The World of Angy Wong

There is something about the Pacific Ocean that immediately calms me, and grounds me to the present like nothing else can. On Wednesday, a friend and I decided to go on a quick trip to Tofino – leaving Friday afternoon and coming back Saturday night. Considering it takes about 5 hours to get there, this meant we would have very limited time to spend on the beach. However, since she is from California and have been missing the crashing waves for a while, and after the somewhat turbulent year I’ve had, we both really needed to just dip our feet into the ocean. So, we set out to Tofino and it was rather disastrous. We missed our ferry. We ended up in Campbell River somehow (which is the opposite direction of Tofino) and we ended up getting to our B&B four hours later than had intended thereby missing sunset. However, despite all that, the Pacific Ocean was all worth it. I must have spent a good three hours just walking up and down the beach – always making sure my feet were in the water. I felt at ease. The worries of what is and what will be disappeared. I was just there and simply enjoying the breeze of the ocean, the sound of the crashing waves, and the feeling of water around my feet. I was happy. Simple as that.

Now, a few things to remember of this short two-day trip:

1. Missing the ferry – Fail #1
2. Ending up on the wrong highway – Fail #2
3. Ending up in Campbell River (end of the highway) before realizing that we went the wrong way – Major Fail #3!
4. Getting into a traffic jam because a boat flipped over the side of the road – Fail #4 (though not our fault!)
5. Ending up in Tofino 4 hours late – Fail #5
6. Laughing. For two people who just became friends like a couple of weeks ago, we laughed pretty much throughout the trip.Despite all the fails, we just laughed and laughed because ultimately, we couldn’t really do anything about it.
7. Trading stories about our siblings – everything from fights, watching gilmore girls, going on gay dates unintentionally, etc.
8. Trading stories about our childhood – washing plywood, catching dragon flies and using them as kites, wearing hand-me downs, eating buffalo tar tar, etc.
9. Our amazing B&B which was on Long Beach. Oceanview. Breathtaking property. Also wondering what we would get for breakfast (toast and eggs!) since it was our first time at a B&B.
10. Eating… a hungry Bibhu is an angry Bibhu, but a full Bibhu is a happy (and sometimes sleepy) Bibhu.
11. Talking about relationships – failed, successful, and lessons. If we think about it in terms of a Bollywood movie, the failed relationship only mean it’s just the beginning of a movie!

Thanks for a great time, Bibhu.. and also making me miss another person when I move to Edmonton

After the game last night, I was so angry at the rioters downtown that I didn’t think about my feelings on the Canucks losing. This morning, however,  I felt quite despondent as I realized how devastating it must have been for the players to come so close but only to lose it on home ice. I try to keep things in perspective though, and I recognized that the better team won last night and so they deserved to win the cup. I also pride myself on not being a Canucks fan who singles out players for their poor performance because I recognize that all the players on the ice have been working their entire lives for that moment, and so who am I to criticize how they did? I certainly can’t do what they do, so I’m not going to pretend that I am some amateur sports analyst giving her two cents on how they could have played better.  Instead, I just want to thank the Vancouver Canucks for a great season, a great playoff run, for making me love the game again, and for bringing me closer to my little brother.

After years of watching the Canucks not making past Round 2 of the playoffs, I gradually stopped watching hockey. Considering I am the eternal optimist who thinks that the Canucks are going to win the cup every year, it also meant it was really heartbreaking to watch them get knocked out every year. Yet, as I gradually stopped watching hockey, my brother became more interested in it. Thus, he kept me informed on how the Canucks were doing even though I stopped following the team. However, during this playoff run, I began watching again and it started with watching Game 6 of Round 1 with my brother.

It was great watching the game and I got really excited for the Canucks (even though they lost that one). Mostly, I enjoyed the time I spent with my brother watching that game. Over the past few years, he has grown into an adult which is beautiful to see, but bittersweet as he has grown more distant from me.  No longer was he the little brother who adored his big sister and wanted to hang out with her all the time. Instead, he was a young man with a good head on his shoulders who loves and respects his big sister but didn’t necessarily want to hang out with her because she has now becoming a bit “embarrassing” at times. (For the record, writing a musical based on Archie is not lame!) Thus, I really cherished this playoff run because he would want to watch the games with me. As we watched some of the games together, he would tell me stats that I didn’t know and I would mention players that are long gone from the Canucks – he’d usually laugh and say , “how do you still remember Skudra?”

