"Take 2". My computer just frozen when I was typing this. My firewall program was not responding and I had to reset my computer. This has happened a few times before and I found out when it does that, it was actually blocking some AOHell person from hacking into my computer. So I'm not as mad as I would have been otherwise.

Ok, I was saying..... Diana needs to perk up LAR!! :p Every time I see another WPR praising themselves and other people prasiing them and they are geting awards, I really think we can do a better job. LAR seriously need to update and fix the problems and if we have more time on hand to work hard on it, we can definitely make it a better WPR. *Diana must fix LAR and then we can fight for those WPR award thing next year!*

I have a habbit of reading reviews from other WPRs that are done on the same site that I'm reviewing, especially when the other reviews were just done recently. People tends to send their pages to different WPRs at the same time. That will make sure I can do a better job than they do. So I just read, and fine. At least I'm not missing important things and my review is not any less detail than theirs � �. In fact, they said they had a hard time to pick out mistakes from the site and on my 5 page long review, 4 pages are about mistakes! Well, that was the reason why the review is 5 page long e.e;;.... A site that has no mistake to pick on will only be 1 page long (and we sure had some of those lately). You gotta use the right browser to check the site, you know. IE will seriously not let you see any mistakes. And of course, close investigations can find lot of problems. And I can now see why they can do a review so fast and get so many done in a year. My review count for these 3 years is only about thirty-something sites a year (although it feels like I've done hundreds already @_@;;). And if all site reviews are as long as this one I just did, I could probably only get 20 done in a year @_@;; That still makes me wonder why people think they are the best WPR or they claim to be the best WPR. LAR seriously need to get the reputation up. But first, we need to get the reviewer up to do reviews x.x I really don't know why we run in this circle all the time.... It almost seem like we can never run smoothly......school or no school.

2 more sites and I get some annoying work and pharmacy stuff to prepare..... will I ever get to fix my paper doll page??

- You've just read Rushita's heart - September 14, 2003 - 1:14 a.m. [ Comments ]

OMG! I re-did my site ^^;;. I've been working on it non-stop (except sleep and go to work.....) since Thursday and I got a new layout and the whole wack that came with it done! My shoulder is very sore now. x.x

It is a clover layout... I finally got idea how I'm going to do it. It is a lopsided layout though o.o;; The text box is pushed to the side and if you've got a wider screen than 800px, you'll see how everything falls on the left side. I the picture of Sue so much that I didn't want to scale it down or put anything over her dress.... It turned out very minty green XD. It is not supposed to be so minty. It was supposed to be a greyish green, but some how when it is viewed on browsers, they turn the colour to minty green o.o;; Oh well. It is not a layout I'm very satisfy with, but well, I want a new layout. I actually used the same image to make a wallpaper first before I decided how to do the layout. The wallpaper looks much better, not lopsided, and not minty green, of course when you see it on the computer.

I redid all the site files and turn them all to php. I hope I'm not running into broken links demon *crosses fingers*. I hope this time will be once and for all with php and css so I don't have to redo everything everytime I change a layout..... e.e;;

It's way too late at night. I gotta go to bed. x.x

- You've just read Rushita's heart - September 07, 2003 - 2:47 a.m. [ Comments ]

First off all, if you are directed by me to come here to read my vacation report, you should now scroll to the very bottom of this page and start reading bottom up. The report started from the bottom. When you are done, then you can read this blog :)

I wonder why the uploading is so slow.... the past few days I have been uploading and uploading stuff to my site. This week I'm still off, and I'm supposed to be doing internet/website stuff. I've spent the whole day yesterday installing a new PHP guestbook for the site. It was from DayDreamGraphics tutorial, but I had to debug the script, modify it and customize it to fit my site. I still don't know much about PHP, but I actually enjoy working on the programming language stuff XD. Well, afterall programming was my best subject in school, not life science (believe it or not).....back in the old old days... Now I just don't have time to figure out language stuff. Sooo... I've got a new guestbook! Go sign it and tell me if there is still any bug! Well, even if you don't want to sign it, go take a look o.o Sooner or later I'm going to turn all my site stuff pages into PHP. Too lazy to manually update page these days...

