Ready

Only 1 full day left...

Bern looks so cute @ Dot. Desserts w/ each of the parfaits (5556 Cambie opening to the general public around March 2!)
Wow... defo time to get a new camera....
Watched Coraline w/ Nad yesterday -- we got the cool 3D glasses but the pics w/ took w/ them didn't turn out that well. Nightmare-ish movie w/ lots of things that popped out at me, but it was pretty cool. I sort of expected things to come out of the screen so much that I could touch it, but I think that would make a lot of people dizzy.

Some Posh girls
From Saturday -- we look kind of exhausted... it was a busy shift.

This is a nicer picture but I wasn't really ready... (so unlike me!! haha)I'm packing... trying reeeally hard not to bring too many clothes...

Twenty Five

So there's this phenomenon spreading like wildfire around Facebook called "25 Random Facts About Me". I think everyone has been tagged at least once from this thing. Once you're tagged, you're supposed to publicly post 25 facts about yourself in a new Facebook note and then tag another 25 people (whom you are interested in learning more about and/or whom have not already been tagged). This whole tagging thing is seen everywhere now... this chain is super popular on YouTube, too. I like how personal it is and how much you can learn about someone you don't feel you know very well or are interested in learning more about. Plus, I like how you're not confined to "your favourite colour" etc. - the possibilities are limitless.
25 Random Facts About Me

1. I'm a bit OC when it comes to towels... I only use bath towels once and then throw them in the laundry hamper because I feel 'dirty' if I have to use it again.
2. The second time I was in the driver's seat, I (accidentally) ran over a crow. Ever since, I have let my L expire and hardly bothered to learn to drive was because I have felt my goal as a driver (to kill crows) was complete.
3. I really really want to go to the Britney Spears concert.
   
4. I want to marry a pilot.
5. In Taiwan, I once went out on my own for a couple hours while everyone was having lessons/dance practice and went into a hookah bar and smoked mango with a group of Taiwanese guys.
6. I have never sworn once in my life.
7. I have been on TV 3 times.
   
8. I used to be mean and nasty in the first half of elementary school... it was a wonder how I had friends.
   
9. I hate the smell of bananas (ew don't eat your black banana near me or I gag to myself and try to hold my breath and/or try to escape) and have only begun to eat them semi-recently.. and even so, I only do when they're in blueberry smoothies or when there's still green on the peel (not as stinky).
10. One of my biggest pet peeves are when people blow their nose when they aren't in the bathroom. Absolutely disgusting!!
11. I would wear one of these:
    
    **
    
12. I have a secret crush on one of my coworkers and have switched shifts just so I can work with him.
13. I once (accidentally!) knocked my brother in the head with a baseball bat and he had to go into emergency + get 5 stitches.
14. I eat in my sleep.
    
15. The heaviest I ever weighed was 155lbs.
16. I think Richard Gere is the handsomest man in the world.
17. The real reason why my mom made me switch elementary schools to Tyee in Gr. 3 after going to Our Lady of Sorrows for 3 years was because I got detention too many times @ OLS... the last straw was when I was sent to the principal's office. Ever since, I've learned to be a good girl @ school.
    
18. I have more freckles on my butt than my face.
19. I've read the first Boxcar Children book over 20 times b/c I loved it so much and I've read this one version of Titanic (a 375 pg book) I randomly picked out at a bookstore 7 times. I even wrote down the page numbers of all my favourite 'scenes' on a post-it note in the back just so I could flip to it faster.
20. I have an obsession with the letters K and R
21. I've had chicken pox twice.
22. If I were to become religious, I would be a Buddhist.
23. Red is becoming my favourite colour
24. When I was 6 or 7, I stepped outside of the skytrain on a stop where I wasn't supposed to (I'm pretty sure it was Broadway). I still remember my mom's hands between the doors and her looking terrified with my brother in a stroller. Luckily, there was an older couple with white hair (from what I remember) that stayed with me until my mom came back to get me.
    
