One down...
Getting to school has never been such a hassle, or ever cost so much. My mom woke me up telling me that if I wanted to go with her, I would have to go get ready immediately. I didn't have class until 11 so naturally at 7:50 I declined her ride. When I did get up an hour later and prepared to go catch the GO Bus to Union Station, I realised one thing as I was putting my shoes on - my car keys were not with me, and (after a frustrating search) nor were they in my house. Well eventually I only had one option. Costs for the day:

Taxi to a CIBC sort of close to a GO stop (for cab fare) - $8.00
Bus from nice off-duty GO driver to Mount Jot (GO station) - free
Bus from Mount Joy to Union Station - $4.10
Subway from Union to Campus - $1.90
Subway from Campus to Union - $1.90
Bus from Union to Centenniel (GO station) - $4.10

By the time I got down I had missed my 11:00 class but that was mostly because of the snowy road conditions making the entire trip 40 minutes longer than normal. Some of you would have probably said, "Just skip the day! It's not worth it." The fact was though that I had to go downtown because I had a test in the evening.

A test for which good preparation was made! And by good preparation I really mean that there was awful disruptive studying with this fellow (its true, as we hypothesized from last year, one cannot study with him around) and when he left there was pretty decent studying with the remaining 2 chumps. I hope I did well on that test; I'm not sure I got all the points down (had to write 3 essays). Onward and upward!

I can see the end, there's just no way to get there
Yay, as of now I have no more essays to write for 2003... 2 tests and an exam left over the next 2 weeks. ^.^ Hmm... I'm not sure whether I want time to hurry up or slow down. Argh!

Hmm... the only goal I have for this Christmas is to catch up on a lot of reading in this order:
Harry Potter series (1 book)
Star Wars: New Jedi Order series (5 or 6 books)
Stephen King Gunslinger series (2 books?)

Oh and there some NAMUN thingy I have to do, but I'll find out more about that later...

Man what am I doing thinking of vacation already? These are going to be a gruelling last 2 weeks. Oy.

No Free Lunch
But I did get a free dinner yesterday! There's this pizza stand/shop (they mostly only sell slices so I like to think of it as a stand) at Union Station called "Pizza 2 Go" that I sometimes get a meal from every now and then. ($3.50 for 2 slices and a pop - and yes I know that some people think that the slices aren't that big even though they are rather decent - is a good deal) Well they were just closing up yesterday when I got there so I asked the guy who was locking up the store if there was even a single slice left that I could buy. He put a bulging pizza slice bag in my hand and then walked away explaining that he didn't want them - they were the ones that didn't sell but its still good, right? *grin* I'm guessing that anyone that works there is probably sick of pizza... which is good because it means 6 free slices for me!

On a food related note, do NOT eat any cake made by the MDHS Classics Club - nothing has changed... they still suck at baking. I foolishly had a rather large slice on Friday during the Certamen celebration party (Go Markham for taking 1st in the Senior and Intermediate divisions!) at the insistance of a certain McLaren and had to rince my mouth several several times with water when I tasted cologne! That's right, cologne in my cake! Disgusting - it was burning, bitter and very manly at the same time. Not only that, but there was almost half an inch of icing on that cake seeing as apparantly 2kg of sugar had been used. When will those guys learn? (for those of you that think that the idea of 2kg of icing is genious, you've led a horrifying life)

Thus in conclusion, food makes fetties happy. (I'm not even going to link, you know who you are)

Return of the King... err... phone!
That's right, I finally have my cell phone fully operational. It's the old cell number (the one that's NOT 647.388.2752) so you can reach me there once again. Now that it's no longer an excuse that you are not able to reach me when its movie time, you guys better call! =P

And on the note of movies - yes my segues are awesome - go watch Return of the King when its released in theatres December 17th! I know I will...

Too much sleep?
Dare I say it, I think've slept too much today- my head is somewhat spinning after taking nap after nap. *sighs* I can't even use THAT excuse not to do work anymore. Bleh.

Yesterday I went downtown to use the gym. Its funny how something that was supposed to only take 2-3 hours ended up being a day even with me catching the 9:10 p.m. GO bus at Union. Too many distractions (including Mech Assault and the Eng Sci common room in general). I've really got to stop going there...