I've just got some "Requests" done. This year is the 10th aniversary of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. It has been a long time since BSSM finished airing. Why am I suddenly getting all these requests for animated transformation/attrack gifs from all the moonies? O.o;; They could have asked me like 5 years ago... Well, if they did ask me 5 years ago, I don't be able to make them so easily and in so good quality. I didn't have Animation Shop at that time and DVDs were not out so no good screen cap video clips. I did a whole bunch today and it is uploading at this moment. I've got the creator of the crystal clear SM video clips the permission to use them to make animation gifs. I have a feeling the requests are not going to end until I've done them all. Here are the fulfilled requests: The requests page

- You've just read Rushita's heart - September 03, 2003 - 9:51 p.m. [ Comments ]

Seattle: A very nice city. I like it a lot, it feels very much like home. It looks very much like Toronto with lots of hills on the street. It is more peaceful and less rush than Toronto. I really have developed a liking to Seattle. If I don't live in Toronto, Seattle would be a good choice for home. I like it much more than Columbus. Just don't drive in downtown local streets.

Chinese Church: No matter where you go, and which church you go to, as long as we are all Christians, we are just like brothers and sisters. We believe in one God and we are all like one big family. I'm glad the brothers and sisters in Seattle Chinese Alliance Church were so friendly to me. I'm really glad I took a step further to visit them and join their sunday service. I'll sure remember them. If I visit other places, I'll visit a local Chinese church too.

Inn at Queen Anne: The inn was kinda old and primitive. When I checked in to my room, the room wasn't cleaned. I think their had a mixed up and the maid didn't know the previous person had already checked out. Not a big deal, the maids seemed to be pretty nice and they cleaned up the room right away. Another bad thing is half the hotel (1 building) has no air conditioner. As long as you don't go there when it is very hot, then it shouldn't be a problem. But I think they really should put screens on the windows. The shuttle service is next to non-existing although they claim to have that service. You can't book them ahead of time and they can't promise when they will arrive to take you. It would be much easier to just use your feet, or the Monorail, or taxi. The good side is, it is in a very good location. Close to Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Key Arena, the Monorail station. Different varieties of restaurants close by. Super market where you can buy grocery for cooking, since there is a kitchen in everyroom, microwave oven and fridge. Office supply just across the street, and liquor store just right next store. Kinko also very closeby for internet and computer and photocopy. Overall a very convenience location. I've read a review before that the person complained about the noise. I didn't find it noisy at all. It is on a one way street and there aren't that many cars drive by at night. In general, I had a good experience with the inn, and if I go back to downtown seattle again, I would pick the same hotel.

Ocha's driving: Although she got stressed out trying to find the way in Seattle and all the highway driving, Ocha is actually a good and safe driver ^^. Ru felt much safer sitting in Ocha's car than in xq's car.

Gifts: Christy drew me a piccy to welcome me to Seattle ^^. It's been a long time since she last drew me a Rushita piccy. I like this "Rushita" she drew. "Rushita" looks better on this one than the ones she drew me before. Of course, over the years her drawing skill have improved. She also drew a Tuxedo Dishwasher plushie in my bag so I can actually show xq that he went with me to Seattle. It was very thoughtful of her ^^. My birthday gift to Diana was a pack of 72 colours professional version of Prisma Colour pencils. I know she always like Prisma Colour and now she can draw more pretty pictures. Also a "Blue Day Book" with funny pictures and captions. It was really cute. And I brought Ocha the mini spa kit. When I saw it, I somehow thought it would go with Ocha ^^;;. And of course since I went there from Canada, I must bring her something special from Canada, which is the Maple Tea. Well...tea and Ocha just look right together ^^;; The Maple Tea actually tastes pretty good. Thankfully it wasn't too strong and bitter. I probably have been scarred by the very bitter and dark poor quality Chinese tea they give you in the Chinese restaurants.....o.o;;

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 4:59 p.m. [ Comments ]

Going Home

Woke up very early to wash my hair (again, due to no hair dryer). Then I packed everything into my bags.

Day 8 breakfast: 2 Jell-O strawberry smoothies and 2 glasses of Welch's very sweet grape and peach juice.

Then I went to the post office just across the street from the inn to send xq a postcard, and went on the last internet round. I forgot it was Saturday, so Kinko's wasn't open yet. So I walked around the block to see the streets and stuff before returning to the hotel room. I passed by the Marqueen hotel, just was the "mother" of my inn and was supposed to be quite a bit higher grade. It was still a very old building on the outside. I think Ocha would like it since she likes old buildings and decorations. I personally prefers new and hi-tech, the almost non-personal feeling type of buildings ^^;;.

So I got back to my room and watched TV since I still had lots of time before checking out and going to the airport. I saw an interesting show called "Debbie Travis Facelift". It was almost the same as "Trading Spaces" I saw in Toronto, except they didn't get to trade the house with somebody. They just got the designers, handy man, carpenters, etc, to go to their house and renovate a room. It would be a totally new design, i.e., the "facelift". It was nice to see the teenage son got totally surprised at his new room and totally cool designs. After the show, I went back to Kinko's to check my e-mails and check out Diana's blog ^^. Then I went back to the inn and checked out and took a taxi to the airport.

