What Do You See?

Don't believe everything you see on social media.

Because what you think you see and what is real, they're not always the same thing.

One Last Note... Friday, January 17

So this is, or might not be, my last post on my homepage.

14.5 years and 10,712 posts later, this will be post 10,713 and my last one.

Started on July 31, 2005, finished today, January 17, 2020.

Trying to keep up with writing on the daily is rough.  My days end with me exhausted.

Wanting to express myself and talk opening is tough.  I run three businesses and am a brand, so things have to be overly sensored and screened.  

I can't write what and how I'd like to write, like how I used to.

Things are different now.  I am different.

I'll be launching my "Coach Amy" website at the end of this week so I'll post the details of that when my site is up and active.  Right now, I'm spending my time working on that launch.  

Best ways to follow my continual, everyday journey include the following:

Like my "Dead Aim Amy from Korea" fan page on Facebook.

Follow me on my "Dead Aim Amy" Instagram page.

Much thanks and appreciation to those of you who have followed my homepage, especially those who have stuck around from the start or for quite some time.  Extra thanks to those who have privately reached out to me from my homepage, very cool.  

When I launch my "Coach Amy" website, it'll be all focused on my three companies and empowering women through health, fitness and badassery, so please be sure to check it out when I post the details.  Thanks kindly,

Amy

Stay Tuned for Details

 The event space for next week's event.

It's a private space inside the condo of two of my former fighters here in BGC.

Plans for Next Week... Thursday, January 16

An event for next Thursday is in the works and I'm collabing with several other boss babes, strong female entrepreneurs, on this.  The location, date and time is set, but the finer details like the flyer and maybe some food isn't quite finalized.  Regardless, it's going to be good and it's anticipated that we'll be hosting this every month.  That's the plan.  So far on the event menu, we have 10 women owned and operated companies, a clothes swap, and some wine.  

Today I met with the leader of our pack to discuss my table and participation at the event. 

Emergency with My Babies

 Seriously?!  Two dogs in an emergency situation and I arrived to this?!

Killed time with some squad photos and basic obedience training 101.

Cassius was completely exhausted, waiting for the test results to be finished.

The entire ordeal took me about 4 hours but it's still not over.  Now the two young ones are under observation by me and Skittles for the next 24 hours.  So tonight, I stayed home and watched them.

Dogs, Art and a Show

You'll be happy to note, and thanks for asking, my four-legged babies are recovering nicely from yesterday's craziness... which means, they're healthy but exhausted and sleeping the day away.

 A bit of "artwork" I'm working on... or might get worked on, as in literally on me.

 Am thinking of going full force with more ink on my left arm.

And besides recovery day for the dogs, boxing for me, and pondering more ink, tonight I went to go see Jokoy live.  Word has it that there were 9,000 of us in attendance. Don't know Jokoy?! Google him.

Craving More Ink... Wednesday, January 15

The other week I had a new fighter join my small team training.  She showed up looking all smiley and cute, sporting hot pink leggings and a little jumper.  But when she took her jumper off, it was like BAM! Holy badass ink!!!  She had all these tattoos on her tiny little frame.  Tattoos all up her arms, basically covering it from knuckles to shoulders, and I was told she had them on her legs too.  It was a lot of ink but I absolutely loved her look.   It was so strong, so fierce... so apologetically badass.

Her look got me craving more tattoos.

All my tattoos, all 7 of them, represent some pretty pivotal moments in my life -- moments of struggle, growth, challenge, and triumph.  So for me they're kind of like the story of my life, how I evolved into the person I am.  

I used to be big into butterflies back when I lived in Korea and not because what they visually looked like because yes they are super pretty, but because of what they represent.  A butterfly starts off as this little rolley-polley caterpillar that isn't particularly pretty and then it actually gets uglier when it then forms a cacoon.  The cacoon is need though, just like the struggles and hardships in life are necessary to helping shape you into the person you're to become.  And then, viola, the butterfly is formed.  

