Alex in motion » General

Coincidence?

alex — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:51:52 +0000

Background history: Late last year, one of my best friends, Perry, married the love of his life, Rita. I knew they were right for each other the moment he introduced her, and couldn’t be happy for them.

Last night, around 11:15 (after I had headed to bed), I received an SMS from my good friend Maya. The message was simply, “omfg, rita’s dead?!?!”. When I viewed the message around 7:30 this morning, I replied immediately, “um what?” then checked facebook for updates to Perry’s or Rita’s profile (it was too early to call Perry). Nothing.

Around 8:30, I finally called Perry and asked, “Dude, I received a really weird text message from Maya last night. Wassup?”. He replied curiously, “I dunno, wassup?”, and from the tone of his voice, he had no idea what I was thinking. So I explained the situation and he reassured me everyone is fine. After our call, I called Maya to ask her what she was smoking, only to reach her voicemail. Shortly after, Maya sent another text, “Dexter” – She was referring to Rita’s shocking death in the season finale of Dexter. LOL

That would have been funny enough, but then Maya called me a few minutes later, “Alex, I’m SO glad you called me this morning. There was a power failure at our place, and if you didn’t call and wake us up, we would not have made it to work on time today.”

Yoga in Montreal

alex — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:49:54 +0000

My good friend, Gen Larocque, recently setup her website. She’s a very talented yoga instructor, providing group and private sessions all over Montreal, and introduced me to the world of yoga and spirituality several years ago. With her open heart and mind, Gen takes yoga to the next level and makes you feel welcome and connected to a higher source.

Admittedly, I thought yoga would easy, perhaps something closer to tai chi, but this art requires plenty of strength, stamina, and balance. Finishing an hour of Gen’s class left me tired and humbled.

I wish Gen much success in her endeavors, knowing she will do very well. Her website is found here.

Cheers!

alex — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:54:02 +0000

A few years ago, I starting remembering how to say “cheers” (while toasting) in multiple languages. Starting with my basic four, English, French, Polish and Russian, I thought it would be cool to know how to say it in as many languages as possible. Over the years, each time I traveled to new country, I made sure to ask the locals for the expression, and added to my collection. It was a small way of connecting with them in their language.

At this point, I know how to say it in 12 languages, and enjoy sharing this knowledge whenever drinking with new acquaintances. A quick google search pulls up how to say it another 38 ways, and this link not only explains why we toast, but how to phonetically pronounce “cheers” in 50 languages.

Prost!