Taxi service in Seattle was pretty nice and efficient. I self-checked-in at the e-ticket machine and went to the gate. For some reason there were line-ups everywhere. It wasn't like that the other day when we sent Diana to the gate. It turned out nothing special happened, probably just because the airport was busy with lots of passengers at that time. They had a stricter security checking in Seattle than in Toronto. I had to took off my shoes and put in the bin with my other stuff for the "x-ray" machine. They had to search my bag and it was the metal hair pin that they were looking for. They let me go without further problem probably because the hair pin wasn't sharp or anything.

Day 8 before lunch snack: The leftover garlic bread stick that came with the lasagna that I was too full to eat on day 7. I warmed it up before I left the inn.

More writing for the blog before boarding and while on the plane. I didn't write much on the plane before dozing off, probably because of lack of sleep and lack of oxygen.

Day 8 lunch: The cold-hard-dry ham and sausage sandwich with a small pack of corn chips and a small green apple, again, provided by the airline.

It was early when I got to Detroit. I called home to tell my parents everything was running as planned, 'cause I forgot to call before I got on the plane in Seattle.

Day 8 tea-time meal/supper (crossing time zones screw that up): Zesty Chicken Bowl from Taco Bell at Detroit's airport. It was good. It had meat, lettuce, cheese, beans and rice. Nutrients from all 5 food groups, I would say, but not necessarily in the right portions.

Got on the plane. People had problems fitting their carry-on luggages on the overhead bins. Not enough spaces.

Lesson of the day: The luggage goes facing out, not the side way, meaning the short side facing out and the long side is the side. Of course there was not enough room if everybody putting their luggage side way @_@;;. And if your luggage wouldn't fit and right way, that means your bag is not the standard size and it shouldn't be allowed to be carried on the plane in the first place! And you are not allowed to carry 3 or 4 bags on the plane. I wonder when they will actually enforce the carry-on luggage rules � �. Each person is only allowed to carry 1 piece of luggage plus your handbag or briefcase, and your luggage needs to be able to fit in that box thingy that are displayed everywhere! e.e;;

The flight from Detroit to Toronto was short, and they didn't even provide brevages and snack XD. I didn't write much on the plane because there wasn't really that much time after the plane took off and reached a certain height, and before preparing for landing. It was a really short period of time when electronic devices were allowed to be used on the plane.

The custom went fine. That is the part I worry the most usually because Canada loves to ask you to pay tax and opens your luggage to check for stuff. Well, I really didn't buy much this time. It was nice to just walk through the baggage claim to the exit since I didn't have any baggage to claim. And then my parents picked me up. Glad to be back home.

There I ended my 8-day adventure in Seattle, successfully completed "Operation Tanjoubi Omedetou". Thanks for reading.

The next blog will be my summary on different things in the trip.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 3:57 p.m. [ Comments ]

Attempted to Rest My Back

In an attempted to rest my back, I decided to rest in the morning and just go out in the afternoon.

Day 7 breakfast: 2 Jell-O strawberry smoothies and 2 glasses of Welch's very sweet grape and peach juice.

Continued to write the blogs on the Palm (so I could just synchonize it to my computer when I got home and copy and paste to Diaryland. That would save me from retyping everything and save me internet $$ from typing directly to the blog while I think. This is exactly what I did for blogs day 1 to 5) while watching TV.

Day 7 lunch: vegetable lasagna take-out. The reason for doing take-out is so that I can eat at the inn and finish my big bottle of juice o.o;;.

At 2pm, I went out for the last sight-seeing round. Destination was the Seattle Aquarium. The plan was to take the Monorail so I wouldn't have to walk so far (in attempt to save my back). When I got out, crap, they had fence that surrounded the whole Seattle Center for the annual art festival @_@;; That means, the whole area was blocked. You had to pay to get to the park and the open area inside. Everything was fenced inside except the Space Needle and the Monorail. I asked the lady at the gate, "I can't get in there?". She said, "Nope. Where do you want to go?". I replied, "I just want to get on the Monorail...;_;". She then said, "It has a separate entrance. You'll have to walk around it to find the entrance. Good luck.". Great. It would take a long walk to walk around the fenced area and get to the opposite side and still hoping I knew where the entrace for Monorail would be. So by the time I walked down far enough to see the corner where the fence made a turn, I said, "forget it, I'll just walk down to the pier". It was already half way there to the pier where the aquarium was @_@;;. So my plan of saving my back didn't work out.

The streets at the harbour front were basically build on a hill, so you had to climb up or down either the slope or the stairs at an equivalent to 6 stories height to go between the 2 streets in a block. Luckily I found the elevators near the Pike Market so it saved me from a lot of climbing.

The Seattle Aquarium was fun, especially the first part where you can touch the seastars, sea urchins, sea cucumber, coral, crabs, etc... I didn't touch them, 'cause I was too scare to ^^;; but they were beautiful. Then I saw the octopus feeding and the sea horses and sea dragons. They had a salmon ladder, which was for salmon to swim up to the side of the aquarium, when it was the right season, to lay eggs in the aquarium. They also had an underwater dome where you could see big fishes and small fishes swimming around you. Very cool (of course that was a good chance to sit down to rest my back too). My favourite exibit was sea ottars. They were so cute swimming on their backs with their paws resting on their chests. I saw one sleeping like that too ^^. Of course, I just couldn't help buying a sea ottar plushies (that would make ottar noise) at the gift shop on my way out.

Then I walked all the way back to Westlake Center to take the Monorail back. I was going to check out Bon Marche on the way, but my back was killing me, so I had to turn back on the 3rd floor. In order to minimize walking, I bought my supper at the Westlake Center although it was too early to eat. I just didn't want to walk out again later on in the evening. I decided to check out the "Ride the Duck" thingy since Ocha wanted me to try it and tell them what it was like. It turned out I got the last ride of the day, which would be the last chance before I went home. Of course it was a very good chance to see Seattle without having to walk. *aggh, my back!*

The Captain on the Duck was a very funny guide. Since it was the last ride of the day and he didn't have to go back to the station on time, he made the tour a bit longer and took us to see things people normally didn't get to see. The Duck was a WWII US army vehicle that would run on the road as a car and run in water like a boat. That's why it was called the "Duck". So we toured around harbour front, pioneer square area, the other side of the lake, and we ride on Lake Union to see ships and floating houses. It was a fun ride ^^. It was very sunny in Seattle that day. In fact, it was one of the very few sunny days without much clouds. I didn't realize I had too much sun when I was on the Duck and had some sun reactions on the skin until the end of day 8.

Lesson of the day: Sun glasses and sun screen need to be put on at the same time. Ru does not know her skin has too much sun when her eyes doesn't see much sun.

Then I walked back to the inn and had my supper. The rest of the night was between packing, writing blog on the Palm, and watching TV.

Day 7 supper: Chicken Masala (chicken with sauce, rice and salad), Indian food take-out that had been sitting in the Duck with me for almost 2 hours before I got back to the inn. And of course 2 glasses of very sweet juice and a smoothie.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 2:51 p.m. [ Comments ]

Diana Returns to Altanta, Temporarily

After my internet round at the Kinko's (V-webmail was still screwy, btw), I met up with Ocha and Diana at their hotel. Then we went to Uwajimaya again on the way to the airport. I found the inner sailor senshi figurine box with a candy. It was a nice figurine, authentic sailor senshi made by Bandai. I picked Sailor Mercury, 'cause they only have the inner senshi, otherwise you know which one I'll buy. In fact, I might buy the whole outer senshi team if they had them. Diana got Sailor Mars and I forgot which one Ocha got. I think it was Sailor Jupiter. Then Diana tried the tapioca bubble tea thingy, while I got my lychee red tea. Too bad they didn't have green tea. Looked like Diana wasn't very fond of chewy stuff in the drink.

We then went to the airport, driving through the maze again trying to get on I-5. With the road construction and detour signs, we went in circles again. I had been feeling like having Deja Vu those 2 days when I saw we were going through the exact same road making the exact same turn, while I could still remember the exact conversation we had when we went on the same route a few minutes ago. It just felt very very odd. Finally, we decided just to go south. We figured if we just go south, we would either end up at the airport or find the entrance ramp to the highway that would take us to the airport. And we did. We somehow got back to the detour route that we lost and from then on, everything was fine ^^;;.

Then we said goodbye to Diana, who didn't want to go home. Remember Dia, it is just temporary. Unlike me, you will go back, soon. After that, me and Ocha went to a town with a big shopping mall for lunch.

Day 6 lunch: Chinese chicken salad in Rainforest Cafe. I hadn't had any vegetables for 2 days and the little voice in my head was telling me I must have salad.

It was my first time going to Rainforest Cafe. It was an interesting place with pretty forest decoration and fish tanks and animated animal figures that make noises. My only complain was the animals were not in proportion. The parrot's head was as big as the zebra's head O.o;;. The salad was good and huge. After that, we went through the mall a little bit. In the Made in Washington store, they sold those pasta called "Space Noodle" that was shaped as the Space Needle. Very interesting. I didn't buy that although I was tempted to, but I bought a Seattle calendar instead.

