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adhd-wifi · 5 years

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MDZS Modern AU Fic Tips (Festivals)

So I asked a while back if anyone was interested in some fic tips for writing Chinese modern AUs, and y’all seemed enthusiastic. But…when I tried putting it all in a single post it got…really…really long…

So I split them into a bunch of posts (Yes I copy-pasted this intro on all of them because I’m lazy)! Here are the links:

Names & Stuff

Modern Chinese Cultural Stuff

Superstitions & Beliefs

Festivals (You are here)

Living in China

Anyways, these are based on my experiences living in Singapore and China, and I hope these posts are helpful. On to it.

Content Warning: Magpie Bashing

Festivals (Warning: LONG. Good Luck.)

Note: I do not have personal experience with all of these. For those I have celebrated, I’ll indicate with a (*). Also I’ll only be talking about how we celebrate them (typically), because diving into the history and meanings of it all would take like 8 years (not literally but you know). Fee free to look them up, and ask your nearest Chinese human for any extra details. If they know it. You might want to look up what the lunar calendar is too. It’s basically the moon cycle calendar, but I am too bad at memorizing how it works so I just google the dates every single year.

Also, I’m restricting this post to ONLY Chinese & Singaporean versions of celebrations. Many other regional ethnic groups celebrate the same or similar festivals, but I don’t know enough about their versions of the festivities. Another thing is that my family is from Dalian & Harbin in the NorthEast, so there is more Northern bias in my post so I might have some info that is inaccurate to festivities in the South. I did try to search for some South-specific traditions, since Yunmeng/Hubei is in South China, but I’m not entirely sure how accurate those details are.

Chinese New Year (*) - Late Jan to Early Feb (15 days after CNY day)

Before CNY, often on the eve of the actual date, we decorate our homes with red (don’t you dare skip out on decking your home with RED) decorations such as lanterns, red and orange flowers, those vertical paper banners with auspicious calligraphy on them (what are they called in English???) and whatever these things are

As kids, my sister and I would make those loop paper chains out of red and yellow paper a lot. We never knew what to do with them when the festivities were over

Spring cleaning is extremely important, we usually do it (extensively) from about a month before the festivities (and get yelled at a lot by our Chinese mothers & grandmothers especially) up to CNY Eve

Please don’t do any cleaning, particularly sweeping or throwing the trash out, on the day itself. You’re throwing the new year luck away.

Other preparations include: buying new clothes, often with at least one red thing, visiting friends during the month prior so you don’t have to do so on the day itself and giving them little gifts and red packets, & burning new year offerings for ancestors

You will probably see lion dances on the streets and during new year parades a lot, sometimes accompanied by dragon dances, though the former is much more common. They also tend to give private performances at a discount during the CNY period, though lion dances aren’t restricted to only perform on CNY and in fact perform for special events in general, not just cultural festivities

On the night of CNY Eve, we have reunion dinners, in which we gather our entire extended family (when possible) and have a really loud, really energetic dinner party while watching the CNY Spring Gala on TV together. Or just eating if we don’t have access to a TV.

Include fish on the menu. At least one major fish main dish, not a side dish. It’s from a lucky saying: 年年有余 - nián nián yǒu yú, meaning something along the lines of “To have more prosperity this year”. The Chinese word for fish (鱼 - yú) sounds the same as 余, therefore we have fish every year. Yes it’s a pun, as many Chinese superstitions and beliefs are

Other menu items you could include: homemade dumplings (a FUCKton of them), uncut noodles, chicken or duck, pork, Chinese radish/carrot cake (side note: why the FUCK do Western articles ALWAYS translate this to “turnip cake” it’s made out of fucking RADISH or CARROT I swear to HELL), Chinese yam cakes, good alcohol and traditional sweets like tang yuan (this is basically the original version of mochi, filled with black or normal sesame filling and served in a clear, sweet soup)

There’s also one Cantonese dish known as (撈起 - Lo Hei) which is basically a salad of shredded carrot, radish, cucumber with strips of sashimi-style fish strips like salmon. You serve it to the table, pour crushed peanuts, fried dough crisps, and sweet sauce all over it, and your entire table reaches in with chopsticks and mixes everything together. It’s more common in Singapore and Malaysia than it actually is in Hong Kong and China, but I’ve had it in China before in the springtime. I fucking hate it.

By the way, a fun game to play is the coin dumpling game. Basically, when you make the dumplings, put clean coins into some of them, and whoever eats the dumpling with the coins inside are considered super lucky for the year. I wasn’t ever allowed to make them though, my 20 years of dumpling-folding have failed me I still suck at it so everyone knows which ones are mine.

Usually, relatives living overseas would go to China for the New Year if they can, and they would take turns hosting the dinner each year. You would traditionally only have a reunion dinner in a family home, mostly because everything outside is closed

During the celebrations, lighting firecrackers and sparklers is part of the fun. Keep a close eye on the kids.

Wearing traditional clothing isn’t necessary, but encouraged

At midnight, the younger, unmarried family members will present their married elders with gifts (usually two oranges per person or a small handmade craft) while wishing them well for the year, and in turn the elders will return the wishes and gift the youngsters red packets with money.

The celebration period lasts for 15 days, but people typically go back to work a day or two after the actual CNY date

Personal note: I have only actually celebrated CNY once in China, back when I was tiny, so most of this is based on Singaporean experiences, what I know my in-China relatives, who live in Dalian, do, and what I’ve double checked online. But CNY is huge in China and many places celebrate it differently, so don’t get too worried about following this to the dot.

The Lantern Festival - Early to Mid Feb

In Singapore it’s actually illegal to celebrate the Lantern Festival traditionally on a large scale because of the potential fire hazards & pollution, so it’s somewhat merged with the Mid-Autumn festival here and thus I don’t know as much about this one in a “proper” Chinese context (I had to go to school in Singapore this time of year)

But anyways

The Lantern Festival comes immediately after CNY, on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It’s seen as a day of freedom for all, so everyone takes to the streets, lighting up the night with candles and lanterns

Lantern-walks are common, in which everyone holds a lantern - there are many kinds to choose from - and just walk up and down the streets together

These lantern-walks often take place alongside the official festival parades

The dragon dances mentioned earlier are more likely to appear during the lantern festival than CNY, and the lion dances of course come as well

It gets crowded a lot. Hold onto your kids.

Lantern riddles are fun games, in which they string up lanterns with papers hanging from them. Upon these papers are the riddles, and if you got them right you could win prizes. Or at least bragging rights amongst your family and friend groups

If you’re in a river town, you’ll likely have a chance to see water lanterns, which are also common during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They’re paper lanterns, sometimes made in lotus form, carrying wishes of prosperity. This can come in two forms, an official river lantern parade where they make HUGE lanterns for show, or smaller lanterns that just flow along. Sounds perfect for a Yunmeng Jiang family celebration, don’t you think?

Another one is the sky lanterns, which CQL watchers will recognize. People will gather together, usually on a hill, and release lanterns into the skies. Some will make them themselves, but most people will just buy pre-made ones. Like in CQL, you make a wish upon these lanterns, then sit down and eat tang yuan together.

They apparently eat a lot of tang yuan on this festival

A lot of romantic meet-ups happen on this festival (and the Mid-Autumn Festival) (y’all know what to do with this information)

This is considered the last chance of family time following on from CNY before you all return to your normal lives

The QingMing Festival (*) - Early Apr

AKA the Tomb-Sweeping Festival

To put it very basically, this is when we go to our deceased loved one’s graves and clean said graves

We go to the cemetery in the early morning, wipe down the gravestones, clear them of debris like leaves and such, then we make offerings of food. A lot of the times, we would basically lay out a feast before the grave(s), lighting incense and also decorating the graves with flowers and such

Please do not ever eat anything in those offerings. It’s not for the living. Therefore, please feel free to stab your chopsticks upright into that bowl of rice.

You can burn offerings like paper too, usually in a burning urn (??? is it an urn?), but in my experience we weren’t allowed to do that at my grandma’s grave since it was a crowded cemetery so I don’t know how it works exactly

In my personal experiences, we usually stayed in the cemetery for about an hour, praying to the deceased and sort of chatting with them, hoping they’re doing well in the afterlife and updating them on our lives

After that’s done, we go have a picnic somewhere down the mountain and fly kites while getting bullied by asshole magpies

They keep stealing my food because apparently even they know you shouldn’t eat the food left out for the dead

One stole my necklace once ;-;

Anyways the food offerings left out are typically cleared the next morning (latest) by us or you pay the cemetery caretakers to dispose of it, but the latter is looked down upon for good reason

It’s really just best to clean it up yourselves when you can. For everyone’s sake.

The Dragon Boat Festival (*) - Late Jun to Early Jul

You could probably make a sports anime about this festival, because the main even at the Dragon Boat Festival is the dragon boat racing (shocking)

Okay all joking aside, during this festival, which is a summer event, dragon boat racers compete with one another in long, narrow wooden canoes with a Chinese dragon head carved out in the front and painted scales on the side, often really brightly coloured

They row to the beat of loud drums, with a drummer sitting at the head of each boat, facing their boat’s rowers, beating the drum as their team rows

People watching the races can do so from the shore, where they’ll be eating glutinous rice with meat/nuts/beans wrapped in large, woven bamboo leaves into a triangle shape, called 粽子 - zòng zi. (The Malaysians & Indonesians have this too, but they use banana leaves instead)

In some places, you have viewers in viewing boats too, with the race course marked off with buoys. I fell into the water once from one of these. Luckily they make you all wear life-vests.

Also a limited occurrence but rarer, some places will have sort of official “cheerleading” boats, in which a bunch of colourfully dressed people will shout and cheer for the racers as a whole, often waving flags the same colours as their clothes. They’re often standing, but in the same kind of dragon boats. You have to be affiliated with the local dragon boat community / heritage board to be allowed to be one of these “cheerleaders” though

When the official races aren’t happening though, visitors are often taken around the river. You can technically do this at any time, but the Chinese believe that the time of the Dragon Boat Festival is the best time for traversing the great rivers

Other things people do during this festival include drinking realgar wine, making perfume packets for children, and hanging mosquito-repellent herbs on doors and windows, but I’ve never seen this in practice and couldn’t find much else on these

To be honest, this particular festival is seen as a thing of lingering cultural heritage or just something of a traditional ceremonial practice, but is overall kinda dying as a full-fledged festival, with only the racing surviving the passage of time (In fact, this has become more of a leisure event than a festival in Singapore in recent years)

The QiXi Festival - Mid to Late Aug???

Not gonna lie I didn’t know this one existed until I looked it up

I knew the legend surrounding it (The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl - Please look it up it’s a beautiful story even though it’s not realistic because the magpies aren’t assholes) but didn’t know it was an actual holiday at all

Basically it’s kind of the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day, but it takes place in like August

Traditionally, girls took this time to show off their skills in the “feminine arts” such as weaving, sewing, fruit carving (???), tea-making (?????) and poetry (?????????). I’m confused.

They also ate special pastries and children gave flower garlands to the sacred ox statues

Apparently it’s mostly only celebrated in more traditional/rural areas now because most modern Chinese people just celebrate the Western Valentine’s Day

The legend gets to stay though

The Hungry Ghost Festival (*) - Late Jul to Early Aug (Start) / Late Aug to Early Sept (End)

This one is not a festive festival at all. You shouldn’t be enjoying this festival as a living person. But this is probably the best festival for any fics set in the modern world revolving around dead spirits being active out of everything on this list

This festival lasts the entire 7th month of the lunar calendar, so the Chinese will literally just call it the “Seventh Month (七月 - qī yuè)” or the “Ghost Month (鬼月 - guǐ yuè)”

I’ve never even heard anyone refer to it by its full name in Chinese, which is apparently 中元节 - zhōng yuán jié or 盂兰盆节 - yú lán pén jié according to Wikipedia

Basically, the Gates of Hell the Afterlife have opened for the month to get the spirits of the deceased ease their suffering for a bit. So, the festival is actually NOT celebrated by the living, instead, it’s “celebrated” by the ghosts of the deceased

Living human practices during this festival include making various food offerings (the main point of the festival) for the spirits, usually much more seriously and/or extravagantly than typical offerings, burning offerings such as paper money, paper houses, paper cars, etc in large quantities because this is the best time for the spirits to receive them, putting on special “performances for the dead” in which performers will dance and sing to a room of empty chairs, and having special family prayer sessions in which we “speak” to the deceased directly (Luckily, they don’t usually answer us)

Nowadays, only the first two of those practices are really still practiced as seriously as they used to be, for individual families at least

Again, if you see food being left out on the side of the street, especially if there’s incense or something next to it, please don’t eat it or even touch it. Don’t be the ignorant guy in a horror movie

People who can see/hear/sense spirits and environmentalists hate this festival, because ghosts can be terrifying even when harmless, and all the burning contributes to climate change

I happen to be both of those. I am also sensitive to smoke. So...

Ironically I don’t actually hate this festival THAT much but...

Personal note: I’ve never been to China during the seventh month, and because they make it a point to not really talk about it, I only know the Singaporean experiences. Telling ghost stories is both encouraged and shunned during this month here. Malaysian-Chinese ghost stories are fucking horrifying. Give me more.

Mid-Autumn Festival (*) - Late Sept to Early Oct

My personal favourite festival on this list. I don’t like crowded places, but I make exceptions for this one when I can. I would call this the most fun and enjoyable festival out of all of them.

When speaking Chinese, most of the time we’d just shorten it to 秋节 - qiū jié from the full name of 中秋节 - zhōng qiū jié

When speaking English (in Singapore, but you can use these in English fics and people tend to understand it fine), we also call it the Mooncake Festival, the Autumn Moon Festival, or the Harvest Moon Festival (this one is quite an old name though)

In modern times, this is celebrated very similarly to the famous Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) in Japan, in which a huge festival site is fully decorated in colourful lanterns and filled with countless stalls of food, games, and festival products such as more lanterns, traditional dress rentals if you’re lucky, wooden toys, cloth products, “festival” tea & wine, and many more

You are encouraged to wear cheongsam/qipao to the festivities, but honestly most people don’t anymore, but they dress their kids in cultural clothing a lot (in Singapore you’ll also see kiddies running around in other traditional dress, such as yukata, summer hanbok, festive baju kurung, etc.)

In some places, special dragon or lion dances will be performing

Expect to find a FUCKTON of fresh fruit stalls, including pumpkins, melons, pomelos, persimmons, pomegranates, maybe starfruits, dragonfruits & guavas, and probably a heck lot of longans if you’re somewhere in South China. Also expect every individual large fruit to be decorated with red ribbons and colourful wrapping paper

Also out of every five stalls, at least one will be a mooncake stall

Mooncakes come in multiple varieties! The most common are the white lotus bean paste ones, the ones with salted egg yolks (single yolk and double yolk), snowskin ones which as much softer and sweeter, red bean paste cakes, etc.

They make some super cute shapes too!

There are even more savoury options with minced pork filling or prawn/fish filling (not a fan of the fish ones), but they’re made with a flakier pastry than the sweet ones (Note: sometimes we don’t call these mooncakes, but it depends)

Basically the sweet ones use a pastry that’s more like a typical sweet tart shell while the savoury ones use something that’s more like a non-sweetened croissant

Traditionally, people would make the mooncakes together at home, and offer them to the moon goddess during moon worship, but nowadays most people just buy them and eat them

This festival also shares a lot of the same customs as CNY & the Lantern Festival, such as:

Having another reunion dinner. Duck is a very common dish, along with seasonal crops. Lotus dishes are also popular around this time, depending on where you are.

Lanterns everywhere. Water and sky lanterns are also common. You’ll also see people playing with firecrackers and sparklers.

In much more rural areas, you might get to experience the Burning Pagoda tradition, in which they set up a seven-tier tower made up of wood and straw and burn it while dancing around it. This practice is similar to the Bon Odori even in Japan.

Fun fact: This is also basically the Lantern Festival of Singapore, because the actual Lantern Festival isn’t celebrated here

Bonus: I made a post about the most famous myth of this festival that relates to MDZS.

The ChongYang Festival - Mid to Late Oct

Also known as the Double Ninth Festival (in English) and the Senior Festival (slang)

This is basically the festival of paying respects to our elders, both living and dead

There are...going to be a fuckton of chrysanthemums everywhere. Chrysanthemum flowers decorating the place, chrysanthemum cakes (I don’t recommend googling it if you have severe trypophobia, some of the more traditional cakes have a lot of seeds and stuff on top which may be upsetting, but I would say it’s at least better than a hollow lotus pod), chrysanthemum wine, all of that

Common activities include going on easy hikes or mountain walks with the living elders, and maybe visiting the graves of those who have passed and paying respects

It’s dying in modern times, but still seen as at least a day of relaxing with your elderly family and friends

The DongZhi Festival - Late Dec (just before Christmas mostly)

The Winter Solstice Festival

Nothing much is done, we really mostly just have a special dinner together, eating dumplings, noodle soup, mutton, and hotpot. Alcohol is often present at such dinners, and you would toast to the solstice

You’d also pray and stuff like most of these festivals, but I think that’s a given by now lol

Modern Chinese people will often get together during this time and merge it with their Christmas dinners

Aside from that, we really just celebrate Christmas, though now you can add a line of cultural significance to those modern AU Christmas fics :3

Bonus Info: There is also a Summer Solstice festival called the Xia Zhi Festival that’s essentially the same as this, except you eat a lot of noodles and go swimming, but it’s not really significant anymore in modern times, the DongZhi festival only really surviving because of Christmas, so I didn’t include it in the list

Alright, that one took like 84 years. I’m tired LMAO.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #chen qing ling #the untamed #chinese things #chinese fic tips #fic tips #modern au #my posts

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kootenaygoon · 5 years

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So,

Brendan was thinking about buying a church.

He told me this while we stood on either side of the stove one morning, watching for that final moment of release when our percolator would boil over and produce its sweet sustenance. It was the second one of the day, and he’d just successfully maneuvered Tasha and Dylan out the door for school. For months now he’d been talking about the various properties he was eye-balling for this new project he was taking on, but this was his wackiest idea yet. There was a vacant church downtown that seemed like the perfect size for a brewery.

“I was thinking we could call it Blasphemy Brewing,” he said, with a chuckle. “Really work the religious angle with all the marketing, maybe do a logo that has a church on fire?”

“That would piss off all the right people. I love it. You would totally create word of mouth, make a splash.”

“Yeah, but then there’s the Christian crowd you might be alienating. It’s a bit of a balancing act. I’ve gotta see what this guy wants for a down payment. I’m still lining up all my partners.”

This project had really enlivened Brendan, who had been going through a multi-month slump before finding something to invest his attention in. There were a number of conflicts he was still having with his ex, which he itemized in minute detail in the kitchen each morning, and they were beginning to wear on his mental health. Watching him slug his way through these custody battles made me feel relieved Paisley and I hadn’t had kids. It was like watching a bear struggle in a net that he’ll never fully escape from. For so many Kootenay parents, this sort of emotionally fraught conflict was omnipresent in their lives.

Regardless, I would’ve happily switched positions. I wasn’t financially stable enough to support kids but those days I looked at my friends’ children with a sort of nagging jealousy, thinking how come you get to have kids and I’m this single loser? Brendan was nearly a decade older than me, but I wanted what he had.

“You know, I interviewed this guy the other day who told me about this town where the government paid them to burn down their own houses,” I said. “It was this little hamlet on Lower Arrow Lake called Renata that was just basically orchards and farms and stuff. Now it’s completely underwater since the 60s.”

Brendan leaned back on the counter, impatient with the percolator. “Why did they have to burn down their houses if they were going underwater anyway?”

“The government was forcefully ejecting everyone, so I guess they were just trying to make a point. This was part of the Columbia River Treaty. I interviewed this dude who used to live there, Wally Penner.”

“Man, Ed’s really going to town with this series, eh? Isn’t this like the sixth story you’ve written about the CRT?”

“Dude, it’s like the story that keeps giving. There’s so many different angles. Like I’ve got one whole story about getting the salmon back up the river, so they’ve got this invention called the Salmon Cannon.”

He nodded, pondering this. Brendan had been a radio journalist before moving to Nelson, and had one of those voices perfect for broadcasting. Sometimes he was the announcer for the Nelson Leafs, and when you called the Hume Hotel it was his voice that greeted you on the answering machine.

“Well, if you’re going to keep writing about it, the main thing you need to focus on is what a raw deal we’re getting from the States. And I bet you Trump’s going to walk all over Trudeau during the negotiations.”

“Well, it’s not necessarily going to be the two of them. It depends on when they open everything up again. Apparently it’s this super convoluted process because all the different levels of government involved. And then there’s the First Nations, who weren’t even properly consulted the first time around, and all that kind of stuff.”

“People who think the new deal will be an improvement are kidding themselves. This is gonna be a whole bunch of lawyers just slugging it out in the courtroom, and they’ll be the real winners, just like with custody issues,” he said. “Mark my words.”

For some reason, that made Brendan think of a song he wanted to show me. He jogged into the next room to fiddle with this music, and when he returned a soulful female vocalist named LP was just working her way through her break-up ballad.

“This chick fucking rules. I’ve been playing her non-stop, but she’s a little polarizing, I find. I played her for this one bar owner and he said she sounded screechy,” he said, nodding his head to the music.

“But to me, she’s just got it, you know? You can feel the emotional depth in her voice, the feeling. It gives me goosebumps.”

Brendan was on the board of the Kaslo Jazz Festival, so he was always looking for new acts. As she reached the chorus he burst into song like Baloo from The Jungle Book. His jolly energy was contagious as he reached open his arms.

“Smoke ‘em if you got em, ‘cause it’s going down! All I ever wanted was you. I’ll never get to heaven, cause I don’t how! Let’s raise a glass or two,” he sung.

“To all the things I’ve lost on you, oh oh, tell me are they lost on you?”

As Brendan sang, the percolator began to hiss and froth behind me. Like a proud metal penis it began to spit and spew, dark liquid draining down its shaft like the moment of conception.

It looked like the fatherhood that was calling my name.

The Kootenay Goon

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kekabumi · 7 years

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Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is a popular dessert in the Indian subcontinent and our personalities are just as sweet and lovable as the dessert.

In conjunction with the Festival of Lights, Kekabumi presents: Gulab Jamun, a photo journal of 4 very different gulabos*, each with their own unique twist and flavour as we explore their take on being a Malaysian Indian.

*term of endearment

GULABO #1: ANJALI NIJJAR VENUGOPAL, 22 Artist, Actor, Poet, Freelance Publicist

“Is your name inspired from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?” I threw the first question to break the ice.

“No,” she replied with a sweet smile. “I was born before that!”

Anjali, despite being young is a quadruple-threat. She’s an artist, actor, poet and a freelance publicist. Her artwork have been exhibited in Tokyo and she is as passionate as one can be. She also recently competed in SHORT+SWEET staged at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) if she’s not performing at poetry gigs like ‘If Walls Could Talk’.

“I’ve always liked the stage,” she admits.

Born and bred in Sabah, Anjali pursued her tertiary education in Film & TV. Her favourite film is Scott Pilgrim vs The World and she described her style as a fine line between pastel goth and sporty.

As a theater actor, Anjali said that she has to open up and be vulnerable when she is on stage in order to put on a good show. The intense training she had during Theatre for Young People (T4YP) had allow her to do just that.

“I’ve become much, much, braver.” she added.

A lot of people would never guess that she’s actually a Sikh because to her, there is not enough Sikh representation in Malaysia even though there are a few Gurdwaras in KL itself.

“It’s also unfortunate that the Vaisakhi (a major religious celebration in Sikhism) is not given Public Holiday here. Sometimes I had to choose between classes or work and going to temple. I wish that wasn’t the case.”

Anjali, whose dream home would be a studio apartment where she can turn into a creative space wasn’t afraid to speak up about the struggles she had growing too.

“I used to not like my name because people was making fun of it when I was a kid. They made me feel like I’m horrible and ugly for being Indian.”

“It was not until I see the representation (of POC) in the western media that I thought to myself wow, I could actually look good in that (outfit).”

Anjali’s play “TIGA” will be staged at Five Arts Centre from 23rd – 26th November. Make sure you don’t miss it!

Instagram/Twitter: @pertatos Website: http://pertatos.blogspot.my/

GULABO #2: AZAAD, 25 Videographer

Azaad was 30 minutes late to our shoot but his personality is so bright we couldn't be upset about it. Our conversation started when we went to 7Eleven together to get some drinks and snacks. He told me that one day, he wants to prank the 7E guy too. Throughout our 15-minute walk, we talked about a lot of random things - from car drifting, to parkour, to suicide.

"Every day I wake up to be a better person than I was yesterday," he told me. "That's what keeps me going.”

Born in an Indian-Muslim family from Penang, the Media Technology graduate from SAE International emphasized on the importance of family by saying that there will never be a place like home.

“Growing up, my friends are 60% Chinese, 30% Indians and only 10% Malays but I have never experienced racial clashing. I see it happening around, but never to me.”

When asked about his thoughts on the minority in Malaysia – Indians especially, Azaad said that he wish the Indians realised how important they are as the people here in Malaysia and that they should never feel sideline. Azaad speaks fervently of his dissatisfaction with the IT and Medicine stereotype often imposed onto Indian individuals as he hope to see more Indians in the creative line of work.

While digging deeper into his own heritage, Azaad also enlightened us about what it means to be an Indian Muslim in Malaysia.

“I think the Indian culture is amazing. The heritage is really something to be proud of and celebrated. And the colours are just so beautiful” said Azaad. “However, one of two things people often ask when they find out that I’m Indian-Muslim is either: Which one of your parents is malay? Or are you a convert?”

As Azaad explains about the Indian Muslim community within Malaysia, we learnt that it is a small minority that often get mixed up with Mamaks, who are individuals of mixed Indian-Malay heritage. Azaad laments on the interchangeability of the Malay and Muslim identity, which gives way to a form of ignorance towards others that don’t fall under the same label.

Azaad notices that Indian Muslims are at risk of losing their unique culture due to the pressure of trying to fit into modern Malaysian society, but they may also be at risk of losing a part of their identity as well if they do not. As Azaad mentions, “If you can’t beat the rest, join the rest but of course there are those who still stay true to their roots.”

The enthusiastic 25 year-old who loves his current job told me that if not a videographer, he’d probably be in aviation as a fighter pilot or a professional motor sport driver if he ever runs out of creative juice. Well, I guess we have to wait and see what’s in store for this Penangite creative.

Instagram: @ahmedazaad

GULABO #3: VARSHA, 20 Musician, lawyer-to-be

When I first arrived at the studio, I noticed a girl with sharp face feature doing her make-up and I thought “Woah, she’s beautiful.” It took me awhile to approach her because not only she was doing her make-up, she also has this stern look that made me feel a little scared. But as the hour pass by and everyone was all warmed up, Varsha turned out to be a very pleasant person to have conversations with. And quite chatty too!

So when I had her to tell me a bit about herself, it was very surprising to know that this 20 year-old is currently pursuing her degree in law despite having a pure-science A-level qualification. So why the drastic change?

“Well, I’ve been learning science since I was 16 and the thought of having to spend the rest in my life in the lab is just not something I am quite comfortable with. I mean, I really, really, love Biology and all but maybe not as a professional.” she told me as we were hanging out at the balcony.

Three fun facts about Varsha that I learnt:

When she was 10, she had a skateboarding phase but never really got into it because she was just stoked to have Spiderman design on her skateboard instead of the actual thing.

When she was 13, her guilty pleasure show to watch is Keeping Up With The Kardashians (KUWTK)

She was obsessed with High School Musical (HSM) so much that she had posters all over her room that she has not yet taken down.

Varsha who views John Mayer as one of her sources of inspiration recently released two songs on her Spotify – ‘Real’ and ‘Fool for You’. But her achievements to this date definitely didn’t come easy.

“I feel like no matter how good I am, I will always have to push a bit extra in everything I do. For example, I did great in my SPM but not great enough to land me a scholarship because of the race quota. I totally understand that the majority should have more seats but yeah.” she explained.

To Varsha, Malaysia is a country where you have to conform to the majority. You are forced to follow the flow but if you are a salmon who swims upstream, that wouldn’t be too easy.

“Honestly, I don’t think coerce is good for you spiritually or mentally. I wish people can just be their own person regardless their preferences,” Varsha added. Well, we agree with you on that, girl.

Instagram & Twitter: @thatssovarsha Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2X1RsyKi5IRhAPyKAa8o3m

GULABO #4: KEITH NOEL RAJ, 22 Musician

“Passionate. Rational. Naïve.”

Those were the words that came out of Keith’s when I asked him to describe himself in three words. Started playing music since he was 13, he told me he never learned how to read notes despite being able to play instruments well.

Throughout the photoshoot, Keith wasn’t the loudest person in the room but he exuberates this calm aura that made it easy to approach him. Young and talented, Keith believes that if you put in a lot of effort, time and details in what you do, you will be great at it.

Speaking of great, he will be releasing his EP really soon and we wish him nothing but the best!

“So what do you think about the Indians in Malaysia?” curious, I asked. “I do think that our representation in this country is a concern especially with all the stereotypes that people have on Indians.”

“But a way to rise above that than getting proper education. Those who are financially stable are lucky, but what about those who are not? They need to get out of the cycle and see the world.”

To Keith, the inability to see life in a bigger picture will restrict your reality. Which is why if he had to write a letter to his future self he would ask if the older Keith is okay and hope he is not having a stagnant life at that point of his life.

“Hopefully you don’t have a wife and kids too!” he added.

This young musician who would like to visit Japan one day told us that there’s just something about the way Japanese do things that he loves. Contrary to the Western world, Japanese people don’t have problem with routine and he think it’s very interesting how they live life there.

Twitter/Instagram: @keithhateskids

We hope you enjoy this feature as much as we do. We had a really good time working with the personalities and super glad that we get to share their stories with all of you!

Love, Kekabumi.

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fitnesshealthyoga-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/so-zen-right-now-the-fitnessista/

so zen right now - The Fitnessista

Hi friends! Happy Monday! A friendly reminder for today….

We’ve got this. 🙂

How was the weekend? I hope you had a fun and relaxing one! I had the most relaxing weekend that I’ve had in… a very long time. My friend Betsy flew in from San Diego and we spent the weekend hanging out, shopping, eating all the delicious things, and enjoying a magical spa day at Miraval.

Before she arrived Friday morning, I had to finish my CPR certification. I did an online and classroom combination since my certification had expired, and it was SO convenient to do most of it online. (Word to the world: don’t wait until the night before to do the full online component because it takes a few hours. At the same time, it was really helpful for me to have a refresher on all of this information. I’ve been CPR certified for 10 years now, and every time I have to re-certify, I’m SO glad I did it and so thankful for the information.)