Oh yeah, and I got to wake Chien up at insanely early hours! (although I apologize for waking up his roommate) Take that, you slacker! If I've gotten up and commuted downtown by 11:00 pm, you have no excuse! *cackles gleefully*

Anyway, that's enough blogging for now. I really only wanted to add a link to my site but I guess a short post never caused any pain.

We like to do it late at night with Giant Robots
I'm currenting in the Eng Sci Computer Lab. How did I end up here you ask? It all starts with a call from the Pole...

Phone Call - 12:31 am
Chris: Hey Font
Me: Hey. You still on campus?
C: Yeah.
Me: Really? Where are you? Bahen?
C: Yeah in the common room.
Me: Why?
C: There's an X-box here along with Mech Assault.
Me: Ah. So you're not going home?
C: Well, not necessarily. I mean I've defeated all those that have challenged me so I guess, yeah, I might take off soon.
Me: Ah. I'm still working on my essay here at Robarts.
C: Robarts? Should I come drop by?
Me: Well you couldn't get in without a T-Card... should I come to Bahen?
C: Well there IS Mech Assault here.
Me: Heh, nah I really do need to finish this essay.
C: How's it coming along?
Me: Slow, but mostly because they don't have Word on this computer I'm working on.
C: NO WORD?!?
Me: Yeah.
C: That's so stupid, come over to Bahen. There are millions of computer here.
Me: With Word?
C: Definitely.
Me: I'll be over in 5. Get the door for me?
C: Play Mech Assault?

So as of now I am kicking it up at Bahen and will probably be here until the break of dawn (and probably longer). First though, some kicking has to be done in a certain X-Box game...

We like to do it late at night
Well this has potential to be my first all-nighter/really-late-nighter of the academic year. I'm currently at Robarts putting together my essay due tomorrow. Maybe its the practice from year of doing it but surprisingly enough, I'm actually feeling good about doing this. It's like all my thoughts are coming together and research is coming up with exactly the supporting points that I need. Sometimes I think a part of me was born to do stuff like this...

*groans* Who am I kidding, I going to have to stop slacking on these under 1500-word essays (its too easy to slack on something so small). And I'm going to need to find a caffeine source soon in case the (creative) juices stop flowing - I don't think my half bottle of Coke is going to hold out.

We don't need no stinkin' updates
Yes I'm still alive (and blogging surprisingly!) I just finished up my midterms last week, which took up most blogging time (naturally I couldn't cut other essential activities like fiction reading, MUDding and chatting). I still hoping they went well. *cross fingers*

Last Thursday, something unprecedented took place - the Polish Combatants (Chris Wilmer and myself) met up with the Chinese Combantants (Wayne and Raymond) at the Athletic Centre. It turns out that we have the same scheduled time. I guess this means I'll be seeing more of those two every week. Its pretty horrible actually but alas, what can you do?

Naturally after midterms there can only be more things that I enjoying just as much, namely essays in this case. *sigh* The exception to this proliferation of work is my intro to IR course (taught by a certain Welch that some slackers are familiar with) in which I will be watching a movie. *cheer* It's called... actually I've forgotten but its a documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm looking forward to it (seriously).

Anyhow, I'll leave you with two quotes from my US Politics teacher (he's actually an American - they hired him this year).
"Cows, are cows."
"Its understandable that US politics must have slipped from your mind after Turkey weekend, or if you're like me, after Bridget Jones' Diary on the W Network..."

"If you feel hostile to someone, try walking a mile in their shoes... then you'll be a mile away and have their shoes!"
I had my professor ask my American History class about my phone that had gone missing last week. My professor had this idea that after the annoucement he would ask me if there was any more information and then I would say something that would get to the class' hearts eg. "Its a poor lost Nokia that really wants to go home." (I checked with the janitorial staff and they have nothing). But there really is no point in these things - I mean that fact is that someone took it. It just bugs me more that that person was likely sitting somewhere in the same room as me pretending that it was nothing of his/her concern! Is that what some people's morals are worth these days? The cost of a 1+ year old low-end cell phone?