Then Ocha drove me back to my inn and she returned home. The rest of the day was pretty much staying in my room resting my sore back and now my sore legs. I spent the rest of the day writing up the blogs. I started writing day 1 on the boat trips to and from Victoria. It didn't get very far since it was hard to write on the Palm. By the end of the day I only got up to the beginning of day 4.

Day 6 supper: Sushi - california rolls from the supermarket. I also bought a big bottle of Welch grape and peach juice and a 6-pack of jello strawberry smoothies (never underestimate the power of commercials. One look and you would want to buy it), all to be finished before I leave Seattle e.e;; And also the leftover Chinese chicken salad.

Lesson of the day: Do not buy big packages of food unless you know you can finish them in time. 1 smoothie at bedtime, 2 smoothies for breakfast, and 4 glasses of very sweet juice per day for 2 days is not fun.

Then xq called me ^^. He had been trying to get a hold of me for a few times but I was never at the hotel and the time zone made it hard to reach somebody at the right time.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 2:02 a.m. [ Comments ]

Moonwings Invaded the Zoo

I first went to Kinko's to do my daily round of internet and checking e-mail. V-Webmail was totally screw up. I got about 40 junk mails and when I deleted them, they went to the trash. When I deleted the junk from the trash, they went back to the inbox � �. When I exited the webmail, it was supposed to clear out the trash. Instead, it cleared out my inbox and put everying in the trash O.O!! In fear of losing my important e-mails, I forwarded them all to my other account. For some reason, it decided to forward to itself as well (i.e., more to be deleted). So I was stuck in the endless loop of deletion for 15 minutes. At one point I thought I was going to crash Kinko's computer 'cause the browser wouldn't load O.o;; I couldn't get it fixed, so I changed to Squirrel Mail instead. Need to wait till I get home to get it fix, or report it to Hostrocket.

So, Ocha, Diana, Keital and I went to the zoo. The one that Ocha accidentally found the direction to while they ran in circles trying to find their hotel. The zoo was quite fun, but I think Diana had more fun seeing the big group of kids being noisy and scaring the animals (i.e. the children exibit). Speaking of scaring, I thing Keital accidentally scared a little girl without doing anything.

Day 5 lunch: Bread bowl of chili meal. A big meal to make up for the small supper the night before.

Lesson of the day: bees like Rushita and lemonade (and Dia's floral pattern brouse).

Keital had been Rushita's hero for getting rid of crawlies and bees from the terrified Rushita. Rushita is very thankful for that. I don't think I had a chance to tell Keital that ^_^.

After the zoo, we went to downtown to drop off Keital for the bus to go home. That is, after going through the maze again. We "officially declared" that Seattle is a maze, or as Ocha would call it, a Labyrith. We just haven't seen the monster yet. Or have we not?

Then we decided to go back to the hotel to get some rest, since Ocha was really tired from driving through the maze and my back hurt. Diana wouldn't let Ocha sleep, so we had some tea and we snacked on the goodies they bought from Uwajimaya the other day while chatting. After that we walked to the harbour front to see the sea. It was nice to sit down on the rocks and see the sea and be completely relax, especially the sitting part, since my back still hurt (see a pattern here?). Then we walked to the Indian restaurant next to my inn.

Day 5 supper: Indian Chicken Parmagranate. I probably don't spell it right, but in short, it is curry chicken with rice. That was the first time I had rice in 5 days. I sure miss my rice.

Ocha ordered a chocolate martini thingy. A quite strong alcoholic drink, according to Ocha. Diana and Ocha shared it and it looked like Ocha experienced more of the alcohol effect than Dia did ^^. It tasted very bitter to me though.

2nd lesson of the day: Alcohol still tastes like Listerine to Rushita no matter what and how you mix it with. I think I like white or red wine more.

The curry was very good, just the right amount of "hotness", although I can use a little more spicy. Hot and spicy are not the same. Then we walked to Ocha and Diana's hotel to take some pictures with my new Chinese dress and Diana's pretty dress. I'll have to see how the pictures turn out. Rushita might be able to have a picture to post on MW, with her face hid behind a fan *laughs*. Gotta keep the face secret as always. That's the fun part. It was pretty cold outside but I was fine with my short sleeves. It must be the warming effect of the curry (or maybe the additive effect of one sip of the martini?), because I could really feel my skin very warm.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 1:34 a.m. [ Comments ]

The Surprise Day

Another "mission" that I must accomplish was to visit the Pacific Science Center. It was pretty neat, similar to our Ontario Science Centre, just smaller. The bad part about it was that quite a few exibits were not working. I went to the planterium show. It was cool and it reminded me of Shoujo Kakumei Utena and the Akio guy with his projector. Although I had a bit of problem locating the stars (fake projected night sky), it was fun and I wished the show was longer.

