January 19, 2013

• Report # 963

  So the first week has past since I got the news that the company had delivered my documents to the migration people and I haven’t heard anything. Of course I’m not surprised, if anything I would have been surprised if I had any news seeing as it’s only been one week. I think the best I can hope for is getting some news after four weeks, but I’ll have to wait and see, logging into the migration site every few days to check up on things, to see how everything plays out.

  On Wednesday I took the metro downtown and I had lunch at VIPS. I had some tortilla soup and a hawaiian burger with fries. I got my 30 % off, and I still have to return two more times to enjoy the rest of my discounts. Afterwards I walked to a coffee shop and had a chocolate frappuichino and walked to the metro station walking along Paseo Santa Lucía and through Fundidora Park, enjoying the super sunny and warm day.

  On Thursday morning I went for a run once again and in the afternoon I headed to Galerias mall. I had lunch at Chilis and then I went to Cinépolis to watch Moonrise Kingdom. It was a very unique and fascinating movie and I really enjoyed it. I encourage everyone to check it out as it really is an interesting movie and very entertaining. I headed home after and just had a relaxing evening in the house. Yesterday I ran for the fifth day in a row, but I think tomorrow will be a break from running.

  The top of my right foot feels like it’s been bruised even though there is no bruise. I think I’m paying the price for running so much in 20 dollar no name running shoes. I will hold out and use them for a while more, but if everything goes well and I get to go home soon and come back, I’ll definitely be bringing some of the shoes I have from home as these shoes really are no good for running.

  So in a decision used to get new pairs of shoes for as cheap as possible, it ends up that it really wasn’t a good idea. Obviously the most pricey shoes aren’t usually the best either, but it’s definitely true that the cheapest running shoes out there are no good for hardcore running. Even though in terms of my physical condition I’m probably in better shape than I’ve been in my whole life, I can’t be too happy with my hair. I was looking in the mirror at the movie theatre the other day and my hair seemed more grey than ever.

  I remember being super surprised when I began noticing how grey my dad’s hair had gotten, but that was when he was in his mid 40′s not his mid 20′s ! I’ve always said there has been too much stress in my life and that’s why I’ve gone so grey so soon. It’s just scary at the rate I’m going I will be all grey by the time I’m 30. I suppose I shouldn’t care so much anyways, I’ve always thought any age after 25 is old, so I guess I’m just getting old like I thought I would be getting.

  Yesterday afternoon I went to the Galerias mall again and I went to the movie theatre to see The Last Stand with Arnold Swartzenegger. This was a great action movie that was very entertaining and I enjoyed it a lot. Though another movie that probably doesn’t do too good for Mexico’s reputation unfortunately, portraying the country as a place filled with corruption and drug lords. People just have to realize a movie is a movie and they tend to exagerrate things at times and people can’t allow movie depictions to influence how they see things in reality too much.

  Afterwards I went to Wok and had lots of great sushi and soup; I’ve really fallen in love with that place ! I walked home and that was it for my day. Today from what I’ve seen it’s going to be super sunny, so I plan to try and take some pictures in some other areas of the city. Well the last seven years in January I have had a little awards write-up so I might as well continue with the tradition even though it always takes me a bit of time. So here it goes……

                                                             The 2013 Kyle Awards

  A. Personal

  Biggest Achievement: Making it to Mexico, regular running

  Well I don’t know if it’s much of an achievement, but I got through some difficult periods over the past couple of years and managed to get myself together enough to head to Mexico in August and embark on a new stage in my life. I was able to find a company that wanted to hire me and while the process is on-going, I have taken it as far as I could have personally, so I can just sit back and hope for the best.

  Secondly, as I noted above, I’m super happy with how healthy I’ve become with my running. I can now run easily 10 kilometers on a supremely regular basis without any problems. I just have to work on eating more fruits and vegetables and less junk food !