25. Only 10 of these are true.

Whew that was hard to think of 25 things!
You can guess which ones are true or not but I ain't telling you the truth ;)

Gratuity

Well, Happy Valentine's Day =)

As expected, Valentine's Day @ Posh was mainly full of couples. Almost all of them tipped very well, which was nice, but I had a couple of "incidents". I've had this problem (well, to servers, it's a problem) a few times in the past and it just isn't right. As much as it shouldn't, good/bad tips make or break the work shift in terms of satisfaction and happiness for a lot of the employees. The money aspect contributes to part of the happiness, but to us servers, it's more of an unsaid pat on the back. When a customer dishes out over 20%, it's like they are telling us "good job, you were a great server" - a compliment and definitely a confidence booster in the work place.

We are paid a base pay of $8/hr so tips make up most of our income and definitely determine how much we earn. With this new tip structure, a percentage of our food and drink sales (separately) are deducted from our tips and are given to the bar, host, bussers, and kitchen staff... so even if we'd make about $150 in tips for one shift, for example, we would only get tipped out about $70-80 on a decent night.

Although it varies from country to country (and of course by industry), it is common knowledge that it's generally rare to tip in many countries in Asia... whereas in North America, a 10-20% tip is pretty much expected given that service is of a certain high quality. Yes, I realize that maybe the sort of service we're providing is just not to their liking, but that just doesn't make sense if a server gets 20% from one table and only 5% from the next. How much one should tip is not legally required, but it is considered unethical to tip so miserly.

Many people think Asians are terrible tippers, which does hold true for the most part. From my experience, there are different and distinct levels of Asian tippers. Japanese are the worst, apparently Koreans are pretty bad too... around the 5-10% but I haven't noticed, Chinese give you 10% max but usually hover around the 7-8% range, and Taiwanese leave about a 8-12% tip. Though we don't serve very many, the Filipino and Vietnamese also seem to hover around the 10-15% range... and just to give you something to compare to, a Caucasian/European person almost always tip between 13-30% (unless they are students).

But anyway, there's the problem... Japanese people are just not accustomed to tip ANYTHING in Japan. I've heard that if you even give them a dollar more than what's on the bill, they'd be practically bowing down to you. I consider Japanese people to be the worst tippers in that they don't tip at all. They give you everything on the bill to the penny. All this talk about tips may sound like I'm a money hog but customers should realize that when they don't tip, we, as servers, are paying out of our own pocket to serve them b/c we have to give money back to the restaurant! That in itself is just not right.

My "incident" was with this table of 3 (and previously a table of 7) Japanese people whose bills came out to be $69 (and $192) and they left me with no tip whatsoever. For the $69 table, I had to pay approximately $7 from my own pocket to serve them. That's almost an hour of my base pay! PLUS they tend to ask you for certain things verbally instead of filling out that order sheet so I was running back and forth from the kitchen to the table, giving things to them individually as they decided they wanted 2 more pieces of Shitake mushrooms. And then at the end, I think they feel bad for not leaving any tip or they wanted to show their gratitude in another way so they, with apologetic looks in their eyes, practically clean the whole table for me, maybe thinking that they'll make up for it in that way ............ no. It doesn't work that way.

If it weren't for tips, no one would want to work at a restaurant as a server. And it's not like we're giving them poor service - I'm proud to be working with happy + smiley servers who are amiable, helpful and polite, and who work quickly and efficiently - all to bring the customers with good quality service. There should be no reason why we should receive less than 5%...

No, I don't want to see a 10 or 15% service charge automatically added onto bills because that would definitely not make employees feel they need to work hard to earn their tip and our teamwork would definitely not be the same. All I want is for someone to force all Japanese (and apparently Korean) visitors to read a manual titled "Proper Customs While In Canada" and highlight certain parts to clearly outline what is or isn't acceptable. Anyway, I have more to say, but I'll end my rant here.

Here's a bit of a laugh:
I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty darn comfortable to wear whatever and do whatever around the house when it's just me w/ my family. This includes NOT closing the bathroom door (though I actually do close and lock the main floor bathroom door out of habit for some reason), when I have to pee. So I was on the toilet upstairs, when heard footsteps coming towards it with the same footstep-weight as my brother, but with more of a sock-shuffle (my brother doesn't seem to like wearing socks as much as I do). I'm curious so I crane my neck (while still on the toilet), trying to hear more... and it turns out to be one of my brother's friends (I've never met/seen before)! hahaha I wasn't actually embarrassed to be seen on the toilet in my Hello Kitty robe and teddy bear fleece PJ pants @ my knees and my pink underwear, but his expression was so funny! His eyes got really wide and his mouth formed an "o" shape and it really reminded me of a Cheerio and his hand flew to his mouth. He kept on apologizing "sorry" hahahaha I couldn't help but laugh. Now, I'm using the computer in the computer room in the main floor and just heard someone come upstairs and knock lightly on the bathroom door (for some reason the door was closed.. I think something is wrong w/ the toilet again) and the guy chuckled to himself as he was doing so. lol... great first impression too, eh?? I wonder if he's traumatized.

TOO CUTE I WANT ONE!

Wonder Baby + Wonder Girls
**

Super productive day today:
Went to SFU to:
- hand in photocopy of passport
- get an ISIC card (mailed to me)
- get money a friend owed me
Went downtown to:
- hand in Visa application (to be picked up next Wed) + get approved
- exchange currency (found that Korea Exchange Bank under H Mart on Robson had the best rate + it was nice inside + the employees were nice too)
- bought another pair of leggings (my backup pair b/c I wear them a lot + used up gift card)
- got my bangs cut @ Chura
- got Shu Uemura cleansing oil samples (woot woot).. I'm actually running out of Cetaphil!

All that's left is to figure out some possible courses + pick up my visa + pack!!

A couple cuties I get to see this Thursday:
Triton's wearing a wig.

Wanna See Some Magic??

Disclaimer: This trick was performed without any visually enhancing technology.

Before:

2 hours later... w/ tons of boxing away, dusting, and vacuuming...
After:
The only thing that I took out of the room was my suitcase. My room has so much potential... so plain and boring now haha... oh well. It will be fixed up eventually... heheh I have so much floor space again! No more hopping!

Just Crazy

I've been up, WIDE AWAKE since 4:30AM! I think it must be the result of those 14 chocolate-covered espresso beans I ate yesterday morning. Munch munch. I went to bed at around 12:30AM... what should/can I do at this hour? I feel crazy + I want to go for a light jog somewhere but I know once I start, I'm going to feel tired again.

ha it's currently snowing up at SFU (not like it matters to me) + I'm sitting here in shorts and a tank top like it's summer... it's not that warm either, I'm just crazy.

Ah only 5 more shifts @ the restaurant (Wed all day, Fri morn, Sat and Sun night) before I leave! I'll miss those crazy kids so much.. it was one of my fav. coworker's last day yesterday. We're getting some new ingredients... vegetarian beef, vegetarian chicken, seaweed (shall be interesting!), fishcake (yum), zucchini, baby corn, and 2 types/parts of a lettuce. Now how complicated would that be? That's just crazy! Even now we yell orders to each other to bring beef/pork trays to certain tables like "2 and 2 to B4". Now, we're going to have to say "3B, 5P, 2 VB, and 1VC" if we find that's the most efficient way... but either way, it'll take much longer...but I guess if you're a meat eater, you'd probably not care to try the vegetarian meat options... but sometimes I think they just like to try it out. I would.

I want to see Coraline (that 3D movie) in theatres before I leave!
And Confessions of a Shopaholic too (which I will see for sure).

Alright, I'm going to attempt going to bed again. My goodness I have over 10 drafts in my blog to-be-posted section. Will post eventually. Later on today I will be downtown to hand in my visa, buy some souvenirs, and get my bangs cut, and then I have a doctor's appt to get my Hep A shot (which I might switch to Friday instead).

Good friends are like stars.
You don't always see them, but you know they're always there.

(Parenthesis)

I bought one of those pocket 2-year calendars (one with beach backgrounds) from Michaels for 33 cents the other day (you know, I walk there (1 block away) every lunch break and wander around for 15 min (yes, wasting half of my lunch), picking up a few things and never buying anything)... to organize myself so that I wouldn't miss another deadline. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by all the people I want to see and errands I need to run before I go! Today was rather productive as I went to get my prescription filled for my Hep A shot, ate a LOT of greek salad + H-dip in between + got my visa photo taken @ Costco (AH passport photos are on sale for $5 instead of the $14 I paid @ LD!!). Yeaaa... I'm pushing it by handing my visa application so late as I only have literally 2 weeks left (I'm handing it in on Monday!) and it takes 5 business days to process. It should be fine...

Anyway, the point of this is to say I've been quite busy recently (w/ dinners, lunches, a sleepover, babysitting, and exercise) which is why I haven't blogged half as often as usual (for all you who have cried "your readers are bored!").

My heart pounds every time my eyes skim over the day of the 21st on the calendar. I definitely have mixed emotions... I'm amazingly excited and am anticipating this whole experience in general and I can't believe I'm actually going on this trip I've talked about for soooo long but as the days approach being countable on both hands, I'm getting nervous... I'm going cold turkey from my comfort zone - no companion, no daily taken-for-grated interaction with family and friends, new surroundings, "new" language, new everything (except for music and food). I'm going in without expectations and I'm just going to be myself and see where things take me.

OH before I forget, I wanted to document my 1st (free) trial lesson of Muay Thai Kickboxing a few blocks away from my house (yesterday)! I would love to start doing it regularly - when I come back. I feel it today as the back of my legs, upper abs, and upper back are a tad sore. It's even more fun w/ a friend so I'm so glad I did it with Ashley. Go try it! The instructor was helpful in correcting my technique a couple times and he actually can be kind of funny too. The first bit was jumping back and forth with our fists protecting our face as we jab in different directions with all our might. And then we kicked as hard as we could and kneed our partners. Ab work out on mats (many crunches w/ legs off the ground). Then some half-burpies working our legs. Stretching. And we learned a cool defense sequence. Don't try to smooch me if I don't like you 'cause you'll be sorry!! It was such a workout -- I sweat so much! And it's different every time - you'll work on different parts of the body.

I've written more but I can't finish it right now... I shall post it tomorrow... or Sunday, rather, as I am pulling a 11:30AM-12AM double shift tomorrow @ the restaurant. I will be having a quick dinner there during my break from 4:45-5:45 so you're welcome to join me! haha

Read more >> Options >>

School Pride?

Last week, a customer asked me if I knew what SFU's mascot was. I was embarrassed to say I had no clue/couldn't remember! Did you know? It's a Scottish Terrier named McFogg the Dog. Ah, now I can vaguely picture it in my mind... Don't know how I feel about that.

Majorly

You know what's something I haven't done in a while?
Online shopped!

I'm still shopped-out for a while (ie. a few weeks)... especially for Winter clothes (though a couple more coats would be nice), but I'm never lust-out! Summer sandals... handbags... mmmmmmmm

I'm kind of disappointed - I thought the lines would come out with something different than the gladiator-type sandals from last year, but I like these quite a lot.
I think we'll be seeing a lot of pastel shades this Spring/Summer, which I don't mind except for pastel peach or certain shades of pastel orange... like Flintstone vitamins [shuh shuh shuh shuuuder]

Love this look
Blogger Childhood Flames - older set of pics but I do very much like how she wears this outfit.
I tried just saving only one of these pictures to show you but I just think I needed to post the set of three for the effect.
Just found out Daniel Henney is in Vancouver filming as Agent Zero for Xmen @ UBC. So handsome!! So happy to hear he signed a lot of textbooks/cell phones =D So handdssoomeeeee

Quite a few more things to do before I leave:
- Take another passport-type photo for my Visa (will only take 5 days to process)
- Travel clinic (maybe tomorrow...) to get shots.. make appt w/ doctor to get my Hep A shot.
- Find out if I've got the dorm.. if not, look for an apartment ASAP
- Figure out which courses I'd like to take + see if they're transferable (will do that this wknd)
- Buy souvenirs
- Buy my favourite snacks to bring
- Currency exchange
- Give SFU a copy of my passport (by hand! gotta trek up...)
- Get an ISIC card from SFU
- Pack, of course
- Find my camera cord!
- moreeeee

Things That Go Vroom! Or Putt Putt....

Today, my brother and I treated my grandparents to Dine Out at Joe Fortes. I love listening to my Gong Gong (G-pa, mom's side) talk haha he's so animated and enthusiastic in his own way. He was telling us how he's planning to buy a Lexus SUV (my favourite car) and I told him to get the cream one - the champagne coloured one 'cause then it'd be exactly the one I like. For some reason, I think he thought I said white or something 'cause he exclaimed, "NO! That colour is for pimps!!! If I drive that car in that colour, people will think I'm a pimp!" HAHAHA we all died laughing!

And then I found out that when my mom was 16, she wanted a Porche... (1974 Porche)
but instead, my Gpa bought her a Pacer (or a "ham" as my Gpa called it... my mom said it looks like a fish bowl. She called it a lemon b/c it was yellow and functioned like one). I can see why she was so embarassed to drive it!

Pssssst

Just wanted to let you in on my new online crush........


Matt Koval on YouTube!


This guy is so talented. He's a filmmaker from Cali and produces quality short vids. He's also a great story-teller and pretty good looking to boot. Most people say they can't stop staring at his green eyes but for some reason, I'm more into his teeth ha. I'm supposed to be quantifying evaluations but I just spent the last 45 minutes watching his 13 YouTube video clips... and even re-watching a few! Here's a couple sample vids of what he does - he actually produces a variety of different types of videos: stupid funny, stories, PSAs, Just-So-You-Know ones... etc. etc.. I recommend every video!

Stupid-funny: The Fuplers (said FOO-plers): Thalad Drething
(Like the well-known YouTuber Happy Slip where one person plays multiple characters)


True story: Jack Nicholson's Elbow


Serious: Tenth (an aspect of 9/11)

Intimidation

For lunch, I basically only have 3 restaurants that are close enough to eat at within my 30 minute lunch break: McDonalds (the closest), Quiznos, and Tim Hortons. I'm ashamed to say I've actually eaten at McDonalds 3 or 4 times within the past month because of this! I work at that location twice a week and I'm very much a variety-girl... but I almost always get the Chili w/ a whole wheat country bun at Tim Hortons for $3.99. Cheap, healthy, and good. On the day I don't have Tim Horton's and I don't feel like eating at McDonalds, I head to Quiznos, which is right next to TH. However, I never end up eating there because I'm always intimidated by the customers! They are always all full-grown males! Plus, the path I choose to walk there (cutting through the parking lot) combined with the set up of the tables in the restaurant and the floor to ceiling glass windows increases my level of intimidation. I feel like a caged animal (except I'm actually on the outside). It's definitely an unfamiliar feeling to me... even as a server where I've served such a variety of customers including large-group tables filled with 10 huge males, 4 of which were tattoo-covered, bald-by-choice Caucasians in leather!

I read a Soompi thread quite a while ago on people who were intimidated to shop/eat at a store/restaurant for various reasons such its connotation, the kinds of clothes/products they sell, or the kinds of people who work there. They mentioned stores such as Abercrombie or restaurants like Hooters (lol). I couldn't understand it at the time, but now it's totally the type of customers Quiznos happens to get at that particular location! Next time, I'm going to suck it up (and get take out haha) and I will remind myself that I will be greeted warmly by one of the older Italian employees who is such a sweet, smiley woman.... and because Quiznos is healthier than McDonalds and other than the Chili or their bland club sandwiches, TH is full of junk.

Have you ever felt the least bit intimidated at a store/restaurant? Of certain people?

Clothes Shopping Ban In Effect

I'm finished clothes-shopping in Vancouver until July 12th! haha
Yesterday, Nad's family + I went down to Westfield Southcenter. Nad and I spent around 7 hours in the mall. which wasn't enough time considering the huge-ness of the mall! We got there around 10:30 (mall opens at 10). For lunch, we decided to go to this cheap sushi restaurant my Aunt told us about called Sushiland and boy was it a mistake. It's like the chain Genki sushi where you sit bar-style and food comes around on plates on a conveyer belt and you choose which ones you'd like to eat. Each plate corresponds with a certain price from $1 to $3. Sushi was mediorcre with the bean curd wrapped rice thingy and the eel being my favourites. The $3 tasted funny - soft shelled crab roll + seared tuna sushi. There was a 15 minute wait (pretty busy.. had to sign in yourself!). There were only 2 or 3 Asian employees in the whole restaurant... all the others were Caucasian or Spanish and one of the girls couldn't even pronounce Agedashi...! Butchea, it's generally pretty cheap but Nad and I ate a lot so the bill came out to be $21USD. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have some of the menu items I saw on their website like $3 udon bowls.
Anyway, enough about that. Back in the mall, we scoured F21. I ended up getting this thick knit scallop cardigan in a weird gray-purple colour, a cheap black tank, and a $16 knitted pencil skirt from F21, 5 pieces of underwear + a pair of navy blue stockings from PINK (Victoria's Secret), a bra from Victoria's Secret, 7 pieces of underwear ($1.90 each!) + sleeping shorts from Gilly Hicks (massive sale, IMO!), black Kensie mini triangle/diamond stockings and a Mint Julip face mask from Fred Meyer. The only other thing on my list that I didn't get b/c they were sold out was my Le Pliage Large Longchamp bag from Nordstrom...
SA buffered my pinky and tried to sell us some expensive hand cream/nail thingy set, I ate Red Mango's pomegranate yogurt w/ blackberries, and had some sweet tea.

omg My underwear is so cute! lol

"That's What She Said......"

lolol Xiaxue's blog is so entertaining!

-It is not a crime to prance around pretty with make up. It is a crime to let urself remain ugly when u can make yourself look better.- Xiaxue

Schedule this week:
Monday: States Shopping
Tues: Work @ JH + Work @ home (evaluations)
Wed: Work double shift @ Posh
Thurs: Work @ JH
Fri: Work @ home + get shots + Dine Out @ Sequoia Grill
Sat: Work @ Posh (night shift)
Sun: Work @ home + Grandma's for dinner
Mon (26): Dine Out @ Joe Fortes

I work a lot... need to fit in more family time.

Kiwi Blush

haha Youtube.
I found a series of episodes called Xiaxue's Guide To Life. It's about this girl named Wendy in Singapore and she just... does stuff and it's all documented!
She gets her tongue pierced (shudder!! I can never do this! I actually watched the whole thing...), shows you how to clean the house, gets a tattoo, tries DIY home remedies (egg white mask and mayo hair conditioner), shows you how to bling your gadgets (I want to crystallize my phone now!!), goes to a fish spa, shows you how to put on fake eyelashes, teaches you how to furnish a princess room (lol)... kills a live crab to cook (how INHUMANE!), and tries to lose weight via acupuncture... among many many MANY other things.
haha she's funny! Talks a lot and kind of hard to understand! Singlish..
She's actually a celebrity TV personality and blogger too! www.xiaxue.blogspot.com

Served such a nice and polite group of 8 Koreans last night =) 7 guys and 1 girl. I think they were 19 and all the guys were gentlemen aww it was so enjoyable! Even a couple co-workers told me they really liked that table and came around often just to check up on them even if it wasn't their table to serve. You know, I think it's part of a customer's job to just be kind and courteous back to the server. Yes, servers are paid for their job to provide the best possible dining experience no matter how badly the customer treats them and I'm proud that everyone I currently work with does that, but we, as people, react. We feed off the way customers respond. I've seen it happen and I do it too - even if the customer is being a total ick (which is quite rare), we try our best and treat them as if they were having a great day but we don't want/feel that they deserve any extra bit of service (though we do do it). For happy customers, the servers go beyond and want to do even more for their customer. All you have to do is be positive and polite and, unless the server is an ick him/herself, you will get an even better restaurant experience.

Tips Reflect Service

OK well to be blunt, Hells Kitchen was pretty disappointing in almost all aspects and unless they get their act together, I don't think I'll ever go again.

Nad and I went for their Dine Out dinner earlier today. Hells Kitchen seemed to have one of the best menus under the $18 restaurants and I had heard pretty good reviews from word of mouth. The restaurant itself is casual, a tad quirky with the lights, and Abercrombie-dark with a lot of durable leather, wood, brick, and red. The hostess had a "trainee" vibe to her and didn't seem too confident or experienced which sort of made a temporary first impression on me. Nad had made a reservation online for today except it didn't seem coordinated with the restaurant because they had no clue we had made a reservation. Wasn't much of a problem as the restaurant wasn't full. Soon enough, we were seated in two low dark leather and spacious bucket chairs.

The server came by promptly and asked us if we knew about Dine Out and showed us where it was in the menu and quickly explained the drink special. There's three choices for each category: appetizers, entree, and dessert. Very simple and straight forward - one read through and you've memorized the whole thing. Nad and I planned to share everything so we ended up getting a poutine (which the server pronounced poo-tin) and chowder as appetizers, 2 pizzas (all three entrees were pizzas), and a tiramisu and a creme brulee for dessert. I also ordered a glass of Riesling which the server poured from this small open-mouthed glass into my wine glass in front of me which was a nice touch.

Our appetizers came out... a salad and chowder... no, we didn't order a salad. Sorry! She quickly turned her heel and a few minutes later she came out with the correct appetizers. Said something about the kitchen losing our order which was sort of understandable 'cause that has happened a couple of times at my restaurant too (though I don't understand HOW...) I enjoyed my chowder - they served a good-sized portion, it was hot, it had a ton of ingredients in it all chopped up perfectly, it seemed fresh and it had seafood. The poutine was alright. I always picture the NYFries version of poutine and this one didn't really look like it. It was a bit plain and starchy + filling -- too much potato, I didn't see any gravy in it/needed more.. less soggy, more crisp... but there were bacon bits.. not enough melted curd. The server came around and asked us how our first bites were... I didn't even touch my chowder yet and I think Nad was eating her first bite of poutine... It's... good? I guess?

I guess it's a bit different than most restaurants because the pizza needs to be served hot out of the oven, but it felt a bit rushed when we were about 1/2-3/4 finished our appetizers and she asked if we wanted her to take it away to make room for the pizza since it was ready to deliver. Uh no.

We cleared space and got our pizza. The pizzas were of decent size - thin crust. They tasted OK. I don't know if my tastebuds are wacky but they were both on the plain side. We finished half of each pizza and had them packaged separately. Then the server asks us if there's anything else we'd like and we're like "no, we're good". We were just waiting for our dessert. A minute later, she comes by to give us the bill.................... what?! Where's our dessert?? How can you forget something like that? So sorry!

A guy come by holding 2 plates of dessert and sets down the creme brulee and a cup of brown stuff he initially said was mousse and we're like "we ordered a tiramisu" and he quickly said "oh, I meant tiramisu". Nad was already skeptical. I take a spoonful... lo and behold, it's chocolate mousse... Sorry! So we told the server and she let us keep the mousse and came back with the tiramisu (the chocolate mousse turned out to be much better than the tiramisu which we found to be semi-tasteless and dry). They didn't even use real whipped cream. Nad's creme brulee was good. I found the presentation of the food to be pretty decent, though.

