The CIvil Wars @ The Vogue

Not a very good picture - we sat down for this show so I was a bit far.

The Mac Shack

I didn't have lunch until 4pm today...so I treated myself to some good old mac and cheese at The Mac Shack!

Flying

You know what's cool? When you befriend someone who flies planes as a hobby and he invites you to come on a plane ride with him.  It was the smallest plane I have ever been in (4 seater Piper). My car has more space than the plane. The little Volkswagen Golf (which I test drove yesterday) has way more horsepower than this plane!

Piloting

Bowen Island

Sharp turns are fun

Downtown

The views were amazing, and it was definitely an experience. Conclusion: having your own personal pilot is fun! I recommend it to everyone :)

Sunset

Sunset in Hawaii - taken with my Holga

When I heard on the radio that the time change with the DST is happening this Sunday, it hit me - it's November. It's almost winter. It's going to get dark at 4pm soon. For some reason, I haven't noticed it this year. I haven't even really minded the change from the sunny days of summer to the rain & wind of the fall. Is it because I no longer mainly rely on transit? Is it because I am stuck indoors most of the time at work anyway, so that I don't even care if it's raining or not? Or is it because I've been too busy to notice (I've been go-go-go for the past couple of months)?

I used to get so depressed in the fall/winter during my school days because of the lack of sunlight and the abundance of rain (I HATE when cars spray water all over you while you're standing on the sidewalk!), but I was amazed this morning when I realized how different I feel this year. Even when it started pouring/hailing this afternoon and I was caught without an umbrella, I just walked into a souvenir store in Gastown unfazed, bought an umbrella, and kept walking around downtown as rivulets of water streamed down the sidewalk and little pieces of hail bounced all over my boots. I didn't mind it at all - in fact, I actually kind of enjoyed it!

Swinging in the Autumn Air

I was restless after being cooped up in my bed since my surgery. But finally! Finally today I was able to go outside without experiencing pain from the light. I went to the school near my house and hopped on the swings for a good half hour. It was exhilarating, and the feeling I had - resulting from the crisp autumn air, the sun warming my back, the leaves swirling in the wind, Beach House's dreamy music playing in my ipod, the rush of swinging as high as my legs could pump me - I just felt truly happy. There I was, grinning like an idiot, on the swings by myself, and I didn't care. I couldn't stop smiling because of the enthusiasm I had for life at that moment. I smiled at the trees, at the sky, at the gardener using his leaf blower. I feel as if there were so many exciting things ahead for me in life. Having perfect vision is just a part of it.

CD Collection

For three days pretty much all I did was lie in bed, listen to music, put eyedrops in my eyes, eat, shower, and sleep. I went through all these cds...yes all thirty of them. By Sunday I was so sick of lying in bed that I got up, found my sister's old Ace of Base cd, and danced in my room to some good old 90's dance music. Did you know they even have a bhangra version of All That She Wants in their cd?

There was some good stuff in there that I hadn't listened to in years. I bought the majority of these cds when I was in late high school/university, and I found that I really liked my 80s emo. For example I was listening to the Smiths' Meat is Murder... yeah that song had Morrissey singing about how killing calves is murder, complete with cows mooing in the background. I rediscovered my love of Jeff Buckley (he is a genius!) and how catchy Weezer's blue album is.

Showers

I'm not allowed to get my eyes wet. When I shower, I wear not only these swim goggles, but also my big pair of sunglasses on top of them. I pretty much can't see anything with both of these on, especially since my goggles fog up from the steam...

BUT at least I finally got to use my swim goggles! YEAH I've only used them the one time that I bought them. I find them to be very practical now!

Laser Eye Surgery

I got PRK done on my eyes with Dr Lin at Pacific Laser Eye Centre. I did NO research at all before booking this appointment; after all, I knew at least five people who had done it with him and they all raved about how he is the best laser eye surgeon in Vancouver, so I decided to just go ahead and do it with him. (Later on I found out that there were other places I could have done it at for $2000 less... but I guess money is dispensable whereas my eyes aren't).

There are two kinds of laser eye surgery available: PRK and Lasik. Lasik is the one where they cut a flap open in your eye - it has a much faster recovery rate, but it's less safe long term because there is always the chance of the flap coming back open. Dr Lin recommended PRK for me since I am young and active. In PRK, they shave off part of your cornea. Recovery takes longer, but I had the vacation time anyway.

So I was in the surgery room, and looking at the green light...but Dr Lin kept yelling at me! "Hey girl, why aren't you looking at the green light? Focus on the light! What's wrong with you, why aren't you looking? You're supposed to be a simple case, but you're making it complicated! Just look at that green light!"  "I'm trying," I answered. "But everytime I barked at you, you would look at the green light! That means you're just not focusing," he replied. Needless to say, that one eye took a pretty long time. Not to mention there was the smell of my burning corneas... good thing people had warned about that beforehand!

Overall it wasn't as bad as I expected. Plus I got to wear these big dorky sunglasses!

Foo Fighters @ Rogers Arena

The Foo Fighters from a suite at Rogers Arena! I'm not used to not being on the floor at concerts and I felt a big disconnect at the beginning especially since the suite is quite far from the stage (it's in between the lower and upper bowl) but the Foo Fighters were so good that by the end of the night I didn't mind at all. The suite itself was cool - we got a separate entrance/exit, our own bathroom, and kitchen area. Not too shabby. I didn't know a lot of their songs in the beginning (they played songs from their new album and I only know the singles they have on the radio) but by the end of the 3 hour long show I was recognizing most of their songs. I think next time I would probably even pay to go to see them again! I'm glad my friend decided to take me to this show :)

On the Couch

Went over to Anna's new place for dinner. Here we are sitting on her "couch", a.k.a. the white blanket. (It's even expandable.)