Currently on my arm I have my Korean boxing club's motto, a lyric from "All of You" but John Legend, a cherry blossom on my shoulder, and a dandelion that starts on the back of my hand and goes up my arm.  

To do a full sleeve tattoo, you'd have to consider the above tattoos mentioned that I already have and work with them not to blur them out or take away from them.  I still very much so want my individual tattoos to stand out and not be mashed together like some big collague.  

Now the plan is to see how much this will cost.

My alternative route would be to offer to train this new fighter for x number of months for free, in exchange of her doing my artwork, my ink.  

I Think This Aged Me... Tuesday, January 14

Today went from fun to frustrating and scary pretty quickly.  Uncomfortably quickly. 

I had just finished coaching my last morning client when I went upstairs to let two of the dogs, Cassius and Nama, out of the master bedroom and for a walk.  When I reached the top of the stairs however, I smelt something.  Bleach.  I figured perhaps Skittles had washed the bathroom for me while I was coaching, before he left, so I was pleasantly surprised and was full of warm fuzzies.

Oh, but oh.... it was bleach alright but it wasn't from cleaning. 

He had forgotten to put the pail of cleaning supplies on the sink and Nama had gotten into the bleach.  She had chewed on the bottle of out squirted all the bleach.  Cassius was soaked and I didn't know if it was from the bleach of from the other cleaning supply they had gotten into, Mr. Muscle.  It was an easy mistake to have made, to have forgotten to put the bucket up, but it was a mistake I dreaded was going to become fatal if I didn't act upon what I had just walked into. 

Raced the three of them -- Cassius, Nama and Rousey -- to the community vet.

Rousey had to go for a medicated bath treatment anyways so I figured I'd bring her along.  I raced to the vet only to find out that it was closed for lunch and I had arrived right smack dab in the middle of their lunch break.  Great.

And if that wasn't bad enough, when they did open, they told me it was the vet's day off and that they didn't even so much as have an emergency vet on call.  Wow.  I was pissed, to say the very least.  So there I was with 3 dogs and 2 of them were in desperate need of medical attention. 

Left Rousey there, called a Grab.

Grab showed up, refused to take me and then he refused to cancel my ride. 

I should note here that my two little ones, Cassius and Nama, are super tiny and they both fit on my lap so it's not like I had a big dog or overly hyper, yappy dogs.  They both were exhausted from the little hike to the vet.  

Second Grab showed up.  He let me in but then he got lost when his Waze wasn't working and he insisted he knew where the place was -- a place he's never been to but I have numerous times. 

Finally arrived at the vet.  Skittles joined me and then we had about 30 minutes to kill while we held our breath, hoped for the best, and waiting for the test results of the blood work to be finished.  

Both babies are okay.

My wallet, on the other hand, yikes.  That was one expensive lesson to learn.

Start the Round Bell... Let's Fight!

Most girls want something pretty for Christmas, not this girl.

I asked for some new boxing gear and got this, a much-needed new head gear.  Sweet!!!

Stepped in the ring today for my first sparring session of 2020 and a overdue one at that.

Thanks Coach Marcelo for helping me "test out" my new head gear.

Sparring Day... Monday, January 13

I feels like too long since I last sparred and yet I feel every time I spar I'm saying exactly this.

Plan is to spar every week. 

Why is sparring so good?!  Let me count the many multitude of reasons...

For starters, it's the closest you're going to get to an actual real, in-the-ring fight and it's where you put into practice what you've not only been learning but have picked up and habits you've formed.  Unlike when you're doing pads and your coach is calling the shots and telling you punch-for-punch what to throw, here you're calling the shots and having to think for yourself.  You not only have to worry about what you're doing and setting up your combos, but you also have to worry about what your opponent is doing.  It's like multi-tasking on a whole other level. 

I love sparring. 

I used to be so completely full of anxiety at the thought of sparring that I always insisted my coach give me at least a day's head up on when I'd be sparring next.  I needed to get a good night's sleep, rewatch my training videos, and then make sure I wake up with enough time to get in a solid meal that's not too heavy but not too light.  I had a whole pre-sparring routine and it included peeing like a million times because of the anxiety and excitement.  Now I'm cool.  I just need to make sure I have a decent breakfast because the heat at the boxing club is really mean and it really sucks the energy out of you if you're not properly prepared.  

So today I had sparring and I loved it. 

Five rounds of sparring. 

I felt some of my old habits resurfacing so it was a bit frustrating.  But it's always a learning experience.  I think I threw heavier shots and moved around more but I still kept to infighting and pushing my opponent against the ring.  I'm most comfortable in the ring when I'm the attacker, the bully.

"Bully Bere", it's so fitting.

Send Your Prayers to the Philippines

Not my picture but now my problem as ash is every where.

Positive thoughts, positive thoughts... had to be positive when I know we were the "lucky ones" that

didn't get hit with ash as much as so many.  This is the end of my driveway.  

I wrote "empowered" in the ash with my sandal.

That Was Unexpected... Sunday, January 12

Add "got hit with ash from an erupted volcano" to the things I shouldn't tell my dad.

Today Taal Volcano erupted but it's been said in the news that this is just the beginning.  A much bigger eruption with lava is predicted to come in the near future though they don't know when.  Thousands have been evacuated as houses have been completely demolished and covered in this ash that is dangerous and poisonous to inhale. 

I felt it on my face before I heard about it in the news.  

I walked outside to walk Nama and felt ash falling on my face.  It looked like grey snow and I could smell it.  The ash continued for hours, all night actually, but when I had gone outside it had only started that hour so it wasn't really layered on the ground.  A couple of hours later, wow, different story.  In the news they told us to refrain from going outside, close all windows and keep all animals inside.  I ended up finding an undisrupted patch of grass under two large trees outside where the ash hadn't touched so I carried each and every one of my four dogs out individually to that spot for their pee breaks.  This lasted the rest of the evening and into the morning.  

Celebrating it the Way We Always Do

 Ordered the traditional pizza for the birthday boy.

And of course he shared it with his siblings too.  Not Nama though, she's too young to be

eating pizza but she did score some slices of pepperoni off of it though.

And extra slice for the birthday boy.  Happy birthday Balboa. 

BDay Celebration... Saturday, January 11

Today we celebrated Balboa's 9th birthday with the traditional way I've always celebrated it -- pizza party with the four-legged babies.  I used to wonder if Snickers in Korea continued our birthday tradition with Pyen Chi and Pacquiao in Korea but I no longer wonder.  He used to keep up with wishing Balboa a happy birthday and he'd remind me whenever the other dogs' birthdays were approaching but now he doesn't.  My dogs here have a good life, my dogs in Korea used to have a great life.  There's nothing I can do about it though.  Pac is too wild to live here and Pyen Chi needs a backyard with lots of room for her to run in.  The two are best situated in Korea, I know this, but now they don't get the attention, hugs and kisses like they used to when I was living with them.

But anyways...

This time last week I was dolled up, dancing it up in a club on the other side of the planet and now, this week, I'm here supervising the eating of pizza.  Am making sure all my little doggies get some but steal each others.

I feel so domesticated.  Kind of, sort of, a little.

Haven't officially been back in the Philippines for one full week just yet but it's feeling good to be back and it's going to feel even better when my schedule resumes.  Just waiting for some of my fighters to return from Christmas vacation and all the New Year Resolutioners to make up their mind and start to work on their resolutions.

No Holds Barred

In a school in a neighbouring city, in an auditorium full of students, the documentary featuring me, made by a group of talented young students played.

...and the won big because of it!!! 

And the Winner Is... Friday, January 10

I was told yesterday by one of the young male students who did a human documentary on me, that the documentary he and his fellow mates submitted had won.  It had won several prizes actually.

Today they sent me the final copy of the documentary for me to watch.

It's amazing what young kids can do nowadays.  They have access to so many different resources and so many platforms to express themselves and expand upon it.  Just the other day I had touched bases on the fact that social media was becoming too much of a thing for one of my much loved nieces but today I felt the polar opposite.  

I can't yet share the final documentary but when I'm able to, of course, I will.

And They Call it Puppy Love

Annnnnnnnnd we're back to having to separate the two boys, Cassius and Balboa.

Took three of my four-legged kids to the vet today and two of them got bathed.

They asked me if I wanted them to trim Cassius' fur and I was like hell no!  That's his rockstar hair.

Come on, tell me she doesn't just melt your frozen-from-Canada heart right here.  Love this girl!!!

Doggies and Rugby Mates... Thursday, January

Doggies to the vet and then me to rugby.

Just as predicted, I knew it was too good to be true.  Cassius and Balboa are back trying to search out and destroy each other.  I can't tell you how discouraging, upsetting and frustrating this is making me.  I thought they were good, yesterday they were great, but today I stopped a fight between them that left me in tears, sitting on the floor, cradling Cassius and scared that his injuries were bad.  Just a bad cut on his mouth, Balboa too, but man did that bleed like a mofo!!!  And, Cassius being all white, it looked so bad.  I heard them fighting from upstairs so I rushed down.  There they were, fighting.  Cassius covered in so much blood.

Time to talk to the trainer again because this isn't working out and now this is getting scary. 

In other news, I returned to rugby tonight.  Yesterday it was boxing, today it was rugby.  Great to see my rugby mates again and catch up.  We coming to the end of touch season now with 15's just around the corner, as well as our much anticipated tournament in Thailand.  

As it stands now, I'm having to come up with all the cash for the tournament in Thailand.  Originally it was discussed with the team that we'd do fundraisers and sell rugby shirts and whatnot to raise money but apparently that didn't happen.  Christmas happened.  New Years happened, too.  I'm not too sure if I can go now though because of that.  I still have insurance owed to me from over seven months ago.  So if I get that, get the insurance money, I can go.  If not, well... anyone want to sponsor me?!

Let's Restart the Round

 Back in the ring training.  I'll leave the sauna suit for later this week though.

Feels good to be back, not going to lie.  I really missed getting in a good sweat.

Bring on the Work... Wednesday, January 8

Arrived at the boxing club today, ready and anticipating to jump back in training like I hadn't just taken two weeks off of boxing to venture out to Canada for a visit.  It was wishful thinking to think I could just simply step back into it at the intensity I was training at before I left -- sauna suit on, going round after round, getting in the extra rounds of padwork.

No sauna suit today.

In Canada is was only about 0 degrees, super mild for their winter, but here in the Philippines it's about 28 degrees and the boxing club neither has a breeze blowing through it or any air con.  You sweat just tying up your laces.  

No padwork today.

Coach Marcelo was away today but he's moved closer to the club so he'll be taking less days off in the future.  Regardless, I could have done padwork with another coach but opted out.  There's challenging yourself and then there's killing yourself.  I need to allow my body to readjust to training here in the Philippines.

Today was a "lighter day" at boxing for me but that doesn't mean I didn't arrive home exhausted and super gym nasty soaked to the bone, gosh no.  I then had to quickly shower, eat, and then prep for my next fighter. 

I had 5 fighters to coach today.

A little bit rough to jump back into coaching as such but I love it. 

Feels so damn good to be back.

Back in the Clubhouse, Back in PH

Touch down in the Philippines this morning so workout time in the afternoon.

Back in the PH... Tuesday, January 6

I lost a full day in the air and ultimately 15 days of coaching with this "vacation", and now I'm back.  Tomorrow I resume my crazy, busy life of coaching my fighters and training.  But today, I prepare for it all. 

...and workout... just a light weight training, sweat sesh.