Day 4 lunch: hotdog and soup at the mini-cafeteria of the science centre.

It was suprising that I finished the science center early and I still have time to go to the Pike Market before meeting up with Ocha and Diana. At a "down under" store at Pike Market, I found a nice Chinese dress that I have been looking for, one that actually fitted very well. Then it was time to go meet up with the gang. I was going to take the Monorail back, which would be faster but more walking. However, my back was so sore, so I decided to take a bus instead. The bus kinda got stuck in the traffic, so by the time I got to my inn then walk to Ocha's hotel, I was late. But you know what? It was perfect timing. As I walked to the entrance of the hotel, I saw Ocha running to me from her car in madness saying, "We just got here! We just got here!". As I walk through the hotel entrance, I heard Diana saying, "It's Rushita!". I love to surprise people ^___^. Diana kept saying "Rushita", "Rushita", "I've got Rushita", that was very amusing ^.^ Then I saw a person standing next to Diana, whom apparently came with Diana and Ocha, and that person was Keital (....and the knife. Let's not forget Keital's knife. See Dia's blog for details). What happen was they got lost in downtown Seattle. Downtown Seattle is very hard to drive around. You know where you want to go, you see the place you want to go, but with all the one way streets, stalled vehicle and constructions. You just can't get there O.o;; That was why Ocha was so stressed up. And the whole reason why they had to be in a rush in Uwajimaya and Keital needed to hold Ocha's phone for no apparent reason (and not because they need to call the hotel 'cause they didn't have the hotel's phone number) while Ocha was driving, and making sure Diana didn't get her hands on the phone, was because Rushita was supposed to be at the hotel already and she could be calling Ocha any minute.

From here, you can hop onto day 4 of Diana's blog to see a different description of the trip for day 4 to 6. We went up to the Space needle, a place all tourist must go. This was where Keital's knife came in ^.~ Again, see Diana's blog. I couldn't help comparing the Space Needle with our CN Tower. Our CN Tower is much taller and bigger. And there they had the comparsion chart on the deck. CN Tower is the tallest building in the world and the Bank of China in Hong Kong is not far behind, being the 3rd or 4th tallest, still much taller than the Space Needle. We looked at Seattle's city view and we head for supper.

We went on "hit and miss" in central downtown to locate a nice restaurant. After walking for a while and still didn't see any restaurant, Rushita decided to pull out her all-mighty Seattle tour map and Ocha picked a Italian restaurant with an interesting name closeby and we walked there. Just like most of the restaurants near the harbour, they mainly served seafood. I was going to look for a non-seafood dish (anybody who knows me for a while or visits rushita.com enough should know by now that Rushita doesn't really eat seafood). With a look at the menu, I decided to brave myself with seafood. The spinach ravioli should not cost that much money and the chicken dish was way too expensive. Being able to afford it is a different story from willing to pay the high price for something that will disappear from my tummy in 2 hours. I can eat seafood as long as they are not shellfish like oyster or mussle, or thingy with head and legs like octopus. When the dish arrived, lo and behold, there were the mussles and calmari sitting on my linguini @_@;; I was staring on the dish with my mouth open, mumbling "I see legs, I see legs!", "the menu didn't say what kind of seafooood!!!".

Lesson of the day: Seafood dish does not agree with Rushita. If the menu doesn't say what kind of seafood, ASK!!!

Then Ocha went, "Alright, Ru, we'll switch.". She then took her plate of rivioli and Diana's plate of rivioli (they ordered the spinach rivioli and was going to share the dish), and swarp them back to the original plate and trade it with my terrifying dish.

Day 4 supper: seafood linguini countable amount of spinach rivioli on a large plate.

When the spinach rivioli came, we were all looking at the plate pondering how many pieces there were and how Ocha and Diana were going to share it. Turned out there were only 5 for each of them. It is a rip-off � �. It was only a couple of dollars less than the seafood linguini and there were as many (or as less) mussles as the rivioli pieces. How much does spinach cost anyway? So, I wasn't full, but none of us wanted to spent more money on dessert.

We then took Diana to a bar to get her 1st legal drink. Keital and I didn't drink. I didn't drink because I didn't know what to order that wouldn't taste like Listerine and had a minimal amount of alcohol, although I actually wanted to try something (since for once I don't have to drive!). It was so crowded, so I didn't bother. We went to a quiet corner far away to the crowd and practically non-existing dance floor. I was just sitting ('cause my back hurt) while Ocha wouldn't stop dancing in her red creeping dress. Keital did a bit of dance and Diana rocked on her chair. Then we just went back to our hotels.

