a medical degree in fashion from france 

Posted in everyday kimli, medical anomaly by

Over the weekend, I passed my two year anniversary of that time I almost died all over the place.  

I actually didn’t give it a single thought until it popped up on my Facebook feed as a memory I might want to revisit (thanks .. ?), which is actually kind of excellent. I mean, I’m not totally fixed yet – I’m still taking 85 pills a day (aka 7, three of which are not even related to my heart) and experiencing an occasional side effect or two – but my forgetting the Incident means that my health continues to be so much better that I have the luxury of not dwelling on it. Does that make sense? It does to me, but I have a headache and words don’t make sense anymore, so ymmv. 

I continue to be grateful and hashtag blessed that my life not only continues, but is filled with so much fun and ridiculousness that a lesser Kimli could literally not even. 

the amount of pleased i am is the precise amount this carved ivory baby is not.

in and out again

Posted in adventure, international kimli by

As is tradition, when you return from one trip you must immediately book the next. We’re going back to Ireland! More on that later, though – here’s all about London.

I had a great time, even though I was sick and had to work and was very cold and had many internet issues. Still, London. All of those things are minor annoyances when you’re in your favourite place in the world.

That being said, next time I think “hey I should go somewhere in January”, please remind me that most people would go someplace WARM, as opposed to some place colder than the place they left. London was surprisingly frosty, and in my delirium (I was so sick) I kinda forgot to bring a coat. I don’t wear a coat in Vancouver (mostly because I do not go outside), so I should be fiiiiiiine in London. And I wasn’t, at all! The first day I went outside (still sick), I had on 5 layers of cardigans (because that’s all I brought) and I froze my vagina right off. It was cold. Luckily, I had internet and money, so I bought a coat and arranged for it to be delivered the next day. It wasn’t the warmest thing I’d ever put on, but it did the trick and I spent the rest of my time in London delightfully warm-ish and also plaid.

The last time I did London solo, I was gone for over three weeks and found that to be too long a time to spend inside my own head. This time I was gone for just two weeks, and it was perfect – I missed Ed and the cats and general human contact, but I wasn’t despondent in my lonely despair. This is good information to have, because now I know I can be all “lol bored going to Germany now bye” yet retain the majority of my sanity.

So, what’d I do in my two weeks of me time?

  • Wandered Brick Lane for hours, taking pictures of graffiti and finding my favourite piece again to test my location memory
  • Visited Spitalfields Market
  • Watched the sunset from Sky Garden
  • Attended the Women’s March on London
  • Took a canal boat from Little Venice to Camden Lock, wandered the market, drank SO MUCH orange juice
  • Did nothing (was sick)
  • Went to the V&A (three times)
  • Visited the Saatchi Gallery
  • Explored the area around my flat, which included squares Sloane and Duke of York
  • Saw many Sloane Rangers (hah!)
  • Went to the Natural History Museum and spent a lot of time in the earthquake simulator as practice for Japan
  • Met up with Jen of Oxford and had Lobster Rolls!
  • Bought every damn pair of leggings from Primark – sorry, everyone else
  • Went to the waterfront by the Tower of London and took several thousand photos of Tower Bridge all lit up at night
  • The V&A is open late on Friday nights; discovered it turns into a bizarre nightclub with live acts and fancy people going WOOOOOOO
  • Got locked in the V&A courtyard and had to literally scratch at the door to be let back in (aka stand and wave at people until someone made eye contact, then played charades until they realized I was trapped) – luckily, that courtyard is one of my favourite places on the planet (albeit much more so when it’s warm and I’m not locked outside) so I didn’t mind all THAT much
  • Discovered that eating grilled pieces of halloumi cheese with a spicy-fruity sauce is fucking amazing and that’s all I’m going to eat from here on in
  • Had many adventures with the Travelling T-Rex
  • Portobello Market! Love this place. Wandered. Did not buy boots, but did buy pearls. I am so fance.
  • ASTRONAUTALIS SHOW WOOOOOO I’d been wanting to see Astronautalis in London for some time and it just so happened that he was playing London while I was there so I went to the show and remembered to stand on stage right and it was so awesome and YAY
  • Chinese New Year! Went to Chinatown and watched dragons and crowds and got totally soaked in the rain.
  • Seven Dials. Accidentally bought four boots.
  • Covent Garden! London Transport Museum is awesome! Also, Shake Shack. So good. Missed Ed.
  • Finally visited Tate Britain!
  • Waterfront, this time by the London Eye. Took many photos of Big Ben, the parliament buildings, and the Eye.
  • Science Museum! No cosmonauts this time, though. Still cool.
  • Ate fish and chips (but only once, on my last night there)
  • Had an amazing fucking time
  • Finally shook off my terrible flu/cold thing
  • Rekindled my need to live in London for a while

.. I did a lot of things. I walked a terrific amount, so much so that my watch and ring were both very proud of me. Had some fun shopping, which caused issues bringing stuff back even though I tried really very hard to be good. Honestly, I didn’t want to come home: I wanted home to come to me. I missed Ed and the cats and having hot water and water pressure and loads of internet, but dammit .. I want to be in London. Especially now that Vancouver is fucking covered in frozen white bullshit. Yes, the UK gets winter too, but some things are easier to manage when you’re where you need to be.

Half of my pictures can be viewed here. The other half will be uploaded shortly, but I experimented with not hauling a camera around with me and looking like a tourist, but using my phone instead. I have some extremely good iPhone lenses that extend the abilities of the already-amazing iPhone 7 Plus camera, and it was nice to be able to wander around with fewer things to carry. I don’t think I’m going to repeat this in Japan because I’m going to want to capture every damn thing ever, but for a place I know very well, it was nice to have options.

It was a really good trip, yo.

p1160044

i love this place.

out tonight (meow)

Posted in adventure, everyday kimli, international kimli by

Tonight I am going Out. It doesn’t really matter where, and it likely isn’t what you’re picturing – but I will be Outside and it will be dark and cold and probably pretty awesome because I’m in London, and almost everything is awesome here.

I’ve been working remotely (err, even more remotely) this week, which basically means I’ve been keeping some pretty strange hours. I’ll usually wake up in the morning, work for a couple hours, go out for a bunch of exploring and museuming, then come back and work in the evening so I can get some hours in while the NA peeps are around. It’s not a bad arrangement, but I am really looking forward to closing my laptop as soon as my 8am meeting is done and heading to the waterfront so I can gaze lovingly at some fancy structures while dodging Aggressive Shrek and tourists with poor (selfie) stick control.

Since I decided I was going out tonight, I’ve had Out Tonight stuck in my head. I do want to hit the street, but I will refrain from wailing at the moon like a cat in heat because who does that (certainly not this Canadian with severe social anxiety – plz do not look at me unless I am on stage with my boobs out, thx). Other things I will probably not do even though my body’s talking to me, it says “time for danger”:

  • Commit a crime
  • Be the cause of a fight
  • Put on a tight skirt
  • Flirt with a stranger
  • Go some place sick
  • Refer to myself as “chick”; dance in the flames
  • Prowl
  • Be a night owl
  • Take your hand, we’re gonna howl

In retrospect, I have less in common with an HIV-positive Hispanic-American club dancer and drug addict than I thought.

p1150800

brick lane street art by @lorazombie

some things are bigger than your fear

Posted in adventure, everyday kimli, international kimli, medical anomaly by

I woke up this morning in pretty rough shape*, but I forced myself outside for one (historic, epic, vast) reason. I don’t think the marches outside of Washington DC had been planned when I booked my trip, but that’s the glorious thing about so many people coming together in solidarity – it’s global. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of women and men marched around the world today to demand women’s rights and protest against Trump and all he stands for, and it was a powerful thing to see. I’ve been on the verge of awed tears all day long (which is kind of exhausting, to be honest), and I wish that I could have been more evolved in the event .. but there are limits to what you can expect from yourself when you’re a) still sick but powering through as best you can, b) terrified of crowds, and c) traveling from afar with no room in your bag for poster board. I’m happy that I made it out, though.

*: I forget to eat when I’m on my own. Forgetting to eat when you’re sick (or, you know, ever) is a bad idea. I promise to be better to myself from here on out. Myself is pretty neat. Myself deserves at least a whole meal per day.

Pictures from today coming soon! In the meantime, enjoy this brilliant drawing by Shing Yin Kor:

llra

role model. (art by shing yin kor)

the comforts of home

Posted in adventure, international kimli by

I’m here and in one piece! I have internet access! I’m trapped in my flat!

The flight to London was uneventful and kind of dull, but I did manage to sleep a little. My ride was waiting for me when I finally made it through customs, and I was in my room by 5pm local time. Hooray!

The room is beyond tiny, but it’s perfect for my stay. I haven’t had a chance to explore the area yet (beyond the Sainsbury’s down the road), and while I’m relatively well-rested and ready to explore, I can’t leave my room because my hair is wet.

When I booked this trip, I was kind of in a rush and didn’t do all the research I normally do. If I had, I would have realized that the place I’m staying is missing two things: free wifi, and a hair dryer.

The place charges £10 a day for wi-fi. I’m already paying $10 a day to use my Rogers plan while in the UK, so I wasn’t about to pay an extra £140 to have computer internet during my stay. However, I do have to work next week, so I need internet access. Unable to sleep three nights ago, I googled upon these guys and for £61 (£30 of which is a refundable deposit), I get 6GB of wi-fi for my stay. I arranged to have it delivered this morning, and it just arrived. Problem 1: solved!

The second problem is why I’m currently writing from my room instead of being outside: there’s no hair dryer in the room. My hair takes 3-4 hours to dry on its own (more if it’s at all humid), and it’s freezing outside. I can’t leave my room until my hair is completely dry, which may happen just before dark at this rate. The front desk has promised me that housekeeping can lend me a hair dryer, but they haven’t shown up yet – so here I sit, damply. I want to go outside. I’m hungry. It’s gorgeous and sunny and I have things to do. My hair is stupid.

As I was typing that last sentence, housekeeping showed up with a hairdryer! Problem 2: solved! k, I gotta dry my head and go outside. BYE!

we are not amused

Posted in angst, medical anomaly by

I leave for London in two days. Naturally, I woke up this morning with a painful chest cough. I’ve managed to avoid Ed’s mega-cold and all other seasonal ailments so far, but it seems fate was saving something special for me to launch at the worst possible time. Uncool, germs. Imma fight you.

Lately, I’ve been thirsty a lot and also craving salt. As part of my resolution to Adult Better, I’ve been drinking a lot of water. My heart medication (now there’s a phrase that makes you sound 80 years old) makes me pee 95 times a day, so I drink a lot of water to make sure I don’t get dehydrated. I still drink Diet Coke like it’s going out of style, but when I’m at home (which is 98% of the time because outside is cold and there are wolves) I’ll switch to water around noon and basically don’t stop drinking. That’s good, right? Water is life! Hydration is bliss! I’m a glowing, salad-laughing, yoga-pant-clad everywoman! Except .. well, like most other things in my life, I overdo it. I researched my symptoms, and according to the internet I’m all outta electrolytes (and also have 14 cancers). It all fits – the non-stop water craving, the salt lick I installed in my office, the severe and terrible muscle spasms I’ve experienced, the occasional nausea, etc. I am bad at water. I can’t even do healthy right.

I’m not about to start chugging Gatorade like I’m some sort of sponsored sport-man, so I guess this is one more thing I have to be aware of. I recently spoke to my heart doc to ask if I still had to take a mountain of meds each day (including my most-loathed medication, the Minty Shit Pill), and he wants me to keep on keeping on until at least June. When I get back from my travels, I’ll probably use Medeo to see if I can get some prescription-strength Tang or something, or at least have my kidneys checked to find out why they’re not pulling their weight around here.

In the meantime, I’m going to try to flush this stupid cough/sinus thing out of my system (by drinking tons of water). I am pretty choked about this new development, because I LEAVE IN TWO DAYS. Did I mention that in large enough letters yet? TWO DAYS. I don’t have TIME for this bullshit.

what time is it? NOT SICK TIME

what time is it? NOT SICK TIME

postimus prime

Posted in everyday kimli by

Ed surprised me with not one but FOUR amazing new Optimus Prime figures for my Prime Shelf, so clearly a cleaning and reorganization was in order. Behold, then, my Prime Shelves! They aren’t all labeled, but I’ve pointed out some Primes of Note:

bottom shelf

shelf three

shelf two

top shelf


My Optimii please me a great deal. 

lonely in advance

Posted in adventure, angst by

I’m going to London next week, for two weeks. I’ll be working for half the trip, and exploring the city/revisiting favourites the rest of the time. As you can probably imagine, I am excited. I may already be packed, even. I could leave now!

As excited as I am (don’t let the lack of exclamation points fool you), I am presently allowing myself to wallow in the sads. I figure if I can get the sads out of the way now, when I’m in London I’ll have nothing but happy excited silly times because frankly that is what I do best.

