I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately; I say a little because it shouldn’t be an issue but getting things to work out right takes planning and some circumstances are out of my control so I wait.

I feel like I’m being pulled at both ends; I’m giddy with anticipation yet getting to the end game is a bit challenging. It’ll be one thing if it were only about patience; it’s about preparation and getting things just right.

In my ideal world life would be without complications, we’d get what we want when we want and no one would hurt.

I’m just glad that in a couple of months, come what may, it’ll all be over. That’s the thing about life and time; fail or succeed, it all comes to pass.

Here’s to life, love, sacrifices, simpler days and understated ironies.

So, it’s been two full weeks of Bento making. I’m still beating myself up for not having thought of this before?

There’s a little bit more work involved but the payout is totally worth it. Thankfully, Pearlsa loves cooking so I haven’t had to worry myself with that. I’m eating so much better than before – I had a different meal for lunch every day. I don’t bother much with supper anymore because I’m normally still not hungry after lunch.

The assembly, arrangement and packing definitely adds to the fun, there’s still so much to learn, so much I to incorporate but I’m taking it easy, I don’t want to burn out.

I’ve lost five pounds; I think it’s because my portions are much smaller now, I’m more energetic throughout the day

Below are a week’s worth of bentos in pictures – enjoy… it surely was yummy!:

Sometimes I forget how hard it is to perform the simplest of tasks when one is ill. I’ve been a little under the weather lately.

Friday was the annual Snowshoe-up-the-cabin day, it was a miserably cold and rainy day downtown and I almost didn’t go but I’m glad I did because being up in the mountains definitely did me some good even if it didn’t cure me of my ailment.

Nature surely is amazing; in less than thirty minutes, the gloom and perpetual rain of Vancouver was behind us and we were in this wondrous winter wonderland – it was like we’d come thousands of miles to a new country.

The trek up to the cabin reminded me of my mother who believes the best thing to do when you’re sick is to keep moving.

Have I mentioned my new diet? I’ve found another passion.

Well, it’s not really a diet; I’ve been packing my own Bento style lunches and even though it’s slowly taking over my life, I love it!

Until a couple of weeks ago the only Bento I knew was Portuguese for St. Benedict (Sao Bento).

A Bento is basically a boxed lunch in Japanese cuisine – but it’s so much more when you consider the time, art and flair involved in making these meals.

Pearlsa mentioned a while back that she’d like take lunch to work, I didn’t care – I hated taking lunch to work, I tried; it’s boring, tedious and not cool.

She found out about Bentos through a blog (how did people find stuff out before the Internet?), she thought it’ll be interesting but I still wasn’t keen on the idea.

So we were in Bellingham two weekends ago when we came upon the new Daiso Store at the Bellis Fair Mall I just feel in love with the little Bento boxes, although I decided the boxes were too small for lunch, maybe a snack, I thought.

I bought two Bento boxes that day brought them home and went on the Internet to find out what the heck people put in those tiny boxes. I didn’t know!

There’s a massive online community of Bento lovers out there, and I had no idea. It felt like some secret society that I wasn’t privy too, kind of how it felt when I discovered the soldering community (although, I’m still not soldering… but I at least know they exist).

I’ve just had my first full week of taking bento lunches to work. It’s amazing for portion control, I’m eating a much healthier balanced diet because I pack a little of everything. I like to think I’m saving money as I’m not buying lunch anymore. I don’t bother with dinner that much because I’m still full by the time I get home. I feel like I’ll be writing an entry soon about how I lost weight on Bento lunches.

Today I had rice with Cuban style beans, orange wedges, red grapes, mixed nuts, candy & raincoast crisps, all packed in my uber cute Bonjour, les fleures box (not pictured)

There’s a huge resource out there to tap into, here are a few sites that inspired me:

Bento Yum, Lunch in a box, Livejournal Bento Community, Flcikr Bento Boxes, Bento Corner, Just Bento

Technorati Tags: Bento, food, lunch, bento boxes

When I was eleven Raymond gave me a copy of James Collier’s novel My Brother Sam Is Dead.

My mother took one look at the title and demanded that I immediately take the book back from whence it came from, my reluctance to do so was met with a stern reproach; “Is your brother Sam dead?” my perplexed mother asked. Years later she explained that she wasn’t being superstitious she just didn’t want the book around with Sam there, “I want you people to get along” she explained.

I haven’t spoken to my brother in almost half a decade and this worries my mom, so I tell her we’re friends on Facebook but that’s little comfort to her.

Sometimes I wonder if there’re other anomalies like us out there.

Sam and I never had a big fall out, or suddenly realize that we weren’t of the same parents. The truth is Sam and I never really know/knew each other and we’ve never tried. Most of the things I know about him were told to me by other family members.

I don’t think we’ve actually ever had a real conversation before… and we’re siblings.

Sam was almost eleven years old when I came around and was gone months after my eleventh birthday; of the years that he was around, he was either away at school, evangelizing or trying to parent me.

The only memories I have are of him walking me to school, and being in a play about the slave trade that he had written for my school. And one Christmas, a long time ago he had a party for the children that lived in my grandmother’s neighbourhood.

Last Sunday my mom asked me what Sam had ever done to me; I thought about it for a few seconds and said earnestly for the first time, “Nothing, I just don’t know the guy”

This made my mom weep, like she had failed us.

I told her she should have allowed me to keep the book, Sam and I maybe would have started a conversation over it.

Technorati Tags: sam, siblings