Busy Bee

Hello readers!

Sorry it's taking forever to post things. It's been crazy busy the past few weeks with applications, project essay, scheduling and finally starting a second job/career.

Lots of things happening in the news lately, especially with these mass shootings. No where you go is safe these days. It's kind of sad how you can't even go to McDonald's to get food without being shot. Stay safe everyone. It's unfortunate the world has come to this point.

Work has been pretty nuts lately dealing with critical situations and what not. I'm just glad I have a few days off from the chaos to focus on my research paper.

So that's the latest update. When I have a bit more time to sit down and write a theme, I will do that. In the meantime, hope you all have a good rest of the week!

Homelessness

As you drive downtown, or uptown or wherever you're heading and you stop at a stop light, you suddenly see this guy (or girl) sitting at the corner with a sign or a bucket collecting change from people.

At red lights, they usually get up and go through the traffic, asking for change from drivers who are stopped. Depending on people, they could give them change or not. You feel bad for them so you roll down your window and give them $5. They say thank you, you say no problem. The lights turn green, and off you go.

You may feel relieved that you helped someone with a basic breakfast, or part of it, but what you may not realize is how long they've been standing at that corner, or what scheme they have in their heads. Or how much they've collected all day. It's also none of our business what they do with the money that we give them. Drugs, prostitutes, food, clothes. We wouldn't know.

Homelessness is a real issue, and I have volunteered before at a homeless shelter so I do see the struggles that people face. We do whatever we can to try and help them get back on their feet, and start life over again.

Problem is, it's the fake people that ruin the desire to help those who really need it.

What do I mean by that? I have read/seen on the news how privileged people pretend to be homeless, dress up as homeless, and beg for money at street corners. At the end of the day, they take whatever they make back home, and use it to their own advantage.

There was a male dude (I believe it was in Toronto) who was caught on the news for pretending to be homeless. The crew had followed him from the street corner to his two storey home (and it was a pretty nice home), and tried to interview him. The guy was very reluctant, swore at the news crew, and threatened to call the police on them for trespassing onto his property.

This guy had worn dirty, old ripped clothes, made himself look disheveled, and fooled everyone. At the end of his "shift", he changes into his dress pants and dress shirt to go home.

This is not the first or only story about "fake homelessness" but it seems to be on the rise. This already gives the "privileged" people the perception that no one is to be trusted, so they stop helping those on the streets.

This is also the part that boils my blood, because it's also privileged people who take advantage of those in need, in order to gain something more for themselves. In the end, we have no clue if we should help or not, because we don't know if they're really homeless or just taking advantage of everyone else and the system for the homeless.

My experience of volunteering at the homeless shelter while in school really helped to open my eyes with what they really go through. Mental illness. Broken families. Drug addicts. Some of them had privileged lives before and lost everything because of gambling debts, or drug debts. There is already that stigma while they try to get their lives back together. 

And now it's becoming even more harder; people may not want to help, because they don't know if they're really in need of help or not. 

Life isn't fair. True. But we all need to play a role in making society a better place to live in. Not take advantage of each other. People say animals are so smart and so caring. We are given the gift to be dominant over animals, vegetables and plants; we do have the heart and the knowledge to be better than animals and plants. Because right now with our actions, we are worse than animals and plants. Do you really want to be compared to an elephant or a venus fly trap plant? A cucumber? 

As a hard working citizen, I want to be sure that my hard earned cash is going towards someone who is really homeless and needs it to get back on their feet. I pay enough taxes (damn you government!) and I'm sure the rest of you do too. I'm also sure you would like to see your hard earned cash go towards something positive (although we may never know). Not towards someone who clearly doesn't need it, to fund their shopping spree on cigars or watches.

Club Mannerisms

My rant today is about mannerism.

This one pretty much stems from helping others, but not receiving the same respect back, instead being thrown under the bus. I'm pretty sure all of you know at least one person who does that to everyone or have done that to you at least once. Those people aren't really your friends. They are just there to use you to gain more respect for themselves.

I really do feel sorry for those people, people who use people to gain something more for themselves. It really is a sad world we live in.

Anyways, to give you a brief overview of what I mean, I will break it down to you on events that happened in the past month, and you will see why I feel the way I feel.

Let's rewind about 3 (almost 4) weeks ago, when a car club was going on a rally. Almost all of these rallies have sponsors, and so in order to promote these companies, the clubs have decals made and stick them on the cars.

Significant other (SO) was to also go on this rally, but there's a lot of prep work that goes into it: car cleaning, putting on decals, packing etc. I knew SO needed to get the decals put on by the club, so off we go to meet the members and get the decals put on.

Keep in mind too that this was also the afternoon that SO and I should've been spending time together, but instead we are at this garage finalizing things for the car. Now, here is where it gets "too nice".

We both offered to help the club put on the decals for their trucks that will be accompanying them for the rally. It takes a few hands to make it work, especially if it's a huge decal that spans half the length of the truck. So we figured the more people, the faster this can get done and the faster that people can get out of there since it was a hot day.

What should've been a 10 minute stay turned into a couple of hours or so, because we helped them with the decals. They said thanks at least, but didn't sound too genuine.

Fast forward about a week and a half or so. There is a huge photo shoot event happening with 2 car clubs at the local airport. This is in combination with the above club. SO and I are responsible for one club, and the other club is responsible for their members.

Most of the members from our club had arrived already and were already waiting at the gates to get in. Once all the things had been organized inside, SO was responsible to direct the cars to park, while I was responsible for getting the members through the gate. Members from the other club were also at the gate, responsible for their members entering.

After a head count, pretty much all of our members arrived on time and were already parked. We were waiting on a couple of cars to come in, but they were far away. So we told them that once they arrived at the gates, just call one of us and we will let you in. At this point, our duty at the gates were done. However, the other club had members they were still waiting on (and I mean more than 1) cars so they were still manning the gate. SO and I go back to the main event to check out the event and see how things are going. Our last member arrived safely, so all was accounted for our group.

About 3/4 of the way through the event, we get a message from the host of the venue, yelling that no one was manning the gate, and no one had told security that they were leaving the gate.

(To clarify: this was at an airport, so when no one is at the gate, anyone will be able to sneak in and go on the runway. Liability becomes a huge issue, and the venue will get in trouble for it if someone is injured or killed).

Here comes the best part: the founder of the other club member tells this host that it was SO and I's duty to man the gate. That we were responsible for it and it was our fault that we didn't tell anyone that we left the gate.

This guy, the very same guy we had helped to put stupid decals on his stupid club trucks just threw us under the bus.

SO didn't know until the host of the venue told him what was said to her. Of course he became really mad. Not only that, but now the venue was charging extra money on each car that had entered because of this unmanned gate. Tried to bargain it but to no avail.

Alright, whatever so the event was over. We got our pictures. It's all over I guess?

Not really. Because I was still pretty mad about how SO was treated. The bitch mode came high on when we saw our club pictures being promoted on the models' personal page, but promoting the other club. Not only that, but our club watermark was half missing.

To clarify things even more: both club members paid for the models and the venue. Nobody sponsored anybody during this event. This was a paid event. It wasn't like one club paid for everything and the rest got in free. Nope, EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE paid for this event and for these models.

So to see SO's hard work being stomped on and not getting club acknowledgement, it made me fume. I think if you saw your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other put in a lot of work in planning and helping to get things organized in the club, you would want to acknowledge their hard work. My reaction is just like any other normal human being's action.

I called out the lady with barely any clothes on, and said it was a joint event. And to also acknowledge both clubs as both clubs had paid for her, along with her other scantly clothed friends, to attend this photo shoot (AND I AS WELL. I CAN'T BELIEVE I PAID FOR THIS. I'M NOT EVEN LESBIAN).

Then this lady had said she was told to just show up by the other club, and that it was sponsored by them. Hence why she kept promoting the other club. Ok, well that ain't her fault. But it's definitely the other club then, for being sneaky bastards - to try and claim everything as theirs. Their event, their models, their hard work, their money, their time. You name it.

And come on. There is no such thing as "our models". What, do you own them? If that's the case, might as well consider yourself a pimp, because pimps own prostitutes. Models are models. They don't belong to anyone.

People now think I'm a complete bitch for being a bitch to the models and the other club. But if you were in my shoes, you'd probably do the same: You'd stand up for the one you care about because you don't want to see their hard work being thrown down the toilet. I'm not trying to gain fame from this, or try to win tickets for some lame event. I'm just trying to stand up for what's right.

I'm told that I have no class, I'm an asshole, immature. You name it. Haha once you're in the "car scene", you're pretty much all of the above. There are other ways I could've done it, but this was the path I chose and this is what I had to deal with. My thinking hasn't changed, my outlook hasn't changed these years. I'm still nice to people, but it really depends.

If people are using me to gain what's best for them, then screw them. Dragon lady will come out to haunt you in your dreams. I'm a pretty mild dragon lady. I know of worst ones than I. So I'm really not all that bad.

I don't regret what I've said. I don't regret the event happening. I don't regret standing up for someone who I care about. I don't regret anything. Because this really shows the real side of some people, if they're genuine or not. That's how you learn if they are real friends or just people out there to use you and do business. From this event, it was all about business from the get go. It's just unfortunate that the nice people got dragged into this, and got thrown under the bus. And you wonder where all the nice, genuine people went.

They died when they got run over by the bus.

Some tips?

1) Learn manners. Isn't that what mom and dad taught when we were kids? I find it scary that some 4 year olds have way better manners than 50 year olds. It's sad, really sad. And scary.

2) Say thank you. I mean really mean it. Not like a HMPH THANKS!

3) Don't go throwing people under the bus, because it will come bite you in the ass later on.

4) Don't take credit for all the work when you know another person also put in time, effort and money into the same damn event. Acknowledge them as well. Don't be an asshole.

5) Stand up for what you believe, and for your loved ones. Sometimes the best thing to do is to keep quiet, but when you know that your loved ones have been stomped on, don't stay quiet. Stand up and fight for them.

6) Don't plan car events with another group.

Louis Vuitton Experience

This is a very belated post. First off, Happy Canada day to Canada! And Happy 4th of July to the USA!

Things have been quite busy lately, whether it's job related or cruise related (mostly work related), hence why posts have been quite delayed lately. However I am a bit more active on Instagram (@carsnpurses) as I have pictures uploaded at least twice a day if I'm not too crazy busy.

Last month, I decided to check out the Louis Vuitton store, because 1) I finally found a purse that I like and can see myself wearing a lot 2) It's multifunctional 3) Louis Vuitton has been having price drops in the past month (weird right?!) 4) This will be my very first LV bag.

Now I had decided to wait and wait, hoping the price would go down even more. However, bags are like the stock market: you just never know when it will go down or up. The bags will never go out of style because it is a classic, so I wasn't in any rush to get it.

But it just so happened that on the day I purchased it, there was the GTA GTR Club cruise that was taking off from Yorkdale. Members were given about 1.5 hours to meet at the parking lot before setting off on the cruise. Lucky me, I got there just after 12pm, and the first thing I did was hit the shopping mall. Well, of course I said hello to my honey first, gave him a hug, and said "Ok I'll see you in a bit, gotta go get that purse!" Of course he rolled his eyes at me, and said to come back by 1:30pm otherwise my butt would get left behind. Yikes ok!

Here I am running in the parking lot, and finally into the mall. I speed walk, because slow walking just doesn't do it for me. I hadn't eaten at all in the morning, but it's ok. Get the purse first! Then whatever time I had, I'll wolf down food.

Got to the LV store. Things haven't changed much, and since I was in a rush, I went to the first lady I saw standing there, and said I wanted to get a purse. She paged a lady named Stephanie to come assist me.

Stephanie was very friendly, down to earth and out-going as well. We had a great conversation about the variations of purses that I wanted. Initially I thought the PM would work well for me, and she asked if I wanted to see the MM as well, but I refused and said PM would be fine. Boy was I wrong.

She had brought out the PM for me to see, but it was in the wrong style (monogram instead of damier ebene). After the small confusion, I got what I needed and ran to get some food, then ran back to the GTR meet, where they were departing shortly thereafter.

I went home that night, opened the bag, and tried to fit all my essential items that I would take on a night out. Man, it took some effort. Couldn't even fit my long wallet in the bag! So I had to downsize. But even when I downsized the wallet, it was still a struggle. I did the upside down challenge to see if the flap would let go, and all my stuff did fall out (oops).

So I knew I had to get the bigger size.

I called up LV and explained the situation, saying if it was possible to upgrade the size. Stephanie put on the MM on hold for me until I could come in to pick it up. The day I picked it up, I realized it was the wrong style that was reserved. So that had to be clarified and fixed. It took a while as they have to go through the system and do some changes before going to get it. I guess it has to do with inventory and what not.

Overall, it was a great experience. Some shops are very strict on handbag returns and exchanges as there are a lot of people out there who try to swap the real with the fakes, and return the fakes to the actual store. I was a bit nervous about it as it was my first time exchanging a bag, but they were very good with me. There was a lot of verbal communication to clarify things so to me, that was the most important.

If you are ever at the Yorkdale location, ask for Stephanie. I also saw online that people have recommended her as well, and I was lucky to have her as my sales associate.

Here below is my new honey: LV Favorite MM.

 The front metal face plate. It scratches very easily. I still have the original wrapping on it.

 Details on the gold hardware.

 The back view. There is no back pocket.

 The interior. Loving the red!

 This is what I was able to stuff in there. Credit cards, coins, money, lipstick are all in the black Coach pouch.

 This is how it looks after I stuff it up.

 With the flap closed and with the gold chain hanging out or...

 You can always tuck away the gold chain inside.

The side view after all the items are inside. You can see it still retains its shape and doesn't bulge out like crazy.

Favorite MM with the Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy perfume bottle.

 Favorite MM with some accessories.

Favorite MM with the Holt Renfrew 2015 Bear.

Just a glance:

Company: Louis Vuitton
Name: Favorite MM

Style: Damier Ebene (available in Monogram and Damier Azur)

Material: Canvas

Size: 28cm x 17cm x 4cm (length x height x width)

Straps: 1 short gold chain that can be detached on one side to hide inside, and 1 shoulder strap made in cowhide leather which can be detached completely. Strap can be worn over the shoulder or cross body (although if you're tall, the bag will hit you just above the waist).

Interior: One big compartment to fit all the items, with 1 interior flat pocket (you cannot fit an iPhone 5 inside it)

Closure: Magnetic closure

Hardware: Golden hardware/brass

Can be carried: on the hand, wrist, shoulder or cross-body

Belated News!

Hello world, hope you are all enjoying this day and take it all as a blessing!

First off, Happy belated Father's Day to the fathers, fathers to be, and fathers who have passed on. I celebrated with family and gave my dad his gift for the year (which of course was the new Iphone 6). He was overjoyed, yet kept saying I spent too much money on him. When I look back at all these years of him raising me, the price of a phone is very minuscule compared to what he has invested in my life.

The latest funny story involving my dad (in honour of Father's Day) was pretty recent. It's a bit embarrassing but that's alright.

One day my mom caught me plucking my leg hair and started yelling at me to stop doing that. She doesn't know what plucking is, but equates it to shaving. So of course off she goes lecturing about why it shouldn't be done etc. While she was giving her usual speech, my dad overheard all this happening. He then left the house and a while later came back home.

He came to my room, with something in a bag. I took it out, and it was a box of wax strips by Nair. He then said this to me in Mandarin:

"Sooo..what the hell, you pluck your hair, doesn't that take a really long time? Anyways I saw this on TV and found it in the store. Since it was on TV it should work. I don't know how to use it so you will have to call someone to ask how to use it. Ok? This is better. Faster."

I have never laughed so hard in my life. Almost gave myself a hernia.

It might seem ridiculous to some, but to me it's the small things that matter. He didn't have to do it, but he did because he cared. That's what love is, and that's also why I love and care for my family.

Props to the dads out there, especially mine because he is extra special to me!

I also did a minor shopping splurge as well. It came at a time when the GTR Club met up and there was about an hour and a half of time before the crew left for a cruise. I took this time to go in the mall while the guys were outside admiring cars.

