happy cat diaries

Guess what's happened?

2009-10-16T21:05:00.002-04:00

It's been SUCH a long time since I posted anything here, but I have something of note to write about: Kaz and I became parents last month! Chiyo Ghislaine was born on September 17th, weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz. (same as our nephew Desmond), and Kaz and I are totally in love. It's been a whirlwind month - simultaneously the shortest and the longest of my life, and there's a steep learning curve to good parenting, but we're doing our best. I now intend to keep a blog of her life, and to post pictures.

I'm Exhausted.

2008-09-07T21:41:00.002-04:00

My newish job of working at Starbucks has me completely wiped, as I'm trying to prepare for the commencement of classes on Tuesday. I haven't been sleeping well for weeks, and I've been nauseous non-stop for the past three days. I suppose pregnancy would be the first cause many people would think of, but I find it quite unlikely. However, I've been totally obsessed with babies recently, which I find really confusing since my relationship with my beloved sister has changed so much since the birth of Desmond. He's two weeks old today, and as much as I adore him, I can't help but feel sad at the prospect of never having the same relationship (or role, for that matter) with my sister ever again. I also find it very confusing to see my sister in so much pain (which is ongoing due to the nightmare that is breastfeeding and an awful episiotomy), caused by such a beautiful and wondrous little being. I guess it would be fair to say that I am feeling very conflicted.

Our Family's Newest Addition

2008-09-04T19:25:00.004-04:00

My sister just gave birth to this little angel, Desmond Xavier. At 8 lbs 6 oz., he was no shrimp! I speak for my whole family when I say that we've all fallen completely in love with him. Congratulations to my beautiful sister, Mai, and her husband RJ.

It's Almost Time!

2008-08-21T23:52:00.002-04:00

Any day now, my precious sister will be having her baby. It's so sweet, her cute husband has been practising loading a doll into the car seat, so he'll be ready! Not too much is happening here, other than adjusting to my new, currently-fun job at Starbucks, preparing for the commencement of classes in two weeks, and painting our bedroom. Let me tell you, Kaz was NOT happy about being roped into painting, and now that the first coat's done, I'm taking the remaining paint back to the store to be adjusted because the colour's all wrong. Essentially, I hate the long, dreary Toronto winters we have, where the sun seems to vanish for decades, so I decided that in lieu of filling an entire room with the lamps used to treat sufferers of SAD, I would paint our bedroom a cheery and yet not overpowering shade of yellow with hopes of it enabling me to get out of bed in the mornings without a vicious frown. Unfortunately, that particular shade has been hard to come by, and the current one, a very light shade called 'Lemonade', is too green.

The Return

2008-08-03T04:04:00.005-04:00

Well, I heartlessly abandoned this blog a few years ago, but I've missed it here and, even if no one else takes a look, these are my precious memories that are fading from my frazzled mind. For me, blogging is cathartic, and a kind of therapy, and re-reading my posts from the past five years is good for me. All I can promise is that I'll be sincere.

2008-05-08T03:06:00.003-04:00

Forget Vox! I'm going to come back, I've missed writing here.

Moved shop

2006-09-24T13:21:00.000-04:00

After many years with this blog, I've decided to move over to Vox, which is fantastic. You can visit me there at rhie.vox.com; please keep in touch!!

2006-08-02T17:06:00.000-04:00

As you can probably tell, I'm tinkering with the site, so please excuse the poorly sized pictures and everything else that's wrong!!!

2006-08-02T00:31:00.000-04:00

2006-08-01T23:15:00.000-04:00

I usually refrain from writing about my clients but this time I may not be able to resist. We recently (ie. last Saturday) shot a gigantic birthday party for our client, a well-to-do dentist, who just turned 40. My idea of a nice birthday party involves some cake, some friends, a few thoughtful presents and maybe some karaoke; the client (we'll call him Dr. Ned) had quite a different vision. Not only did he rent the largest and most expensive hall in Toronto and decorate its 30-foot ceilings and walls with billowing canopies of fabric and rent $3 million dollars worth of sound equipment, he also hired a full band, a DJ, a producer, 2 event planners, a choreographer, a videographer, 6 guys who were painted gold and made to act as human statues on platforms, makeup artists, 12 handsome young men in togas, a full troupe of Greek traditional dancers, belly dancers, hip hop dancers, cha cha dancers, tango dancers, some tiny Asian dancers, and two toga-clad trumpeters to announce his arrival and departure. He performed a very long program of singing traditional Greek songs, dancing in intricate routines, and making speeches to his hundreds of friends and his beloved family members. He even hired a rapper to rap over one of his Greek rhumba songs as he sang. The food kept coming, the performances kept on going, and a good time was had by all, until the wee hours of the morning. I've never seen such an over-the-top event. The rest of the weekend was spent driving to Guelph to shoot a wedding in the beautiful town of Elora, with the assistance of my very competent, professional and adorable brother, Nathaniel Ian, my feet are covered in blisters on every side from the heels I had to run around in on both unfortunate days. Monday Nathan and I went to look at apartments near his new school in North Toronto, which were all disgusting and over-priced. Then I leapt into a bus and went to Waterloo to take my sister to the doctor (which she hates and avoids like the plague) and rushed home a few hours ago to find a mountain of e-mails in my computer, classes that I am required to take being full, and a cranky and tired husband who said he had nightmares because I was away for the night. (We're almost never apart.) Tomorrow is a large shoot for Home Depot, and I have about 9000 hours of editing to do from the 30 GBs of pictures we shot last weekend. Hurray!

Rhiana vs. Ma Po Tofu, Round 2

2006-07-28T18:54:00.000-04:00

Alright, Ma Po Tofu. I see you there in that plastic tub, and I can count at least 20 malignities of hua jiao lingering on the surface of your delicious sauce. You may have bested me in the restaurant, but I shall be the victor tonight. Much pained eating ensues, followed by frenzied drinking and, finally, triumphant cries at the sight of a clear plate. I quite enjoyed that! Hua jiao, I have learned, contains 3% hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. This explains the tingling and numbness, but not the deafness I experienced. (Perhaps we'll never know the cause of that.) Also, hua jiao is not illegal as I wrongly assumed, but was banned from importation until 2006, because it carried a disease called citrus canker that could infect North American plants. Now, it's heated to 70 degrees Celsius prior to leaving Asia. The fact that it's a new arrival in Canada explains why I've eaten a lot of Sichuan food without ever tasting a hint of hua jiao until this very week! I've unfortunately never been to Sichuan, and I don't recall ever eating Sichuan food in Hong Kong, so someone will have to update me on the current hua jiao situation there.

2006-07-27T02:15:00.000-04:00

Hua jiao - BEWARE!!!!

Murder, by Mapo Tofu

2006-07-27T01:33:00.000-04:00

Last night Kaz and I popped into what my dear friend Zhao (Chengdu native) calls "the most authentic Sichuan restaurant in Toronto", Ba something Ren Jia Sichuan Guan on Steeles. I was about to find out how true that was, as we ordered one of my favourites, Ma Po Doufu and some Gongbao chicken for good measure. Zhao Zhao always told me that Sichuan food is very spicy because of the pepper, but I mistook this to mean the spice of the chili pepper (la jiao) instead of the foreign item hua jiao (flower pepper?). Kaz said they use this hua jiao pepper in Japan (called sansho) in VERY small quantities, but I was truly unprepared for this taste; unlike anything I've ever eaten. It was very peppery - more like an exorbitant amount of black pepper than chili pepper, and it soon paralyzed my tongue, my lips, and affected my hearing. I think I almost fainted! Kaz and I were both dying, gobbling huge amounts of rice with tears streaming down our faces. I immediately called Zhao, and because my ears were temporarily malfunctioning, I didn't realize that I was yelling very loudly in the otherwise quiet establishment. Of course, I was hollering in Mandarin about dying from hua jiao-induced spice and needing something to take away the pain, and Kaz was getting embarassed. I was getting louder and louder, as my panic grew, and after I yelled "Wo zai si.... la si wo! La si wo!!!!!!" with great vehemence, waitresses bearing water suddenly rushed at us from all sides. I appreciated it, and I apologized for yelling, and the waitresses encouraged me to order their "foreigner version" with fewer offending peppercorns next time. Naturally, I balked at the idea of eating foreigner food of any kind (sidenote: this is Canada and I was born here, so why should I be referred to as a "foreigner"????) and the remaining Ma Po Doufu is waiting for me in the fridge, challenging me. I will eat it! I managed to figure out why I've never eaten this particular spice before: it's not legal to import it, and the chefs actually smuggle it into Canada under their clothes, like a drug. I wonder if it's illegal because of its affect on hearing.....

2006-07-18T10:04:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting here in my summer office, as a bored little receptionist. The panic to make my university tuition for the year is on, and this office job, on top of duties within our own business, is my part of the bargain. Normally, I hate offices, and I tire quickly of the mundane trivialities that must be dealt with each day, and I whine incessantly both our loud and inside my head. Instead, I'm still smiling. Two things have changed my attitude - a determination to honour God with my work regardless of how meaningless I consider it to be, and a new-found career goal that spurs me on. I've got to pray throughout the day to keep a good attitude, or rather, a sincerity in my good attitude since I always want people to be happy with me and, therefore, I behave well. I'm just so bored, waiting by the phone, doing crossword puzzles and reading 5 newspapers each day. I think I'm ready for Jeopardy, I've absorbed so much trivia. I want to join the Foreign Service, and become an Ambassador before I turn 45, and according to our Ambassador in Australia, I have a very good chance of being accepted to the Service because of my language background, once I finish my degree and perfect my now-dismal French. A major focus of the VERY demanding entrance exams is current events and knowledge of seemingly miniscule facts, so I'm brushing up my skillz. Did I mention I'll need at least 3 more years before I can take these exams? I am that excited. My Kaz is pretty excited about us becoming a "diplomat" family, because we are very well suited to the nomadic lifestyle. He's always hoped that I would be the one with a steady job so he can roam the globe and shoot documentary projects, and we will have diplomatic passports and will be virtually un-arrestable!!! No more parking tickets for us! Seriously, I think I can really make a difference. And it's been a while since I felt that way.

2006-07-10T14:25:00.000-04:00

This is what I look like after 2 hours of makeup. Now, I don't want to spoil the ending of our makeover show on So Chic, but I thought I'd give you, my dear friends, a sneak-peek at us at the end of our transformation. We happened to run into a friend who took this picture while we were shooting the party scene at Rock the Preppy, and this is the only shot I've seen of our final looks. (Of course, the makeup is overdone for television.) Anyway, look for the whole show airing in the fall, more details to come once they are available. We're going to have a viewing party then!

As an added thought....

2006-06-22T16:54:00.000-04:00

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern

89%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

86%

Neo orthodox

82%

Fundamentalist

61%

Reformed Evangelical

57%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

54%

Classical Liberal

43%

Roman Catholic

39%

Modern Liberal

21%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Filming, and a Ferret

2006-06-22T15:34:00.000-04:00

This past Monday we started to film our episode of So Chic. Luckily, I was placed with the adorable Steven Sabados, who is charming, gorgeous, and a perfect gentleman. Surprisingly (perhaps only to me?) Steven and Chris are a couple and have been together for over 17 years! Maybe I was very naive, but I thought that makeover shows were filmed in a more documentary style, where the events of the day flowed naturally and were captured on tape without requiring the intrusiveness of a million takes of every scene. I was very wrong, as I soon discovered. I had to act my ass off! We would be filming a scene where I was showing off the outfit before we filmed the scene where Steven chose the outfit for me; filming me reacting to my new self for the first time, at least five times over; and filming the "old" me admiring the look of the "new" me, where the new me was played by a forty year old man before they could superimpose the "new" me into the shot in post-production. My brain hurts. Filming took forever on both days (Mon. & Wed.), and the $500 shoes they bought me hurt like hell. On Tuesday night, we dropped off a friend following a nice garlicky dinner in Greektown, and were happily enroute home. Kaz suddenly swerved and started yelling about a weird looking squirrel with a death-wish. It was a poor albino ferret! I leapt out of the car and called him, and he ran toward me and jumped into my arms. He was lost, it was almost midnight and he didn't have the best survival skills, so I decided to take him home, despite Kaz's reluctance due to his ferret phobia. Kaz wanted to release him in High Park! The poor little guy was REALLY stinky, and I didn't want to bathe him in case he bit me and had no shots. I named him Reginald, and posted a notice on Craigslist in case his owner was looking for him. I made him a little nest, fed him some cat kibble, and put him on the balcony, and in the morning we jumped into a taxi and took him to Animal Services, and just barely made our appointments with our stylists and TV crews at two chi-chi Yorkville salons. Anyway, Kaz looked AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS, and I looked unrecognizable under 3 pounds of TV makeup. (Seriously, 2 friends didn't return my hellos and looked confused.) I don't have any pictures, because by the time we arrived home and washed that crap off my face, we were just too tired. About the clothes, I wore some cute things to our event, Rock The Preppy. I wore an orange plaid button-up shirt with a white Michael Kors vest, some insanely expensive denim culottes, orange dangly earrings and bangles, beautiful white snakeskin sandals, and carried a gold Michael Kors handbag with an Hermès scarf tied to it. Those things are all back in their dust cases and boxes, carefully placed in my closet, as far away as possible from my accident-prone self. I don't even know how to explain what they did to my hair - it involves a "sexy sweep" and some "inside-out highlights", according to the stylist. They took Kaz to Aveda while I was doing the makeup marathon, and taught him how to give a hand massage with lavender oil, to remind me of our honeymoon in the lavender fields in Hokkaido. I don't think it's sunk in yet, but I had a really great time.

2006-06-16T00:53:00.000-04:00

Koharu felt left out, and wanted to send her birthday wishes to Kaz also.

Kazu's Birthday

2006-06-15T23:45:00.000-04:00

Today my husband Kazby turned 29; hurray for Kazby! I spent 7 hours making little squares of chocolate mochi and a matcha cake, because I know how much he misses his home and his beloved family. Results? Not bad for a gwai-mui. It looks messy because I ran out of time, but it tasted good. I read one too many negative reviews about the service at Susur, so we went to Splendido, which was AMAZING. Their Exotica Canadiana tasting menu was incredible - delicious and unusual Canadian ingredients skillfully prepared by David Lee, served by perfect staff in a beautiful restaurant. The menu went like this: 1. Some kind of fabulous gazpacho served with one perfect crouton. 2. Caribou, barely seared, with juniper berry gelée. 3. Chilled Sweet English Pea Soup with Niagara pancetta and three gorgeous morsels of Nova Scotia lobster. 4. Smoked Copper River BC Salmon with Lake Huron Sturgeon Caviar. 5. Poached White Asparagus with Brier Island Sea Scallops in a Truffle Vinaigrette. 6. Whole Roasted & Pulled Yorkshire Suckling Pig with seared Quebec Artisanal Foie Gras. 7. Wagyu Beef in an Uni (Sea Urchin) Vinaigrette. (Note: This part wasn't Canadian, but was added by the chef because it was Kazby's birthday!). 8. Fennel Anise Sorbet in a Tomato Consommé. 9. Dorset Lamb Saddle with BC Morel Mushrooms in a Rosemary Garlic Jus. 10. A selection of desserts including Cherry Jubilee, Sichuan Peppercorn Dusted Niagara Strawberry Sorbet with a Lemon-Lime Mousse, Lennox Farm Rhubarb, and a divine Rum-soaked Chocolate Cake with Coffee Ice Cream. The chef kept adding more courses, and I was confused because there were only supposed to be six and I was full and dizzy. We were still eating at 11:30, three and a half hours after arriving! It was the best meal I've ever eaten, and I gladly paid $410.00 for the privilege of sharing it with my baby. Now, if you'll excuse me, the one glass of wine I had is making the world spin. :-P. (What happened to my genetics - my grandparents are Irish!)

2006-06-13T00:26:00.000-04:00

Woofstock is over; many, many thanks go out to my Mom, sister Maija, her boyfriend RJ and our dear friend Jon-Jon, who slept very little, donned my company t-shirts and talked to tens of thousands of people pushing chihuahuas in strollers and walking poodles with lime green mohawks. We never could have done it without them. The people who attend this festival are serious dog lovers - you get me? If I never see another Yorkie wearing a rhinestone studded jumpsuit with matching barettes and boots, a visor and "doggles", it will be too soon. I saw so many ridiculous dog products like: 1. Dog Temporary Tattoos. The text on the back of this poor miniature Pinscher read, "What's up, Punk? Do I look funny to you? Get used to it, Fool!" 2. $500 GPS collars so you can always find your dog 3. Animulets - healing jewelry for dogs Of course, the existence of people who treat their dogs like they're Paris Hilton is good for us! We got a lot of interest in our pet photography, and I met some fantastic contacts for the future. Now, I've got a huge vat of ballots (for our free photography session) in my living room, and I need to find the time and the right program to quickly generate a database of info provided by 3500 patrons. To be honest, toward the end of the second day, our faces were stuck in perma-smile, achy and beaver-esque. We talked on and on and on, in English, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and French and the crowds never let up. I was even able to enjoy my favourite "guilty pleasure"; overhearing Chinese people talking about me and blurting out something at just the right moment. I just love seeing the looks on their faces, especially when they've just said something they don't want me to know. Since marrying Kaz, it happens much less frequently because no one is really sure if he understands Chinese. (He's started yelling "Hou mah-fahn" at anyone who crosses him in Chinatown, which I don't try to discourage because it sounds more like he's yelling "very cat rice" instead of "very annoying". And how can you be angry if someone calls you Cat Rice?) Speaking of my precious baby, it's his birthday on Thursday and he's depressed and whiny about turning 29. I previously thought that only women were so neurotic about their age, but I see I was wrong about that. He keeps talking about "dying first" and sending his body back to Japan, and other morbid topics, which I find comical. (Though I did have one horrible nightmare about him being in an accident and me not having the language skills to notify his family). I figure a birthday trip to Susur and the partaking of a seven-course tasting menu will cheer him up. I'm not sure how cheerful I'll be after spending $300 on one meal, but food is one of his great pleasures, and I can always eat nothing but oatmeal for the month of July to relieve my guilt, guilt I will feel for both irresponsible use of money and all the calories contained in morsels of silky squab liver mousse served on five-spice cookies and its other culinary-masterpiece affiliates. To anticipate your question, this is a surprise for Mr. Ehara; I'm relying on his deep-ceded hatred of reading to keep him from discovering my plan as outlined here. I have more details to work out, and an appointment with my stylist (for the TV show) tomorrow morning, so I bid you farewell.

2006-06-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

The dears themselves, Kintaro and BJ!

2006-06-08T23:45:00.000-04:00

The countdown to Woofstock is well underway, and we're in full panic mode, but I wanted to post about meeting Tyler and BJ, winners of the last season of The Amazing Race, before I forgot about it! So, we met them. Kaz took their pictures for one of the national papers, and they were sweet and hilarious and very warm people, and we had Iced Cappuccinos in Tim Hortons. Tyler speaks Japanese (that sounds hysterical) because he walked the entire length of Japan (all 2000 miles) to impress his now girlfriend, Ayumi. He made a fantastic film about it, that you really should watch. Kaz was crying, he was laughing so hard, and when it's the week before your first show, such relief is a godsend. I'm hoping we can see them in San Francisco, and I'm thinking about walking across China next summer just to experience a more true and direct interface with nature, a culture, and myself. (And Kaz.) Maybe I'm tired of feeling like a passenger in my own life?