Thankfully I was able to get my dogs' trainer to drop off all 4 of my four-legged babies at my house.  It was a happy reunion but I'm skeptical as to whether or not they'll remain this happy.  You see, Balboa and Cassius don't get along.  Cassius is the baby boy and Balboa is the old boy but Cassius won't submit and let Balboa be the alpha.  Cassius is "too empowered" as my fighters joke.  Maybe there's more truth in their joke than I know it because the two fight as if to purposely draw blood so when I say it's bad, it's bad.  And it is bad, or at least it was bad before I dropped them off at the trainer and then headed off to Canada. 

Starting this year off with some short, weak posts.  Sorry I'm not sorry.  Just trying to catch up with work and get going on 2020.  Bigger things on my plate and hoping to transition to my "Coach Amy" site soon.  Daily blog entries is a bit rough sometimes, not going to lie.

The Waiting Game

Spent the entire day up in the sky, curled up on a seat in the airplane, waiting and 

anticipating my arrival back on Philippine soil, the land of sun.

No Doubts Now... Monday, January 6

It was a bitter sweet moment leaving Canada.  I'm happy I came, I saw a lot of friends that I missed dearly, but I was also so happy to leave.  If there ever was a doubt as to whether or not my place is in the Philippines, no I have absolutely no doubt.  

I love what I'm doing.

I love who I'm doing it with.

I love where I'm living.

I love my life.

And though I feel perhaps it is missing some components that would make me happier, like a few close friends and a home church, like I have in Toronto, what I have in the Philippines is more than I ever had living in Canada.  My quality and happiness in life is a million levels above it.

Holiday Mode Off... Sunday, January 5

My last day in Canada and I wanted to do absolutely nothing but breath it all in and enjoy doing absolutely nothing until I had to leave.  I say that because I don't know when the next time I'll be here.  I went to the Philippines thinking I'd be there for 3 months and now look at me, been there for almost 3 years now.  Same thing with Korea.  I went there for 1 year and stayed 11.5 years.  That was totally not planned. 

My life has never gone as planned and thank you God for that because it never would have become this badass cool life if I had stuck to my plan. 

I didn't do much today.  Hit the condo gym for a bit, did some laundry, and then caught up on my homepage before then sitting down to do a few hours of work on Empowered.  I've launched a couple of ads on social media, both Facebook and Instagram.  Social media in the Philippines is like social media here in Canada except for on steroids and perhaps a bit obsessive.  I haven't been able to take any phone calls or post stuff as much in the present now as I would have had I been in the Philippines so posting ads was the best way for me to stay present in the Philippines without literally being present there. 

After a full day of occupying my friend's couch, working on my homepage and work, I then was treated to a slice of pizza and then taken to the airport.  Not before one last hug from a friend that is.  Arrived right on time for my 10:30pm flight and was told it had been delayed.  

Delayed 4.5 hours, which meant I then had 6.5 hours to kill in the airport. 

Popped open my laptop, used my voucher from the airline to stock up on coffee and chocolate covered espresso beans, and then for the next chunk of hours I worked.

Vacation was officially over, right there in the Toronto Pearson Airport.

Figs and Family

A picture so long I have to keep it long if I want to keep the restaurant name in it.

The Captain joined us today for breakfast at one of my favourite breakfast hot spots, Figs.

One last family meal before we head out tomorrow.

One Last Meal Together... Saturday, January 4

My last night here in Canada and I arranged to have some friends hit a club with me.  But first, I headed out of town to have dinner with family.  In the morning, I headed out for breakfast with one of my friends, so today was packed with lots of dear people. 

Caught in a last workout too at System Fitness.

I love training at System and love seeing my friends, of course, but I'm really missing hitting the boxing club and training till exhaustion, just putting on flip flops in the morning to walk my dogs, and jumping on an Angkas to zoom off to where ever I want to go.  

I miss the freedom and comfort I have in the Philippines. 