I headed straight into the Louis Vuitton store, sort of knew what I was getting and got it! Stay tuned for a reveal.

It was partially a splurge, and also a reward to myself for getting a second job. Then again, I don't know if I should be celebrating a second job. It will be a lot of work, pretty much leaving no time for life. Hopefully I will be able to balance both out. I'm not sure what the plan is right now, but it's a transition period that will get hectic.

Speaking of GTR meets, there have been quite a few cruises already. I'm really glad people are coming out to just spend the morning or afternoon or evening time cruising. There is another one coming up this Sunday with the BMW True North group so that's pretty exciting!

There are some events happening this Sunday. GTR/BMWTN meet, the Strada cruise, and then the Unionville car show, so it will be a busy Sunday for sure. If you are a car fanatic, be sure to hit up one of those (or all if you can) this Sunday!

I'll keep this update a bit short, but stay tuned for more in the next post. Enjoy the day!

Orlando

As many of you already know, it has not been a good week for Orlando.

First off, Christina Grimmie, a previous The Voice contestant, was shot to death by a deranged fan while doing a meet and greet with fans after her concert. The gunman then killed himself. It was found that the gunman was obsessed with Christina, and had tried to change his appearance via cosmetic enhancements to become her boyfriend.

He became enraged when he saw a picture of her and her producer together. But they were not dating, according to sources. This fan obviously suffered from hallucinations, maybe mixed with other mental health problems. As you may know that saying, if I can't have you then no one else can. The ultimate act? Murder-suicide.

Then on June 12, 2016, more tragedy struck. A gunman entered Pulse nightclub, a gay nightclub, and went on a shooting spree. 49 people were killed, 53 people suffered serious injuries. This incident has become the worst mass shooting in USA history. The gunman had held the rest of the nightclubbers hostage until about 5am, when the SWAT stormed the place. During the gunfight, the gunman was killed.

There are speculations that the gunman was secretly gay (even though he was already married with a kid), yet was offended when he saw two gay people kissing in public. They are still trying to figure out his motive.

On June 15, a two year old boy was enjoying vacation with his family in a lagoon near Disney's Walt Disney World hotel, when he was pulled into the waters by an alligator from the very same lagoon. The father tried to fight off the alligator to no avail. Tragically, the boy was dragged underwater and died from trauma to the body, along with drowning.

There are no signs about possible alligators lurking in the waters, however, the neighbouring hotel does have a warning sign about alligators. The only signs around the Disney hotels are "no swimming" signs, but nothing about potential alligators lurking nearby. Disney staff are aware of the alligators yet nothing was done about it. This is a huge blow to Disney's resorts.

Can you imagine bringing your young kids to the most magical place on earth, and then being attacked and eaten by an alligator lurking near the resort? How painful it must be for the parents.

It has been a terrible week for Orlando, Florida. Please keep them in your prayers, the victims, the families, and those who are recovering from these disasters. Stay strong Orlando.

Cars Cars Cars!!

Happy June! Holy cow it's June already. That's insane O_O

To start off with the blog, I have exciting news: my parts are painted and ready to be installed! WOOO!!!

It's been a long time coming if you know the crappy journey I had to go through for these damn lip and skirts (and bumper).

For those who don't know, I will sum it up. The first time I had bought a used front lip to be painted, gave it to a GenCoupe member for painting, and I never saw it again. That was 2013. In 2014, I got another front lip and side skirts that were new/used. They got painted and installed. I suffered a misshape which damaged my bumper and lip. One of the skirts was a bit warped and was not pinned down properly, and over time it caused strain within the skirt resulting in it cracking in several places.

A douchebag named Andre then took my front lip and side skirts to get "painted"/repaired, and with several phone calls, emails, texts, whatsapp to him regarding the return of my parts, I never saw it again.

Two stolen front lips and a set of skirts in less than 2 years. I'm so lucky.

Anyways, it's been a year and a half since I broke the bumper and just over a year since my parts were stolen and never returned. I figured it's time to fix her up and make her look better than before.

I realize buying new parts are never really worth it in the car market because they will always decrease in value. I figured maybe when the time is right, the right parts will show up. It may have taken a year or two, but eventually the used parts showed up in the local used market. I was just responsible for getting it painted to the colour I wanted. Voila.

After delaying and being lazy, I finally got the parts painted and one part installed. The rest will have to wait until the weather gets a bit warmer so it will stick properly to the paint. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, it will all be done and over with. And I will be happy again.

To the two losers who stole my parts (and most likely sold it off in the market to gain MY money), you can eat horse dung, and I hope your balls rot from flesh eating disease.

Back to more car news:

The GTA GTR club has expanded in the past couple of weeks. People know of people who know of people who have GTRs and boom! The club just grew! It's amazing how small this world really is. So don't screw around with people's minds because eventually it will come bite you in the ass without warning.

This is exciting news as summer is pretty much here (or almost, considering the weather lately has been whack), and a lot of people bring out the cars for shows and cruises. So what's better than having all the GTA owners gather together and have one huge meet and cruise!

Now it all may seem very cool and all, but the cruises itself is a pain in the ass to plan (not that I plan it, but I've seen behind the scenes and yeah, give props to the leader of the cruises!). The toughest part about big cruises is to have everyone stick together. It's almost impossible to do, but you have to have the cooperation of the entire group as well. I.E no burnouts,  no crazy driving, no illegal runs, stuff like that.

Thankfully the maturity of the GTR members have exceeded those of the many clubs and meets that I have went to in the past (however, there is always that one bad apple in each group). So far with all the cruises that we've been on, it's been pretty well planned, no one got into an accident or got pulled over by the cops (well, maybe except that one time when that one random chick in the Porsche flipped her car over because she took a turn wayyyy too fast, and even lied to the cop about her speed). But non-GTRs don't count. XD

Everyone has driven with respect to each other, and has communicated well with each other prior to the cruise and also during with walkie talkies (those things were so cool when I was a kid...who knew it would be so useful some 30 years later!).

The meets and cruises are NOT announced publicly, except for current owners, to keep it exclusive to GTRs.

As cool as Blacklist Rally and Northface Rally are (and hey, we all love to see the Lambos and Ferraris come out to play), the GTRs are underplayed because people have the perception that it's not a supercar, or doesn't cost half a million because it's a Nissan.

But this is the brilliant part. It's a brilliant car! It eats Lambos and Ferraris for breakfast, and costs 1/5th of those! Give it some basic bolt ons and a tune, and you are pretty much set in eating all the cars alive that exist in this world today. The Japanese finally did something right, and that is creating this monster car.

So when you have 15 GTRs show up to a meet, and only GTRs, the parking lot sounds monstrous. It won't sound like a F1 race, but it sounds like a bunch of dinosaurs roaring at each other. There's just something about the sound of a GTR that is so distinct and so monstrous, especially when they all start up at the same time. It's one of those noises that you won't want to miss, and one of those noises that you must hear before you die kind of thing.

Because the group is growing and has grown a lot over the past few weeks, people are excited to bring them out. The amount of cruises and meets were very subtle at first, but has now become a weekly (if not twice or thrice a week) event. We hope to continue this as it brings the GTR community closer (the community itself is not as huge as the Genesis Coupes or the Hondas for example), so people already know each other from before.

Which leaves one simple rule. Banned members are not welcome. People may think "what a stuck up thing to do" but here's the thing. If you have a member who was going around lying to everyone about fixing the cars and never really doing it, or doing it poorly that the person is now having to pay double the price to fix their car, then why should they be allowed in the group? As a leader, wouldn't you want to put some sort of control over those types of behaviours?

Wouldn't you want to help your group? Not put your group in jeopardy with this douchebag. For the sake of all members (current and new), banned members are not welcome to the meets or cruises. Fair and simple.

Strada has already taken off with weekly meets already, but I haven't been and don't plan on attending. Ertefa is supposedly doing one huge event in July, similar to Importfest, but I'm not interested. Those shows just never really appealed to me. As much as I love showing off my ride, I rather just enjoy it for myself. I'm the only one who knew what it was like to go through all this with my car, and I'd rather enjoy it behind closed doors than to share it with a bunch of guys who assume whatever they want to assume. Cool yeah you can assume whatever you like, but I'm just done with all the drama associated with cars and people.

If there is drama in the car scene (and trust me, there's a lot), I rather just sit back and watch it unfold. Not participate in it or egg them on. Just watch.

My last bit is about...purse!!! Right of course, I found another purse I'd like but debating with myself to get it or not. It is from Louis Vuitton, and I know from my post a while ago, I said I'd never buy a LV bag because they are mostly canvas and not leather. However, this one is one of the classics and is cute to wear for casual or nice nights out.

The price is reasonable (well, at this point anything below 3 grand is reasonable), but I am still debating. My priority is that I should get the car fixed up and ready to go before I buy another purse. Or maybe I should wait. I did notice some LV prices have gone down. Now that's weird! Usually it's the opposite way. I'm not sure how long this will last, but probably not very long. It's always a gamble with these purse prices.

Or maybe I should reward myself for working too hard. To the point where I got another job in the medical field. I'm not sure how I will balance two FT and PT jobs, but one thing I know is...shopping spree!

Not. Yeah we shall see how it goes. I have yet to go in and look at it and try it on. It's one thing to see online and watch videos with other people reviewing it, but it's another thing to actually try the purse on. I remember when I fell in love with the Tivoli PM bag, and kept watching videos after videos about the bag. I went to the LV store to see it in person, and it was not what I expected. It seemed too simple. The hardest part was the zipper. Because of the shape, it was hard to zip and unzip the bag. That to me is the most important part of shopping for a handbag. If you can't open the bag properly, then what's the point of spending all your cash on a bag that won't open or close properly? Doesn't make any sense.

So I didn't buy it. Simple.

I should be good with what I have now. I don't want to entertain the world with my items and end up bankrupting myself.

Cheeeeeers!

Ramblings Etc.

This will once again be a random ramblings post about what has happened the past week. Get ready for it whoop whoop!

I'm not sure if it's me or what, but lately at work it's been crazy hellish busy. All the bad stuff at work seemed to be falling on my head. I don't mean getting in trouble, but in terms of critical issues, I've been the one dealing with it for some reason. The adrenaline kicks in to try and get to the bottom of the issue and make sure things go smoothly. By the end of the week, I'm pretty much exhausted. Never been so happy to see my bed for 8 hours or less.

Another topic to speak about: jealousy.

We parked at one of those lots where you pay for parking. The lot wasn't full, but it was our first time visiting the town that weekend. Parked beside a white sedan (for the life of me I'm trying to remember if it was a Mazda 6 or a Ford Fusion/Taurus because I honestly can't remember). The person who drove it was a mid 20's to early 30's Caucasian male with a Caucasian girlfriend in tow. 

As we were getting our parking ticket, we noticed the male giving us the "HMPH!" attitude, as though to say "Show off, driving such a nice car". We didn't think much of it. It's not like he even talked to us.

We came back from our meal to the lot, ready to get in the car when I noticed this dent that I haven't seen before, on the door panel. Upon further inspection, it had gone down past the paint. We didn't notice any other colour there except white. We knew that white trash had purposely opened his door into the car and gave it a dent. 

Wish I had the plate, otherwise I'd hunt him down and cook him for dinner. Just kidding. I'm not from China so it wouldn't happen. But I would probably still do something terrible that I'll regret in life.

Well, there was not much we could do at that point. Just know that there are some really jealous people out there that will vandalize your property if they feel like it and know they won't get caught. However, there are eyes in the sky. 1) Cameras and 2) God. You think you can escape from your vandalization, but in reality, you will get punished sir. Enjoy your life right now, but you will eventually get what's coming to you.

It reminds me of the time when I parked in a shopping mall underground lot. I was taking a mini nap in the car when all of a sudden BOOM!! It woke me up. There was a Chinese man putting his daughter in the backseat and was opening his driver side door when he actually full blown slammed his door into mine. I gave him the bitch face look, and well he just stared at me like "what did I do wrong?", got in his Honda CR-V and drove off.

Now I could've went after him and caused some damage, but he had his young daughter in the back. I didn't want her to witness any illegal things that I was planning on doing, nor did I plan on eliminating her from identifying me. So I just let it be.

Hilarious. I'm making this sound like some 007 mission to eliminate people I don't like. I can tell you I am far from 007.

Going back to all this, I'm sure many of you have made some minor dings on people's cars, whether intentional or not, and probably didn't cause damage, so you drive off. For those who do it unintentionally, please assess both cars before you leave. Leave your info on the dash if it's really bad, or wait for the other party to come back and explain what happened. 

For those who do it on purpose, you can go eat a pile of horse dung and get butt raped by a horse. I hope one day you will suffer 100 times more than the harm you've caused other people. 

After almost 2 years of running a damaged bumper, I'm finally getting my new bumper painted, along with a front lip and side skirts that I bought just this past spring. All 4 parts have been sent in for painting. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so they say. Originally I just wanted to not do anything and just leave it because modding right now brings a lot of pain and bad memories.

However, considering these parts are different than the past and I had to shell out more cash again to get parts, I might as well just do it and get it over with. Make her look nice again, and perhaps I can actually enjoy driving her.

For the douchebags that have stolen my front lips, side skirts, and stock tires/rims, I hope you both die a slow and painful death that involves getting your balls chopped into squares. You know who you are.

Genny is slowly coming back to a different girl. Countdown to her final look. Can't wait to shoot some pictures.

This week has been scorching hot hot hot. Sometimes I wish the snow was back, but when I think about my 3 hour trek home in summer tires in the snow, I take it back. Thankfully I wasn't out in the sun much but it wasn't too bad. At least there was still some wind to take away the humidity to some degree. Either way, this is just the beginning!

Being unwell does suck. For the first time in a while, I had to call in sick due to menstrual cramps. Who knew?! It all started off by going to the mall. I thought I had my painkillers with me in my purse, but I actually forgot it on the table at home. If I had it with me it might've been better, but every month is always different.

We weren't at the mall for too long before my symptoms started to flare up, until I was barely able to walk straight. I thought I could pull through since I encouraged my folks to come to the mall and walk around. The plan was for me to sit or lay somewhere on a bench while my folks went shopping but they wouldn't agree to that, so we drove home. 

By the time I got home, it got pretty bad. The pain was just too much. It doesn't help with the bloating too. Took a painkiller and it took some time for it to kick in but it did. Eventually I passed out, but I knew I wouldn't be in good shape to perform 100% at work so I called in. I've pretty much passed out for most of the day and I still feel tired.

Being a woman sucks. Then again, I don't know if I want a penis to hang out of me forever. 

People think that it's just a fake thing, that girls act all bitchy because they have an excuse to, and that the whole PMS thing is not real. Ok, maybe some girls do fake it, and use it as a way to get things their way. However in my situation, I don't have anything to gain. I'm not looking for pity, or money, or freebies. I just want to get better and go to work so people don't have to keep worrying for me. 

It's hard when your body is fatigued (I mean it's understandable). The average blood loss in a given period cycle is 10mL to 35mL. It doesn't sound like a lot, but when you are a woman and having periods every month, it seems like a lot! If someone is suffering from menorrhagia (blood loss of greater than 80mL per cycle), that's when it gets pretty serious. I wish I knew how much I was losing but it's difficult to calculate exactly how much. I'm probably borderline menorrhagia, so that explains why I feel tired for 4-5 days straight, and then I feel better after it all ends. 

So in conclusion, appreciate your lady.

Tailgaters. How much I hate them. The worst are those SUV and pick up truck drivers who think they are driving a Formula 1 car, but in reality, their ride is slow as heck. There are tailgaters who will drive up everyone's ass, or there are tailgaters who only drive up to those who look fast, but leave everyone else alone. Either way, it's a dangerous practice.

I have many stories to tell, but the ones that really stuck out to me was when there was a Land Rover somewhere behind me. I had just made a turn and was doing the limit, when suddenly the Rover came from behind me, changed lanes, and then cut me off while approaching a red light. This is the weird thing though. He didn't have to cut me off because the lane that he was in, there was no car in front of him. Technically he could've stayed there because at the red light, there was no car in front of either of us. But instead, he decided to cut me off on purpose. What did I do? I stayed behind him because I didn't really care much at that point to cut people off.

The light turns green. I usually leave about a 2 second window before I start honking at people to go. The light was clearly green, it was more than 2 seconds, and so I honked. He didn't really budge. So that's when I made sure there were no cars behind, and cut into the next lane to blast past him. Somehow that made him really angry, and now I had this Rover behind my ass. Come on. The light is green. You get mad because someone behind honked because you weren't paying attention? Don't get mad at me. Get mad at your DNA for being too slow to react to light.

After trying to catch up to me, I lost him at the next set of lights. Sorry, but I just don't want to deal with people like those drivers. You instigate something, I will fight back. People can tell me to just leave it be, but seriously if you weren't there, then you had no idea why I acted the way I did. 

The other time I was on the highway, the infamous DVP, going northbound. At that time there was still traffic, and at some point there was stop and go traffic. The traffic was moving from where I was. The fastest you can really go at that point is probably like 60km/h, maybe 70 if you're lucky. Suddenly, the traffic ahead of me stopped. I had a bad habit at that time of not leaving enough space in front of me (and that's most of our mentality, in heavy traffic you tend to stick close to the car in front since you're not going anywhere anyways). I stopped in time, but had to direct my car towards the shoulder/guardrail in order to prevent crashing into the car in front. The car behind me stopped as well. But the car behind him did not stop.

That's when I heard metal crunching behind me. It's scary when you see it in your rearview mirror. The car did not end up crashing into me thankfully, as he left enough space. But his car and the car after him were not so lucky.

You may think it will never happen to you, but you just never know. One sudden wrong move and it could all be over. Thankfully the occupants were ok, just minor injuries and whiplash, but this really emphasizes the importance of leaving enough gap with the car in front of you. If the person behind you doesn't, and ends up smashing into you, it is their fault regardless for not leaving enough space. You can do whatever it takes to be the better driver, but you can't control how others decide to drive. In this case, it's the person who didn't leave enough gap that will be fined/charged with careless driving.

My rant of the week. Now go out and enjoy the weather!

Cruising into Summer

It's end of May, and finally....we are blessed with nice weather. Today's weather is 28 degrees, with humidity it will feel like 31C. Craziness. Last week it was chilly like December and today it's suddenly summer. Welcome to Canada.

It will be the first summer without M. People probably think I'm totally over it because I try to post topics not related to M, but I think that's part of coping as well. If I keep posting about M, I know it will be harder to move on. The only reason why I brought M up now is a couple days ago, I took a nap and had dreams about M. Vivid dreams. It was shortly after he passed, and no matter what I did or where I went, there was always a reminder of him. And I would burst into tears and cry.

I had to ask my folks if they could hear me yell or cry in my sleep but they said they didn't hear anything. But it all felt so real. I could feel the tears rolling down my face, and the sadness through my yelling. That's why I had to ask. Because it felt so real.

I still feel sad to this day. I try to not think about it but sometimes it's hard to ignore it. Over the past 18 years during summer time, we would always let M out to roam the backyard or open the door for him to get some fresh air since he was always an indoor cat. This summer, it's going to feel empty. We can still open the door, but there is nothing there.

All in all, I still have dreams about him sometimes. It's still hard to deal with, especially when your furry companion who has been by your side all these years is suddenly gone. I don't think I've completely gotten over it, but it's been a slow step by step process. I may not be able to achieve 100% of who I was before, but I can only try.

I try to at least enjoy my passion that I was pretty much "born" with: cars. This year, it's not the parking lot meets but it's about the cruises. I know before I had written I would never attend a parking lot meet ever again. There are times cruises start off at parking lots, so it doesn't really count. Parking lot meets are those who meet at parking lots, and you just chill there. No cruises or anything. Just park and talk. Yeah, kind of boring now.

So far there have been 3 cruises that I have attended, and they have all been insane. Thankfully no injuries or accidents. Cruises are difficult to plan, especially the routes, and it's always difficult to keep a huge group together without getting lost. The planners do a lot in advance before setting a cruise date up (a lot of times they have to drive the entire route to make sure nothing is closed).

If you are heading out for a cruise this summer, be sure to give props to the leader and planners please. They do a lot of planning in order to make it possible. Listen to the rules, don't do stupid things like burnouts or peels on public roads. Have two-way radios with you to keep in touch with the rest of the group. It's always good to have a passenger with you to keep track of what's going on. It's a lot more difficult when you go solo on a cruise.

Last weekend, the GTR club met up and I had the opportunity to tag along. A total of 13 GTRs showed up: R32s, R33, and lots of R35s. About 11-12 of them cruised to downtown to have some burritos. Let's just say...the highway sounded like a dinosaur was going to destroy it. It was absolutely insane and brilliant. Windows were rolled up, yet I could feel the vibrations from these monsters driving by, and the exhaust. Just wow.

I can imagine the general society (when I say this, I mean people who have no clue/don't give a damn about cars) who were cruising on the highway that night were probably calling in reports of street racing. What these people don't know is these cars are naturally that loud. And they sound like that on the highway. Especially when they accelerate to change lanes. They are just loud. It's also people like this who I wish would just stay home and not drive. Ever.

I know a lot of Torontonian drivers are just terrible. We have become the China of North America to some degree. But you know what the funny part is? I see a lot of Caucasians and guys getting into accidents vs the "asian women" stigma. I laugh when I see 2 guys who have rear ended each other because well...where are the women? No, not stuck in kitchens. Well, I would be burning down the kitchen so I wouldn't want to be there.

Anyways, back to the cruise. We had a couple of stops along the way to take some photographs. I am not a professional photographer. I just like to take pictures and share if I like them. I don't know much about exposures or whatever. I just do it for fun.

I had posted this on the Toronto Car Spotting page, and let's just say my phone notifications have been going off the hook since Sunday night. I love the photos, and I thank those who also enjoy and love the photos as well. It's all about sharing the same passion and love for cars. And appreciating the photos too.

Cheers!

Jerks & Idiots

This post is dedicated to the jerks and idiots out there who don't have anything better to do except to bring embarrassment and shame to others who they don't even know.

I'm sure most of us know someone or have dealt with someone who does this on a daily basis. Now you may think "well, what makes you any different? You're bashing people you don't even know!"

The difference is I'm raising the issue because it's happened to me, it's happened to some of my friends, and also to people who I barely know. It's unacceptable because the people causing a sh*t storm are those in their adult years, not teenage years. What has the world gone to, that adults are not behaving like adults, but instead are acting like 5 year olds?

Let me give you an example.

We all know someone who's a pathological liar (whether it's an extreme form, or getting there). The first instinct is to run far away. However, when you are sucked into their lies initially, you don't know they are lying, until you start analyzing their actions and every move, along with the stories they start telling you. Then that's when you put two and two together.

This one pathological liar that I know has ruined many people's lives, both girls and guys. Initially girls don't see that. They see this sweet, loving, honest, caring person who pampers them with gifts. What they don't know is this pathological liar is going behind their backs and sleeping with other girls. He two times the girls and lies to each one in order to get what he wants. Not only is he a pathological liar, but he's a narcissist.

He has also ruined guys' lives by stealing (mostly car) parts from them, or money. Lying to them about it, and not manning up to his mistakes. He will take this money that he makes off of guys and pretty much spends it on these side chicks and prostitutes.

When a girl finds out about his actions and basically breaks things off and tries to move on, he starts spreading rumours about her to random strangers. Making her look like the bad person.

When she goes on and tries to warn others about him, she is suddenly now the world's enemy. And is basically told, "well you dated him so it's your fault."

Ok, so what does that have to do with the situation that he's a pathological liar?

The other day, there was a discussion about how this jerk was posting online about trying to help the Infiniti/Nissan guys, and that these VQ guys don't believe the "liar" part of him, no matter how many times people have tried to warn them to not do any business with him.

Instead they gave him a chance and let him back into the group. Meanwhile he is banned from pretty much all the car groups you can think of: GTA Motorheads, GTR local group AND international group, the Genesis Coupe community groups from Ontario, Canada and the international groups. If that's not a huge red flag, then I don't know what is.

Instead the idiots at VQ Nation or North or whatever they're called, has allowed this jerk back into the group and continue to "help" people with their cars. The admins have said that they are a group who doesn't follow suit to what other groups do (by banning people) and unless he has screwed over people in THEIR group, then he is still allowed to post.

The worst thing is while this is going on, the admin of the group decides to call out the lady who had warned him about this liar. She wasn't the only one who warned him, but there were about 8 other guys who also pitched in about this pathological liar. And who does this so-called admin Mike Relaxx call out? The girl of course.

How? By saying crap like "well, you dated him didn't you?" Please fill me in, what does that have to do with the bad behaviour of this individual?

And then goes on by saying he doesn't give a sh*t about what he's done to other people, because they deserved it, as long as it doesn't happen to him or his group members. This ladies and gentlemen, is a narcissistic behaviour right here. Would you want someone like this to be the admin of your group? I wouldn't.

So from this standpoint, it's going to take a blown motor from his group to finally realize that other people were right, and he was wrong. Narcissists don't like to be wrong. They like to be right all the time of course.

I don't care if you run the "best Infiniti/Nissan group" in this country (actually, it's far from it. Quantity does not mean quality), but you act like a little bitch when it comes to serious situations in life when someone could actually get ruined by this pathological liar.

Another example. When a video was posted regarding one of the Infiniti/Nissan members driving like an idiot on public roads, and discussion was made to call them out for their driving habits, the video gets deleted, and of course Mike is all like "We don't bash people on this forum, just mind your own business".

No Mike, there is a PROBLEM with one of your members and how they drive, by endangering OTHERS in PUBLIC. The point was to raise that issue, and instead of dealing with it like a real man should, you start blaming other people for calling your members out for it. I'm sorry, but that's a bitch move. You are not a real admin, nor a real man. You deal with real life problems like a little bitch.

I know younger people who can deal with real life situations way better than this 40 or 50 year old man can. It's gotten to the point where I see these adults as useless and idiots because they deal with real life situations like a kid. Immature idiots of course. And you expect us younger generation to give you respect? Look at yourself first. No one ain't giving you respect when you act like a kid.

The latest one is when a member posted a picture of his girlfriend cleaning his Infiniti. However, his girlfriend is barely wearing anything past down her waist. And now it's a public post. Someone then posted and said how is this appropriate? Why would you want 1500 other guys to see your girlfriend's ass on a public post?

Maturity level from the boyfriend's perspective: None.

So you would think the admin would be nice enough to remove the post. Instead, he comments and basically says it's all good, we all need to calm down and relax and enjoy the post.

I'm sorry, but I wouldn't want that person as an admin. I would lose respect for both that boyfriend and the admin for not dealing with it appropriately. First off, if you post a pic of your girlfriend in that state without her knowing, you're an ass and need your balls chopped off. If you posted the pic with your girlfriend's consent, then she's a big hoe for seeking attention from blue balled boys. Thirdly, the admin is married. This just sends a wrong message to the rest of the group who looks up to the admin as a positive influence.

It sucks when someone is trying to be nice and trying to warn others about an individual, but then get blasted about the past. That's why it's called the past. Mistakes have been made yes, and we all learn from it (or so we hope). The hurt people should just stop being nice to all the assholes out there. Watch them get hurt. Enjoy it and have some popcorn. And when they all start coming up to you to cry for help and regretted not listening to you, you can shake your head and walk away.

Summer is here?!

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night (depending where you guys are all located)!

Haven't been updating much lately due to weird work hours. Working graveyard shift is the hardest on the body and mind. I'd sleep for 4 hours after an 8 hour night shift, and wake up feeling refreshed. When I keep doing that for days on end, eventually my body sort of gave up. I ended up passing out for most of the day on my 1 day off in between shifts. Hence why I haven't blogged much lately.

Props to all you shift workers out there, no matter what you do (trucking, policing, nursing, doctor, operator, pilots, flight attendants, janitors, 24 hour help desk..I'm sure there are many more out there). It's not easy being away from home at a time when you should be sleeping and with your family beside you.

Moving onto the next one...the weather! What in the world is up with the weather lately?! One day it's nice and sunny and warm. The next day it's gloomy and raining. Then at random, a snowstorm. Welcome to Canada I guess? The weather here is like a woman on PMS: Angry, happy, sad, hungry, depressed, hyper. You can never get one proper mood for more than 2 minutes.

Well, the weather is suppose to get nicer as the week goes by. Which means perfect opportunity to do more car things and car cruises. My laziness has got the best of me. I have not painted the car parts yet. Been too tired and lazy to call up places to find quotes. I guess I should get on that considering it takes time to paint and dry. Then find the time to install the parts on. Right, I should totally get on that.

Car cruises. There are definitely plans to have cruises this summer, one which is coming up very soon. The parking lot meets have started up already. Strada just had their season opener last night and a lot of people showed up, considering they all have to pay an entrance fee. North Face Rally was also on hand, which was the main reason why people showed up. The police was there to monitor and make sure things don't get out of hand. I'm not sure if anyone got ticketed for doing stupid things, but hopefully not.

The Genesis Coupe community have already started their weekly meets in the east and west ends, none of which I was able to attend due to work. I believe the Subaru community have started up as well. There are so many things to do already and summer isn't even here yet. This is exciting! But yeah, as I said, life just gets too busy sometimes.

Summer also means one depressing thing: working non-stop throughout the summer. Yes, for young people, summertime is the perfect opportunity to pick up more shifts and make more money. At the same time, not sacrificing the entire summer just for work but to balance out life as well. It sucks when I see friends off for the summer and going away for vacation or the beach and what not while I'm stuck at work for 95% of the time. However, one great thing about being a shift worker is that you can go on vacation whenever you want. Which means avoid the high seasons if you want to travel!

Of course I will still try to take some days off to spend time with loved ones in the summer. Definitely not sacrificing my entire summer for a big corporation, but I know I still need to live life as well and enjoy the sun while I still can, because I'm relatively pale looking like a vampire.

Oh yes, forgot to mention...

Happy Nurses Week! In Canada, nurses week started this past Monday and goes until Sunday. It's a week to acknowledge all the nurses' hard work in what they do; for all their effort, time, and emotions put in to what they do. Thank you nurses! This is your week to celebrate!

Update with the iPhone 6: I had wrapped the box up for my mom for Mother's Day. She had told me she didn't want anything for Mother's Day, but I told her it was nothing. Just a box of chocolates. I had video recorded her reaction when she found out what it really was, and it was quite cute. I had spent the last few days trying to teach her how to use it and she is pretty much enjoying it! Now mom is way more advanced in technology than I am. Soon she can teach dad too!

Alright my brain is all mush right now. I just want to pass out and sleep again. But before I close, I've started a new Instagram account which you can all follow. It's mostly about cars and bags/accessories. If you're bored and stuff, you can check out my random posts, and follow if you like. I will be updating it with car cruises, photoshoots, random bags and accessories etc. It will be a mix of it all, so everyone can get a dose of their favourite things.

carsnpurses

Goodnight everyone! (or good morning, whichever it is...it's actually still pretty bright outside right now)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday and I just wanted to do an appreciation post for all the moms (and moms to be) out there, along with the moms who are no longer with us but are still in our hearts.

Recently, there was a video circulating about a company looking to hire a candidate that met all the basic requirements, plus more. They posted ads in newspapers and online as well, and got responses right away. The interview was conducted via a webcam, where the company "CEO" would do the interview.

He starts stating the basic requirements (good typing skills, good with programs, punctual, the basics). He then starts to add the hidden requirements: you will need to work overtime almost everyday with no extra pay, no breaks in between work, no assistance or help etc. Of course, potential candidates were baffled and questioned the CEO regarding these outlandish requests for this job. Eventually the guy reveals that this was all a set up. And the real job? Well, they were describing what moms do on a daily basis.

Overworked. Underpaid (or, not paid at all). Being pooped on, peed on, vomited on, bitten, scratched or hair being pulled. No sleep. Always cooking, yet not eating well.

The life of a mom. Thank you mom. No words or actions can thank you enough for what you've done all these years.

You know, it takes years to finally realize how much moms (and dads) really mean so much to us in our lives. Sometimes it takes some distance away from them to finally realize how much they mean to us. Then there are times when daughters or sons get married, and that's when they realize how much their parents mean to them. And sadly sometimes it takes a death of a mom or dad to finally realize what they missed out on all these years.

We don't want to get to the point of having to lose a loved one to realize what love is. Take all the opportunity you have now to appreciate what you have. It's hard yes, once you have your own family to take care of, they become priority. But in between, always try and give them a phone call to see how they're doing. You may not be able to see them on a daily basis anymore, but don't forget that they are a phone call away.

Moms are the greatest superheros (errr..heroine?). They invest their time, patience, kindness, generosity, money, priority....basically their entire life, for their family. They are so overworked, and yet don't get enough thank yous. Appreciation comes with time, but it can be taught at an early age. It is important to teach the younglings what appreciation is.

Although moms can get annoying at times (especially when we hit our teenage years or our young adulthood), they do it for the best interest of their kids. They can see what kids can't see: an outsider's perspective. They can only protect so much, but if the kid goes astray, the mom still never gives up. The love of moms is something so special. A child can go haywire at any age, but a mom will always be there for them no matter what. Because that's what a mother's love is.

This mother's day, don't forget to celebrate with mom. Call her up, go see her. Take her out for lunch or dinner. Spend the day with her. Make her feel appreciated. You may think all those years, and this one day only?! Well, Mother's Day should be a daily thing, not just a one day thing. It is extra special on this day yes, to honour all moms out there. Most important is the appreciation. Make mom feel appreciated on a daily basis.

My back story: My mom has been there through the thick and thins of my life, and although I drive her nuts with my indecisiveness and dumb choices in life, she never left my side. She nags, because that's what moms do, but I know she cares for me.

I had debated for a while (yes debated with myself again) as to what to get her on this special day. Something that she can use for a long time. I knew she liked purses but she would kill me if I ever got her a luxury bag. She had already told me "Don't be stupid. Save your money". Of course, the response of pretty much all the moms! She's picky with her stuff, so it was stressful trying to find the right one, and I really couldn't find one that she might like.

Then I thought about phones. She, just like me, does not have data on her phone, and doesn't have much use for it. I pay the phone bills (along with dad's) but you know companies these days. If you want to upgrade your phone, you would have to buy the data plan in order to get the better phones at a great discount. Either that, or buy the phone at cost, which is exactly what I have to do.

Now my folks are very simple people. They don't have the craziest tech gadgets. But I knew it was time for an upgrade. Mom had been complaining her Samsung phone was acting weird and would do weird things like delete her contacts, but the next day it would reappear. The phone is almost 5 years old, so it is time for an upgrade. I've had my fair share of Samsung phones, and let's just say my S4 died in less than a year of using it. My iPhone 4 still works like a charm. It's been 5 years, I'm the third owner and still using it to this day.

This gave me an idea. They both have iPads that they use to watch their shows on and take pictures, but that's pretty much it. They don't game or anything. They're pretty much used to the Apple platform, but they still get confused with the Samsung platform. Simplicity is key, and familiarity. That's when I decided I will get her the iPhone.

Which one, is the question. At this point I had no idea what phones were out there. So after the 5, now they have the new SE, then 6, 6S and then 6 Plus. Originally I had planned for the SE, but the screen might be a bit small. I really like the size of the 6, but the Plus is way too big. The 6 would be a perfect size to read and see things.

Problem is, these phones sell like hot cakes. They were literally flying off the shelves everywhere. And with Mother's Day almost here, I scrambled to find a store to see if there were any available and a lot of places were out of stock. If I ordered online from Apple, the earliest date I could get it would be end of May. That would be way too late.

Thankfully there was a friend who knew what my plan was, and knew a place that was having a Mother's Day promotion. But once again, the store was selling out very quick. I contacted the store and begged them to put 2 on hold, and even offered to give a deposit to secure it. The lady was nice and said she would hold it for me if I appeared on the same day. Coming off a night shift, I was pretty much wired.

After getting a pretty sweet deal on the 2 iPhone 6's, along with cases and a strong screen protector, I am set to present this to mom. Dad would have to wait till next month, but his is set as well. They both deserve the best, and although there are not enough words to say thank you, I can only do so much to show my appreciation for what they have done for me.

Thank you mom (and dad). Love you both very much. Your surprise awaits you.

More Pet Peeves

Everyday when I drive home or if I'm out and about, I always encounter something that annoys me. I'm a pretty chillaxed person, but there are just some things that I see that blow my mind in a bad way. And you think...etiquette. Do they not know any manners?!

1) People who cross the roads while talking on the phone. This annoys me to the core. First of all, you are crossing the road with potential weapons of mass destruction. What is more important than your own safety? Your conversation with a girl friend about the latest gossip? What you had for breakfast? How your crap looked like that morning? PAY ATTENTION! I don't know how many times those pedestrians give drivers the dirty look when they almost get hit or something. Or they over exaggerate it by jumping high into the sky, then start giving the middle finger. 

Don't blame us drivers that you, a pedestrian, decided to change your mind last minute and step onto the road while I'm trying to make a right turn. Because you were too into your conversation with whoever it is on the other end of the phone. Absolute carelessness about your own life. Yes, ok drivers have to give pedestrians the right of way (depending on the situation), but as a pedestrian, you still have responsibilities to PAY ATTENTION!

2) People who talk on the phone while walking on the sidewalk. Yeah I've been guilty of this a few times, except I walk fast. When people start checking out what's on Facebook or IG, or just texting/talking on the phone and not paying attention to where they're going, yeah it gets on my nerves. They start walking super slow and become an obstacle on the sidewalk. I end up dodging them as if I'm driving in a Formula 1 race. If you're going to text or talk to someone, please stand on the side or stop somewhere. Don't be doing all that crap in the middle of rush hour, while walking in the middle of the sidewalk. 

3) People who cut their nails in public. Ok gross. If you know your nails are super long and need a trimming, do it before you go out please. The last thing anyone needs is for your gross nails to be flying into someone's face or food. Who knows how much bacteria is under those fingernails (dead skin especially, since we all scratch ourselves. Location is where I don't want to know), and who knows if you scrub/wash your hands after you pick your nose or scratch yourselves. Complete GROSS!

4) People who pick their nose and eat their boogers. Yes, this happens. Yes I've seen it happen. I just...no. Just no. Please.

5) People who smoke while walking. Yeah ok it's a free country and whatever. But seriously, have you no consideration with people walking behind you? The worst is when they blow a huge puff of air and everything gets absorbed into my face and nose. When that happens, I duck. Yeah I might look ridiculous in public, but I don't care. I don't want to die from second hand smoke. Or I just cough really loud until people think I'm dying. You want me to do a huge fart in front of your face? I could do that too. Please. You want to smoke, ok fine, please go stand off to the side and do that.

6) People who run, then suddenly walk at a cross walk. You know, those people who see the numbers counting down and calculating they don't have enough time to cross, so you see them run towards the road. Then suddenly when they are on the road, they start taking their sweet ass time to cross the road. Meanwhile you're in the left lane trying to turn, and the opposite side of traffic is clear. Except you have to wait for these slow asses to cross. And now the traffic light is yellow. AND THEY ARE STILL CROSSING THE DAMN ROAD. Yeah you know who you are. Annoying asses. Next time I'll just run you over. 1000 points bitches.

7) People who talk in public really loud. I don't know whether they are just loud in general, or they do that to get strangers' attention to say how awful their life is, or how nasty that person is. Either way, tone it down. I do not want to know about your bedroom antics or how so and so is a complete slob. I'm just there trying to drink my hot chocolate in peace. I don't need to hear about your drama, thanks.

8) Which brings me to talking on the phone really loud in public. Yes, I sometimes do that if the person can't hear me or if it's really noisy. But I end up telling them I'll call you back later, or get up and go somewhere quiet to talk properly if you really have to. However, if it's relatively a quiet area and you're still talking so damn loud, either you need to get your hearing checked, or you need a phone that projects sound to the highest degree. The worst is at the library. When there are signs clearly stating NO TALKING ON PHONE! in the study area, and you hear this one phone ring, and this person joyfully talking, they will get a bunch of death stares. 

9) People who gossip, either at work or school or family etc. Ok great, I get that you like to talk crap about other people, because your own life sucks but how is that my problem and why am I dragged into your world of hate? I'm sorry your life sucks, I'm sorry you're not getting laid by your husband (probably because you too chubby or you're just a bitch...wait, who would want to marry you in the first place?!), I'm just sorry your life sucks. But good luck in life regardless. It is no wonder people hate you because of your attitude towards others. I find it is because nothing is going well in their lives that they start gossiping about other people. They get a high off of that, and feel better about themselves. Well, that's where I stick my middle finger up in your face.

10) People who smell like body odour. At work, or public. I'm not saying you need to dump an entire perfume bottle on your entire body, but damn man, at least shower?! At work, there is always that one person who will smell like BO. You can do great make up on your face, but yet don't have time to shower or smell decent. I can see where the priorities are at. 

11) People who are constantly on their phones while you're trying to talk in person. Yes, we all have done this at least once with friends or loved ones. What drives me up the wall is when you're talking to them, and they're all like "uh huh" while staring at their phones. Then they say "it's ok, keep going, I can multitask". When you finish your story, they go "huh...interesting...wait what did you say?"

Those are the ones where you want to take the phone out of their hands and just throw it on the damn floor. 

12) Chicks who walk with heels that are way out of their comfort zone. Actually, this one makes me laugh because it's like they're trying to be sexy, but they look like tall ducks trying to waddle their way through the crowds. I get they are trying, but come on. If I knew I walked like that, I wouldn't want to step out the door. Practice walking at home with them first, if you really want to walk in those heels. 

13) People who try to squeeze themselves into clothes that are 5x smaller than they are. Yup, we've all seen that at least once. I get you're trying to have the motivation to be skinnier, but that's not the best way to motivate yourself. You just look like an overcooked muffin top, with syrup leaking all over the place. Just, no. 

Those are my latest pet peeves. With summer around the corner, I'll be sure to keep my eyes out on more pet peeves.

Don't be a F*ckboy/girl

Single? Ready to mingle? Casual encounters? Fling? 

Those are pretty much the "in" thing in this day and age. 

I was reading an article online about the dating world in this day and age. How both girls and guys complain that the dating world lately has merely just been a "hit and run" type of thing. Or what the new words they call f*ckboy and f*ckgirl.

Yes, it's very hard to find the right one. It's not like picking candy in a candy store. It's more like finding a needle in a haystack. You don't just pick someone off the street and say "Yup, he's the one" without actually getting to know them first. The problem with people these days? They don't get to know one another first. By this, I don't mean physically taking clothes off to inspect body parts type of knowing. I mean actually getting to know that person: what they like or don't like, how they think, how they communicate with you/others. 

These days, it seems like both girls and guys jump into bed first to see if they are good in bed. Dating further will depend on how they perform in the sack. Considering this is more of a casual thing, it is no wonder so many girls (and guys) complain that they are being neglected or have their phone calls/texts ignored by the other party. 

Come on. Grow up people. 

The new trend with this Tinder thing, swiping left or right, or going on random dating sites, it's a scary thing. Yes we all get busy with life and don't have time to go out to actually meet people. So now online dating is the new trend. But seriously, you end up meeting a lot of messed up people online. Especially when they are always behind the screens for most of the day. 

I'm not saying you will always end up meeting a murderer online. Some people actually do find love online and live happily ever after. But with people's mentality these days on casual encounters, don't expect to find true love right away online.

I know someone (and I'm sure most of you know someone like this), who connected with someone online, met in person and got to know them. The guy seemed nice at first, but then when she tried texting him or calling him, he would take centuries to reply. The girl would get stressed and wonder what she did wrong, then seek help from girl friends. Eventually the guy would text back and say "oh hey what's up. I was working on my car." Yeah...all week?! Couldn't even say hi?

And that's the thing. If a guy really cared about a girl, he would call her to say hi or see how they were doing. Girls love that. A text, sure. But a phone call means much more than just a "hi" over text. Eventually we found out the guy was talking to a previous love interest and hanging out with her. Yet he had no clue why it made my friend mad. Didn't see anything wrong with it. Eventually the friend moved on and met someone else. 

There was no communication between the friend and the guy for a while, until the guy started asking the friend to hang out. The friend said sorry, I've moved on. The guy's response? "What, we don't talk for 3 weeks and then now suddenly you're seeing someone else?" Well yeah. If you really cared about a person, you wouldn't wait 3 weeks to then message them and say "sup". At that point it becomes way too late to pour out your feelings for that person.

That's a f*ckboy move right there. Ladies and gentlemen, please don't be that person. Those people are the reason why there are so many broken hearts and broken trusts out there.

With technology at our fingertips, it is easy to hide behind the glass screen from people we don't like or don't want to deal with. It is also easy to stalk those that we are interested in. It can go either way. 

What have I learned? You can't force love on someone. You can't force someone to love you back. You can't force yourself to love someone either. With these dating sites, I avoided them like the plague because I don't believe in love on dating sites. I believe that when the time is right, the person will show up when you least expect it.

So for those that are on Tinder for fun, or to ruin other people's lives by setting them up for disaster, I hope one day you will learn your lesson about love. If your attitude is as such, don't be complaining to your friends about why this chick or dude is not getting back to you or talking to you. Your attitude will reflect on the final result. 

If you go into the dating world with an attitude of just messing with people's minds, or just do a "hit and run", then don't be surprised when the opposite sex refuses to talk to you or hang out with you anymore. Don't be complaining to your buddies about what a bitch she is, or what an asshole he is, because you're the one who instigated the whole thing in the first place with your attitude. 

The reason why she acted like a bitch to you? Because you used her and dumped her on the side to see another chick. Yeah, of course she'll be mad at you. What are you expecting, a hug? In your dreams buddy.

He's acting like a complete dick to you? Maybe you should stop acting like a gold digger or talking to other guys behind his back. Or maybe he is a complete dick to everyone. You don't need people like that in your life. Next!

I still have friends who are single and are happy. I also know singles who aren't happy either, and wish they could find the one. Is there anything wrong with either? I can't be the judge of that. Sometimes it's a choice to stay single, but most of the time it's just hard to find the right person. It takes a lot of effort and energy to make things work well between two people. It's not like 1+1 and boom you're done. It takes two to tango.

Then there are the ones who spend money on chicks and hope the chicks love them back. But then when it doesn't they all call them gold diggers. Well first off buddy, you can't buy someone's love. So even though you do all this for a girl, and she doesn't feel it (the love I mean), that's not real love. The real love is having that emotional and mental connection first. I don't know how many times I've had guys complain that "Yo I spent this much amount on this girl and she don't love me bro. What a gold digging ho. Screw her."

Remember what I said earlier? It's about the attitude. You go in with the perception that if you buy someone things, then maybe they will like you back. Complete wrong attitude to start with. If you start with that, prepare to have bad end results. Not just in your bank account, but overall relationship. As I said, you can't buy someone's love. 

If you are clearly interested in getting to know someone, take them out for a coffee or a meal. The guy should pay for the meal. But girls, please don't order the most expensive thing on the menu. Be considerate please. 

If you make it to the second/third date, that's awesome. But some girls also continue to go on dates with guys in hopes of getting free meals all the time but don't really care about getting to know the guy. So guys, be aware of that too. By this time, you should have an idea whether you want to pursue this person any further. If either side don't feel any clicks by this point, there is no point going further in having more meals or coffee time together. You are both wasting time. 

Attitude. It plays a huge role. If you don't have the right attitude going into the dating game, then don't be surprised when you get played. A lot of good people with great attitudes have been hurt because of those who have terrible attitudes, or f*ckboy/girl attitudes. 

So please, for the love of God and everyone else on this planet, don't be a f*ckboy/girl.