Here’s why the sads: I’m going to be lonely in London. I’ve realized that while I love exploring and seeing things and experiencing Diet Coke in different time zones, it’s a thousand times better to do those things (and more) with someone else. I asked Ed if he would come with me for even part of this trip, and he didn’t want to – rumour has it he wants the alone time so he can have affairs – so I’m going to be all by my lonesome and that is making me sad. I am a selfish creature: I want to have excellent adventures, but I want to have someone to share them with. I have the “someone” part down, but he’s not interested in accompanying me (for a variety of reasons). I reluctantly get it – not everyone is cut out to hop on a plane for 9 hours to go to a repeat destination just because they weren’t kidding when they said they didn’t want to be in North America on inauguration day – but I’m still sad about it.

Clearly I’m just going to have to save more money between trips, and pay someone to be my travel friend.

Okay, off to be sad for a bit. I’ve got a few more days to be sad, and then I will make a list of Things I want to Do while Adventuring.

happy place

happy place

 

new year new theme

Posted in everyday kimli by

Changed it up a little. Nothing says “fresh and new” like pink dots on a grey background.

I finally opened the Instant Pot this morning, with the intention of making this chili-lime chicken tonight. Assuming I don’t accidentally poison us, I’ll report back.

It was somewhat disheartening to open the Instant Pot and look through the included recipe book, though: not only was the very first recipe for a butternut squash soup, the rest of the book contained different ways to cook quinoa and also was RACIST.

The recipe book is in English and Chinese, and the Chinese recipes are completely different than the English ones. In English, we get things like Black Bean Soup, Red Lentil Chili, Turkey Wings, Lamb Tajine, Turnip Cake, various pork dishes, etc. In Chinese, you get .. well, I can’t read Chinese. Based on the pictures, the recipes are for things like Onion Peach Teacup Pudding, Pile of Raw Chicken, Fish Eye Chili Flake Stew, Large Chunk of Pork, Beef Squats, Behemoth Eyeball Dumplings, Lotus Root Dessert. This makes no sense to me – why aren’t the recipes the same? Did the manufacturer make some broad assumptions of what people eat based on their language? That seems rude. For all I know, Beef Squats are delicious and I might want to try them. None for me though, because I do not meet the manufacturer’s standard for someone who would cook Beef Squats at home. Hmpf.

I promise to stop bitching about the Instant Pot soon.

In 13 sleeps, I will be on my way to London! I sure do like that place.

under pressure

Posted in everyday kimli by

I bought an Instant Pot right before Christmas, but it’s still in the box because I am afraid of it.

I do intend to use it, but I’m having trouble deciding what I want to make. I’ve scoured the internet for recipes and suggestions, but I’m finding a lot of “omg best ever” lists full of stuff I would never eat. I’m a picky eater, but mostly I don’t want to have to go out and buy a whole bunch of ingredients for something I might not enjoy. Also, that whole “stuff I would never eat” thing, no matter how many moms swear that it’s the best thing they’ve ever made in their entire lives omg aren’t we so healthy and twee, such as:

  • Creamy Dairy-Free Potato and Kale Soup: If the word “creamy” is right in the title, don’t then tell me it’s “dairy-free” like that’s a good thing. If I want a creamy soup, cream better be an ingredient. Chickpea water is not cream. Also, kale is overrated and terrible. Hard pass on this recipe.
  • Lentil Tacos: no. For starters, I thought lentils were just pretentious beans. I looked it up, and it turns out “The lentil (Lens culinaris) is an edible pulse.”. WHAT. I’m not eating a pulse. If I want tacos, I will make them the way god intended: STUFFED FULL OF MEATS
  • Butternut Squash Risotto: I am not a fan of risotto, because I am Asian and rice should never be mushy. Also, this recipe is both vegan and gluten-free and that makes me cranky.
  • Paleo Butternut Squash Soup: So, is it like, law that all instant pot recipes have to use squash? I’ve been squash-shy ever since the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard incident of ’08. If I had known I was required to be some sort of squash-loving mega mom to own an Instant Pot, I probably would have passed.

The food I cook at home usually involves a lot of cheese, because cheese is life. Where does the cheese go in a squash soup? Probably nowhere. I’m sure I’ll find something to make that sounds like something we’d eat, but in the meantime, I’m clicking through a lot of internet and making stink-face at all the squash, kale, quinoa, and icky things I want nothing to do with.

I AM AN ADULT.

PS: “Instant Pot” would be a good name for a weed store.