Since the classroom component was only an hour long and I had to head directly to the airport to pick up Betsy, I took P to CPR with me. I figured you’re never too young to learn these valuable skills haha. (And yes, I called a couple of days before to make sure it would be ok, and they were totally cool with it.)

She watched me do chest compressions on the Brayden mannequin thing and even tried to a couple of rescue breaths. (The instructor got a kick out of it.) When I needed to practice roll bandaging, she was my model. She thoroughly enjoyed having her pretend wound bandaged up. After I demoed my skills and got my certification, we drove to the airport to swoop Betsy.

We were all ready for brunch, so of course I had to take her to Prep & Pastry.

MY OTHER VIDEOS

Kyle released new menus at Prep and Commoner & Co. this week and they’re both INSANE. He surprised us with a couple of fun things:

the cinnamon roll croissant

(this is seriously a dream come true… a cinnamon roll with flaky croissant layers)

and two of their new toasts. One had an egg, bacon and maple butter, and crispy brussels sprouts, and the other was smoked salmon with an herbed goat cheese.

For my actual meal, I rolled with the classic breakfast: scrambled eggs, housemade turkey sausage, potatoes, and gluten-free toast.

It was perfection.

When we finished brunch, we came back to the house to chill for a bit, and then decided to get some fresh air. I thought Sabino Canyon would be a fun *Tucson thing* to do, and since we had time to kill before we needed to pick Liv up from school, we decided to go for a little hike.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous – I think it was in the mid 60s and sunny – and we walked a couple of miles, enjoying the scenery,

and miss P ran almost the entire time.

She is suddenly really, intensely into running.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to take the dogs for a walk, and instead of riding her scooter (as she always does), she said,

“No mama, I want to run. Please put my sneakers on.”

I put on her sneakers, and she ran the entire time we were walking the dogs. I’m familiar with the distance since we’ve ran and walked it so many times, and her little newly 3-year-old legs ran .75 miles. She did the same thing at Sabino Canyon… started running, and hardly stopped. Maybe I have a mini Janae-esque speedster on my hands???

(She asked to wear her gymnastics outfit, too, and I was just like, “You do you” haha until I realized that she likely wanted to wear athletic clothes for her run? I don’t even know.)

After the hike, we picked up Livi from school, watched a movie at home, and then went to La Encantada for shopping and dinner.

My mom, stepdad, and nana met us there, and we had an awesome meal at Blanco. I almost always get the chicken tacos, but switched it up by ordering the chicken enchiladas. It was a WISE choice. If you’re in Tucson, definitely try the enchiladas! (And PS their rice is soooooo buttery and good.)

Madre took over for the girls – she watched them for the weekend! She’s the real MVP – while Betsy and I went shopping and then checked into our hotel at Loew’s Ventana Canyon.

This weekend was my bday gift, and all I really wanted was to hang out with Betsy and get some real sleep. I slept SO well both nights and it was amazing to have a weekend without a schedule or agenda. We knew we were doing a spa day at Miraval, but besides our treatments, we decided to go into it and just wing it depending on how we were feeling. It was so relaxing, and a much-needed refill on a cup that’s been feeling a little spent lately.

I have SO much to tell you about Miraval (and I’ll also compare it to Canyon Ranch) but it needs its own post, because otherwise this one will be TLDR. We spent the entire day at Miraval on Saturday (from about 8:30am until 7pm) and then went straight to Commoner & Co. for dinner and drinks.

This is random, but Kyle got me into bourbon cocktails. This one had vanilla and orange, and it was so smoky, slightly sweet, and delicious.

For my entree, I got the salmon from their new menu, which has kale chips and a mushroom risotto. It was perfect, as always. Even if I didn’t know Kyle (or be his kinda-twin), Commoner would still easily be my favorite dinner and date night spot in Tucson.

After we were totally full from a fantastic dinner, and refreshed from a full day at Miraval, we went back to the hotel for 9 1/2 GLORIOUS hours of sleep. When we woke up, my mom was already heading to the zoo with the girls, so we met Everly and Meg for crepes at the farmer’s market.

(This is the Breakfast 2.0 with no cheese on a gluten-free crepe. It has eggs, guacamole, green chilies, and salsa. Basically this is my ideal breakfast and I could eat it every single day.)

We walked around the market for a bit, and then it was time for Betsy to head home!

It was such an amazing weekend and the perfect ending to my week of bday celebrating. After I took the girls to swim, P crashed on the couch while Liv and I decorated for Christmas. It feels so festive around here, and I’m really excited for the next couple of months. <3

I’d love to hear about your weekend! Do you ever do getaways with your best friends? Where’s your favorite place to go? I still want to head back to Palm Springs one day- our girls’ trip there was a blast.

Have a happy Monday.

xoxo

Gina

PS. Guess what?!

This week, I am thrilled to celebrate Thanksgiving by offering daily deals on my brand new Fit Guide workouts — it’s my way of saying thanks to you for your love and support, and to help empower and inspire you to get and stay fit as we wrap up 2018!

Each of my Fit Guides includes 12 weeks of workouts, plus a workout calendar, a suggested meal plan and special bonuses. And if you aren’t sure which one is right for you, you can take a free, fun personality quiz to find out which Fit Guide I think is best for you:

Take the Fitness Personality Quiz here.

Now, here’s today’s daily deal:

Use the coupon HWWHALFOFF for 50% off my Home Workout Warrior Fit Guide! This is a perfect Guide for the holiday week because you can take it with you when you’re traveling, or use it to get a great workout in, even when your gym is closed or the kids are home on holiday break.

Please remember that this is ONLY available for 24 hours! This coupon is only valid on the Home Workout Warrior Fit Guide, and expires at 9amPT on Tuesday, November 20.

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braindamageforbeginners · 7 years

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Week 4, day 31, radiation 21

Those of you familiar with me in private life will be aware that I am not a morning person. At all. This isn’t some sort of dark, vampire secret or anything; most of my neighbors - whom I wouldn’t encounter outside of working hours anyway - seem aware of this personality trait (I also have a terrifying, glow-in-the-dark, nightmare pale coloring that can only be maintained by completely unaware of the hours between midnight and 11 am)(or prolonged stays in caves). Which is why one of the weirder aspects of this whole cancer shenanigans is the constant rewriting of my internal clock (I mean, I’m normally awake during daylight hours and asleep in the hours of darkness, but anything else is fairly fluid these days). Which, I suppose, is what happens when you combine an insomniac with Woody Allen-type paranoia (and becoming a crazed, paranoid hypochondriac after three brain tumors isn’t a mental degradation; it’s a simple acknowledgment of reality; but I digress) with the Hunter Thompson/Robert Plant held-together-by-drugs lifestyle. Which is not an endorsement or judgment on that lifestyle, merely an honest admission that I am - by doctor’s orders (mostly; I will admit to taking more tylenol and slightly more zofran than advised) - putting all sorts of strange substances into my body (and, again, when you are - on a professional’s recommendation - exposed to more radiation than some Hiroshima survivors, all bets are off). Which have many effects (the best one being, I hope, to stay alive and mostly-intact), but one of them is that my sleep schedule nowadays resembles a bizarre lunar calendar of pagan festivities. Some days I sleep 19 hours. Some days, I sleep three. The common, underlying theme throughout this experience has been that, since treatment started a month ago; I really don’t seem to be able to lie about in bed languidly. Of course, I had a bit of trouble with that beforehand (as a former EMT coworker pointed out, I have two speeds - sleep and sprint), but it has definitely been brought to the fore by man’s unnatural manipulations of my physiology. Which means that I don’t get up at an early hour, and kind of spend an hour or two coming to my senses. Which I kind of miss, but it’s hardly a major sacrifice.

All of which is an extremely roundabout way of saying that I was upright and fully-ready for mayhem at 7 am this morning. And there was no one else in the household (don’t worry, nothing burned down or died). Which then meant that I rung in the new dawn the way God intended; with a cell-phone-connected stereo, lots of high-quality coffee, and a massive heart-hostile breakfast. And it was great. When you lose agency - in my case, the ability to plan for life after six months (and drive)(and not be attached to an NSAID salt-lick)(but I digress), you kind tend to flail and over-compensate for the few things you can control. And it’s always tinged by the dark possibility that this may be the last time you can do this activity. It sucks, but it does add a slight bittersweetness to the experience (which went well with my coffee, which had hazelnut overtones). This might be the very last breakfast I make, and that limitation sucks. But, if this is the last one, it’s not a bad note to end breakfasts on. There were eggs, vegetables, toast, etc. all in 19-lb. frying pans cooked over massive flames (we have a flame-top grill), as God intended. It was great. HOWEVER...

It does bear mentioning that, as is so ever the case, there is always a serpent in paradise. In this morning’s celebrations, it was the range hood. Like any good stove, ours has a hood. What’s different about our hood is that it’s about 5′7″ high - which puts it perfectly in the danger zone for any many between 5′8″ and 6′4″. Which, by a very strange coincidence, encompasses the height of all the men in my immediate family. I have seen my brother and father snag themselves on this insidious, oversized hunk of steel (and that’s not even some quasi-hypothetical “in the dark reaches of the past” statement - Dad smacked himself on this thing just a week ago while grilling salmon). I have done it, myself, many times. Today, however, StoveTop Satan struck at me from my most vulnerable angle. As those of you familiar with proceedings will recall, I have some rather nasty pains along my suture lines - think of a very large, upside-down U over my right ear - to the point where Radiation Oncologist recently prescribed something to reduce inflammation (and pain) at the site. Today, ladies and gentlemen; somehow, while, taking a step back from the eggs to reset the coffee machine, the damned hood struck a mighty blow. Right. On. The. Center. Of. My. Surgery. Scars. Now, it should be noted that, 12-ish hours later, there seem to be no major repercussions (apart swallowing OTC painkillers by the bottle)(don’t do that at home, kids, I’m a professional neurology patient). However, the phrase “pray for death” (which is also the title of an amazing ninja movie) did describe me for the better part of the hour. So, I had a good breakfast and got a good (albeit painful) story out of it, which might make it the perfect breakfast for me. Sort of. I mean it’s far from the ideal, but my governing philosophy at every step of my life has been, “If it can’t be perfect, at least give me a good story out of it.” Well, that and some good coffee.

Anyway, due to some scheduling conflicts, I wasn’t able to leave the house before my appointed radiation therapy (I’m still losing hair) and Warlock A (who, remember, wanted to check on me after the most recent serum infusion). Now, for those readers wanting to know some of those little tell-tale signs about the quality of a physician (or their team), pay close attention. You may recall that I got a call late Wednesday afternoon from Research Coordinator that Warlock A (not to be confused with Warlock B)(or Mad Scientist Oncologist)(or Radiation Oncologist) wanted me to drop by at my earliest convenience, to ensure speedy release of Serum Infusion #5 and continued quality of care. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, we arrived at an almost-mutually-agreed-upon appointment for late this afternoon. Yesterday - 36 hours ago - I got a call from Research Coordinator confirming this appointment, with the addendum that I should check into the clinic after my radiation appointment, and they might be able to get to me before Saturday morning. Because this is Socal, and traffic factors must always be considered, Dad and I arrived at the radiation clinic very early, and, because the radiation folks here are all top-notch (or very fast, anyway), I was in the clinic lobby almost two hours before the appointed meeting time with Warlock A. So I called Research Coordinator. I called him a second time. He finally returned my call, stating that I was much earlier anticipated, but he’d see if he couldn’t pry Warlock A from the communal cauldron. Folks, within an hour of walking into the hospital, Warlock A was in the lobby, telling me that it might take a bit, but they were working on finding an exam room. Not even twenty minutes later, I was recounting my weird hang-over-y symptoms to Warlock A (remember, this is for his pet drug study, so he wants to know if I have an unexpected hang-nail)(again, selling your body for money is dangerous; selling your body to save your life might be the crucial difference between having a body and, well, not). Warlock A also took my DMV med forms and said he’d fill them out and/or look into them (as he noted, the weird, arbitrary deadline the DMV assigned me to get my paperwork in on time wouldn’t actually count a total of 90 days between my seizure and the paperwork)(I mean, I guess it’s good they can do basic math and have my records, but it’s still annoying). THEN, after listening to me gripe about my woes and problems, told me that the worst symptoms - sleep and fatigue-wise - would occur in the next ten-odd days.

I almost laughed at that. Since day 1 - Hell, since before then, when I was still recovering from surgery - everyone has had dramatically different statements as to when the “worst” symptoms would occur. Now, to be fair, all parties have been fairly accurate, when you take time to examine the fine-print. Yes, the “worst” symptoms - hair-loss and nausea (sort of; I just started chewing my zofran) - showed up in the third week. Yes, the “worst” symptoms, like fatigue and insomnia, started in the second week. It really does make me want to see my funeral, because, at the current rate; the eulogy will end with, “Sure, he looks awful now, but wait a few weeks.” Which, again, is totally accurate, but not exactly helpful to me. Anyway, tune in tomorrow for more symptoms, Or more stories of betrayal by major kitchen appliances.

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gunboatbaylodge · 7 years

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Things to Do in Vancouver this Weekend: October 5, 2017

Autumn is in full swing with festivals and feasts this weekend and there are many ways to toast your glass or stein to good harvests. For those of us who solidly believe that this is the most wonderful time of the year – Fright Nights begin this weekend, marking Halloween as just around the corner! There’s also music, circus performance, dance, and it’s not too late to catch some VIFF flicks!

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

Friday October 6

The Goblin Market

The Goblin Market Where: The Cultch What: A contemporary circus re-telling of Christina Rossetti’s poem, following two sisters, their temptation, sacrifice and eventual salvation. Lively circus is precariously balanced with gritty performances and candid story telling. Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Harvest Haus

Harvest Haus Where: 88 Pacific Blvd What: Combining modern fare with authentic European harvest traditions, gather your closest mates for what may be the most gluttonous and gratifying Oktoberfest in the city. Runs until: Saturday Oktober 14, 2017

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel (show 1 of 2) Where: The Orpheum What: Share Colonel Chris Hadfield’s viewpoint “Beyond the Terra,” with music and inspiring images from the International Space Station.

Thanks For Giving Where: Arts Club Theatre What: While Nan bastes the turkey and prepares the stuffing, her husband hides a freshly hunted bear in the garage and her troublesome daughter is raiding her purse again. To top it all off, her grandchildren have chosen this Thanksgiving to disclose some unexpected personal truths to the family. Runs until: Saturday November 4, 2017

Fright Nights Where: Playland What: Misty, dark, dreary, and full of spooks and scares may not sound like everyone’s ideal night out, but to those of us who love Halloween, nothing could be better! Playland turns into an animated haunted carnival, including seven haunted houses and fifteen of its best rides; what better way to scream away all of your fears? Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

North Shore Craft Beer Week Where: Various locations What: The North Shore has a rich history of craft brewing and was home to Canada’s first ever microbrewery – Horseshoe Bay Brewery in 1982. Download the Vancouver’s North Shore Craft Beer Week Passport, get a stamp at each brewery as you travel around North Vancouver sampling special craft beer menus and unique casks. With your stamps, you could win prizes! Runs until: Friday October 13, 2017

Experimental Ink Where: Museum of Anthropology What: The award-winning Assembly Dance Theatre from Taiwan will perform the newest addition to their Dancing in Ink series, choreographed specifically for MOA’s Great Hall for their Canadian debut. They will be joined by Sammy Chien, a Taipei born, Vancouver based interdisciplinary media artist, and Kimura Tsubasa, a renown calligrapher from Japan, featured in the Traces of Words exhibition.

Improv Wars: The Laugh Jedi Where: Vancouver Improv Centre What: Vancouver TheatreSports takes you to a universe that exists outside of normal time and space – where unlikely characters co-exist. Hosted by a mysterious hooded figure, the players and the audience search for an individual of unique abilities – one with the power to cloud people’s minds, to slip into any role, to make intuitive connections at lightning speed – The Laugh Jedi. Runs until: Thursday November 2, 2017

54-40 (show 1 of 2) Where: Commodore Ballroom What: You know them from Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind, this Canadian band is on for two shows on back-to-back nights.

1 Hour Photo

1 Hour Photo Where: The Cultch What: From the creators of Empire of the Son, 1 Hour Photo is the story of Mas Yamamoto, a man whose life was swept up by the major currents of the 20th century; from growing up in a fishing village on the banks of the Fraser River, to being interned as a Japanese Canadian during World War II, to guarding the Canadian arctic against Soviet bombers during the height of the Cold War. Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

Potter’s House of Horrors Where: Potter’s Farm & Nursery What: Gather your moteliest crew and drop into one of the area’s biggest and best-rated haunted houses, celebrating 15 years of screams! Attractions include two haunted houses (plus a “Li’l Haunters” attraction geared to kids 12 & under), a coffin ride, a haunted paintball shootout, and a photo booth. Partial proceeds go to Critter Care Wildlife Society. Runs until: Tuesday October 31, 2017

Vagabond Players presents Little Shop of Horrors Where: The Bernie Legge Theatre (New Westminster, BC) What: Meek and mild flower shop assistant Seymour Krelborn has stumbled across a peculiar new plant species, which he names after his stunning but vulnerable crush Audrey. The plant, Audrey Two, has plans that are far greater than Seymour can imagine as it grows into a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed carnivore who offers fame, fortune, the girl he loves, and an escape from skid row in exchange for feeding its growing appetite for blood. Runs until: Sunday October 29, 2017

Hyperlink

Hyperlink Where: Firehall Arts Centre What: A collaboration between The Elbow’s artistic director Itai Erdal, writer/performer TJ Dawe, and director Rachel Peake, Hyperlink delves into life online and the limits of digital empathy. Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Oktoberfest at the Vancouver Alpen Club Where: 4875 Victoria Drive What: The Deutsches Haus boasts German favorites from Spätzle to Schnitzel and the best selection of German beers and wines in Vancouver. Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (weekends)

Jim Park: Unknown Terrain | SEPARATION, 2017, 36 × 48 inches, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas

Jim Park: Unknown Terrain Where: Kimoto Gallery What: The Northern landscape forms an important part of Jim Park’s practice. Park sees paint as a language; the memory of lived experience merges with the pictorial possibilities on the canvas. Runs until: Saturday October 28, 2017

Sarah Slean

Sarah Slean Where: The BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts What: Slean’s sound has been compared to Kate Bush, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, while her deeply personal songs draw from jazz, classical, pop and global influences.

Lab Art Show Where: Chinese Cultural Centre What: Up to 150 artists including local galleries and artists from over 20 countries including Canadian artists Chili Thom and Natacha Trottier.

Saturday October 7

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Harvest Dinner

Harvest Dinner Where: Sea to Sky Gondola What: A cozy harvest dinner atop a mountain! Share the entire menu with your group, family style.

BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks

BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks Where: BC Place Stadium, 4:00pm What: It’s football. If you like football, go see it and cheer for these fellas.

Rare book, Photograph and Paper Show Where: Heritage Hall What: A curated event featuring twenty-three exhibitors with specialized collections of books, fine maps, photographs and interesting paper items.

LA Witch

LA Witch Where: The Fox Cabaret What: Rock from Los Angeles, on tour to support their debut self-titled full-length release.

Necromantix Where: Venue What: It’s a psychobilly show, playing with Deadcats.

Wild Salmon Caravan Parade Where: Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Society What: Bring your drums, regalia, town clothes, costumes, banners, flags, streamers and any other parade wares you need. Celebrate the spirit of wild salmon.

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel

Terra and Beyond with Chris Hadfield and Danny Michel (show 2 of 2) Where: The Orpheum What: Share Colonel Chris Hadfield’s viewpoint “Beyond the Terra,” with music and inspiring images from the International Space Station.

Fort Langley Cranberry Festival

Fort Langley Cranberry Festival Where: Fort Langley What: Experience the popular cranberry stomp, and play a host of cranberry and farm related games.

BP20YR Where: Pacific Colloseum What: Blueprint celebrates 20 years with Diplo, Zeds Dead, Showtek and more.

Hershe National Coming Out Day Party Where: Prive Nightclub What: Celebrate National Coming Out Day at this all-inclusive dance party.

East Side Flea Where: The Ellis Building What: 50+ local vendors, makers, vintage sellers, oddity finders. Play pinball and pool. All this, with a bar! Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

54-40 (show 2 of 2) Where: Commodore Ballroom What: You know them from Ocean Pearl and I Go Blind, this is the second of their two Vancouver dates.

Sunday October 8

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Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons Where: Rogers Arena What: American millennial rock from Las Vegas with hits like Believer, with guests Group Love and K. Flay.

Bass Coast Festival Showcase

Bass Coast Festival Showcase Where: The Commodore Ballroom What: Basscoast DJs The Librarian B2B Mat the Alien, Michael Red, Barisone and SHAH.

Fred Penner

Fred Penner Where: The Orpheum What: He’s a Canadian icon of entertainment and inspiration for children and families. Who’s more stoked – adult millennials and gen-Xers or their children? Come find out.

Sumac

Sumac and Boris Where: The Rickshaw What: Japanese experimental music playing with sludgy growly metal.

Ongoing

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The Christians Where: Pacific Theatre What: After taking his church from a meager storefront to gleaming megachurch, Pastor Paul overturns one of the most sacred tenents of his congregation’s beliefs, sending them reeling towards schism. As they grapple with the mysteries of faith, certainty, and what happens after we die, they must also face the reality of loving those whose beliefs have made them into sudden strangers. Runs until: Saturday October 7, 2017

Mount Pleasant Farmers Market Where: Dude Chilling Park What: Amble over and pick up some afternoon picnic supplies, groceries for the week, and Sunday dinner fixings from 25+ farms and producers. Each week you’ll find a fresh selection of just-picked seasonal fruits & veggies, ethically-raised meats & sustainable seafood, artisanal bread & prepared foods, craft beer, wine, & spirits, handmade craft, and coffee & food trucks. Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

Angels in America Where: Arts Club Theatre What: Witness the soaring conclusion to the acclaimed play that asks us what we do for those we love. Perestroika is a revolution against the politics and prejudice in the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic rages on, and the characters wrestle with their ideologies and an angel looking for an answer. In the centre of it all is Prior Walter, a man in a world of peril who chooses to live in his light. Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

East Side Flea Where: The Ellis Building What: 50+ local vendors, makers, vintage sellers, oddity finders. Play pinball and pool. All this, with a bar! Runs until: Sunday October 8, 2017

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology What: Words and their physical manifestations are explored in this insightful exhibition, which will honour the special significance that written forms. Varied forms of expression associated with writing throughout Asia is shown over the span of different time periods: from Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions, Qu’ranic manuscripts, Southeast Asian palm leaf manuscripts and Chinese calligraphy from MOA’s Asian collection to graffiti art from Afghanistan and contemporary artworks using Japanese calligraphy, and Tibetan and Thai scripts. Runs until: Monday October 9, 2017

Richmond Night Market

Richmond Night Market Where: Richmond, BC What: There’s a dinosaur park! Anamatronic dinosaurs! Also – live performances, carnival games, over 200 retail stalls and over 500 food choices from around the world. Runs until: October 9, 2017

