.

That is how I feel about blogging right now. And how I have been feeling about it for a while. So now the question is: how do I re-enter the blogosphere gracefully?

My last post lamented my lack of blogging when I worked full time over the summer. Then I had went on vacation to Hong Kong and upon my return, had to prepare for school. I had figured that I’d be able to blog during school as I had previously, but it turns out I had severely underestimated the difficulty and the workload.

I do want to thank everyone for their kind inquiries regarding my absence. Each put a smile on my face. And I assure you that I hold you close at heart. In fact, sometimes I find myself commenting on the weather in Vancouver, the lack of Sephoras in Belgium, the lackluster malls in Ottawa, the shopping in India, cosmetics available in Singapore, and so on and so forth. And my friends look at me oddly and wonder how I know these things.

I can guarantee nothing but my promise to try to keep up. There is so much I want to say. If only I could type as fast as I think! It would sure help with school. Wouldn’t we all have so much more time?

First beauty swap: Canada to US with blissno9

I finally received my package from blissno9 a few days ago from our international beauty swap – she’d received hers a week before I did Seems like Canadian customs takes a little bit longer to process.

“Easter dinner” with my roomie

As my roommate and I were the only ones left in the house over Easter weekend, we decided to have dinner together last night, as we hadn’t done so in a while. It really wasn’t an impressive spread, though – no turkey or fancy dishes. Our parents had dropped in for a visit so they had brought us homemade, pre-cooked food. All we had to do was heat it up and make some vegetables to go with it all.

It was pretty typical Chinese fare: pan-fried salmon fillets and brewed beef brisket and turnip (it tastes much better than my clumsy translation implies), courtesy of my wonderful mother; homemade barbeque pork made by his father; and we stir-fried bok choi and mushroom to go with it all. Yes, the pink chopsticks are mine

It just didn’t feel quite like an “Easter dinner”, though, so I figured dessert would be the perfect way to round i off! And what better dessert than warm freshly-baked brownies?

Knowing who your good friends are

Good friends are hard to find. They are few and far between.

You know who your good friends are at the lowest and highest points in your life.

Good friends are those who don’t look down on you when you’re having trouble. They don’t desert you in a time of need, or ever be too busy to be there when you’re on the verge of tears. And even if they can’t help you, they won’t kick you while you’re down.

Good friends don’t let their other friends put you down, and not throw a retort in your defense.

Good friends are genuinely happy for you when you succeed. They don’t shun you out of envy, despite their own struggles. They aren’t afraid to share your joy and are as proud of your accomplishments as if they were their own. And if you don’t succeed, they’ll be there with confidence in your abilities and support you every step of the way.

Good friends stay your good friends, regardless of distance between you or length of time spent apart.

Mishmash of tidbits

So many little things I want to talk about – here’s a mishmash of some of my favourite blogging topics all in one post.

1. Art on MS Paint

I’ve been working on my poster presentation, and I prefer having diagrams and images on all of my powerpoint presentations rather than blocks of text. I’ve always hated siting in lecture where the prof reads off slides filled with rows and rows of text. Why bother lecturing? I could just read it on my own – don’t waste my time and put me to sleep.

Here’s one of the diagrams I drew on Microsoft Paint – pixel by pixel. No tablet, no PhotoShop. Time consuming, but oh-so-satisfying, because it is completely personalized for me, by me.

Wow, the resolution is terrible as a jpeg. It looks so much nicer as an original Paint bmp, but WordPress won’t let me upload bmp files

Sashimi party: Homemade sushi

I know that I just did a food post yesterday – but this was such a fun dinner that I couldn’t resist Also, I  made a very satisfying haul today, but I can’t show you everything because a lot of the items I got are for my upcoming beauty swap and I want it to be a surprise for blissno9! So here’s some of the yummies we made today, instead.

Dark’s friend invited us to his place for a sashimi party – we were going to make our own sushi from scratch. There had been a market deal to get 50% off fresh fish fillets. They got 8 lbs of sashimi-grade salmon for $25 CAD! That’s less than I pay for one dinner meal of all-you-can-eat sushi!

Tagged: 11-11-11 about me and about you

I was tagged by kofykat to complete… I have no idea what these things are called. The first word that comes to mind is “survey” haha. In any case, here’s what I have to do:

Tell 11 things about yourself, answer the 11 questions asked by the one that tagged you, tag 11 other people and ask them 11 different questions.

11 things about me:

You are about to see a side of me that I bet you weren’t expecting.

1. I am very picky when shopping for shoes and wish I could design my own. Usually, I know if I’ll love it how it looks on me just at a glance – comfort is another issue altogether, though.
2. I have the worst time in the world trying to keep eye makeup on. I’ve tried many things, and I’m still working on it – product by product.
3. Despite having a cat, I have always been a dog person. I am now a fan of both!
   
4. I have always wanted to design my own house.
5. I have always been independent.
   

Miko’s Monday: Why pets make your life better

A bit of a rant today.

I hate it when my friends cancel on me.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand when something important comes up. Like having your relatives over for a surprise visit. Or suddenly your mother gets angry with you. Or your dog got hit by a car. Or you have to take your grandpa to the hospital.

And once in a while, it’s okay if you forgot that you had a huge assignment due the next day that you haven’t started, or that you didn’t finish your work in time before our date.

What I don’t like is when you make a date with me, then cancel a few hours before. Then you change your mind and decide you can afford meet me after all. Only when I show up at your door, you’re in your house-clothes and tell me you have too much work to do.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Last week, I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award. I hadn’t had the time to do this properly, but here it is now. Thank you, writeandexplore, for reading my blog and for making my day brighter!

Similar to the Versatile Blogger Award, the Kreativ Blogger Award is a way for bloggers to let other bloggers know that their work is appreciated, and to allow bloggers to connect. It is also a way to find out your favourite bloggers’ favourite bloggers.

Strawberry ice cream cake and an old Ranma 1/2 drawing

I can barely recall the last time I had been to my friend Ian’s home. I remember an apartment with a balcony, I think. I remember a lot of the boys huddled around the TV playing some console (but that’s pretty typical at any get-together of ours). I don’t remember the layout too well, nor even how many of us were there. What I do remember that his mom made us food. And it was very, very good. I am 110% sure I kept eating even after I was full to bursting, just because it tasted so good.

So I had always known Ian’s mom was a great cook. But today he put up a picture on Facebook of an ice cream cake his mother had made for the first time, from scratch. I was duly impressed by the creativity and presentation and I really wanted to share it: