Overpopulation of Starbucks?

I was talking to my teammates about meeting up at a coffee shop on Tues. So then of course the big question is WHERE. I said, well, there should be enough Starbucks in Vancouver there shouldn't be a problem to find one. I told them that I would just go thru the phone book and find one that is convenient for all of us....

So tonight I went onto the web and google "starbucks Vancouver". I KNOW that there are a lot of starbucks in Vancouver, but I didn't actually know that it's a known phenomenon/observation that there is an overpopulation of Starbucks (~85?).

I myself have nothing against Starbucks. I used to hear all the bad stories about it, how it's so overpriced and not a fair-trade company, etc. etc.--I used to try to avoid going there... instead I went to Blenz, Second Cup, or little no-name coffee shops... But lately I find that I'm gradually starting to frequent Starbucks. They are just *too* convenient!! I can't help it! And of course that's the only place that serves constantly good soy chai latte............

There's this interesting site about the distribution of Starbucks in Vancouver... (don't know how true they are, but it's interesting to go thru the stats)
http://www.sfu.ca/geog355fall02/kegerber/spata.html

You want me to teach you what?!

Last nite I had a very interesting lesson with my student. I haven't seen her for ages (our schedule just didn't match) and I thought that this time we were going to go through all the English essays that she has written that she couldn't send to me via email because her computer wasn't working, etc. etc.

Guess what - I sat down, and she gave me a floppy that had all her essays in there and said I could correct them later.... but her most immediate need was to understand what her teacher was teaching in her Science lesson because she has assignments and quizzes soon.

I was like, OK Sure! I did that last time with her - she just needs to understand all the words in the textbook--should be an easy job for me! "So what are you guys studying now?" She flipped to the chapter, and my heart just sank. Male and female reproductive systems.

You have to understand that it's not like I don't have biology background - I'm well trained in biology - but to explain this particular part of body system to someone (a teenager!!) who doesn't know a lot of English terms (I have no idea what all these terms are in Chinese!!) was quite--challenging and embarrassing.

Of course me being professional I kept a straight face, and I tried to explain the whole process of fertilization and what happens in the guy's and woman's body, what the different hormones do and the biology of what actually happens when errr... you know... how babies can form... all that stuff. (Well, things get more embarrassing when I tried to explain a few times of the same process, partly in English and partly in Chinese so that she understood what I was trying to say)

Anyways, that was an interesting interesting interesting lesson. I hope she understood what I said... (actually I'm sort of glad that my student is a "she" and not a "he"--or it would have been more difficult to do this lesson). Now I also have a personal understanding why parents have such difficulties giving this kind of "lesson" to their children...

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Maybe next time we'll stick to English Grammar! =)

Wedding bells

These few days there are a lot to celebrate.

First it's W's baptism. Because it's his baptism - I decided to skip church service at RGAC and went to his church instead. And then the same day I found out that I MISSED a wedding proposal at my church, where a friend sang a love song and knelt in front of the girlfriend, etc. etc. I saw the clip on my friend's camera (but I couldn't hear any sound!!) She and another friend said that if I were to be at church I would have been so moved that I would cry non-stop (which, knowing me, will likely will be the case).

Anyways, I'm very happy for the girl. Apparently the ring was amazing and everything seemed to be romantic and nice. Plus this will be the first pair in our fellowship getting married! Hopefully a good beginning for our group! =)

Sometimes it is hard not to think of my own future (family) when so many of my friends are getting married. I try to not think too much and just have faith that God will have a perfect plan for me. Have to admit that this is hard, esp. with so much uncertainty surrounding me. I always talk about how God is training my patience - I just pray that He will increase my strength so that I can pull through and really develop this virtue... really, really need it.

Experience with Walk-in clinic

I don't know why but I have never been fond of doctors. Maybe it's just my character, or maybe it's that I have not found one who impresses me--yet. I suppose for the same reason I have never really wanted to be a doctor myself (that's another story that I will detail later if I have the chance).