Diana didn't get drunk, nobody did. Rushita is the witness. ^_^

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 1:22 a.m. [ Comments ]

Oh Canada!

The 3rd day in Seattle Rushita was already going back to Canada :p Early in the morning wondering if I could still run to get internet to try contacting Ocha before going to a Victoria day trip, but that internet station in the heart of downtown was just too far away. I was't sure if the Monorail would even be running that early. I decided to ask that girl at the hotel front desk to see if she would know where I could get internet access, since she was very helpful with the taxi the day before. Turned out she actually knew! It was that Kinko's just a small block north. It didn't ring a bell when I saw the store the other day.

Lesson of the day: Anything about your trip in a foreign place. It wouldn't hurt to ask the hotel front desk.

So I walked down to the pier after internet. The ferrier trip to Victoria took 2 hours and 15 minutes. First walked around the area near the pier, then headed to the Crystal Garden.

Day 3 lunch: Taco salad or something in a mall, I forgot o.o

The marine museum was kinda boring. I never like to see old history stuff anyway. Two interesting facts though: Chinese were the first to set foot on the Americas. The Chinese ship (or what was remaining) was already there when Christopher Colombus arrived. Victoria could have been part of U.S. but U.S. did want it because they've just gotten Alaska and has no more money to take the Vancouver Island. So it joined Canada instead.

The miniture museum and the wax museum were pretty interesting. I'm sure xq would be interested to see the trains if he was there. Rushita had her baby mousey Pinky to accompany her, so Pinky got to be the model and take pictures with the animals, plants, and figurines. After that, I took the boot back to Seatle. It was a 3 hours trip this time before this boat was slower. I wonder if the guy at the U.S. custom knew what he was doing. I gave him my Canadian passport and he ask me for a visa. Since when does a Canadian need a visa to visit U.S.? I told him I came from Toronto and went to Victoria for the day and coming back to Seattle for the rest of the trip and going back to Toronto on Saturday. The custom lady at Victoria had no problem understanding that, but the U.S. custom guy asked why I there was no stamp on my passport. Well, the U.S. custom is in Toronto airport and they usually don't stamp the passport. They just swipe the passport through the machine.

Day 3 supper: Thai noodle take-out and the left-over Greek salad.

I finally got in touch with Ocha.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 1:15 a.m. [ Comments ]

Old Friend and New Friends

Called a taxi to go to church 'cause it is not in downtown area. There are only 2 main Chinese churches in Seattle. So I went to the Chinese Alliance Church. Just like the website, the church was very similar to my church. I don't mean the building, I mean the service, the people, and the way they do things. There I met a "brother" who tried to convince me that Seattle is a better place to live than Toronto ^^;; I also met a nice lady and her family. They kindly droved me back to downtown.

Day 2 lunch: Greek salad and left-over Thai noodle.

In the afternoon, I met up with Christy. Her mom drove us to the international district. Uwajimaya (a Japanese/Korean/Chinese supermarket and miscellanous store) was an interesting place, especially the Japanese/Chinese bookstore inside. It had anime, manga, CD, and others stuff. I bought the new Laputa soundtrack CD, the new redo version for the English version movie. Then we just walked around and took bus to Christy's grandma's place so I can get to the internet to e-mail Ocha with my hotel info. Checked everywhere, then I realize I didn't have her e-mail address with me o.o.

Lesson of the day: Ask for the e-mail address just in case when somebody ask you to e-mail him/her.

Checked "ICQ To Go", no. AIM, nope. Saw Drac on AIM, messaged her, no replied. Tried to get on moonwings, it won't load. Everything on Space-Kitten.org worked, but MW won't. Tried to called Ocha, nobody answered the phone. Time to go for supper. Christy's mom kindly treated me for a very nice dinner.

Day 2 supper: Italian pasta and soup

After dinner, we went back to retry the internet. After a bit of logical deduction, I came up with the conclusion that it must be the browser problem. The AT&T version of IE probably could't stand the board's php, css, javascript, etc. Tried again with Netscape. NS4.0, well, it should still work. I was pretty sure MW could function on NS4+. Loaded page, it worked. Logged on MW, browser crashed @_@. Tried again, browser crashed again. Couldn't upgrade the browser. With that phone line, the browser would take forever to download. Tried to phone Ocha again, still nobody answer the phone.

Alright, turned off css and javascript and tried again. Yay, no more crashing, I could use the board now. Old NS4.0 didn't like javascript.

2nd lession of the day: Netscape is a good browser, even the old NS4.

