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Out & About #832 | Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) 2022

8/27/2022

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​Highly anticipated was our CNE excursion.
The sleepy polar bear was, for the most part, excited for the wacky (but not too wacky) food items, while I was most keen on the Sky Ride.
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​The entire party comprised of four, and we had agreed to assemble on the fair grounds in the early afternoon.

Admittedly, I was rather anxious: my digestive system had not been faring well, and I was less than excited to stimulate any unpleasant repercussions in the presence of hot, sweaty masses and lineups for dingy public bathrooms. A proper lunch was proposed in the west side of the GTA prior to departing.
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​Yum's Kitchen, which my birthday buddy and I had been eyeing for quite some time, finally opened its doors in the Deer Run plaza to many excited patrons.
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​The interior was unlike any other banh mi establishment, with modern looking décor, an open kitchen area, and even seating! A quick scan revealed sea urchin-like light fixtures hung from the ceiling, marble tabletops and emerald couches on the dining floor, and even neon lights positioned before a couch (a photo zone, clearly). Its layout was atypical of eateries serving casual Vietnamese cuisine, for normally are they grab-and-go establishments with little to no space for dining in. Adopting this format enabled Yum's Kitchen to operate as both a takeout spot and catch-up space for small gatherings.
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Having perused the menu beforehand, we immediately took to the order counter - one of us inquisitive and the other decisive.
The restaurant appeared to be led by an operational manager, passionate to deliver quality food inspired by a Vietnamese upbringing, and a commercial manager with entrepreneurial drive and honed business tactics. My budding inquiries would be answered by the former, who not only elaborated on the slightly spicy properties of the satay-slathered Yum's Special (No. 13) but also reassured that all banh mis were served without spice, and heat was only added where requested (thank goodness!!).

I pointed in favour of the Vietnamese Classic Banh Mi (No. 12), while the sleepy polar bear opted for the Beef Stew Banh Mi (No. 03). At the time of order placement, it was declared that all banh mi ingredients were prepared in-house, from the baguettes to the cold cuts, and that nearly all sandwich varieties included pâté, an element that is often included in exceptionally stingy amounts.
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​There was a swap in cashier personnel midway, and the commercial manager took to handling the payment/administrative portion of the transaction. She posed the question of "for here or to go?", to which we exchanged glances and agreed on dining within. Out of concern for portion sizes, I quickly followed up to clarify whether takeout containers would be provided, and was informed that, due to limited staff for washing dishes, all orders would be served in to-go boxes with plastic bags provided upon request. Drinks were sealed to render them portable and kid-safe. I also learned of their loyalty program, where each dollar would equate to one point.
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​Our orders arrived in under ten minutes.
The Vietnamese Classic consisted of cold cuts (with ridiculously tough edges), an abundance of pâté, cilantro, thinly sliced cucumber, and julienned carrots. Personally, I could have used more pickling and more cucumbers. The cilantro was not as fresh as Nguyet Minh either. That said, the baguette was uniformly browned and not crackly/crumbly (read: could be consumed with dignity) like the longstanding establishments within Mississauga Chinese Centre. Its edges were on the dry side, albeit crunchy. Despite plentiful, the pâté was not very flavourful.
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​The sleepy polar bear's Beef Stew Banh Mi embraced a standalone soup format with two baguette rolls. Within the cilantro-topped, tomato base stew were chunks of extremely tender brisket. A mild kick lingered on my tongue, but not enough to halt me from dipping the likes of my toasted banh mi into the stew to curb dryness.

The meal was surprisingly economic given the efforts invested into furnishing the interior. Moreover, it filled the void for banh mi on the west side of the city.
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Out & About #831 | Japan Festival 2022