I debated whether or not to go downtown for Game 7 because I knew that win or lose, there were going to be idiots who would ruin the whole experience for the rest of us. Yet, when I learned my brother was heading down there with his friends, I asked to join them as I couldn’t imagine watching the last game of the season without him. Of course, he was happy to have me come along even if it looked a little lame that he brought his older sister. Plus, this is probably the last game we would watch together for a while since I am inevitably moving in September. The game itself was not great but the time we spent watching it was wonderful. When I reflect on this playoff run, all that comes to mind is how grateful I am to the Vancouver Canucks. They not only made me love hockey again but they have undoubtedly brought me closer to my brother. So, I will be looking forward to the next season and hoping the Canucks will have another great year which will end with Henrik hoisting the cup in the air!

Sleep, don’t weep, my sweet love
Your face is all wet and your day was rough
So do what you must do to find yourself
Wear another shoe, or paint my shelf
Those times that I was broke, and you stood strong
I think I found a place where I…

Sleep, don’t weep, my sweet love
Your face it’s all wet ’cause our days were rough
So do what you must do to fill that hole
Wear another shoe to comfort the soul
Those times that I was broke, and you stood strong
I think I found a place where I feel I will…

Sleep, don’t weep, my sweet love
My face it’s all wet ’cause my day was rough
So do what you must do to find yourself
Wear another shoe, or paint my shelf
Those times that I was broke, and you stood strong
I hope I find a place where I feel I belong

Sleep, don’t weep, my sweet love
My face is all wet ’cause my day was rough

I see myself in you
In everything you do
And when you’re all alone at night
You know I am by your side
Because I’m there too

I see me in your eyes
And I’m the tears you cry
And when you fall apart
And are dying from a broken heart
I’m there too

I see your footsteps in the sand
As you journey on across this land
But if you should fall on your way
Then I will carry you that day
I’m there too
Yeah I’m there too

I see your face in mine
And I know there’ll come a time
When you will take my hand
And I will understand
That you’re there too
When you will take my hand
And I will understand
That you’re there
You’re there too

I had a fantastic birthday.

Last night I had a great dinner with my friend, Reina. She took me out to Joey’s.

Today, I began the day with officially launching www.angelawongphotography.com! Then did Bikram’s Yoga with Stewart and Megan. Then had a great veggie lunch with them and awesome conversation. Headed to the Blim Market to check that out and am seriously contemplating selling prints and cards there in the future.

Came home, had a wonderful bath. Face Timed my baboo for awhile

Received an awesome gift from my siblings (1 TB External Hard Drive for all my photos!).

Chatted with my Bride God (Leoma) on the phone for a bit

Went to Campagnolo with Miranda, Teresa, and Stewart to celebrate my birthday and Miranda’s birthday (hers is tomorrow). Ate a delicious meal. Now, I’m home and happy that it was a good day!

Oh and I’ve been trying to get Nathan Fillion to tweet Happy Birthday to me all day because we share the same birthday and I had tweeted Happy Birthday to him. He didn’t though but I did get a tweet from Norbert Fillion so that was pretty awesome. Norbert Fillion looks like this:

So, I was still pretty excited about the tweet from Norbert Fillion!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special this weekend!

I had such a lovely birthday celebration with some of my dearest friends. We drove down to Chukanut Manor and Grill and had their Seafood Smorgasbord and it was terrific! The best part was obviously the company as I just love my friends dearly. They are one of the most wonderful groups of people I know so here’s a list of things we laughed about tonight (we love to laugh!):

1) The million dollar view on Chukanut Highway – that apparently gave motion sickness to Grace and Stewart.

2) My passport getting an A- and theirs being more of a fail. Tsk Tsk Tracy, should have told the Mexican customs official to stamp on the the right page.

3) Mourning the death of Geocities. RIP Geocities and your awful URLs to our awesome fan pages about boy bands and Gone with the Wind.

4) Grace and Tracy being Pager Hackers. Yes, they used to hack into other people’s pager voice mail back when pagers were cool (hard to believe!), and they would leave messages for each other in other people’s pager voice mail. They were such delinquents.

5) Stewart downloading music videos on dial-up back in the day. Sure, it took three days but he really needed to see the new Britney video. Thank goodness for Youtube these days!

