beard papa's

On an idle Sunday afternoon, after I dropped my mom off at work, I decided to go to the nearby Aberdeen Starbucks to get my weekly markout. The lineup of cars to go into the parkade was ridiculous; however, I persevered, and found myself a spot. I consider myself extremely lucky, because it's the Sunday before Halloween, and all Chinese parents with little kiddies were going to be there for the various Halloween-related events that the mall has put out for them. I don't blame them, it's easy to get excited about a holiday, and that's when you get them, in their wallets.
But I digress.

I mean to write a post about beard papa's, which is a cream puff place that I assume came from Japan (or Hong Kong, I'm not too certain) that is supposed to be good. Like so good that there's a constant line-up, and each customer can only buy a maximum of 1 dozen cream puffs. It's on the third floor of Aberdeen, and you can't miss it. It is right there, with its "Grand Opening" sign and the line-up of people. They pulled out the line separators so there are 3 rows of people serpentined in front of the store. When I saw that I consulted Tiff. There's a Chinese proverb, "Now that you are here, make the best of it," or something to that extent. Therefore, I made the best of it, I joined the line-up.

Now, I don't mean to brag, patience is one of my best virtues. Remember when Jurassic Park first came out and it was such a big deal? There was a Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studio when I went with my family 10 years ago. We lined up for it, twice. There were at least 3 huts with the line of people just standing there, and there were these misters that spray us with cool water just 'cause it was so damn hot. My point is, I can outwait anyone, for anything.

So I lined up. And I stood there, just observing. It was getting warm, so I took my tuque off. Thank goodness I got a berryblossom white tea along with my markout, otherwise the waiting would be less bearable. Everyone else in the lineup, either in front of me or behind me, were really patient as well. I guess it's the anticipation that keeps them at bay, I know that's what it is for me. About 20 minutes into my waiting, I finally got to the final row, the row that's closest to the counter, the row that is only five steps away from the register. That's when I see that they have run out of puffs. And all the rest were in the 2 ovens. The Japanese ladies who were serving customers apologized to the people closest to the register, and announced to everyone that it was going to take 25 minutes for the next batch to be ready.

Not being able to make any kind of food-related decision myself, I consulted Tiff again. She was disappointed, and I was sure I could not just stand there for 25 minutes by myself. In the end, she said it was up to me. I hung up, not sure what to do. So I decided to hang around and just watch the timers on the ovens count down to zero. Also, no one else was budging; I'm pretty sure their sentiments were all, "I waited this long, I'm not about to give up now!" Well, comrades, likewise.

This must be what trench warfare feels like, was one of my thoughts. Another thought was, these puffs better be damn good for me to line up for an hour to pay $19/dozen. The waiting was made bearable by more white tea, and little spurts of activities behind the counter, like one of the girls counting money, or two of the girls preparing the to go boxes. Finally, a man took trays and trays of puffs that's been cooling and put them on the counter for the infusion of cream custard. And he took out the puffs that's been in the oven on the cooling racks. I counted, each tray contained a dozen, each oven held 6 trays, and there were 2 ovens. It takes 36 minutes to bake and to cool. That's 144 cream puffs every 40 minutes, and if everyone just buy a dozen, then no wonder they would run out.

The anticipation just builds and builds, I was almost weeping by the time that I was next in line at the register. I asked for a dozen, handed over the $20 bill that's been sitting in my pocket, and watched the 2 ladies expertly powder sugared the puffs, put them in little paper pockets, and shoved them all into a large box. When I finally got my dozen of cream puffs, you have no idea how happy and ecstatic I was. It was like an emotional roller coaster, the anticipation just takes you higher and higher, until you are at the peak of the ride, then they give you that yellow paper box, then the relief and the completion of task and sense of accomplishment just all rushes at you like wind in your face. It was great.

I called my sister as soon as I got them. It was awesome, I said, you should totally line up with me next time.

Oh yeah, I ate one when I got home, it was delicious.

FB can be hazardous

Apparently, one of my 'friend' from facebook (in real life my coworker) actually went and read the terms of facebook, and found out that fb can claim ownership to all that you put up in fb. Including pictures, which they can do all kind of things with. I don't quite understand the intrinsic danger of having someone else own your pictures, but I must categorically say this: Beware!

Beware, also, of the stalkers on fb. I just looked at pictures of the birthday party of the younger sister of a high school acquaintance... and saw a guy whom my friend had a crush on in high school. Small world, ain't it? He seems to be going out with one of the girls in the picture, but I am not certain. Though a picture may be worth a thousand words, there's only so much you can tell from a random group photo of bunch of twnese girls and a lone hk guy off to the side. See what I mean about stalking?

