VIVA LA CUBA LIBRE!!!!

I finally got some pics from New Year's Eve in Toronto. It was an awesome night, I must say! Got to see some old friends from MTA... and we had a Cuban Theme going on. I turned out to be my friends' Cuban pimp as I brought in guys from the party upstairs and introduced them to some friends at our party. The purple fedora helped I think!



I think the whole night just got me thinking how lucky I am to have these people in my life. We had a great time! We all realized that we all knew each other for 8 years now. Crazy how time flies! We recalled old memories and shared some new stories and couldn't stop laughing the whole night. Even on New Year's Day, we kept sharing stories and kept laughing in our PJ's.
I have to say it was probably the best New Year's Eve I've had so far! I miss you all already and can't wait until we're all together again!!

HAPPY DOUBLE 007!!!!

HAPPY DOUBLE 07!!

Well... it's been a while hasn't it?!

I apologize to you for not posting anything for a long time. The moment I arrived in Toronto, I was extremely busy catching up with old friends and helping the people I'm staying with fix up their new place. I barely had time to check email! But these next few days before I return to Vancouver my friends are all back to work so I have time to sit, relax and, well, BLOG!

First off... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve!!! We definitely had a good one in the city. I have not laughed so much in a long time I must say. We had a house party and a bunch of old friends showed up! We laughed at old stories, told new ones... created more at the party! Good times, good times!!

Toronto is such a big city, I have been contemplating moving out here to pursue sound production for television, I just have to get over the whole intimidating factor of the city! In Vancouver, you can pretty much recite the different neighbourhoods by memory, in Toronto... you have neighbourhoods within neighbourhoods! With sub-cities, sub-divisions, subways... AH! You have downtowns in different parts of the West End and the East End! And there are no mountains, the concrete jungle honestly just keeps going! People travel out to Scarborough (my friends call it Scarberia!) to work, the travel time between Toronto and Scarborough on the subway (a common commute) takes about the same amount of time it would for me to get to Victoria from Vancouver. Or from Victoria to Nanaimo! And people do this everyday to work. WTF MATE?!?!?! And the beach that my friend Evan took me to is nothing compared to Wreck!! (naked people aside). I mean you at least have a secluded beach surrounded by mountains and trees at Wreck. The beach that I saw here had traffic lights and cars RIGHT next to it. ABUH?!

I dunno, if I do end up moving here, I might get used to it. But I like the fact that when I wake up in the mornings in Vancouver, I can see mountains. Now I know how you felt when you were at Mount Allison, Tang. I completely understand!

Well, I am returning to Vancouver on Friday. I think I'm ready to come back too. The time spent away was definitely worth it! However I'm ready to end this trip. It has been a great break that's for sure.

More to come...

Walking Down Memory Lane...

Welcome to Kat's Boulevard of Ottawa Memories...

It has been quite a surreal time so far. I finally got a chance to walk down my old neighbourhood (the Glebe if you ever get to venture to Ottawa). I checked out the street I lived on (First Avenue and O'Connor)... and I even walked up to the house I lived in when I was a teenager. Wow. I have lived in so many places after that house - Amman, Jordan... Italy... New Brunswick... then British Columbia! I have not stepped foot in Ottawa in so long, so to see the place where I spent a lot of my teenager growing pains gave me a huge rush! Of what?? Not sure yet but I'll pin it down as I explore the city more.

While I was on First Avenue, I looked down a the sidewalk, looking at the writting the kids wrote when the sidewalks were being repaved. And I noticed something that made me laugh - it was my name and my brother Sean's!! We wrote our names down in the wet pavement back in 1998 near a driveway in our neighbourhood. Living in so many different places can really make you forget the small silly things you used to do as a kid that helped you become the person you are today. I didn't even remember writting that all until I actually looked at it. I even remembered the fight Sean and I had that day, I think it was about me playing too much Sega Genesis (an older video game console) and Sean didn't get to play all day. Ha ha ha!!!

After that, I took a bus downtown to check out the good ol' parliament building. I've forgotten how overwhelmingly huge that place is!! And it definitely looks really cool at this time of year because they light up the whole building to make it look pretty Festive for the Holiday Season.

I then walked down Elgin Street... and more memories started coming up. Mostly about a real bad ex boyfriend I had when I was 16 but I'll change our focus on this one park that my dad used to take me to when I was 3 years old. There's nothing special about it really, just that THAT was the place my dad took me to play with the other kids. Weird. I went in the park to see if the slide my dad always took me to was there, but it was changed to a safer, plastic slide. Hehehe! Ah well, still good to relive those memories!

One turn down memory lane was meeting up with some old college friends who live here. We had a great time catching up, but really it was like we just saw each other yesterday. We hung out for a few hours... and had to try to make it back home in the freezing rain. On the way over to meeting them, I fell down twice because everything was covered in a sheet of ice! I was proud to say that I did not break the bottle of wine I brought over to them though!

The final turn down memory lane was visiting my old high school, Canterbury High ... that I have not seen in about 8 years, with my high school best friend, Kinga. Just walking around the school itself and looking around, we were able to remember the smallest things from a certain corner. We even looked in the cafeteria from outside and remembered the EXACT spot where we used to sit. We looked at the stairway where we used to pass notes to each other in between classes. We remembered how I helped her cheat on a Math test and my formulas were COMPLETELY wrong and the teacher gave both of us detention (we NEVER got detention. Yeah that was funny!). And even after all this time, we still are friends. Which is awesome 'coz I kept travelling around and I lots touch with mostly everyone from that high school.

Well, Christmas is now here. It's going to be mostly family time. I cannot tell you guys enough how happy I am to be here. Just to be with family, see the places that I used to go as I was growing up... I honestly have forgotten a lot of who I was, and to be reminded of how I grew up really centered me. And well, I can honestly say that I turned out pretty awesome! LOL! Just kidding! It's been a great visit! The only thing is that I didn't get to see my brother Sean... who's in New Brunswick right now. I miss him. He's a good kid! But soon enough we'll all be together! 'Cosz the 4 of us is awesome, but we are missing one big part of it!

Have a great Christmas guys!! Take Care!!

Kat Growing Up... Check it out!

I am now in Ottawa... so good to be here. Let me tell ya!

I first arrived and went around looking for my dad. Well, then a familiar voice caught my ear:

"Katrina! Where's my daughter! (insert Filipino sentences here) Katrina!"

It was my mom. I have not seen her in 3 years guys. I found her in the crowd - a short (4'10) Filipino woman. She was a few feet away from me, but since I now have reddish long hair, she did not recognize me! I was like:"MOM!!! I'm RIGHT HERE!!!" She looked over, and had to actually take a good longer look to realize that it WAS me! She shrieked (more in Filipino) and it was an amazing reunion!! My dad was there laughing. My mom kept saying:"My goodness! You keep getting more beautiful!!" (Hahahahaha!! Riiiiiiiiiight. Moms always say that!) Even as we waited for my luggage, she kept saying really loudly:"That's my daughter! Isn't she pretty?!" (I've forgotten that moms can be slightly embarrassing... but a good ego stroke is never a bad thing!)

When I got to their place, my little brother, who is now 20, was sitting on the couch and we had a good reunion. Laughing about how short I am compared to my 6'3 tall little brother. We chatted a bit but he has an exam today so I did my best not to pester him too much.

I have not done too much since I arrived last night. Today I relaxed and looked through some old baby pictures of me. COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!!!

Later on this afternoon I'm going to walk around my old neighbourhood (the one I grew up in when I was a teenager) and relive some memories. Tonight my little-tall brother is going to take me out. SWEET!

More to come!! Bye for now!!

Waiting to get on the plane...

You would think that I would be patient enough to wait until I get to my destination before I use the internet... hahaha! I guess not!! I had to post my first blog of my trip of course! I'm going to board my flight going to Ottawa in about 20 minutes... I couldn't sleep last night. I was way too excited and anxious to get on that plane!! I don't know how I'm keeping my eyes open, probably running on pure excitement. I can't believe I'm going to see my mom... and my little brother!! It's going to be SWEEEEEET!!!

I hung out at the Five Point last night (surprise! surprise!) and gave out the last of my Christmas cards and presents. Had a couple glasses of wine and went home to try to get an early night's rest. I was too wired though! I couldn't sleep! All I'm thinking about now is getting to Ottawa and seeing the familiar sites I have not seen in 7 years. I can't believe it! However I might be too exhausted... and I might just pass out after hugging my mom for a few hours. And gawking my younger brother who is now 20! 20!?!?! What the hell is going on here?!

Alright... gotta calm down. Breathe... Breathe...

AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Victoria!!

A few weeks ago I went away to Victoria... I was going through a real tough time breaking up with Andrew (whom is still an awesome friend of mine. Thank goodness!!) and dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a 5 foot tall bouncer at the Five Point (having people tell you off 8 hours a night can be quite mind testing!) so needless to say, I needed a break for sure! I got see my good friend Julie and an old friend Dave. The time away was definitely needed... and deserved!! I got some Christmas shopping done, saw Happy Feet and above all else I got to RELAX!

A visit is never complete without a Kat Pose...
... Or even a Julie Pose!!

OH THE LOVE!!! (and... a nice view of Kat's glutimus...)

Chasing Cars...
JUBAKAH!!!