Monthly Archive: April 2003

I’m gonna be uprooted again

Categories:

Wed. April 30, 2003

It is now the end of the month, and I am in a bit of shock with the realisation that in a few days I’ll be moving yet again. The work term is just about over, and lectures begin next Monday.

Where the hell does the time fly?

I’m living with the same three people I’ve been living with the past few terms while in Waterloo (Steve, Marie, and Yvonne). It’ll be a different experience because this time we all decided to give residence a go. There’s an apartment/suite styel residence on campus that’s fully air-conditioned. That, of course, is our motivation for moving there. It’s cheaper to live there in the Spring term that Fall and Winter.

=============

With such nice weather, what possesses people to drive so stupidly? In the last 24 hrs, I’ve seen 4 or 5 collisions on the road…and these are on the main streets and not on the highways. I suppose people are more cautious in the Winter months, but still, everything is clear, and it’s still bright in the late hours of the day. What gives? It’s ridiculous.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

The results are in

Categories:

Mon. April 28, 2003

Let me give you the summary of the report.

OPINION:

    

  1. No evidence of a cruciate ligament or meniscal tear.
    2. 

  2. Large bone bruise in lateral femoral condyle.
    3. 

  3. Medial retinacular tear with small bone bruises in
medial patella.
    4.

Well, that’s good news. The important ligaments haven’t been torn, but something is kind of ripped. Hopefully though, the rest of my muscles should keep it all in place. That’s why the doc prescribed physiotherapy for me. All he wants is for my to do some heavy duty quad strengthening exercises, which is cool.

I can walk a lot better now anyway. I didn’t really suspect much wrong. I mean, otherwise it would probably still be pretty painful to get around.

I was able to work my leg pretty well on Saturday. I did my part to help the city by going to the CN Tower. As I had imagined, I didn’t really feel singled out or anything. Everything seemed normal. The tower was fun. We spent a great deal of time just trying to absorb the vast amount of information as we looked down. It was interesting seeing buildings and stuff with swimming pools and running tracks on the rooftops. There was lots to see. Even though we were looking at all the same things, just the sheer amount of stuff out there kept us busy. We also went to the glass floor. It’s the floor where you can see down all the way to the bottom of the tower. It’s a bit of afright on the first step, but after that it’s nothing. It’s just fun looking down.

Anyway, good news all around.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

WHO?

Categories:

Fri. April 25, 2003

Man…who thought it would get to this point? Even though the WHO has issued this psuedo-quarantine around Toronto, I don’t feel any less safer, or anything like that. Maybe it’s about time that Canada took this thing seriously. I mean, as it is we’ve been taking this all without being very dire about it all. There has been some urgency to it all, but overall haven’t seen too much affected around here. People seem to be going about their normal business, but perhaps with a lot of extra caution. Then again, maybe it’s just that I haven’t been going out much.

My aunts came in from New York City this past weekend. While I’ve been sheltered here at work, they’ve been going around shopping with mom doing various things around the city. They’ve told me stories about seeing people walking around with masks. They’ve seen people running away from them even though all they were doing was just asking for directions (apparently they looked Chinese).

I don’t know how to react.

This weekend, I might get a better idea of the seriousness of this whole thing. I’m heading down to the CN Tower on Saturday just to catch up with some friends from the University. I’m going to be taking transit down, so I might just see first-hand what all the fuss is about. I mean, as much as I don’t really think about it, I’m Asian. Then again, a lot of people can’t pinpoint my nationality…I don’t know. I know this isn’t an Asian disease. Many people know it, but the perception still persists.

On the radio this morning, I remember hearing the news reader saying that “common sense is a misnomer” with this situation. Some people are confusing common sense with knee-jerk reactions. It’s totally understandable. I can see why there’s some fear. Still, it’s hard to grasp the graveness of it all when it’s happening right in your backyard.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

I so hate losing journal entries

Categories:

Tue. April 22, 2003

Early this afternoon I had just finished writing about how much walking in the rain was acting to clear my mind. Stupid me, I closed the window before hitting the “Post this Message” button.

Well, the expected has occurred after the walk. I have a headache. I’m all sniffly…but I don’t have any body aches, or high fevers, so I’m safe…I think. I just blame it on me stubbornly strolling in the rain.

I was feeling rather tired, and rather bored earlier today. I had decided to take a walk just to get away from my desk. Looking out the window, it looked like it the showers had stopped. As soon as I stepped out the front door of the building, however, the sky was telling a different story. Hell, I was determined to take a walk, so that’s what I did.

Back from the walk, my jacket was pretty wet. Luckily, since it’s a leather jacket the water disappeared pretty quickly. Honestly, I was feeling pretty confident. I was only a little bit cold, and I was feeling alright. As the day progressed though, my health seemed to slowly decline. Right now, I’m feeling pretty rotten.

I plan on going to work tomorrow. I’m pretty stubborn like that. I haven’t missed a day yet…but I’ll need to get some heavy duty rest in order to get in the office looking all fresh.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Only three entries so far

Categories:

Sat. April 19, 2003

It’s certainly been a sparse month. Not much to say, really. Time is flying by. It seems like only yesterday when I started work, and now, the past Thursday my boss starts talking about the term in the past tense. That just blew my mind. I’ve decided to go right through to the final day, May 2nd. I’m moving in on the 4th. Class starts on the 5th.

