hurc's hair

2 months ago, I finally had my hair cut for buddy's wedding. Before that, I had let my hair grow for more than a year. It got long enough to tie into a small pony tail. Personally, I thought it looked pretty cool. I actually got quite a few compliments. It was definitely different from the normal buzz cuts that I used to get. My sisters were probably the only ones who thought I looked horrible. But in general, people seemed to like it.

I was referred to this hair stylist on St-Denis called Coiffure Boyo. They did a good job for my first hair cut, and in the summer time, my hair grows faster than the ones on Chewbacca's back. So I went back to the hair stylist a couple weeks ago, and got a pretty stylin' cut. At the same time, I started wearing my contacts again. With a little gel, I look quite different compared to the hippie hair and glasses.

Now, the reaction people get when they first see me is... they don't recognize me. I'm looking straight at them, and I get the feeling that they're staring at a stranger. It usually takes people a good 3-4 seconds before they say: "is that you, Andrew?" And then the compliments start pouring in.

After hanging out for a bit, the subject will then start to move towards my long hair days. The same people that had previously said my hair looked good, are now suddenly saying how awful it actually looked and how much they love the new 'do.

I wouldn't be blogging about this if this had only happened to me once. This scenario has happened to me at least 5 times in the 2 weeks I've had this cut. I guess it's good that people like it, but then again, I thought people liked my long hair too.

So now, I'm actually wondering what people REALLY think of my current hair. Are they being nice again to not hurt my feelings? Is it a little TOO stylish? Does it REALLY look good?

Screw you guys, I always look good. :P

Oh, here's a recent family jump picture. Enjoy.

hurc's week of madness

This week has been madness.

It's second to last week of work at my current company, so I'm doing everything I can to tie up all the loose ends. Trust me when I say this, there are a LOT of loose ends. It is impossible for me to do everything, but at least I won't feel guilty for not trying.

Not only am I putting in a lot of work hours, I had various get-togethers organized for practically every evening up to tomorrow.

Tuesday: Mahjong night! I always look forward to these nights. Even though one of the usual participants is back home in HK for the summer (sigh), it's still a great way to spend an evening. One of my sisters came along and did quite well. I think in general it was pretty even.

Wednesday: I'm a groomsman for yet another wedding that's coming up soon. The wedding is on the 22nd, so on this night, there was rehearsal at the church. I also got the passage I'm supposed to read at the church... in front of 200 people... in French. Yup. it's going to be interesting.

Thursday: Went to dinner with my not-so-little-anymore cousins and my sisters. Table of 7 people, with myself as the only male. Nice. We went to Zenya where one of my cousins knew the waiters and managers. We got so many freebies it was crazy. And yet, it still cost me my left arm. But it was worth, everything was very good. I especially like the "fish foie gras", I don't remember the exact name of the dish or the fish.

Friday: Went to see a comedy show from the Just-For-Laughs festival, called Asian Invasion. It was amazing! I think everyone else prefered Sugar Sammy, but I think I liked Dr.Ken. But I have to say, Sugar Sammy's bit on "French men being one beer away from being gay" is hilarious. Gotta look for their other routines on the net...

Saturday: It should be a nice day to relax and enjoy the great weather we've been having. I had a birthday beach party to go to at Oka beach, but it started to pour rain, so it was cancelled and the party was held at someone's house instead. It was my friend's baby's first birthday. It ended early for me cuz I'm wiped from this whole week...

Tomorrow, I'm going to play golf in the morning, then dinner with the ole CS gang... And then the countdown really begins for the end of an era...

hurc likes to eat

Here are some good restaurants I've been to recently:

Au Pied De Cochon, 536 Duluth East. I had ordered the deer steak that came fries and homemade mayo. The steak was decent and the mayo was great, but the fries had no flavor and were really bad. But the duck in a can that my friend had was amazing. Imagine a nice slice of duck, skin and fat included, stuffed into a can with a big piece of foie gras (yes, I know how it's made... ) and trimmings, which is then sealed and then boiled. The can acts like a pressure cooker and when it's ready, it's opened right in front of you, served on top of a mound of crusted bread and mashed potatoes. The duck in a case would put you back 36$, but hey, I've paid much more than that just for sushi.

Le Paris-Beurre, 1226 Van Horne. The sweetbread I had was just great. I'd had it for the first time this year at a friend's BBQ, so when I saw this on the menu, I had to have it. It was served with caramelized pears which was soft and sweet, a perfect compliment to the sweetbread. The dessert was pretty good too, a thin apple pie served with vanilla ice cream. Somewhat less pricey than the other restaurant, but still up there, as is most French/Quebecois fine cuisine.

La Banquise, 994 Rachel East. I'd never heard of this place before, but when I mention it to people, they just stare at me as if my face was falling off. Apparently, this is the place to go for poutine. they have over 20 different varieties of poutine. I had the Mexican poutine which was pretty good, but I don't find the cheese to be squeaky enough. The real attraction for me, is that this place is open 7/24. If you didn't already know, poutine is great hangover food. Obviously, this is the least pricey of the bunch mentioned here.

Chu Chai, 4088 St-Denis. This is a 100% vegetarian restaurant, which features traditional Thai dishes. They've got vegetarian chicken, beef, pork, duck... When it's served, it looks exactly like the meat it's supposed to mimic. I believe all the mocks meats are prepared using soy products. I had the vegetarian meat and fried seaweed appetizer. Both were delicious!

Funny how I started discovering all these restaurants once I had decided to move to Ottawa... I hope I'll find some good places there...

hurc's moving to Ottawa

Yesterday, an announcement was made public at work: I am quitting my current position and leaving the company I've been with for almost 5 years. A new opportunity came up a few weeks ago and I've been working on it since. Everything was officially signed this week, but I did not want to blog about it until everything was a done deal. I start at that new company on July 31st.

It's kinda fitting that I'm blogging about my move to Ottawa, the nation's capital, on Canada Day. Dontcha think?! :)

I have mixed feelings about all of this, most of them are positive, but I still feel sad. I've been my current company almost since graduation. I've lived with my parents and in Montreal all my life. Most of my old and new friends are in Montreal. So many changes in such a short amount of time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm excited at all the possibilities. But I guess my "too-nice-a-guy" persona goes hand-in-hand with my usual "play-it-safe" mentality. I don't usually go out on a limb, and I'll usually walk on the safe side of the sidewalk. Well, not counting that little stunt I pulled last October. But anyway...

I want to say that this will be a fresh start, but I know that I won't be cutting Montreal out of my life anytime soon. I mean, it's only a 2-hour drive away. I'll probably be driving back at least every other week. I've got my Sunday hockey games in the Autumn that I'm hoping to be able to come back for. But I guess I'll see when I get there.

Things happen, things change. Maybe I'll start seeing someone in Ottawa and won't have time to come back home so often. Or maybe I'll start seeing "someone" in Montreal and I'd be coming back so often that people will see even more of me than when I was actually living here.

yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking. "stop thinking about her! it's not gonna happen."