Looked up Ocha's info on MW, nope, no e-mail info. Ocha hid her e-mail address too well @_@;;. That was one of those days you wished Uber Mod had a little more access to member's info � �. So, I ended up sending Ocha a PM on the board hoping she would actually get on MW. Then I couldn't write a too obvious message in case Diana would be arround when Ocha checked the PM.

After that, Christy's mom took me back to my inn. Christy's mom is a very nice and caring mom. Funny is, Christy called me by my real name but her mom called me by "Rushita". She has known me as "Rushita" for years and apparently Christy told her a lot about me. I hope that's a good sign ^^;;;;.

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 1:05 a.m. [ Comments ]

Day 1 - Saturday Aug 23

Toronto Airport - Checked-in way too early as usual. Sitting at the gate doing nothing. Way too early, too sleepy. There was this girl sitting opposite side of me, holding her Barbie doll on one hand and a yellow mini-hangbag thingy on the other hand. During the period of 30 minutes of waiting, I saw her dropping her Barbie 2 times and her yellow baggie 6 times on the floor.

Lesson for the day: Never let a young kid to carry anthing on her hands, unless you chain them to her. A handbag is useless to a young kid.

Time to board the plane. It turned out that the girl and her mom sat next to me.

Minneapolis: Walking in the airport to get to another gate for the connect flight. Eh? Chinese signs. Wait a minute, those were not Chinese. Those were Japanese kanji. No wander the words were readable but the grammar was odd.

To Seattle: The flight was ok, although I think Northwest's plane are a bit old. It said lunch would be provided on the plane. I thought it would be nice since United didn't gave out any meal last year on the Atlanta trip, which was actually a longer flight. But the free meal turned out to be a cold-dry-hard sandwich, a small bag of corn chips, and an small apple. They could have made the sandwich warm at least � �
Note to self: get real and hot food before get on the plane to go home.
I originally planned to take a taxi to go to the inn, but I suddenly felt brave and decided to try other transportation. Well, since I have studied Downtown Seattle map so much, I figured I just need to get myself to somewhere downtown. So I found a shuttle service, which is half the price of taxi fare, although at that time I had no idea how much taxi would cost. I just knew it won't be too expensive since downtown wasn't that far away from the airport.

The hotel was fine. It might be a bit old and primative, but it was clean enough and convinence. It had no air-conditioner, which I kinda worried at first and wondered if xq booked the wrong grade of room, because the the other building of the inn had a/c. But with Seattle's weather and the old fashioned fan-lamp combo on the ceiling, it was not hot at night. I couldn't open the window though because they didn't have screens on the windows and I didn't feel like to be mosquitoes supper yet O.o;;. There was a mini-kitchen in the room with all the equipments and the fridge. There was a big supermarket and a few very interesting restaurants very closeby.

Day 1 tea-time meal: sushi rolls.

After settling down the luggage, I did quite a bit of walking all over downtown. First found out the schedule to go to Victoria, then just browse everywhere till things were closing down. Then I tried to find internet acess. Not very sucessful. It is not what I through. I did find a public terminal at the end (of course it takes $). Then went back for supper.

Day 1 supper: Thai noodle.

Afterwards, I called Christy and Ocha. No good, Diana missed her plane and she was just about to arrived. Diana was supposed to arrive before I did. Then I was supposed to take a shower, wash my hair, and go to bed. Checked room, no hair dryer. Great, would have to do that the next morning instead. My luggage was so full and I couldn't fit in the hair dryer. I decided to just take the hand-carry because the airline(s) have misplaced my checked-in baggage too often e.e;;

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 12:49 a.m. [ Comments ]

Long time no blog. Just came back from vacation. First, I'd like to appologize for lying in my blog about going to "CNAnime" and "science center" and stuff. That was a whole plot to deceive Diana ^^;; Since I know she does read my blog once in a while, it would be a good way to divert her attention, so she won't suspect me leaving on vacation just right at the same time she is going on her vacation. Whenever I said "CNAnime", I mean "Seattle", and whenever I said "science center", it is not "Ontario Science Centre", it is "Pacific Science Center" in Seattle (also note the different spelling of the word "centre". I spell carefully, and there is a reason for me to spell something a certain way ^_~). So you can re-read the blogs and subsitute "CNAnime" with "Seattle" and "science center" with "Pacific Science Center", and everything else apply and everything is real.

So, now that I've came back from Seattle, I have some really long blogs to came to report the trip. It is longer than Diana's report. In fact, it is so long that I will post them day by day. So stay tuned for the blogs!

- You've just read Rushita's heart - August 31, 2003 - 12:36 a.m. [ Comments ]

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