A whole bunch of nothing

It's been awhile since I've updated, so I thought I'd toss out a bunch of random stuff that's happened lately... And not so lately.

As many of you know, I went back to Waterloo from October 18th to the 20th for convocation. I had such a blast. I love Ottawa, but it was nice to be back in a city that I know like the back of my hand. I'm not going to recap the whole trip, but it was terrific getting together with Shruthi and Victoria to go dancing, seeing Alyssa for breakfast, harassing Stacy after her convocation, and dragging my mother to restaurants that she didn't want to eat at.

Amusing anecdotes:
When my family and I went to the Rude Native for my "convocation dinner," my mom told the waitress that she would just like water to drink. Right away the waitress asked if my mom would like bottled, distilled, or perrier to drink. The look on my mom's face was hilarious - it was a mixture of horror, indignation, and exasperation. "Uhh, tap?"

Just before I graduated from UW, it decided to implement a mandatory bus pass system. Students just have to show their UW id to get on the bus. Since my ID is valid until 2011, I thought I'd try to use and abuse the new system, and it worked! However, the one morning I wasn't paying attention and got on the bus using my ID... It wasn't until I had to transfer buses that I realized I had used my Carleton ID to get on the bus. Yup, them bus drivers check out the ID reeeeal good.

I gave my first presentation in my Human Security class last Wednesday. I have to admit, I had been dreading the presentation A LOT. Much of my dread stemmed from the fact that I didn't have a very good grasp on my research - I had tried to take on too broad of a topic. I managed to stumble through my presentation but it was a difficult process at best. It wasn't until afterwards that I found out that my prof was a veritable expert on my topic too - he had written a major (controversial) report on it before, so he started going on about all these things that I didn't even know about my own topic. Thankfully I managed to get a great mark anyways. Phew!

On Friday Carleton held a co-op information session for all interested Master's students. After the session, all I can think is, "Sheesh! UW soooo spoiled me co-op-wise." I'm so used to UW's massive and efficient co-op machine that Carleton's seems dinky. LOL. The lady holding the info session was so proud that they have 6 dedicated interview rooms. Meanwhile I'm laughing behind my hand because hell, UW just built a brand new building with 100 interview rooms. Oh well. I'm totally signing up for the co-op program just because it's a good opportunity.

After the co-op session I went to Lauda's to cook her dinner and go out for a night on the town. We went to Caliente nightclub again, the salsa club. I really like the mix of music there - it has the regular bachata, salsa, and merengue, but it also plays reggaeton, soca, cumbia, and regular dance music. I had a lot of fun, but by 1:30 I was exhausted and Lauda was unwilling to go home.

The very end of the night was beyond awkward too. By 2ish the club was practically deserted, maybe only 15 people left, none of whom were dancing. Some random guy came up to Lauda and asked her to dance, and she told him to come back when the DJ wasn't playing salsa. Well, two seconds later the music switches to merengue, so the guy comes back, but he brings along his friend who drags me on to the dance floor. My dance partner wasn't bad looking - probably a bit older than me, but dancing with him was like being on a non-stop merry-go-round. He did the same 4 moves over and over, in the exact same order and everything. I was so tired that it was hard not to laugh (he actually caught me smirking once and asked me why). When the music finally changed to reggaeton we ended dancing together still... But it was really awkward because it was only the four of us on the dance floor, and when some guy tries to grind with me while people are watching and I don't have the cover of anonymity, I weird out. LOL. Thankfully some bachata came on and we sprang apart like opposite poles on a magnet.

Oh, Lauda and I also found this fantastic mexican restaurant at the corner of Bank and Second. I forget the name, but it's the only latin restaurant there. It even met with Lauda's seal of approval, so it must have been semi-authentic in her books. :) I highly recommend it.

Lastly, I have been totally geeking out lately on Asian television shows (more popularly known as "dramas"). When I was in HK, I never watched much television because it didn't have English subtitles. But I was always intrigued by the dramas that were playing - I could watch them and create my own storylines in my head... Well I recently found a website where you can download subtitled dramas. I've been totally enamored with all the bad acting, cheesy plots, and hilarious hijinks.

I guess that's it for my randomness. I need to go grocery shopping today - I have noooo fresh food left in my house. Hell, I don't even think I have packaged food to contribute to my meals... And the frozen dinners in my freezer are for emergency/lazy purposes only, so it's time to drag my butt out.