First-time Skater

Guess what?!

I finally went SKATING!!

Since it wasn’t too cold last Friday night, Steve decided to take me skating. He knows I’ve never been and I’ve been dying to go for a really long time now so after work, he suggested that we head home, grab our skates and go downtown for dinner. I didn’t own a pair of skates so his sister let me borrow hers instead (there’s only about an inch or so difference between our foot size).

Nathan Phillips Square, downtown, has a rink that’s free and open to the public. They have skate rentals too for those that down have one. We decided to have dinner at the Korean BBQ Grill nearby which is a really cool place to eat because you get an all-you-can-eat dinner for less than $15, the food is great and you get to cook it yourself. It was packed by the time we got there but since it was near the rink and we really didn’t feel like going some place else (not to mention that we already paid for parking) we decided to wait for a table.

After dinner, we walked to the rink and Steve helped me put on my skates (those things are heavy!) and he made sure they were tight but comfortable enough to move with. After helping me with mine and putting his on, it was time to get on the ice. He went in first and told me to wait until he got a feel for it (he hasn’t been skating for quite sometime so he wanted to make sure he was comfortable enough to help me). He made a lap around the rink, came back for me and slowly helped me get on the rink. I have to tell you, watching other people skate seemed easy but as soon as I stepped on the rink, I yelped and grabbed Steve for support. It was so darn slippery that I was scared to even move a little.

He kept telling me that it was ok, he wasn’t going to let me fall and that we should take baby steps towards the center of the rink. It was HARD! I almost fell so MANY times and each time one of my legs slipped from under me, I’d scream and grab him. We were laughing so hard and I told him I felt a little embarrassed because everyone else seemed to know how to skate and I was the only one in the center, yelping with arms flailing. I asked him if we could move to the sides of the rink where it wasn’t so obvious that I was a beginner. He looked at me and said, “Honey, beginners always skate in the middle so we don’t get in the way of those people going around the rink and moving really fast…” I looked around and said, “I really hate all the people in this rink right now who make it seem so easy!”

Steve said that with enough practice, I will eventually get the hang of it and that I was doing really well for a first-time skater (maybe knowing how to roller blade helped noh?). Towards the end of the evening, I was much better although I still cannot let go of his arm. I had fallen twice on my bum and after the second fall, we called it a night. My arms were sore and I was sure I had a huge bruise forming at the part that hit the ice.

We were skating for an entire hour and although it was a bit painful, I had so much fun. Steve asked me whether I would want to go again… Of course I would!

Here are some pictures Steve and I took with my phone camera but the lighting wasn’t very good so the pictures came out a little blurred.

View of City Hall and the Big Tree from the Rink

First-time skater!

The Rink

View of the Christmas Lights above the Rink

The skating champ!

The "Know Myself Better Test"

Found a link to this quick quiz on a friend’s page and gave it a shot.

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don’t judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren’t necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people’s eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that’s why you’ll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You’re a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you’ll be set for life.

How do you view success:

Success in your career is not the most important thing in life. You are content with what you have and think that being with someone you love is more than spending all of your precious time just working.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It’s time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Meme

Nicked this one from Violet

Do you own a gun?
Nope.

What do you think of hot dogs?
Tender Juicy (a Philippine brand – believe it or not) is still my favorite. I have a theory too – hotdogs sold on the street tastes better. LOL

What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Water or coffee.

Can you do push-ups?
I can do a few and then I’ll roll over to my back, gasping for air and thinking that I am going to die.

What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?
Earrings. I almost never go out of the house without them.

What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex?
Wit? Charm? I don’t know! Hahaha

Middle name?
In the Philippines it would be mom’s maiden name but in Canada, they’ll consider my second name my middle name (confusing eh?)

Name three thoughts at this exact moment:

1. Why is time going by so SLOWLY?
2. What am I going to buy with my $500 gift?
3. I wonder how much my next pay cheque will be…

What time did you wake up today?
6:15 am

Current hate?
Slow databases

Name three drinks you regularly drink:

1. water
2. pop/iced tea
3. coffee

Do you own slippers?
yep.

What shirt are you wearing?
A brown tank top and a sweater on top.

Do you burn or tan?
Burn… easily too.

Favorite color(s)?
White, Blue… pastel colors mostly

Would you be a pirate?
Nah.

What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas

What songs do you sing in the shower?
I hardly sing in the shower and if I do, it’s because I’m having a last song syndrome.

What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
Those puppets hanging in our bedroom wall. I don’t know what my parents were thinking hanging them there to begin with!

What’s in your pockets right now?
Nothing.

Last thing that made you laugh?
the site I mentioned in my previous post.

Best bed sheets as a child?
There’s one that was soft and had cartoon characters on it and it was white with a predominantly green design (aside from the cartoon characters, of course).

Worst injury you’ve ever had?
I can’t think of one right now.

Are your parents still together?
Yes.

Do you wish on shooting stars?
Not really. I’m lucky to even see one.

What is your favorite book(s)?
Just refer to my Book widget on the right side of this page.

What is your favorite candy?
I don’t have a favorite candy.

How is the weather outside right now?
A little cloudy and cold.

What was your first thought this morning when you woke up?
what am I going to wear to work?!

Nakanampucha.

I came across this site while browsing through another person’s blog (this line seems all too familiar…how many times have I mentioned stumbling onto something from someone else’s page?? It’s amazing where one mouse click leads you. LOL)

http://nakanampucha.wordpress.com

Aaaannnyywwaayy, the site name caught my attention and I thought the site itself is pretty hilarious. I’m so glad I came across first thing this morning. It certainly made my day.