  Biggest Disappointment: Not being where I want to be in my life yet

  This has to do with the biggest achievement. My biggest disappointment is that I haven’t gotten to where I want to be in my life yet. I’ve failed on many levels, and I can only hope my plan works as I’ve put everything into this and to fail would be crushing. So while I”m happy with myself that I’ve managed to come this far, I’m disappointed, as I was in previous years that I haven’t come as far in terms of personal achievements as I would have liked by this point.

  B. World Events

  Greatest News: Seeing how cities are taking part to help the environment

  I had to think about this, and seeing as not much is coming to mind, I’ll just have to say about something that impressed me. I suppose I could look online and read biggest stories of 2012, but that would be cheating and these are my awards ! I will say knowing that around the world politicians and people in so many cities have taken the whole climate thing seriously, and many cities have done their parts to reduce emissions.

  While this might not be big news to many people, to me it’s huge. If none of these steps were taken, the world we live in would be a much sicker place than it is, and things would just continue getting worse. I don’t know if enough good things have been done to improve things, but at the very least the worsening of the world’s air quality has been slowed down, and in a number of places positive changes have been noticed. This is a great start but we all have to work harder to keep this planet clean.

  Worst News: The poor economy in many countries, shooting tragedies

  I would have to say it has to be two things. I’ve read stories about how horrible the economy is in so many countries. Italy, Spain and Greece are struggling so much and there are so many people without work. And I’m sure the horrible economy has effected people in many other countries as well.

  This is super sad because so many people who had good jobs don’t have any work now, and other people who are looking for jobs cannot find anything. And obviously without working, living isn’t so easy. I really hope the economic situation in 2013 improves and a lot of people can find jobs and get back on their feet.

  Secondly all of the stories about gun violence that I read. It seems that at least some people have gotten the message that things need to change, and that is at least a start, however unless some meaningful changes happen very soon, I can only fear of the day when I read about more shooting deaths.

  C. Restaurants/Stores

  Favourite Restaurant: Restaurant on the beach in Michoacán

  I will have to give this award to a restaurant that I ate at on Playa Jardin in Lázaro Cárdenas Michoacán. I ordered a plate filled with huge shrimp wrapped with bacon and cheese, with salad, potatoes, and fries as well. While it certainly was an expensive plate, there was so much food and it was perfect in every way. It’s too bad I can’t remember the name of the restaurant. It just shows how unprofessional my awards really are, I can’t even remember to who I’m giving half of them to !

  Worst Restaurant: Jin Du (chinese food)

  I only went to this place because I was hungry one night and Subway wasn’t making any more sandwhiches. A guy working at the gas station here in Monterrey asked if I liked Chinese food and I said yes so he told me about this place. I’m really wishing my meeting with that gas station attendant never happened. While the food was extremely cheap and I received so much of it, it was absolutely horrible.

  In fact I can easily say this was the worst chinese food that I had eaten in my life. It was so bad I ate hardly more than 1/4 of the food and I threw the rest in the garbage. It was so bad I said that the owners should go back to China and learn how to cook their own food. It was just that horrible. I better stop writing about this or I’m going to have nightmares.

  Best Store: Zellers

  While all the Zellers stores in Canada have been taken over by Target, I was able to take advantage of the huge clearance sales they had in the store in buying a giant suitcase which I have used to come here to Mexico. Well my grandmother bought the suitcase as a gift, but it was just an amazing deal for savings and it’s a great suitcase that will last me for many years to come. I’ll definitely miss that store !

  Worst Store: Any place with horrible/rude service

  I had no clue what to put for this so I will just give this award to any place that employs such lousy customer service staff that treat customers like dirt for no reason. These sort of people should be canned ASAP, before they drag the company’s reputation through the mud with their horrible manners.

  D. Entertainment

  Best movie of the year: Cambio de Planes

  I really have to give this award to that movie from Spain. It’s an incredibly heart-warming story about a married father who befriends a young teenaged boy with terminal cancer in the hospital. While at times it’s super sad, it’s such a funny movie and overall just incredible

  Worst movie of the year: Viaje de generación

  Usually I like most of the Mexican movies that I had seen, but this one was pure trash. Basically just a horribly made film about young people on vacation who party and have lots of sex and complicated love lives. It just basically followed the leads of some Hollywood movies with very similar storylines which also flat out sucked.