Vancouver International Film Festival

Vancouver International Film Festival Where: Various locations What: In addition to over 300 of the best films from around the world, VIFF expands the frame to incorporate and celebrate some of the exciting new aspects of visual story telling. This includes events such as the world’s largest showcase of elevated YouTube content by digital-first creators and the Kronos Quartet performing a live score to renowned filmmaker Guy Maddin’s latest film The Green Fog – A San Francisco Fantasia. Runs until: Friday October 13, 2017

The Goblin Market

Aileen Bahmanipour: Technical Problem

Aileen Bahmanipour: Technical Problem Where: Grunt Gallery What: An exhibition of mixed media drawings by Vancouver-based, Iranian-born artist Aileen Bahmanipour that explores cyclical political power and cultural identity. Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Amphibia

Amphibia Where: Centre A What: Amphibia, Tromarama’s first solo exhibition in Canada, will transform Centre A into a hybrid physical and digital space using five newly commissioned works, ranging from site-specific pieces to pulse-sensing technologies that interact with our own physical, individual bodies. Runs until: Saturday October 14, 2017

Harvest Haus

1 Hour Photo

Hyperlink

Onsite / Offsite Tsang Kin-Wah

Onsite / Offsite Tsang Kin-Wah Where: Vancouver Art Gallery What: This large-scale composition transforms English texts to form intricate floral and animal patterns. The work draws from discriminatory language that appeared in newspapers and political campaigns in Vancouver during the 1887 anti-Chinese riots, the mid-1980s immigration influx from Hong Kong and most recently, the heated exchanges around the foreign buyers and the local housing market. Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

West End Farmers Market Where: 1100 Comox St What: Located in the heart of Vancouver’s busy West End, this laid-back Saturday market looks onto beautiful Nelson Park and adjacent community gardens. Each week, shop for the best in local, seasonal produce, artisanal bread & prepared foods, craft beer, wine, & spirits, ethically raised meat, eggs, & dairy, sustainable seafood, wild crafted product, and handmade craft. Hot food & coffee on-site as well. Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (Saturdays)

Trout Lake Farmers Market Where: Trout Lake What: This is where you’ll find the vendors who have been doing it since the beginning; what started as 14 farmers ‘squatting’ at the Croatian Cultural Centre back in 1995 has grown into Vancouver’s most well-known and beloved market. Visitors come from near and far to sample artisan breads & preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs & meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season. Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (Saturdays)

Kitsilano Farmers Market

Kitsilano Farmers Market Where: Kitsilano Community Centre parking lot What: A great selection of just-picked, seasonal fruits & vegetables, ethically raised and grass fed meat, eggs, & dairy, sustainable seafood, fresh baked bread & artisanal food, local beer, wine, & spirits, and beautiful, handmade craft. Kids and parents alike can enjoy entertainment by market musicians, a nearby playground and splash park, and coffee and food truck offerings each week. Runs until: Sunday October 22, 2017 (Sundays)

Contemporary Iranian Cinema Series Where: The Cinematheque What: Acclaimed and accomplished new films from Iran are in the spotlight in this new monthly showcase. Runs until:Thursday October 25, 2017

Jim Park: Unknown Terrain | SEPARATION, 2017, 36 × 48 inches, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas

Circle Craft Christmas Market Preview Exhibit

Circle Craft Christmas Market Preview Exhibit Where: Net Loft building on Granville Island What: Circle Craft Gallery’s Fall exhibit will give Circle Craft Christmas Market lovers a sneak peek. Exhibitors in the Preview exhibition are: East Van Jam, G Ceramic & Co, Ludviks Designs, Lulu Fiedler, Market Canvas Leather, Misheo, Rosewell Woodworking, Susie Benes, and Yifat Jovani. Runs until: Thursday November 2, 2017

Intangible Where: Bill Reid Gallery What: Contemporary Coast Salish art is embedded within a traditional cultural framework that includes community, ceremonial life, territory, history and innovation. Six artists challenge our expectations and illustrate Coast Salish art as a thriving art tradition – a dynamic one that demonstrates both continuity with the past and exploration of new ideas and technologies. Runs until: Sunday December 10, 2017

Bill Reid Creative Journeys | Image via the Canadian Museum of History

Bill Reid Creative Journeys Where: The Bill Reid Gallery What: Celebrating the many creative journeys of acclaimed master goldsmith and sculptor Bill Reid (1920–1998), this exhibition provides a comprehensive introduction to his life and work. Runs until: Sunday December 10, 2017

Entangled: Two Views on Contemporary Canadian Painting | John Kissick burning the houses of cool man, yeah No.5 (hang the DJ), 2016 (cropped)

Entangled: Two Views on Contemporary Canadian Painting Where: Vancouver Art Gallery What: An insight into two distinctly different modes of painting that have come to dominate contemporary painting in this country. The origins of both can be effectively traced back to the 1970s, to a moment when the continued existence of painting was hotly debated. Runs until: January 1, 2018

Amazonia: The Rights of Nature

Amazonia: The Rights of Nature Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology What: MOA will showcase its Amazonian collections in a significant exploration of socially and environmentally-conscious notions intrinsic to indigenous South American cultures, which have recently become innovations in International Law. These are foundational to the notions of Rights of Nature, and they have been consolidating in the nine countries that share responsibilities over the Amazonian basin. Runs until: January 28, 2018

Tin and Gold: A 10 Year Anniversary Show Where: The Fall What: Celebrate 10 years of alternative music, tattoo artistry, and multimedia events. The art show includes artists Megan Majewski, Jenn Brisson, Alison Woodward and more. Runs until: February 1, 2018

City on the Edge: A Century of Vancouver Activism Where: Museum of Vancouver What: A photo-based exhibition exploring how protest demonstrations have shaped Vancouver’s identity from the Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers’ photo collection. These photographs are exceptional historical records of intense and transformative moments in the lives of Vancouverites. Runs until: February 18, 2017

Tasting History: The Traveling Tales of Tea Where: Roedde House Museum What: Tea is one of the most consumed liquids in the world, second only to water. But the beverage that brings much pleasure and calm to our 21st century senses is steeped in a turbulent history of politics and society. The exhibit will also feature stories from Vancouver’s modern-day tea community. Runs until: March 2018

Emily Carr: Into the Forest

Emily Carr: Into the Forest Where: Vancouver Art Gallery What: Far from feeling that the forests of the West Coast were a difficult subject matter, Carr exulted in the symphonies of greens and browns found in the natural world. With oil on paper as her primary medium, Carr was free to work outdoors in close proximity to the landscape. She went into the forest to paint and saw nature in ways unlike her fellow British Columbians, who perceived it as either untamed wilderness or a plentiful source of lumber. Runs until: March 4, 2018

The Lost Fleet Exhibit Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum What: On December 7, 1941 the world was shocked when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, launching the United States into the war. This action also resulted in the confiscation of nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadian owned fishing boats by Canadian officials on the British Columbia coast, which were eventually sold off to canneries and other non-Japanese fishermen. The Lost Fleet looks at the world of the Japanese-Canadian fishermen in BC and how deep-seated racism played a major role in the seizure, and sale, of Japanese-Canadian property and the internment of an entire people. Runs until: March 25, 2018

Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist Where: North Vancouver Museum What: An exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George (1899- 1981) and his influence as an Indigenous rights advocate and his career as an actor. The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the George family. Runs until: April 2018

In a Different Light

In a Different Light Where: Museum of Anthropology What: More than 110 historical Indigenous artworks and marks the return of many important works to British Columbia. These objects are amazing artistic achievements. Yet they also transcend the idea of ‘art’ or ‘artifact’. Through the voices of contemporary First Nations artists and community members, this exhibition reflects on the roles historical artworks have today. Featuring immersive storytelling and innovative design, it explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to Indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands. Runs until: Spring 2019

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below or tweet me directly at @lextacular

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