8/20/2022

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​Two years of going virtual later, majority - if not all - gatherings and events have resumed since the second quarter of 2022. Japan Festival Canada is no exception, and its two-day return to Celebration Square was one brimming with tremendous anticipation.​
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As with essentially every year past, mercury levels were brutal. It was unbearably hot, and even more so with lineups beyond areas of shade.
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​I, after four and a half weeks of being subjected to UV rays in the wild, had grown more accustomed to the outdoor conditions than the sleepy polar bear. Opting for linen bottoms and a strapless top (and my go-to neck fan), I was prepared to even out my farmer's tan at long last.
​The ensemble would be completed with my Ars x Coco baseball cap. But even after roughly twenty minutes of frustration, I was unable to locate it. (It wasn't until the end of the day that I finally spotted it, tucked away in the backseat cupholder of the sleepy polar bear's vehicle, under the declaration that it had been a "Blue Jays" hat left by a different passenger. THE NERVE!!!)
​We arrived around the 12 PM mark, at which point lineups were lengthiest before the food vendors. Multiple spin-the-wheel attractions were found across the sponsor booths. These queues were shorter in comparison, thus sparked my interest. (Because, after all, I'm a sucker for free merch - regardless of whether I have an immediate use for it or not.)
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​At the Nippon Express booth, I received a plastic cutlery set inclusive of a bottle opener, while the sleepy polar bear received a pen-highlighter hybrid.
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​We then ventured towards the instax booth, where staff with iPads assisted guests with the newest model, now equipped with a device for drawing frames and embellishments. The event-specific Polaroid with orangecane was one of my favourite souvenirs from the 2018 experience; it was only reasonable that snapshots were acquired for this year's visit.
Stopping at the Canon booth, I spotted an entity all too reminiscent of Rainforest Café's mascot, Cha Cha Tree Frog. It was not him, though the similarities had me set on winning the tote. When it came to our turn to spin the wheel, we, unfortunately (in my eyes anyway), both emerged with seeds as part of an eco initiative. I grimaced while the sleepy polar bear stuffed the seeds away in the backpack of ever-augmenting weight.

​​​It was also at this booth that we spotted an owl! - living, breathing, and attached to its trainer.
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Out & About #830 | Weekly Roundup: The Cow on Site

8/19/2022

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Building upon the previous week's realization(s), I continued to embrace that mindset while navigating the next five work days.

​I despised the arrival of Sunday evening - or even Sunday morning, for that matter. Once again, I'd brace myself for another five days of early mornings, unexpected demands, and risks to bladder infection.
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The scope of the project is, seriously, so minimal. With a subdivision sidewalk restoration comprising of no more than twelve contract items (two of which being provisional), the degree of difficulty ought be close to none. A straightforward approach often brings about optimal results, regardless of project scale. Though, there are an oddly high number of involved parties that tend to think the opposite: Why not create more work? Why not explore opportunities beyond the scope?

And truthfully, it should be more appalling that these thoughts come not out of a consciousness, but rather a narrow mindset of reluctance to alter one's existing ways for the greater good of the working team, and the conclusive benefit of society.
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"What do you think is hard about this project?" I was asked towards the end of the week.
I considered my response thoughtfully before responding: "Doing things beyond the project scope."
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There are plenty of items that fall under this category, with just a handful being:
  • Structuring a spreadsheet from scratch on a constrained timeline, then being instructed to downgrade to manual entry with manually colour-coded cells, manually inserted equations, misaligned formulas, and a plethora of merged cells.
  • Receiving criticism for the aforementioned bettered spreadsheet and being told to "dumb it down", in spite of the data tracking device to be more efficient at meeting the objectives of end-of-month payment needs
  • Reprimanded for "neglecting my other duties" without even bothering to confirm that the act of neglect had taken place
  • Dealing with resident backlash for inquiries and aspects beyond the jurisdiction of the third-party inspector, inclusive of threatening behaviour ("Don't lie to me! I hate it when people lie to me! I WILL FIND YOU!")

Pragmatic is my general approach to all things work and life. Regrettably, the same simply cannot be said about others, for the atrocious amount of attention to trivial matters in the mere 22 days of my project assignment is all too evident.
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Out & About #829 | Weekly Roundup: The Reluctance Against Optimization Feat. Hulk Krispies

8/14/2022

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Life is miserable - despicable. It has been for a while. Truthfully, I cannot deduce the cause of such misery, as the chaos swells when least expected.

I've never been excited to adopt a potentially uneven tan without the lure of fieldwork - it is the backbone of knowledge acquisition, as this industry knows it. 2.5 weeks in, I commenced a new week feeling extremely haggard, yet more confident in my abilities to handle on-site situations.
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This newly acquired sense of accomplishment sharply plummeted after being scolded for "inappropriate" behaviour, which as simple as attempting to multi-task due to a last-minute assignment (never mentioned on Day 1 and only inadvertently learned late the previous week). It came as a shock to me, for not one member of intermediate hierarchy staff had pointed out this area for misconception personally, and instead relayed it directly to the next order of command.

Would my position be in jeopardy? Would I only acquire 13 days of experience in spite of the treacherous commuting conditions?
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​For the first time since commencing the project, I wanted to forfeit, to be relieved of my misery just as the former inspector had. My personal best was simply insufficient. In conjunction with unclear objectives, unclear expectations, and a plethora of missing information, this was a game in which a perfect score would never be attained.