  Now seeing as these movies are both foreign language films for everyone on here, I will think of another few. The Hobbit movie was an excellent fantasy film. And worst film I would say the Dictator. While it was super funny at times, it went beyond overboard with the sexual comedy and ended up being just plain gross So I will have to say in terms of the sexual humour it was horribly bad.

  Best TV Show: Absolutely none !

  I didn’t watch any TV this past year really so I really can’t give an award for best TV show. I’m sure 90 % of all the shows on TV in the past year were absolute garbage.

  Worst TV Show: Here Comes Honeyboo boo

  Just because I don’t watch TV doesn’t mean that I don’t hear about some of the garbage that is shown on air. From the clips I’ve seen of this all I can say is Wow…. and not a good wow. I’m more ashamed of the people who actually sit down and watch such trashy ensuring more low lives on the television cash in tons of money. When will people wake up and live their own lives ?!

  E. Sports

  Best NFL Team: New York Giants

  While the team failed to make the playoffs this past year, they once again demonstrated in 2012, that you don’t have to be the strongest team in the season to make a bang, but to come together and play well in the playoffs. For the second time in five years they defeated the amazing New England Patriots in the Superbowl…. they definitely deserve props for that.

  Worst NFL Team: Kansas City Chiefs

  Well what is supposed to be a proud NFL franchise with such a rich tradition of history and power proved that they belong in some sort of minor league. They finished with 2 wins and 14 losses, and as soon as the season finished, did a team house cleaning, firing the coach and the general manager. They have hired a great coach for 2013 though and they will be significantly better this coming year.

  Best NBA Team: Oklahoma City Thunder

  While they didn’t win the NBA title, they are such a young team with an amazing future ahead of them. I can’t give this award to the Miami Heat because they only did what they were expected to do. If they win another time or two I’ll be glad to give them this award.

  Worst NBA Team: Charlotte Bobcats

  Well they won 7 out of 66 games last season, and while they’ve already won more games this season, they are still among the league’s worst teams, and after a quick start they’ve been dreadful. Apparently Michael Jordan isn’t as good at owning a team as he was at playing on a team !

  Best NHL Team: Los Angeles Kings

  They barely made the playoffs, but like the New York Giants they won when it counted, dominating almost every team they faced in the post season. I would be shocked to see them repeat this feat this season, but they definitely have earned this award.

  Worst NHL Team: Columbus Bluejackets

  These guys are just another example of a franchise that never seems to make any progress as they are consistently bad year after year after year. Maybe one of these years someone will get it right with this team, but I wouldn’t count on it.

  Best CFL Team: Toronto Argonauts

  Well another team like the New York Giants, they didn’t have a great regular season, but they won when it counted, and at the end of the day a team would rather have a mediocre regular season and walk away with a championship than an amazing regular season only to walk away with nothing.

  Worst CFL Team: Hamilton Tigercats

  I honestly thought before the season started that this team would end up as one of the top teams, but wow did they disappoint. Basically they finished as one of the worst teams in the league, and they already have a new coach and General Manger for next year.

  Well I suppose I should include soccer this year just for the hell of it !

  Best MLS Team: Los Angeles Galaxy

  They successfully defended their championship and any team that can do that is definitely # 1 in my books. Even more surprising knowing how horribly they started the season.

  Worst MLS Team: Toronto FC

  This team has been around for a number of seasons, and not only has never made the playoffs before, they are absolutely dreadful year after year. So those two things make them perfect candidates for this award.

  Anyways I know that I used to do more categories but I really can’t be bothered to go through all of my Xanga and think of what else to add so I’m going to finish it here. For the next question:

  What is something/someone that you would like to give an award to and why ?

  Thankfully that includes another Kyle Awards and I won’t have to worry about thinking of more stuff for a whole year. I hope that everyone has an amazing weekend. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

  • 11:15 am
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