Anyways, this afternoon after lunch I suddenly developed some intense pressure/pain going in episodes from my chest (kinda) up to my throat--it was almost like a choking feeling (because I couldn't breathe). At first I thought, ahhhh it would go away soon. Of course as it continued (it's rthymic, like every 45-60 sec) I got a little scared. I mean I have had sharp pain before at my chest but they would stop after ~5 sec. But never this rthymic pressure/pain type sensation. And needless to say I wasn't quite happy about it. I was afraid that I would suddenly cease to breathe and lose consciousness, so I walked to the entrance of my office just to make sure that if this did happen someone might notice me.

My coworker from next doors came - and he was a first aid attendant before so I told him of my pain. He asked if I wanted to go to Walk-in clinic across the street. I said "I'll wait and see how it goes." Then several minutes later as this continued I got a little worried - so I called my family doctor; well guess what the receptionist said to me: "Dr. Wong is all booked up this week - do you want to book an appointment for next week?" Well, I had pain now... I might not LAST till next week!

So I resorted to the original suggestion - I went to a walk-in clinic. Funny thing is, the moment I stepped into the clinic, my pain stopped... so the only thing I could do was to describe to this doctor what I was going thru. This doctor - well, the only thing she suggested to me was to go to Emergency (based on that one comment that i told her that my mom's side has some heart problem). No diagnosis no nothing. I personally am very resistant to using this service because I don't consider myself "needing" to go to emergency yet. I mean, the pain subsided and I really don't see a point going! I asked her if I just get a referral for doing EKG - but she still wanted me to go to emergency. She said that's not just to cover me but also to cover her!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Well, of course I didn't listen. I went back to work with "the doctor's notes". The pain seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and tell her to give me a referral instead. I do want to get my heart checked out, in case there's something.

Funny too as I was experiencing this whole chest pain episode thingy, the thought that I might stop breathing (forever) did come to mind (for only a brief moment tho). And then I was like - I wonder what would others think of me and my life. I wasn't that scared of dying... I did think about all the things I haven't got to do. But I told myself - well, at least I think I made (however small) an impact to some ppl around me... maybe my legacy will live on. =)

Bones

I haven't watched TV shows for ages. Partly of course due to my erratic schedule--there's no point watching one episode and not the next... but recently I discovered a show called "Bones"--a drama that talks about different cases solved by a forensic anthropologist and an FBI agent. It's amusing--a weird type of humor at times... but I like it. It's not so much the reality of it (or lack of) (I never trust these Science stuff in TV shows or movies anyway--to try to figure out how unreal a show is--I may as well stop watching altogether!)--it's just the depiction of different characters and the chemistry that I like. Some may think that it's a typical hollywood type drama, but for some reason I haven't wanted to sit in front of the TV and watch an hour of it in one sitting (I think the last one was "Ally McBeal", and then the one before that was "Medicine Woman").

I think the reason is really that I like (watching) weird characters. People who seem out of place or not fitting into the norm. Can't explain why either but I find myself enjoy that very much... =)

Kids kids kids

A friend commented recently on how most (more highly educated) people nowadays (she said in HK, but I almost think I can generalize also to N. America) don't prefer to get married before at least late twenties, and for those who get married they don't prefer to have kids before at least mid thirties... and then for those who have one kid don't prefer a second one... this comment sparked a whole discussion among our email group about reasons for having kids (or not) and being in a committed rel'nship and parents' unconditional love, etc. etc.

I don't know. Maybe my viewpoint has always been very simple on this matter. Humans have the innate (God-given) ability/desire to extend their lives in the form of reproduction. When they mature to a certain point (probably also influenced by the society around them) and when their lives settle down, then this innate urge in them will come out... Most parents sure give unconditional love to their children, but I don't think parents think about that when they decide to have kids (I want to give love so let's have some kids). Of course we can also think of those who don't want kids but when they do conceive and they look at the miracle of a new life growing inside them their hearts will melt. "It comes from me! It's part of me!" they say. This pride is just--natural. And the pride also comes because it is an extension of one's life. Perhaps for this reason many also say that it's the most fulfilling experience in a person's life?

Although the observation that the more civilized parts of the world usually generate less children is probably true... maybe we can attribute that to more chance of survival for a child--or maybe it's just, as my friend says, because most people nowadays think more about themselves and how they want to enjoy life without any "burden"--in that case, I wonder if the world will one day come to an end as the number in the human race dwindles... I still hold hopes that this is highly unlikely, but who knows :P

For myself tho, whereas I am nowhere close to having kids of my own (or even getting married, for that matter), I do think about it often. This is a significant new chapter in one's life--I wonder what it will feel like. And how I can prepare myself to receive this new role (God willing)? Will this be in my path in life as well??