Tonight, at the club, it was packed with young kids and I felt rather out of place.  I chatted with one dude who was super sweet and somehow we started talking about how he works at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) and how I spent one of my New Year's Eves there.  But standing there talking to him, it was strange to note just how forward and aggressive not only guys but girls are here.  So there I am, standing beside Skittles, casually talking with him and this person I just met, and then along comes a string of dudes walking by.  One by one they tried to grab my hand or get my attention by winking or "accidentally" bumping into me.  Wow, I thought, I would not want to be single in this city.  I mean, we people so easily throwing themselves at each other, how do you know the good from the bad, the bad from the ugly, etc.?!  

I arrived back at my friend's condo around 1:30pm and that's when one of my friends started texting me.  I had asked him earlier if he was going to come to the club and he said he'd try.  He lives around the corner from the club which means he also lives close to where I've been staying for the past 2 weeks.  He just came back from vacation though so I thought he'd be coming out tonight after all he did contact me like a month ago, to make sure he'd be running into me.  

Turns out "running into me" meant differently to him than to me. 

Last night in the big city, here in the Great White North, and it ended with me getting a booty call.

I thought after a certain age guys grew up and stopped doing that.  I also thought he was a friend who was aware of my situation and respectful of it.  Apparently note.

#thingsIlearnedinCanada

A Day Packed with My Badass Boxing Peeps

First on my list to do today, meet up with this fiesty female

for some catch-up chats and collab ideas. 

Headed to the north part of the city to catch up with this big guy, my first boxing coach -- Coach Egerton.  Every time I pop back in the country, I always make it a priority to go see him.

Spent some extra time with my gal pal.

And then in the evening, I went to Snakes & Lattes with Skittles.

Showing up here was such a sentimental thing that both of us have wanted to do for some time and have always said that the next time we're in Toronto, we most definitely have to do it.  Tonight, we did. 

Oh, I Wonder... Friday, January 3

Back when I lived in Toronto (Canada) and had first met Skittles, after working out at System Fitness, we used to go to Snakes & Lattes to work.  It was really the only coffee shop that was open late and only place we could really sit comfortably and work on our business proposals.  Of course at the time I was planning on launching mine within the city, in Toronto, so after the place would close for the night, more often than not we'd cruise around the streets for a bit in his jeep, checking out potential empty buildings for me to think about situating my new business.  

Since my late nights of sitting at Snakes & Latte, I have since opened up my business but I did so in the Philippines. So returning here after having successfully opened the business I once sat here slaving over was pretty cool. 

"Now we can afford the cookies that some of the staff used to give us for free", I commented.  A funny comment but a true comment.  We used to go there so often that we ended up getting somewhat familiar with the staff so they never used to charge us the "sitting fee" like they did the regular customers, being that it was a board game coffee shop.

Anyways, returning here tonight was pretty cool.

We sat at a table until a space at the bar, where we usually sat, came free.  And then from there, it was all about walking down memory lane and how our lives are so incredibly different now.  My life and business may not have turned out the way I had planned it and my business pretty much took a majorly different direction after page 4 of 49 in my business proposal, but I vouch both my life and my business ended up so much better than I could have ever imagined.  Of course this doesn't mean that I don't have things I'm working to improve or want to change some things, but sitting here at the coffee shop three years ago, I never would have imagined my life would be as great as it is now.

I wonder what I'll be thinking about my life in another three years and how differently it'll turn out in comparison to all the big plans I have for it and for my company.

Starting the New Year Busy

Finished writing out my New Year Resolutions today and they're good.  I mean, they're REAL good!

Headed out to MJKO Boxing Club today, to check out their new location and meet with their Coach.

 Coach Miranda and I both started boxing with the same coach, Coach Egerton, and we've both taken our love of boxing to the next level and to the kids.  She runs a nonprofit boxing club for kids and today we got to sit and talk about a possible collab.  I also got to meet more of her amazing crew.

In the evening, I headed out to Whitby where I was joined by my family and taken to an age-old family favourite restaurant -- Teddy's.  I got to see my little nieces one last time.  I'm sure the next time I see them they won'd be so little though.