I felt defeated, needless to say, for the various sources of incoming information were inconsistent. Yet, the one breaking their back to make it work was me.
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I despise playing the victim, for I strongly believe that the world holds as many alternate solutions as the population that inhabit it. But my due diligence had been completed; one cannot ponder answers to issues in an absence of information.

Similar stressful situations have arisen in the past, primarily from those that lack foresight, those incapable of managing multiple tasks simultaneously, those failing to comprehend the scale of individual project tasks, or, the worst of them all, those that fall within all the above.
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​Many tears were shed, frustrations voiced repeatedly, and deep contemplation undertaken. It pains me to declare that my deductions were inconclusive.

Appending to these woes was the revolting weather forecast (no rain and constant humidity!!) and daily collisions on the QEW or Burlington Skyway, resulting in delays up to and exceeding 90 minutes. The worst part of all: I'd be redoing it all over the following day without fail.
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​On the first day back, I fought fatigue with music and the promise of a Real Fruit Peach Slush from CoCo. The Fruit Aliens line had just been launched, and the sleepy polar bear was willing to emerge on my doorstep with one of four specialty beverages in an attempt to appease the situation.
It worked, but its impacts were short-lived.
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Out & About #828 | Weekly Roundup: Two rounds of Marble + Inspector Insight

8/7/2022

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Another week in the wild, another dose of heat and sunshine.

​The week starts with 
Marbled Banana Bread, constructed a day prior due to availability of ripening bananas, as well as a generally unsatisfactory loaf from Loblaws.
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Seven lean bananas generated enough for two loaves, allowing for one wholly plain batter and the other wholly chocolate - no flour measuring mess-ups here!
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​Alas, in my haste, I would forget all the spices until both loaves were portioned and swirled into their respective pans. The number of times I have constructed this recipe is impressive, yet even more impressive is the potential of error-making in spite of these innumerable iterations.

​Nonetheless delicious with their signature crunchy exterior, I shall admit to disappointment resulting from a lack of depth. Cinnamon, pumpkin spice mix, and a sprinkle of nutmeg were truly pivotal components of the batter. It was unthinkable that I had omitted them in the process.
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​For those less keen on traditional takes for banana bread (ahem, a certain sleepy polar bear), these slices would likely earn greater praise. One redeeming aspect was the emphasis on the chocolatey flavours of the loaf: they were offered the spotlight in the absence of spices.

I proceeded to munch on these for the rest of the four-day work week, skipping the frequent sustenance purchases I had committed in first three days on site.
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​Observations of the week are plentiful, inclusive of findings pertaining to the project scope, general understanding of the GTHA, or interconnected processes of engineering works.
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Stoney Creek has been proving itself a fairly calm district populated by either elderly or young families. "Calm" in indicative of the pace at which the residents seem to operate: unhurried, curious, and with more time on their hands than one (I) could ever imagine. The number of resident interactions, in which the resident is the instigator, has far exceeded any Public Information Centre in Toronto I've had the opportunity to participate in.
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At any given point in time, residents can be spotted relaxing on their front porch, observing the happenings of the construction before them, and calling out with questions without any hesitation whatsoever. Their attitude, and oddly unwavering presence often leads me to ponder: "Do these people not have jobs? Do they not have things to do with their lives?"
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It was atypical behaviour for more densely-populated suburban and urban districts in the GTA.

​​Lawns are maintained regularly, with various forms of flora and décor arranged out front. From wind chimes to colour lawn gnomes to "No Poop Zone" standees, the furnishings lent each house a sense of individuality.
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​The area is one with recent investment in infrastructure, recreational facilities, and retail. My arrival is often met with a stopover at McDonald's, for the franchise operates on a 24-hour basis.
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    Formerly an avid owner of several interest-based portals, Random Thoughts of a Quirky Blogger presents precisely the elements expected. From experiments in the kitchen to miscellaneous musings, from IGOT7 reflections to developments in transportation infrastructure, it's all consolidated here. Welcome to the raw, unfiltered side of Quirky Aesthetics.



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WHAT DOES "QUIRKY AESTHETICS" MEAN?

Quirky =  a term that commonly refers to something/someone distinctly different and unique
Aesthetics = the visual aspect of things



Together, Quirky Aesthetics refers to the things, events, and happenings seen and perceived by this blog's creator - quirky perspectives in a visual form.

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