I couldn’t stop laughing and I’m just glad I have my own office or else everyone will think I’m nuts for laughing by myself.

Teleserye

I was bored last night so I ended up going to YouTube and watching a bunch of videos. I was just randomly entering keywords in the Search Box to see what videos would come up and eventually I stumbled upon some old teleserye videos which I found quite interesting to watch. They were, of course, very very cheesy and quite shallow but entertaining nonetheless. I wouldn’t even dare mention which one it is. It’s quite embarrassing, you see. It was with Anne Curtis and Oyo Boy Sotto (ayan ha, I told you na who starts in it so it should narrow it down for you by much).

I couldn’t help it, I was so curious that one episode led to another until I had watched 18 episodes of it. The sad part was, all the other episodes after episode 18 are missing and they don’t have it on YouTube. By this point, I was already hooked and I needed to know what was going to happen next. So I went on ol’ trusted Google and searched for the missing episodes. It was so late already and I really needed to get some sleep so I settled with a website that had episode by episode synopsis all the way until episode 30. Of course it wasn’t as exciting as watching a video but at least I got to know what happened and how it ended.

There was one episode that got me crying and my dad just happened to enter my room at that point. He took one puzzled look at me, looked at what I was watching on my laptop, put two and two together and closed my bedroom door laughing.

Peelings

Just thought I’d share with you one of my favorite Happy Slip videos:

Google Language Tools

Today I learned how to use the Google Language Tools and I think it is uber cool and extremely useful. I remember reading about it from one of the websites I visited some time ago but I never really got a chance to look into it.

I was looking for some new templates and came across a website with lots of resources but was written almost entirely in Spanish. Try as I might, I can only somewhat distinguish some of the words and what they mean but for the most part, I was confused. Remembering what I read about Google being able to translate websites to a language of your choice, I decided to look into it.

It’s really neat because it allows you to specify the language and run a search and it automatically translates it for you. I searched for a website I wanted to visit and I was really impressed that it displayed it english and what impressed me is the fact that it didn’t just translate the words but seem to have kept the grammar intact. I’ve only looked at one website so I don’t know how good of a translation it does with other, possibly, more complex sites.

Supposedly crazy science!

It’s been sometime since my last post and I, unfortunately, cannot think of anything witty or amusing to write so instead I would like to share with you something I found quite entertaining to read in another person’s blog.

Crazy Science

I coulnd’t help but laugh at the first and sixth theory…enjoy!

My first tennis experience.

As usual, the weekend flew by. Steve taught me how to play Tennis. I have never played Tennis before and although the thought of playing was exciting, it also worried me a bit. Have you seen me? I’m tiny! I’m not good at sports that require a lot of strength or a lot of running. We didn’t play a real game. It was more like him lightly hitting the ball in my direction and me trying to hit it back. The first few times I completely missed the ball and was swinging at nothing but air and then I started to do better… just a tad bit better… not a whole lot. Thank God nobody else was at the tennis court except for a guy playing with his little daughter. It would have been really embarrassing if someone who was good at it saw my pathetic little self trying to hit the ball back.

Eventually I was able to hit it back but I had no control of where it went. Steve was running all over the place trying to hit my ball back. My balls where going everywhere! One of the balls actually went over the fence and hit one of the parked cars. Whoops! Hahaha!

I am so out of shape, it’s not funny. I was hyperventilating after being in the tennis court for only 10 minutes. After half an hour, my heart was pounding so hard I could feel my veins in my temples and it seemed as if my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Steve, on the other hand, was fine. I must have been a very frustrating opponent.

We only played for about 45 minutes or so and then we decided to leave it for another day because I was already exhausted. I had to lie down when we got home before going to the movies.

Although it was really exhausting, I loved it. Who knew Tennis was so much fun? I love playing Table Tennis so it was just a much bigger version of it and involved so much more running and more space to cover with my legs. My right arm and thighs are a bit sore but I would love to play again.

The Life Survey (from Bom)

SAD SECTION:

01. Have you ever really cried your heart out?
~ Yes… and so many times

02. Have you ever cried yourself to sleep?
~ Almost all the time. I usually end up falling asleep when I cry.

03. Have you ever cried on your friend’s shoulder?
~ Rarely but I can think of a couple of occasions.

04. Do you cry when you get an injury?
~ Not really too much but there are times when I do.

HAPPY SECTION:

01. Are you a happy person?
~ Most of the time

02. What makes you happy?
~ Simple things… my loved ones, Steve, a good movie, a favorite song, great friends, blessings, a free parking spot… the good little things in life.

03. Is being happy overrated?
~ Never. It might not be necessary but it sure is important.

04. Can music make you happy?
~ It helps.

LOVE SECTION:

01. How many times have you had your heart broken?
~ A lot… not just with relationships but disappointments too.

02. Anyone besides your friends/family ever said they loved you?
~ Yes.

03. Have you ever told someone you loved them?
~ Yes, all the time.

HATE SECTION:

01. Who do you actually hate?
~ Hate is such a strong word. There are a few people that come to mind although I don’t know if I actually hate them or if it’s just dislike.

02. Have you ever made a hit list?
~ I think I thought about it once. Not that I intend on doing anything about it but I always imagined that if I had special powers, I would show them! Hahahaha!

03. Are you a mean bully?
~ Nope.

04. Have you ever been on a hit list?
~ Maybe?

SELF- ESTEEM SECTION:

01. Are you happy with yourself?
~ I’m ok with who I am. There are times when I get a little self-conscious but everyday I learn a little bit more about myself and there are things that I realize I can and cannot do and come to terms with it.

02. Do you wish you could be someone else?
~ Sometimes…not so much to be them, but just being able to do the things they do, be where they are or have what they have.