Me this afternoon:

"Hmm, I want to watch a movie, lets see what DVDs I have. Oh, Requiem for a Dream, that's a good movie and I haven't seen it since the first time I watched it. I remember it was a painful and emotionally draining experience when I watched it before, but surely it won't be as bad the second time and I'll be able to appreciate the subtler details of this powerful and evocative film."

Wow, what a horrible idea. That wasn't any easier the second time. I don't think there will be a third.

I don't like cilantro. It's tastes like gross and immediately pops out at me from any dish it's in. Even the spiciest curry or the hottest salsa. A single leaf of cilantro ruins it all. I had heard that there was some research indicating that some people have a genetic predisposition to thinking that cilantro tastes like awful. A quick search on Google revealed nothing conclusive, but it did bring up the site, ihatecilantro.com, dedicated to connecting cilantro haters all around the world. There are even haikus written by the members to express their distaste. I think the haiku is one of the most effective form of expression. Much better than ridiculous limericks.

Kim is visiting her sister in Texas this week so I was on my own this weekend. It was pretty quiet and I spent most of today catching up on Dexter. I'm now all the way up to date (unless you count the episode that aired tonight). It's definitely a good show.

Saturday I went to Burlington to participate in a bouldering competition (local Tour de Bloc event) at a brand new climbing gym, Climber's Rock. The route setting was great and I had a really good day. I feel very happy with my absolute performance although they haven't posted the scores yet so I don't know how I did relative to the other competitors. But for most people (myself included) climbing is not really a competitive sport so the relative performance doesn't matter. I'm just trying to do better than I've done before.

After the competition I went to Matt's house for a birthday celebration which involved the eating of much sushi and cake. The sushi was from Sushi Xtra on Queen street and it was pretty decent. I'd definitely get sushi from there again.

Update: I came in 13th out of 26 competitors in my division at the bouldering competition. I'm pretty happy with that.

I've been a bit busy lately, but I don't want to let last weekend go without a blog update so I'm doing a quick one now.

Thursday night Rob made Pad Thai for myself, Kim, Patrick, Toni, and Matt! It was delicious without a doubt and I learned how to make it so that I can do it myself!! So fun!

On Friday I saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, with Patrick, Toni, Chris, John and Alex. I liked the movie, although I don't think I liked the fact that it was a direct continuation of Casino Royale. James Bond movies should stand on their own.

Saturday I went shopping with Kim, mostly just wandering around and stuff. Then we went to Patrick's place for a party with lots of fun happy people! The party was organized by Rob without a specific purpose, but I like to think of it as a going away party for him since he left for Fiji the following Tuesday (does Fiji have good Internets Rob?). We had yummy Indian food from Trimurti for dinner and we had drinks and lots of fun.

Sunday I went climbing and I also watched a bunch of episodes of the show Dexter. I'm almost caught up to the current episode now and it's really good!

Did you know you share your birthday with Leon Trotsky? Does that make you a communist? I'm no political scientist, but I suspect it might.

A short summary of Trotsky's life courtesy of Wikipedia:

Leon Trotsky was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo.

After leading the failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing bureaucratization of the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. As the head of the Fourth International, he continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and was eventually assassinated in Mexico by Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent. Trotsky's ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a term coined as early as 1905 by his opponents in order to separate it from Marxism. Trotsky's ideas remain a major school of Marxist thought that is opposed to the theories of Stalinism.

I didn't put much planning into it, but my birthday turned out great anyway. It fell on Tuesday last week so I co-opted *wing* night for my own purposes. I selected Mengrai Thai which many people claim to be the best Thai food in Toronto. I have no way of judging Thai food (since I have never been to Thailand...you should have been there Rob!) but it was damn tasty. Patrick, Adam and myself all got the fixed price, four-course menu and it was amazing! Everyone else (Kim, Toni, Jen, John, Chris, Jeremy, Matt and Jeff) all ordered single dishes off the menu and had to be jealous/hungry while we ate our starter courses.

My meal started with a selection of four appetizers, then moved on to pumpkin curry soup with lightly breaded spinach (almost like tempura). For my main course I had the #54 Red Curry Chicken which is one of the restaurant's most famous dishes. It is served in half of a scooped out pineapple and has lychee fruit mixed in with the curry sauce and chicken. For dessert I was given a mini crème brûlée with a single candle. The waiter started singing happy birthday, thus forcing everyone at the table to join in. Good times! The food was all totally amazing, and despite being really full I was glad I got the fixed price menu.

The owner of the restaurant was also really awesome. He came out and talked to us because he recognized where I worked from the caller ID when I made the reservation. He even knew that although I work for Autodesk, it's really Alias and Autodesk just bought us. He was super friendly and although the service was slow, I still felt like he was very attentive to our needs.

After dinner we all headed back to my apartment for birthday cake from Dufflet! I got the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle cake and yes, it was totally glorious. We also had Pumpkin Ale from the Great Lakes Brewing Company and hot chocolate with Bailey's. Eventually everyone went home and I went to sleep.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part! Presents! Jeremy got me a present!

It was a small golden/platinum coloured heart (it's an alloy) with three "chocolate" balls inside. On one side the heart had the word "Glory" along with Japanese characters and on the other it had a sad/angry face. I think I know why. The "chocolate" was not exactly what you would call "good." Jeremy, Patrick and I each had one; mine tasted like poo, Jeremy's tasted like dirt and Patrick's tasted like petrol. Um...awesome?

I also got some good presents from other people. Kim got me a gift certificate to Henry's (awesome camera store and source of most things I want at the moment), my mom got me a subscription to Maclean's magazine which I love and Jen made me Chocolate Frangelico Cupcakes with Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream on the weekend. Patrick and Toni got me a selection of random beers and Matt got me a wind up squirrel! Eeee!

Me with my #54 Red Curry Chicken

Chocolate Frangelico Cupcakes with Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream