Orange Kitkat

This is a limited edition in Japan, but isn't there a regular North American version? Actually I haven't tried that one, so this won't be a comparison. At first glance, the sliced orange on the packaging is so red, it looks more like a grape fruit. After one bite, I can see why. The visual matches the taste, which is stronger and sweeter than I expected. (This is rare. Japanese candies are usually milder.) It's slightly bitter. Almost like they used dark chocolate. But it doesn't say "dark chocolate" on the package. Wait a sec... oh I see! It contains blood orange juice! That's why the orange is red! Da!

I like bitter chocolate. This tastes good, but not special enough for a second bar at almost 2 bucks.

Deleted mail

Today's screw-up, accidentally deleted mail. Didn't realize until I tried to retrieve a photo from an e-mail I thought I archived. Could find it. The only explanation is, clicking the delete button instead of archive! (T_T)

Daily screw-ups

Or shall I say screw up daily? It was bad enough to write my address as both the sender and the receiver on a parcel. Today it was forgetting to put the strainer in the drain before washing my hair. Only noticed when I tried to grab the fallen hair. Too late. Both of the above mentioned situation had never ever happened before. Sigh... do I have Alzheimer or something? (T_T)

Snowed again

Snowed again late last night. I managed to make it home just before it started. (Most of it is melted now.) Well, we did have a white Christmas this year. Personally I don't like snow. It makes driving difficult. Not to mention it's cold. Other than being able to make snowman, what's so good about a white Christmas? Some kind of superstition?

Boxing day

Thanks for dinner, guys! (^_^)

I don't usually do any boxing day shopping. I think the last time was when I bought my LCD monitor 2 (or was it 3?) years ago. This year I need to pick up some candies, plus to use up the 50% off Michael's coupons. Parking and line up weren't too bad in general. But I got quite pissed off at Candyland. The clerk didn't give me all the info about the 2008 10% off VIP card, so I wasted a lot of time and came out empty handed. Not to mention she kept chatting with another customer who might be her friend. I don't know and don't care. Without the VIP card, guess I'll be shopping a lot less at that place next year.

Then I'm so relieved about a situation which has been puzzling me for a little while. I really thought I was cursed. Or maybe I still am. (No, I'm just a moron.)

I can blame it on a lot of things, but it was by my own hands that the matter was screwed up. After a series of small mishaps, the finale was putting my address as both the sender and receiver on an important and expensive 3-day Purolator shipment, which needed to arrive in Japan no later than the 29th. I confirmed with the post office clerk after filling out the forms but she didn't pick up the mistake. It was sent on the 17th. After 5 days, there was no sign of the parcel. Both my friend and I were getting worried. I didn't discover the mistake until the 24th.

Shocked. (Can't believe I could ever make such a dumb mistake.)

Depressed. (I'm such a moron! Life ahead suddenly turn gray.)

Panic, panic, panic. (The parcel won't make it! But more importantly, where is it? Is it lost?)

Couldn't sleep.

There was a faint hope because I did put the correct address on the custom form. But that's just the custom form.

Then I got a short note from my friend on the 25th, saying "seems like the parcel has arrived." Yeah, she was working, and probably got a notification instead of having the actual parcel in hand. In that case, was it my parcel? Or someone else's? Either way, it wasn't like her usual mail. So until I hear from her again, there was no way I could relax.

And the confirmation came on the night of the 26th. The contents are fine too. Finally! It's such a huge relieve. Thank God, thank God, thank God!

Looking back, I did my best every step, but things still got screwed up. I've turn into a moron. (T_T)

Merry Christmas! (3)

Christmas = eating turkey. My family doesn't have that tradition, though.

Merry Christmas! (2)

Christmas eve. Can't get any closer than this. (Yikes...) Only managed to mail one single card this year. (Hand delivered 4, though.) Yeah... I owe a few people cards... (T_T) Don't really know why or what, but this month has been crazy. And my dumbness doesn't help. Everyday there's something screwed up. Feels like I only have a quarter of my brain left.

My brother and his family won't be back until January. This year we didn't even take the 2-feet tree out. There are only 4 Christmas cards on the fireplace. Totally no spirit. (T_T)

So, I got this cute foam ginger bread house to add a little spirit. Cost only $6 (plus tax), but took me 6 hours to build. (T_T) There's no list of content. I was afraid there weren't enough roof tiles, and tried to calculate how many I need. Wasted a lot of time and no conclusion. The roof wasn't exactly as shown on the package either, so the "follow the picture" approach screwed up the roof tiling. I had to tile the front twice.

Then the "sugar coat" of the roof top candies was the next biggest hassle. There's absolute no instruction on how to do it, so I was making it up as I go. Which, was putting glue on each face and dunk into the glitter. (Somehow instinct told me gluing the whole thing all at once is a really bad idea.) Of course doing it face by face took forever!

Well, I'm just glad that it's done and out of the way. There are still tons of things I need to do, but what's going on? nothing is getting done! Am I slow? Or just dumb? Or cursed? (T_T)

BTW, the back of the house looks like this.

Merry Christmas!

Aaaaaw... I was hoping to get it done a week ahead, but couldn't. December's been a crazy month and I've screwed up so many things so many times. Well, guess I'm still lucky to make it before Christmas, haha... (>_<;) Now, let's see if I can do one with Pinky...

Winter solstice

Yikes! Shortest day of the year! No, I mean, apart from that, it's 3 more days until Christmas! Aaaargh!!! I still need to draw up a Christmas for this blog!!! (Done one for the other blog though. Took waaaaay too long.) (T_T)

Anyway, a cute video. Moyasimon opening and end credit sequence.

Holy water?

Probably just advertising targeting at the religious? (Franky, I think the packaging is a turn-off.)

Chiropractor

Have been feeling horrible since Saturday... thanks to Superstore. They had 2 nights of no tax, so I got a bunch of stuff, alone. Everyone flocked there. Couldn't get a cart. Fine, even if I got one, it would be too difficult to move around because of the crowd. Especially the area near the cashier. One of the items I needed to get was right at the bottle neck. Trying to squeeze through lugging a half-full basket was harsh enough. And the basket soon overflowed. Yeah, I was buying a bunch of large size items. So, basket dangling off one arm, hugging the big box with the other. Line up took forever, but expected.

Since then, my neck, shoulder and back have been out of whack. Sleeping didn't make me feel rested. Sigh... I know that load was too heavy for me, but I keep forgetting where to draw the line. Thinking I can push it a little bit further. (T_T)

Looking back, the amount I saved wasn't worth the pain. (T_T)

Tired

Something's not right today. I've been falling asleep all day. I even had a dream while napping in front of the computer. The nap lasted about 25 minutes. I thought REM sleep doesn't kick in until 45 minutes. Hmm...

Dreams are weird. Somehow you know things when you're in a dream. Like this cell phone, I just knew it was my friend's although I've never seen either her phone or this yellow-and-white phone. I even knew when and where I accidentally picked up her phone, even though that part of the dream didn't exist.

Yeah, I've been screwing up a lot lately. It's even reflected in a dream. (T_T)

Goldfish

I tagged along with my brother and his wife when they went cross-border shopping more than a week ago. There are a lot of stuff in the States that aren't sold here. I've never seen Goldfish other then the regular orange packaging. (Or maybe I just haven't been paying attention?) There are about 6 different varieties down there. I only got these 3. $1.68 each vs $2.50 over here. Should have bought more. Oh well. But if I did, we wouldn't have enough US$ for gas at the end.

Remember Ceptaphil? The bottle I got was around $12 before tax. At the Costco over there, $12 can buy 2, plus a small bonus bottle. I thought I don't need that much and didn't buy it. Oh boy am I regretting it. (T_T) Sigh...

Back to the Goldfish. Baked and zero transfat, perfect for kids. (Yup, my nieces introduced me to it.) Thought they would be quite salty, but they aren't. From the strongest to the mildest, Cheddar, original, then Parmesan. Pretty good for munching in front of the computer. Hmm... that's it. Nothing else to write about. (^_^)

That giant box of 1.36kg was bought at Superstore. They knocked off all tax for 2 nights, so it was a good deal despite the horrible line up. I just want the box for mailing. Well, I'll eat the cracker too, of course.

Mannequins boobs

Is it just me, or do mannequins actually have larger boobs these days?

And... is that really winter fashion??? Isn't that a little cold? Or is it promoting turning up the heat to waste energy?

Wreaths

Tons of chenille stems are left. They don't come in smaller packs. I should have bought one more pack of bows. But I don't need 50 wreaths... Oh well.

Frustration

Grrrrr... wish I had Illustrator.... Been trying to draw this for 4 hours... in Photoshop. It just won't work. I give up. (T_T)

Giant rocking horse

@ Metrotown. 2 stories high.

Fans

Finally done, but not the way I wanted. Oh well...

Strange signs

Repair?

Or renovation(?) of a little old church.

Paper

I've told myself not to buy any more, but today there was a rare chance to go to an art store that I've never been to. Scrapbook paper was on sale. I had to buy more... (>_<;)

Flu shot

Got a flu shot and it bruised. Makes my arm quite sore. I've been getting one every year for 11 years. It only made me sick once. Let's hope this time won't be one of those.

More snow

Yesterday's photos, though. It rained overnight and the snow is pretty much gone now.

Giant Toblerone

Left: @ Balkan House. Right: @ a friend's place. One wedge of this giant Toblerone is like eating a whole normal size chocolate bar.

Snow

Awww missed the date stamp. (Can't believe I fell asleep with the page open right before me, but never made an entry before midnight.) 10 cm of snow fore casted overnight. Hate to be stuck. The night scenery looks totally screwed up. Has my camera reached the end of its life?

VGH

Forgot her nurse cap...

Mini boy's room (5)

Unbelievably small book ends...

It snowed yesterday! Aaargh! I should have taken pictures... (>_<;)

Antique labels

I was doing some research on antique can labels...
Can't believe my eyes! This is a fruit crate label. But you can't really tell what it's selling, can you?

This one... a relative of cow lick? I wonder how they came up with this name. Don't think it sells too well. At least nowadays.

And then this one is on the opposite end of the spectrum. You just can't find a name this bold anymore.


Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, ooooooooh boy!


Image of seahorse selling sugar corn? That's... um, very unique. But instinct tells me, the corn's gonna taste like seahorse.

Where's the grape? OK, no grape. But at least it's waaaay better than the seahorse.


The least appetizing bartlett pear I've every seen. Looks like it's rotting.


Tomatoes good enough to kill? What's with the homicide on the right side of the label? (Go to the site and view it enlarged.)

At first glance, though it was a can of punch. At second glance, thought it was a can of grape fruit punch.

Scientific brand name #1. RADIO Pineapple??? Not radioactive, right? And it says pineapple delights instead of diced pineapple. Hmm...


Scientific brand name #2. SOLAR Broken Slices Pineapple, sounds so environmentally friendly! But not very appetizing.

Scientific brand name #3. ELECTRIC Red Kidney Beans. So good, it zaps you. Or... if you don't buy it, it zaps you?

Lawyer food? I imagine with their social and financial status, they would prefer fresh vegetable over canned stuff?

The girl looks a bit scary. Hold on, the label was stamped "below U.S. Standard. Good food - not high grade". No wonder why she's scary! (Naah, it's just smaller size peaches.)
Motor oil? Are you sure this is selling motor oil? Not some kind of personal oil? (It's also interesting that this is filed under food.)

Sex change Evangelion (2)

Holy crap! Episode 1! That must have taken a lot of effort! Gendo Ikari is... hilarious!

Here's the first one. The sex change OP.

Carnivorous plants

Nice photos of carnivorous plants.

Mini boy's room (4)

"12 products from hell"?

Haha... unreal! (Go to the site for the rest.)

Dogs love cat

Puffy flash drive

Weird stuff. USB flash drive that actually shows you how full it is by inflating. Looks more like a concept than an actual product.

Mini boy's room (3)

Is it just me, or Blogger has some problems with directly uploaded images? I haven't done so in a while, but those I uploaded from my computer in the last 7 days were not displayed. They had to be put onto a photo site.

Human nature = ugly? (2)

Didn't get to use the photo yesterday because the list screwed up the layout. Now I increasingly understand why my friend chose Wordpress over Blogger. Too many little screw-ups.

Well, back to the subject. Money is evil. Everybody knows that. But I never imagine how successful drug companies are! I even got called "mean" by a doctor personally from the previous post! (And all this time I thought it's got nothing to do with me.) Wow, this is so amazing! Was my post really that influential? I don't think anyone other than a few friends would come here.

That was kind of interesting... I always thought professionals of scientific background would stay cool-headed, unbiased and not let emotions and other things get in the way. Hmm... never mind.