So after all that, I gave the server the benefit of the doubt... maybe she was having an off day... maybe it was her first time serving with the Dine Out menu and forgot because people usually don't order dessert... but still. Even though she was polite and apologetic, she didn't come across as very genuine or aware... I felt as though she just said things because they were routine, not because she actually meant them. When Nad was away from the table, the server came by and quickly said, without even looking at "us", "How are we doing here girls?" (plural? It's just me sitting there...) and before I can even answer, she says "here's the bill thank you" in such a rushed tone and leaves. Gee thanks for waiting for me to answer! She should know that service should be good until the end. The end is what customers remember the most! Her tip definitely reflected the service, not the food, though the food tip wouldn't be fantastic either. I wasn't impressed. I don't think so many things have gone wrong for me at a restaurant before and I haven't had a bad restaurant experience since going to Sauce in Victoria (the servers were dumb and rude). I feel compelled to post something on dinehere.ca...

Food: 3/5
Service: 2.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5

FYI: They don't provide Dine Out for parties of more than 4 people. Ridiculous!

Sharp

Got my Coastal Scents order today!
I haven't tested the brushes yet but they're soft. I'm happy with the gel liners. They go on smoothly and they're both rich in colour (you only need a tiiiiny tiny amount)... and they don't come off with just water. I haven't tried it on my eyes yet. The only thing is that the black sort of stains my brush!
The gold has a bit of finely milled sparkle in it!
My Hello Kitty robe!
Hells Kitchen for Dine Out tonighttt! More photos to come.

ZZzzzzzz

OH MY I'm worn out. Too much work (fun), too little sleep. I'm happy to get a day off tmr... xept I brought work home with me sooo no rest, really! So foggy yet dry - I had to cream my hand so often today b/c of the dryness in the office and b/c of all the paper I was handling. Too zzzzzz to write... so as I promised I'm bringing my digi around everywhere... and here are some of the results!

A couple pictures from my States trip:
Jessica Simpson shoes @ Macy's -- elastic strappy front and full zippered back! Kinda cool.
My Auntie Sandy with those dog bags.................... they do fit well under the armpit, though!
@ Trader Joe's... which is like Capers - a lot of it is organic and healthy... but cheaper -- cashiers
Oh yea, Nad -- we saw Miss Becky here! She has short hair now but still very recognizable!
At every aisle end there were these sorts of displays... and their description made me want to buy every one! I ended up getting 3 items from the 10 displays.
@ work, waiting to be cashed out... Henry dans camo haha
Syrups
Yinny and I labeled them! So cute, eh?
I wrote this! Chao mei = strawberry.
Here's a few pictures from Celebrities on Tuesday with Artemis and Devin:
I'd totally go again! Except, well, later in the night when the music gets better.
Being immature... hehehehhe
After a freaky lady ruined our first picture...
A + me aw!
I'm such a tea-addict these days... my teeth are yellowing. Dentist this Saturday!

Days

I should be in bed right now considering I have to wake up in 7.5 hours but I might not have time to post something until Thurs night 'cause I've got work tmr in N. Van and am most likely going out tmr night and then I'm doing a double shift on Wednesday so I'll be at the restaurant from 11:30AM-11PM w/ 2 hours break... and then on Thurs, I'm working in N. Van again!

Quick recap of today: Hung out with my mom and aunt today -- aunt decided she wanted to go to the states (she lives in Richmond) so we went down! How spontaneous =) We just hit up Ross, Costco, Bellis Fair, and Trader Joe's. The sales were pretty amazing. I ended up getting a Hello Kitty print robe (so soft! So flashy!) from Charlotte Russe (I didn't know they've actually been in BF since June! I'm sooo disappointed though... their stuff looks so much better in both design and quality online than in person. It's like Wetseal + Anchor Blue... xept (may I say) worse in quality??) for $6.99 (STEAL! My aunt got a top there for $4!), a supersoft light wool-like gray long A&F Evie Cardigan for $28, Bio-Oil and Maybelline XXL Extensions mascara (based on one Youtube review I watched 2 days ago... accidentally got Brownish-black instead of blackish black ooopsss... here's for the more natural look hehehe...) from Rite Aid. We bought a lot of groceries too!

Eek laptop battery is gonna die in 30 seconds!