When Pride Causes Your Faceplant

(Credit to fanpop.com for the image)

I watched episode 3 of season 6 ("Unfinished") a few weeks ago and I've been wanting to blog about it ever since.  Although the episode focuses on how Barney uses his pick-up artist moves to get a "Yes" from Ted, its underlying theme (or what I felt was its underlying theme) was failure and pride.
When something you've tried so hard for doesn't turn out the way you expected it to, it's necessary to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and move on.  More often than not, however, the process involves telling yourself that you're better off without that opportunity or dream anyway - it didn't work that first time, and it probably won't work in the future, so why should I waste my effort?  In trying to comfort your bruised pride, you convince yourself that (A) you will never have the ability to attain that which you aspired to; (B) you are better off without that which you aspired to; or (C) it would have sucked anyway.
Coping mechanisms are fine and necessary, but many times this justification is used to turn down future opportunities on the basis that you no longer aspire to that end point.  But people need to understand that it's not happiness and satisfaction that's holding them back - it's pride.  Nobody got it right on the first try, but I've heard that the success rate increases exponentially from there.  Just don't sell yourself short. 

Whatever Happened To My Lunchbox

In the eternal words of John Mayer, "when it came the day that it got thrown away... don't you think I should have had some say in that decision?".  There is so much pressure to have life figured out by a certain age.  Why should anyone but me be the judge of whether I've "got it right"?

I feel another fit of self-righteous rage coming on, so I think I'll remove myself from civilisation until it subsides. 

Concrete Dreaming

(Image Courtesy of Destination360)

Marco and I are NYC bound this December and I couldn't be more excited!  I can't wait to experience the city - I'm not really interested in the tourist attractions like the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, but the Met and Central Park (although I hear it's quite dirty), Greenwich Village and SoHo.  I also cannot wait to eat and SHOP!  The excitement is making me so giddy.

Gimme that Moet

Thought I would share the beat that's been infecting my earwaves: 




It's so annoyingly addictive and makes me want to hit the clubs instead of doing homework like a good student should!  Just can't get it out of my head.
I don't know who hasn't heard this song, it's playing absolutely everywhere.  (Although to be fair I had no idea what a G6 was until a few days ago.)

it's only natural, baby

Today I picked up Korres's Lip Butter in Pomegranate ($13 CDN) and I absolutely love how it looks and feels!  It's non sticky and melts onto the lips after application to provide moisture and shine.  I've long used their skin care products, namely the Wild Rose 24-Hour Moisturizer in the winter time and the Pomegranate Balancing Cream-Gel (which I swear by - best ~$40 spent ever) in the summer time, but I just had a chance to pop into Sephora to check out Korres's cosmetic line today.  It's called Korres Colour and features products for the face, eyes, and lips.  

For me, Korres is so attractive because it uses natural ingredients in its products - and trust me, there is a noticeable difference in how the product feels and how the body feels after its usage!  I can't wait to try the rest of the line. 

cat got the cream

Just a little indulgence for the ears. I love Niia, she's got the perfect voice for jazz and soul.

I bought a dress from BR and baked carrot bran muffins today, but I suppose pictures will have to wait.  There's just too much reading to be done.  I'm also eight hours away from my first business case competition!  Twenty four hours to come up with the best possible solution.  I'm looking forward to an intense experience.

Boualouang

Today Marco and I made our way to Lan's Asian Grill, one of our new favourites, but found it closed.  Still feeling like Thai food, we finally tried the Thai place in Chinatown, Boualouang, that everyone's been raving about.  I quite enjoyed the decor - it was comfortable and classy, all warm tones and beautiful textures.  I did not, however, appreciate the service (or lack thereof) one bit.

Our server paid so little attention to us that we had to walk up to the bar to order, and we had finished our first dish even before our second dish had arrived, while the table next to us (who did have an attentive server, I might add) got their dishes in a staggered but timely manner.  I don't know if it was the location of our table (Marco and I got seated at a table at the back of the restaurant, just about in the walkway to the restrooms, even though there were other tables available with better locations) or the inexperience of our server, but I would not return based on quality of service alone.

But let's discuss food, shall we?  (No pictures because I forgot!)  Neither of us were too hungry so we stuck to two Thai staples, pad Thai with beef and green curry with chicken and coconut rice.  Despite the poor service on the front end, the food was fantastic.  Normally we have yellow curry, which is much milder, so I felt the bite of the green curry was a nice change.  It came with not only chicken but zucchini and Thai eggplant, adding a nice crunchiness to an otherwise heavy dish.  The pad Thai was also quite well done: the noodles were tender, it was not too spicy, and the flavours were distinct but complementary.

The meal came to $38 after tip, with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.  I don't know how I feel about Boualouang in comparison to Lan's Asian Grill.  Food definitely tastes more authentic at the former, but the latter has much better service, which I would say is as important as the food.