Well I've given up on my phone and am probably going to get another one tomorrow. My dad is having problems with his computer so I'm probably going to go take a look at that. Does anyone have a copy of Office XP and/or Office 2k they can lend me? I need both and its getting troublesome trying to pretend that I don't. Also, will a certain person please return a copy of WinXP to me? =P And yes I realise there are other people out there that have stuff of mine... oh, I know.

"Rogers AT&T Wireless. The customer you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later."
If anyone tries to call me after today this is likely the message you will receive. It seems that someone thought that my monophonic, monocromatic display Nokia was worth the moral guilt and burden as my cell phone was stolen from the top of my bag at around 7:57 p.m. on Tuesday October 7 in rm 7 in the Northrop Fyre building at Victoria University. I guess I should learn to not leave anything of the slightest value lying around for the 4 minutes that I go and ask the professor a question? Or maybe some people should try to understand that living unscrupulous lives will lead them to ruin? RUIN TO MY BENEFIT!

Argh!

UPDATE: Yes I did call my phone right afterward and what happened was the phone rang but then the call was declined (ringing once or twice followed by a beeping tone). After I called about 5 more times there ceased to be any ringing at all, only the Rogers AT&T message - this usually indicates that the phone is off. I've cancelled the phone service temporarilly but I'm still hoping against hope that it will turn up somewhere. "Faith in the hearts of men?", you wonder. Well I figure a little optimism never hurt anyone. =/

And yes, I voted last Thursday - it only took me about an hour. It's no wonder the voter turnout is at a record low sometimes... I mean I went to 3 different polling stations in my area AND I had to line up at all of them. And it wasn't just me either, some other people like myself went from school to school trying to find the right one that they were to be at. It was chaotic I guess mostly because I live in a new area and lots of people are not on the voters list yet. But still, this should have been anticipated in new subdivisions. Gah.

Something Incredibly Stupid We Did
(a.k.a The Real Polish Experience)
After my class, Chris was waiting for my outside. We both wanted to head back home but I had one more thing to take care of - I needed to go speak with the people over at NAMUN regarding my staff application. So together we marched off in search of the "Sussex something" building... 30 minutes later, I finally found myself standing in front of a building with the sign "Sussex Court" in front. Up we went to the 4th floor... Well the NAMUN office turned out to be closed - I did not realise that this was one of those offices that opened on a volunteer shift basis. Normally speaking, this is where the story would end if I had gone alone.

But no, with my appetite for wasting time not quite sated and it being the first day of the renaissance (like that word huh?) of Polish Combat - I was on the lookout. The initial instigator to this entire operation was my discovery that the room next to the NAMUN office was one that belonged to none other than the PSA - better known (or not) as the Polish Student Association!

On there door, there was poorly taped sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper with the words "moved to rm 415" scrawled on it. Seeing as it was only across on the other side of the building, we walked over to the indicated room to find out more about this seemingly elusive club. The Pole himself was most interested...

On the door of 415, we found yet another poorly taped (this one worse actually - only one piece at the top) sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper, this one with the words "everyone we're meeting in 513" written on it. Hmm... suspicious... well if they wanted to play chase-the-PSA-around-rooms then that's what we'd play. So we went and took the stairs one floor up... (it's to be noted too that we discovered at this point what this whole affair was about.

Up on the 5th floor, we found them in a room with the door slightly ajar. To the untrained eye, it would seem like just a group of Polish people gathering in a room for the purpose of establishing a hierarchy of responsibility for the coming year - however, we did not let ourselves be fooled by such a display. After establishing visual contact we ducked out behind a corner to gather ourselves. I was of the opinion that we should have just gotten out of there - the meetings just didn't seem like it had much potential. Chris however had other ideas as he quickly went back to the door to eavesdrop. I followed his lead even though I could not understand a single word that was being said (Polish language classes not being offered in high school and all). Our situation remained good for a moment, until a girl opened the door and asked if we needed any help with anything.