6) The fact that I had a computer (circa 1987) from 1993-2000. I had to go into DOS to get to anything and it had MS Works 1.0. Three days after Y2K, my dad bought me a new computer.

7) This guy farting three times in front of me in Bikram’s Yoga. I was especially angry because I needed to fart but I was polite enough to hold it in until the end of class, thank you very much.

8 ) Grace is hilarious. Her stories are hilarious. J-es, you just don’t know how to do! Oh and her feathers are nice too, D-yl!

9)Mr. Bae was not funny. His show was not funny. We are not shocked by his jokes because they are not funny.

10) Teresa should be allowed to use whatever background colour and font colour in ICQ! Don’t tell her otherwise.

11)  Asian Avenue, 106-something, Xanga… yeah, enough said.

12) Tracy apparently was driving down with me to Chukanut… according to the message she left in my birthday card. It seemed like I didn’t know that until I read the card

13) Remember free Internet.. Netzero and their giant ads. Man, Netzero….

So, that was some of the stuff we laughed about. I’m sure I’ve already forgotten a whole bunch but long story short, we are people who know how to do and we are hilarious!

The girls and I

Partners in crime.. we are the ultimate schemers.

Nom Nom Nom

To Everyone Who Donated to Paper Kite Children’s Foundation through my Canada Helps Fund-raising Initiative in December 2010:

First and foremost, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who donated to Paper Kite Children’s Foundation through my Canada Helps page back in December. The total amount raised was: $1040!

The money was extremely helpful as our Paper Kite team went to Bihar in late January to early February with $12,000 dollars that was used to help three orphanages. For more information on the orphanages we helped out, please go to: http://paperkitefoundation.com/what-we-do/2011-orphanages-we-are-helping-in-bodhgaya-bihar/.

With the money raised in December 2010, we were able to buy enough food to feed an orphanage of 80 children for a whole month! This is great because if you think about it, the average Canadian family of four spends roughly $250 dollars a week on grocery so $1000 dollars feeds a family of four for a month… but now it’s feeding an orphanage of 80 children for a month!

So, thank you so much for helping. If you want to keep helping Paper Kite, please visit our website: http://paperkitefoundation.com/get-involved/donate/. We are always looking for volunteers as well!

Also, with your help, I was featured as the Volunteer of the Month! Check it out at: http://paperkitefoundation.com/current-events/featured-volunteer-angela-wong/

With much love and immense gratitude,

Angela

A few pictures of our volunteers that went to Bihar in February 2011:

Last week was miserable. I became sick on the eve of Chinese New Year, was sick all day of Chinese New Year, was rejected for a student internship that I know I am overqualified for, felt dejected about my career prospects, and was called fat by my aunts (though the last incidence has been a normal occurrence since I was a kid). Then I started thinking, did I jinx myself? Yes, superstitions are not logical but I thought perhaps I was too keen on 2011 starting and so the powers of 2010 was coming back to bite me in the butt. That last sentence barely made sense, but I have always had problems with over analyzing to the point that I’m no longer that rational.

When I’m down however, I only allow myself to wallow in my own self-pity for so long before I pick myself up, dust myself off, and get on with it, which is what I did this week. It started off with a wonderful frivolous trip to Seattle with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Teresa! It was her birthday so we treated ourselves to hot dogs, bubble tea, and The Cheesecake Factory. Yes, we love The Cheesecake Factory but sadly, we were too full to actually eat any cheesecake. Upon returning home, I checked my email and I was accepted to present at a Student Symposium at the University of Victoria in March. That took the sting off of being rejected by the University of Toronto (though again, it was a really nice rejection). I looked at the final schedule too, and it turns out I was the only non-UVic student that was accepted so kudos to me(?).

Then, yesterday, I found out I was accepted into the law program at the University of Alberta commencing in September 2011. For those who actually follow this blog I know you may be surprised that I applied in the first place as I haven’t told many people of my intentions of pursuing a career in law. To make a long story short, when I was in Singapore, I discovered that legal advocacy is a career that I may want to explore because I realized that it is difficult to defend people’s rights without understanding the legal system or being able to practice legally? Thus, I re-took the LSAT (having done terribly in 2007 due to declaring that I did not want to do law the week before and then I proceeded to bomb it) in October 2010, applied to three schools by December and now have been accepted into one of them. Honestly, I was doubtful I would get in – even though friends and Aaron told me that I was crazy to doubt such a thing – but I really did think that my chances were just 50-50 (like that internship). I knew my marks were really good but my averaged LSAT score was just borderline okay. Needless to say, it is a huge relief that I was accepted into at least one school (so far). Still waiting to hear from two more but they will most likely be more difficult to get in due to the way they calculate my marks (I had a few terrible grades in first and second year despite having an immaculate record in my last two undergrad years and in my MA program – oh how I hate cumulative GPA!).