To my consolation I just read that William Osler was an eighth child and his mom wasn't married till after thirty. Who knows - maybe I have some chance of being a mother of a volleyball team?! But wait, I can't... I won't have enough money to feed them!!!!

My first hockey game

All my friends told me that I would like the excitement of actually being a real hockey game. So when the opportunity came up AGAIN that I could get a pair of tix for the Wed game, I finally couldn't resist and took it. They weren't the cheapest tickets, but at least I bought them at cost.

Anyways, the game itself was pretty fun. I mean--it IS really different being there and watching a hockey game than sitting in front of a TV (not that I do much of that anyways). The game seems to go faster (but strangely the players seem to be skating more slowly; may be it's just the perception).

But I was actually very very steamed for about 2 hours before I got to GM place. It's all about driving again. I knew I had to get to W's place earlier because we were going to skytrain from there on to downtwn. Even tho I planned to leave my workplace at 4:30pm (hey I started work at 7:30am!) I couldn't leave till almost 5pm. Normally (with all the traffic) it would mean that I get to his place at about 6pm. The moment I heard from the radio that there was an accident on Hwy1 West bound, my heart sank. Then I planned to go out of the highway in some exits earlier, but I forgot to ask W which exit to go out - and then when the exit approached I couldn't decide whether I should actually exit or not... so I ended up staying on the highway and going BUMPER TO BUMPER for 1 hr. I have NEVER screamed so hard in my entire life (in a car) trying to cool off--and this was also the first time I cried because of a traffic jam. Probably stress related I don't know, but by the time I arrived at W's place, I was ready to kill someone.

But that aside, the game was pretty fun to watch :P. I have to admit that I am not a true hockey fan - because throughout the second period, I secretly wanted Minnesota to score so that the game would play faster (I later told my friend and she said good thing I didn't think aloud :P). (I thought it was a bit boring to watch and both sides weren't playing that well but what do I know!)... But the last period, esp. the final few minutes with the powerplay (6 on 3, whatever that's called) it was quite exciting.

The skytrain ride to W's place after the game was soo much more relaxing... to tell you the truth, it probably didn't matter much to me whether Canucks win or not... but I like the goalie (Auld?) - he's so cool.

Ahhh... such is the experience of my first hockey game! (Too bad I didn't go to last nite's game--probably would have been fun-ner with so many more goals )

No hockey game for me!

I have never understood why Canadians like hockey so much--I don't mind it that much, but have never really liked it to a point where I would go and see a game either.

Anyways, since W is a huge hockey fan (never knew that either till this year... oh well :P) these days I have been contemplating about getting a pair of tix to see a Canucks game. A friend of mine told me yesterday that he might be able to get two tickets for me for tomorrow's game. Even though it's with Minnesota (supposedly a boring team?), I figure it's worth it just for the experience... plus maybe that will cheer up W and get him to relax a bit. So I said sure thing I'll take the tix.

Then my friend said that his friend couldn't sell the tix to me for $60 each anymore (the cost I thought I was going to pay) - but might be $75 each. I hesitiated for a sec and then emailed him back - sure why not. It's not like I'm seeing a game that often anyways.

Of course then his friend said it will cost $80 each. I was instantly alarmed. I mean I know people will jack up the price of the tix if they know people want them. But it's really not in my character--and because I won't do these things myself, honestly I feel that this is really taking advantage of someone else. I originally didn't mind paying $15 more just because I expect that people will do this kinda thing, but this was a bit too much for me (esp. he originally had the tix to see the game himself?!). It's not even the money issue--I don't know, I just didn't like the whole mentality of robbing off others, when my friend's friend knows who I am!

Well, it's like in a poker game - push me too much and I'll fold!

Now that I rant for a bit I actually feel better. Just thought that with W being such a frugal person--if he found out how much the tix would cost (and I were to buy it), he probably would have been pretty mad at me (even tho he might appreciate my intention)--so there's no point anyways.

I guess no hockey game for me this year. Oh well.