2006-06-07T03:07:00.000-04:00

"Wow, I sure am happy Grandma brought me back this hat from Quebec" remarked Koharu, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Pandemonium

2006-06-03T16:45:00.000-04:00

It's a rainy Saturday in Toronto. The dog has cabin fever, and is devouring any paper products she can find out of frustration. Have you ever seen a frustrated Boston terrier? It's not a pretty sight. I'm feeling rather melancholy (maybe I should stop listening to Imogen Heap and Feist?), and very overwhelmed. Yesterday was our biggest shoot ever (and highest paid job) and Kaz and I have been bundles of nerves for weeks. That was 13 hours of mayhem - lugging half of our own office (props for the "dorm room" we had to create) along with every piece of photo equipment we own to a smattering of locations across the GTA with two clients (with clashing ideas of the images they need), one assistant, two wardrobe stylists, one makeup artist and four male models/comedians in tow. As usual, I wore the wrong shoes. Kaz nearly smashed a lens/decapitated a model while shooting in a BMX stunt bowl, with a wide-angle lens that make objects look much farther away than they really are. The poor cutie got a bruise on his cheek, and I'm thankful he isn't going to sue us. My Mom's been on a conference in Mont Tremblant for the past week, so we've pushed all the furniture away and had denizens of dogs in our living room studio, frantically trying to accumulate enough pictures for next weekend's Woofstock Dog Festival. Between tent rentals, banner and t-shirt ordering (from a store staffed entirely by idiots), print-making, adevertising and making 8000 copies of our price list, I think I've given myself an ulcer and the dentist said I ground all of the enamel off my teeth while sleeping. (She also said I have my first cavity and need braces before my wisdom teeth come in.) Since this is our first show, I have no idea what to expect. The fact that Kaz and I are both finicky, high-strung perfectionists doesn't help the situation either. Unfortunately, next week is the filming of our TV show, and that takes two fifteen-hour days of shopping, primping and partying in stilettos with martinis. I get the $2000 budget (for one lonely outfit - I could buy a whole wardrobe for that!) I had a bad dream that they dressed me in leopard print and those gaudy lucite hooker shoes with rainbow LCD lights embedded in the soles. But that ensemble doesn't cost $2000, so it probably won't happen. So, yeah. Can you tell that I've been talking like a chipmunk? I've been trying to find my peace, but it's a real challenge when everything seems to be happening all at once, you know? I've had to make so many decisions, and then more decisions based on the first ones. It makes me worried that if there is a flaw in my lower-rung choices, everything could topple, like a human pyramid with a frail narcoleptic on the bottom tier. Self-doubt. Insecurity. Mistrust. These are the names of my demons, and the enemies of my faith. To combat this melancholy diatribe, I will relate the joys of receiving my new phone from Shanghai, a very pretty Nokia 7360 from the L'Amour series with a harmonious and soothing ring. It was well-worth waiting for a month and a half, and since it's not available here, it's special. Oh, and lucky Kaz got a new camera - a Canon 5D. Full-screen, and 12 Megapixels? Oh yeah!

2006-05-09T17:33:00.000-04:00

Ugh, the closet filming was a nightmare. They grilled us for over three hours on the contents of our closets, filming and refilming and refilming. We had to a little runway walk in our worst clothes (of which I still have tons, I've realized) and because we both gained weight over the long Canadian winter (we're like bears) everything I tried on fit like a sausage casing. Soon, I'll be able to see myself, in various types of sausage casings, on national television. Wow, I can't wait for that! Anyway, Kaz got a new giant lighting kit, which he ordered from Tennessee. It was awfully cute watching him try to talk to the Tennesseean (Tennesseeite?) customer service person - neither of them could understand the other at all. He LOVES his lighting kit, and he's experimenting with a lot of new things. He's also currently exhibiting at CONTACT, at Club Lucky until August 31st, showing his Grandfather story and the one on Male Host Clubs we shot in Osaka last summer. His agent just sold that story to a magazine in Vancouver, so we're pretty excited!