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With the nice weather, influx of tourists, and the kids out of school for the summer, the B-line’s and skytrains feel more crowded than usual, and at times, I think to myself it could not possibly be any more crowded.

More often than not, I have observed that when I proclaim something to be impossible, I am reproved by a youtube video that shows me anything is possible. The following youtube clip was forwarded to me.

I definitely had some serious LOL’s while watching this video, however, I was wary to show some restraint, as this video could be a tragic foreshadowing of the skytrain during the Olympics next year!

I was trolling the streets of downtown Vancouver earlier this evening with friends, as I am wont to do when the weather is nice, when I came upon a line of people wrapped around the block on Burrard Street near the Scotia Theatre (pictured above).

At this point, we had no clue of the reason for the gathering crowd, but I figured it was one of two possibilities: it was some sorta sale, or an impromptu memorial for Michael Jackson. As one who never misses out on a bargain sale, or the opportunity to be a part of pop-culture history, I rolled up my sleeves to ready myself for some serious elbow shoving to get through the crowd, when something in the air caught my attention: the delectable aroma of barbecued sausages, and Japanese spices that I could not identify.

It turns out, the crowd of people were in line waiting to purchase a Japanese hot dog. I wasn’t aware such a thing existed. The menu is pictured on the left. I have always been hesitant to buy food from street vendors, but we simply could not resist the aroma, and the crowd of people was sufficient validation for us that this place should be okay.

I got the Terimayo, where the sausage is smothered in Japanese mayo, nori, teriyaki sauce, and fried onions, oh my! (pictured below) I am so excited and happy to discover a new alternative to hot dogs in the city!!

When browsing through Google News today, I came across the following headline (left picture):

Has Swine Flu become so pervasive that it has taken on addition parts-of-speech? Grammar has never been my strength, but in this headline has ‘Swine’ been promoted from its usual noun usage to an interrogative adverb?

Perhaps one of the most exciting part of getting a new piece of electronic is the unboxing of the item itself. Veritable technology review sites such as CNet and Engadget have been harnessing this…um…euphoria in the form of videos and photo galleries detailing every step of unboxing for the masses to vicariously enjoy.

In the past few weeks, my 5-year old Dell laptop has been dropping heavy hints that it wishes to retire. What began as intermittent jams turned into regular blue screens of death and immense overheating.  After half a decade of service, my laptop wishes to end the grueling daily routine of being the laptop of a college student, and spend its remaining days roaming free in an open field chasing flying windows; though if it was a field dedicated to broken Dell laptops, it must be pretty crowded.

Nevertheless, I decided to switch to a Mac. User-friendly interface, no threats of viruses, and the endorsement by a friend who had been a die-hard PC until he switched to a Macbook Pro made it an easy decision for me. While I’m a huge fan of John Hodgman’s writing, those Mac vs. PC commercials convincingly showed me that being a PC is definitely not the way to go. So, I got a new mac, and below are the unboxing pics!

No, I have not forgotten that I have a blog – I have been too preoccupied with other things. Upon coming across Eastwood’s Elixir of Life, my blogging energy is revitalized, and what a better way to segue back into the blog world than to report a fire…or at least a pulled fire alarm on campus.

I was walking southbound on East Mall Rd when two screaming firetrucks approached and stopped in front of the Food, Nutrition, and Health Building. I tried to get closer to the action, but was stopped by a firefighter who declined to comment on the situation. All the firefighters appeared quite relaxed, and there were no visible signs of smoke and people injured, so perhaps some ninkinpoop burnt toast.

The past few weeks had been filled with work, stress, bad roommates, more work, jerky people, acne breakouts, and bad roommates. Did I mention bad roommates? They were the type of weeks I’m thankful to be over with, and will suppress all memory of (snap! just ended a sentence with a preposition…the sky didn’t fall). In the midst of it all, I encountered two incidents on the bus that were suprisingly uplifting.

I actually went an entire night without sleep; I got up at 7:30am (re: Good Morning!), worked that entire day, that entire night, and the next entire day. In the university community “burning the midnight oil” may be the norm for some, but I am someone who requires 7 to 8 hours of sleep. My circadian rhythm was solid like Barack (take that, Sarah Palin!). Nevertheless, at some point I found myself taking the bus during the early commute when the bus was packed, and I had nowhere to sit. I was quite loopy from sleep deprivation, and I remember having difficulty keeping balanced. A skater guy (he was holding a skateboard, hence my labelling) who looked no older than 14 or 15, tapped me on the shoulder, and offered his seat to me. I was so startled/touched by his random act of kindness that I remember having the urge to ask him if he was a unicorn, and reaching out to touch him to see if he was real. With so many evil forces in the world (terrorists, cellphone companies, the Republican party), that young person reaffirmed my believe that there is still some good left.

The second incident happened a few days ago. A girl had her head leaning against the window on the bus and was doozing off to sleep. A guy to this girl’s right was getting up to pull the “stop request” cord that was next to that girl’s head. The bus jerked violently and caused the guy to loose his balance and accidently slap the girl on the face. Now, it was not a slight nudge or prod, it was an open palm, clean slap across the face. There was an audible gasp, and perhaps communal teeth clentching and toe curling amongst the passengers.

What happened next truly amazed me. The girl, reflexively, broke into laughter and for reasons beyond my comprehension, so did everyone else including me. 

In my mind, being slapped across the face is perhaps the most insulting thing one could do to another. Such a denigrating insult is usually reserved for extreme situations such as on soap operas when adulterers are confronted. Hence, one must have committed a severe vice to warrant a slap on the face. The last place one expects to be slapped is by someone losing their balance on the bus, and perhaps, it is this unlikely occurence that we found funny. It was quite a Jackass momment.