Why the hell do I push myself to do stupid feats of over-stressing myself? My coworkers are leaving at least a week earlier in order to get their things together. So what’s driving me to do this? Greed? That’s certainly a part of it. I want to earn as much as I can, and certainly a week of work adds up to a hefty chunk of change in terms of Campus life. That could very well pay for my text books.

Perhaps there’s also the sense of me wanting to feel like I’m not putting off this duty. Lately, I haven’t really taken a real vacation where I’ve taken time off school or work for some real me time. As soon as one is done, I’m diving head first into the next pool.

I’m certainly not complaining. This is the path I’ve chosen. I just hope that I’m not heading for the land of burn out at full speed.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

It’s…Gravitation!

Categories:

Mon. April 14, 2003

So here’s the story.

This past Sunday we decided to order pizza and for whatever reason I was the one who volunteered to make the order and wait in the shop while my parents went off to the other shops.

I ended up ordering an extra large with 6 toppings. The total came out to a few dollars more than what I was given. “No problem,” I thought, as I reached my hand into my back pocket. My wallet wasn’t there. I checked my jacket pockets, and nope, the heavy weight I felt earlier before I left turned out to be my phone.

I asked the guy if I could come back with more money, and he agreed. I managed to get $5 more, and came back as soon as I could. I gave him the money, but with a warm smile he decided to just take the $20 and leave it at that.

Later on, in the car, I told about the cost of the pizza, and my father remarks how he ended up paying more than $20 for an extra large with four toppings. The joke eventually turned that the clerk had something for me.

Apparently, I have this effect on people (both sexes) that people end up being nice to me. It may be true. I’ve ended up getting freebies from a few people in the past week.

I honestly can’t explain what’s going on. It’s not like I’m consciously trying to use some magic ju-ju on people. Whatever the case is, if I can keep doing whatever I’m doing (or not doing), I’ll get by just fine.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Peace be with you…but I’m not going to shake your hand

Categories:

Sun. April 6, 2003

It’s interesting how this SARS epidemic is affecting even the smallest things in society. At church, the priest went right past the point where people usually shake hands and exchange greetings of peace and love. I understand this was something that the whole archdiocese was doing…although I’m not sure whether it applies to other ones here in Canada as well (it probably does).

Overall, even though the death toll is rising, I’ve heard some reports about it slowing down. I don’t know whether to believe them or not. Then again, most of the cases seem to have originated from the first outbreak at Scarborough Grace Hospital. Because people are voluntarily quarantining themselves and being cautious things should be on the up and up, but you know there are always variables that change everything.

I feel healthy. Although, I admit that sometimes I get a bit worried whenever I get body aches or headaches…but I’m continually telling myself that it’s all in my head.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

You know, when I subtitled last month “Upheaval”…

Categories:

Tue. April 1, 2003

I didn’t expect it to be this crazy rollercoaster ride of freaky misfortunes and mishaps.

This past Friday, my mom was about to leave for the night shift. She’s an RN at Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Science Centre (since when did the name get so long? I remember back in the day when it was just Sunnybrook Hospital). Anyway, on the way out of the driveway, she just happened to get stuck in the muddy part just off to the side of the driveway.

D’oh.

Well, since it was Friday night, and no construction people were around we decided to wait it out. At that point we didn’t really want to pay for towing. Luckily, we have the minivan to get around.

Well, the weekend came and went. Soon enough it was Monday and the area was bustling with construction people. I was supposed to get a ride to work from my mom as soon as she came back from the hospital. My dad was supposed to wait at home for some bulldozer or something to help get the car out. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but the van broke down on the way home.

D’oh!

OK, so here I am stuck at home with no ride in to work. Not a problem. I decided to just stick around and wait for construction to pull the car out. Well, try as they might, they couldn’t get it out. After a nice mild weekend, the temperature suddenly dropped to below freezing that morning, meaning that the ground was frozen.

!!!

Over the span of a few hours I saw many workers try to dig, prod, lift, and tug at the car trying to get it unstuck. Eventually it turned out that the van got fixed before the car got out. Mom was able to get back home and take me to work…all without much sleep. Poor her.

Well, how’s that for a month? Right now I’m feeling relatively alright despite all this craziness. My leg is feeling a bit better. I’m starting to try and bend the thing to start getting mobility back. I’m trying to exercise my quads the way they suggested doing it online. I need to gain my strength back. I was actually able to use the shower in my own bathroom (instead of the standing one in my parent’s room).

Well, the only drawback right now is that I won’t be getting the results of my MRI anytime soon. The Ontario government has issued a provincial emergency regarding the SARS outbreak. That means that basically all hospitals are cutting any outpatient services in order to help contain the epidemic. That means that I won’t be able to go to the hospital for a very long time. It’s probably for the best however. I’m rather frightened by the aspect of getting this thing. Luckily, the gov’t is smart enough to use measures to prevent its spread. It’s not foolproof, but at least it’s something. There’s a big asian community out here in East Toronto, so it’s affecting a lot of people.

Well…I’m sure it’ll all turn out somewhat alright in the next little while. I like to spin Shania Twain’s new CD “Up!” in my player. The title track is certainly upbeat and uplifting.

It can only go up from here.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Switch to our mobile site