After 5 days straight of openings, I finally got to sleep in, only to the sounds of constant jackhammering. I persisted, however, for another hour, until I couldn't pretend I'm lying under the sun on a beach somewhere anymore. I hate this construction going on. Had a nasty experience with workers that I won't go into details. Though apology was issued, it remains an uncomfortable situation that I shall remember for a while yet.

Did you know?

Television is addicting. I love watching television but I often refrain from writing about it because it's only of entertainment value and there's really nothing to write about. For this fall season my repertoire of programs to watch include: ANTM, The Tudors, Heroes, CSI, Project Runway Canada, and to a lesser extent Dancing with the Stars.

I must clarify, however, Dancing with the Stars is strictly my sister's show. I only watch it when she's watching it. Reasons why I would never claim this to be my show are: 1. It's too cheesy; 2. The results show cuts into my Tudors, and made me miss crucial moments in Henry VIII's court.

ANTM used to be exciting; one or two girls may be the oddballs out (ie. not conventionally beautiful) but this season, they all look like mall rats. You have to smack so much make up on them to make them look somewhat like a model. I look at the lot of them and I want to cringe. And every time Twiggy says, "The camera loves you." it makes me puke a little in my mouth. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully after the makeover (haircuts; who knew a different coif would change a person so much?) they'll look like they are on their way to become America's Next Top Model.

Even though I claim Heroes and CSI to be part of my repertoire, but really, since they started I've only watched 1 episode of Heroes and none of CSI. I even missed the ending to the Model Killer, and that made me mad. No amount of recap can make up for the real thing. I want my CSI! Heroes is getting way exciting, except for the part that Hiro's hero, Kakezo Tensei, turns out to be a white dude. I'm sorry but no, it just doesn't work that way.

Project Runway has been one of my favorite shows. I love love love Chloe and Daniel V from the second season; they made truly fantastic garments and I love their talents, everything. The third season was more drama less talent. But after watching a third season marathon, I'm beginning to like Jeffrey more. He was such a jerk when I first watched, but now he's alright. His aesthetic is definitely different and exciting. Project Runway Canada, however, seems to lean most of its weight on Iman, the host. The Who? for their mentor, however, is a big disappointment (seriously, I can't remember his name). He is no match for Tim Gunn, and every time I see him I just want to shave him. Still, pretty dramatic for a first episode. Not much going on yet but I'll keep watching.

I watch the odd Top Chef episodes here and there. I figured out why I don't like watching it so much is because: 1. There's no cute guy like last season; 2. I want to see beautiful food, not semi-good food that gets torn apart by the judges because the taste was forgetful. Bleh.

I watch TV and do nothing, and I love it.

其實

我媽那天看我在讀其他人的blog, 隨口問 「你怎麼不自己寫篇故事？」 好像blog都是虛構小說一樣。我說我不會寫故事，他回 「生活的有趣的故事都可以寫啊。」 搖搖頭；有趣?! 算了吧，我的生活中沒有有趣的地方。唯一有的就是不停的失望跟令人感到黑暗的一切。所能做的就是盡量別去想，然後忽然發現有一天就不在了。 什麼東西不在了呢? 會是討厭的一切還是我呢? 值得思考。

以前還可以苦中作樂，現在也做不到，實在是很可恨啊。

One day when my mom saw me reading other people's blogs, she asked, "Why don't you write a story of your own?" as if all blogs are fictions. I said I don't know how, and she replied, "You can write about the interesting things in your life." I shook my head, interesting? Forget it, there's nothing of interest in my life. There is only unending disappointment and darkness. All I can afford is to not think about it, and discover that one days it'd disappeared. What had disappeared, you ask? The darkness or I? Pondering.

I used to be able to laugh at my misery, not anymore. Somewhat ticked off by it.

Youthfulness

This pretty much sums up my teenage years. My love for anything Japanese, including Ayumi Hamasaki. This song I really liked, it's made before her voice got odd and low and pitchy. Her earlier works, like "To Be" and "Boys and Girls" were really good. She was also really good at selling the "cuteness" factor. Look at this video, the girl is adorable. She also brought about the popularity of the parapara dance. Like I said, this video has it all.

Looking at her youthfulness, it just makes me happy looking at her. I think the Japanese is really good at doing this kind of feel-good thing. The earlier dramas (ones made during my elementary/high school years) all bear the same mark that no matter what struggles you have in the process, the end always turns out lovely. But I digress. The point is, this video brings me back. The summers of dial-up, AsianAvenue, downloading Japanese pop songs, and borrowing Japanese variety programs from my friend (oh how I miss Gakkou e ikou). God I feel old.