Anyway, things are starting to look up despite a rough start to the Chinese New Year. Here’s also a picture of my sweet puppy. I love this picture because there’s just so many ways to interpret how he’s feeling. For example, when I took it, he looked like he was modeling the classic profile look-away shot. Today, I feel like he’s giving me the “I don’t care if you leave me for school because I don’t need you anyway” face. Oh the ability to guilt myself…how I loathe thee!

I just received a rejection e-mail from Amnesty International Canada. I had applied for a summer internship with them, was short-listed for an interview, completed the interview, and now have been rejected. How do I feel about this? Well, the logical side of me is saying that it was not exactly the best financial opportunity for me. Considering the cost of living in Ottawa for four months and air travel, it would have eaten up almost all of what they were going to pay me. The other side of me is clearly disappointed and saddened by the news. I had wanted to do this internship because I thought it was a great opportunity to get to spend the summer with Leoma before she got married. More significantly, I thought it was my foot in the door of human rights work, but clearly it wasn’t. I’m just getting tired of the limited options there are in the field of human rights advocacy and research. This is an area that I would like to pursue a career in but even with my experience and education, I’m not able to get a summer student internship with Amnesty International Canada. What hope do I really have to work in this field? I can see why so many people give up because when it comes down to it, even though these jobs pay very little, they are still so limited in numbers and so, even if there are people like me who are willing to work for a lot less, it doesn’t matter because ultimately, there are not enough jobs to go around.

The illogical side of me is thinking that 2011 is starting off roughly now. I’ve already been rejected to present at a conference (though it was a really nice rejection letter and they had wanted to include me but my paper just didn’t fit into any themes), I’ve been rejected for this internship, and who knows what else I’m going to be rejected for? Finding a job is difficult. Finding a job in the field of work I want to do is becoming near impossible. More and more every day, I feel that my ideals from my youth are slipping away. And as I become an adult, I realize that what you want to do in life may never be a viable option so at what point do I give up and look for something else?

I am done my MA program and I will be graduating in May. Needless to say, I am extremely happy but what I hadn’t anticipated was this feeling of restlessness that followed. Now that I am no longer in school, I only have my part-time job to keep me busy – and to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t keep me that busy. Also, with Aaron in Edmonton and friends who are busy with their schooling or jobs, my days off have been rather lonely and I hate to admit it, but I have been spending way too much time in front of the boob tube. My love for my PVR has certainly faltered these last two weeks, and it feels more like a curse than a gift. Yes, I know I should be looking for a job and get on with becoming a grown-up but to be perfectly honest, I am currently playing the waiting game. I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of post-grad programs and also for some jobs I’ve applied to and that I really want.Plus, there is so little out there that I want to do and I have not been rejected enough to be desperate enough to just apply for every job that I am qualified for but may not want to do. So, what to do with my time? (Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!)

Well, two nights ago I watched Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It was such beautiful experience and I don’t recall the last time when a movie elicited so many different emotions from me. Watching the break-up of a relationship of two people who have seemingly tried so hard to make it right – it was difficult not to look away. It was almost voyeuristic as the acting and the story was so strong that it really felt like I had unintentionally found myself watching two people who existed beyond the silver screen. And I don’t want to misrepresent the movie as one that is just depressing because I honestly did not feel it was. At the end of the movie, I actually felt hopeful and that somehow the story was not finished and somewhere out there Cindy and Dean were going to find a way to work it out. Yet, perhaps that’s the eternal optimism in me as the friend I went to watch the movie with definitely felt like it was finished for the two of them. Anyway, I loved the movie but it also provided a source of inspiration as I started writing again. I began reviewing some of the stories I had started so long ago and realized that I still wanted to finish them. With so much time on my hand now, I think this is the perfect opportunity to get back into a hobby that I loved and thought I had lost so long ago. My creative juices have definitely started flowing, so here’s to hoping that my restlessness will transform into something more productive.

Here’s the trailer for Blue Valentine for those who are interested. It’s a beautiful movie, so go see it!