Next Level... Tuesday, January 2

I'm here on vacation, yes but not really.

Today I had a meeting with MJKO Boxing Club.  MJKO stands for Mentoring Junior Kids Organization and it's a nonprofit boxing club that offers free boxing to kids under the age of 18.  It's a safe space for kids, a means of getting them off the streets and out of trouble.  It's also a positive place where they are mentored and looked after, encouraged and supported.  It's pretty awesome that their head coach is my friend Coach Miranda and that we both started boxing with the very same coach, Coach Egerton. 

Coach Egerton is also so very proud about us when he talks about us and we're just as proud of him and that he was our coach.  He's an Olympian, a silver medalist, and he won his medal in the Seoul, South Korea Olympics.

My meeting today with Coach Miranda was to catch up and give her the letter from my Lil' Sistas who are in the Snail Mail Program and write to some of her girls.  It was also an opportunity to touch bases on what's next for her girls and my girls and what we can do to take this to the next level.  She inquired about bringing a couple of her girls to the Philippines and I was thrilled.  The plane ticket would be the most expensive thing but once they got there, their money, even if it were a lack of money, wouldn't be a problem.  Life is so much cheaper in the Philippines in comparison to Canada and though I make pesos, they make dollars here.  Their dollar kills the Philippines peso.  It'd be so awesome to have some of her girls come to the Philippines but it got me thinking about the possibility of bringing a couple of my girls here to Canada, like getting them to speak on behalf of the causes and issues that the Lil' Sistas deal with, like poverty and human trafficking.  I think it'd be so incredibly impactful for not only them but those listening to them if they were to come here.

...and so my brain is racing a mile a minute. 

Taking the Lil' Sistas Project to the next level would mean taking it internationally, beyond just the letters that are crossing the border.  It'd be THEM, the Lil' Sistas, crossing the border.

Welcome to the New Year

I'm not quite sure on which "biggest change" Facebook I'm most nervous about.

Twins?!  Maybe if you mean me taking on 2 Lil' Sistas into my clubhouse for the internship.

New pets?!  Ummm... I already have 4 dogs and I "kind of" have a kitten too, Ali.

 Family time out in Mississauga means more Filipinos and more food.

And by "more food" I mean an infestation of amazing delish food!!!

Rethinking This... Wednesday, January 1

Not exactly a great start to the year.  It started off rough and uncomfortable and I didn't end up get around to writing my New Year's Resolutions.  I'll do it tomorrow.

Had some dirty carbs today, too.  I'm still on vacation so no worries.

I've been on vacation for about a week and a half now, almost, and I've been pretty good with not eating so bad.  If anything, I've been under eating.  Everything is so expensive here and most of our money is going towards traveling in and out of the city to see family and friends.  So money for food has taken a back burner.  I've been pretty consistent with making sure I get a solid breakfast every morning and then I kind of just snack the rest of the day.  It's way too expensive to get in another meal outside of the house.  The average meal here costs what my entire day's worth of meals and snacks would in the Philippines.  And the GO Train and bus, don't even get me started.  I try to walk every where I need to go.  

I make good money in the Philippines but I make pesos and good money there is basic salary here.  Through in the fact that while I'm spending money here I'm not making money in the Philippines, and yeah, it's like spending twice the money.  It hurts. 

Note to self, don't visit again at Christmas. 

The weather is bonkers.

Prices are inflated.
There are lines and crowds everywhere.

Family put extra pressure on you to visit them.

Friends are also on vacation so your schedule will be packed.

Best time to visit, I figure it's either late spring or early fall.  When there isn't any holidays and everyone is in a regular schedule.  

Out with 2019, In with 2020

First picture of 2020 and this is what resulted.

 Oh gosh, focus people.

 Maybe focus a bit less here, guys.

Ok, good.  Perfect.  Let's post this as our first nice picture of 2020.