I froze naturally but Chris seemed to respond good-naturedly to the girl. After a quick exchange Chris started to follow the girl back into the room while gesturing at me to follow. I tried to pull him back but I guess, as he explained to me later, it was too late to back out at that point. Once inside the room, the entire meeting froze as we entere, all eyes on the newcomer and his Chinese friend. Chris once again put his language skills to good use and introduced himself. When it was my turn I just said, "No, I'm not really Polish" and they all laughed for some reason. And with that the meeting continued and I realised we had done it. We were in the heart of the beast.

And I'm not kidding about it being the heart, we really had somehow gotten into the core of the group - I think we were the only people in that room that were not past PSA executives. Undetered, we just stay quietly in the corner and just observed. On their part, that were happy to just ignore us in return. They had already voted on the President when we had arrived - we had missed our chance to influence the selection of the head of the club but we certainly worked our magic on the other leaders.

That's right, we got to vote and we didn't need to register on any freakin' voter's list. We, whom they had never met before in their lives. We, one of which was not even a current student at UT and the other one who was not Polish by any definition of the word. Yes we got to vote on the other executive members of the PSA. Vice-President, Treasurer, PR, Movie Night Director... we got to choose them all. What was more frightening was that all of the individuals that we voted for had won the position for which they were nominated! Democracy works in mysterious ways... at least I'm sure that's what some of the people there that evening though ("Why is that Chinese guy voting on our Treasurer? And why does that Polish kid next to him look like he wants to break something?")

At this point I'll be honest with you - I depict this whole thing as pretty interesting but after the 10th speech or so, I was ready to pull out my British history reprotext to pass the time. (I understood what was going on because the chair of the meeting said everyone had to speak English with a non-Polish speaker in the room, namely me - I really hope I didn't ruin anyone's election chances). Throughout the undercover operation, we had to maintain silence so Chris and I resorted to other crafty ways of communication. (our codenames have been altered to protect our identities) Please note lines 5 and 6. recorded at 5:46 and 5:47 respectively. I think that about sums up how we felt about the operation - you can see how we came to those conclusions from our report.

Before the Webmaster position nomination we got out of there... conveniently for Chris. From there we found our way to a subway station to head down to Union station where our ticket out of the city would be waiting. Only once we were certain that we were safe from any would-be Polish pursuers did we dare speak of the PSA. For myself though, I vowed that there would be no more Chris-Fontanie stupidity... at least not for the next little while.

(sorry it took so long to post more! blogging is really on the bottom of priorities these days...)

The Polish Experience
In case you haven't heard the news, the Pole is back from the dainty Carribean finally. Naturally with Chris and I, things always are a little silly. After calling him shortly after getting up Monday morning, we planned what needed to be done.

After making our way to the GO station, we took the GO bus down to Union station. We took care of business first in the morning, the first thing being trying to get tickets for my father (and to be honest, myself) for the Simon and Garfunkel concert in TO. After finding out that my dad had the wrong info and ticket sales started at the box on Tuesday, we walked up to Old City Hall (near the Eaton Centre/Nathan Phillip Square for you non-city folk) to deal with another matter.

Apparantly, the Pole had to remedy his vehicle situation - he was owning the City of Toronto for a speeding ticket and had his license suspended. Well, 120 some-odd dollars lighter, the Pole was back in the good graces of the government and we headed off to campus (we walked) to take care of the last item of business - Taco Bell. As those that know can attest to, last year during exam time Chris and I ate at The Bell over 15 times in under 2 weeks. At first we spent 5 minutes looking over the nutritional information chart, then we just gave in and ordered the usual tasty things. =) Unfortunately, I will probably be having a lot less of that in the next little while - or so I am told by the Pole if I want to accept his tutelage.

That's right, I signed up for Polish Combat Training and "Polish Combat is what you're going to get." I'm not sure if I really like the sound of that coming from Chris but as long as it doesn't involve killing people I guess I'm okay with it. Today was my first session as the two of us went to Hart House (The Choice of Polish Combatants everywhere, not to be confused with the Athletic Center where Chinese Combat Training takes place). We worked on the shoulders including what is aptly termed the "I-don't-know" muscles (official Polish Combat terminology). It felt good afterward, I discovered that my left arm is pretty much pathetic compared to my right - no really, you'd laugh if you watched me try to do raising excercises with my two arms. *sigh* Well I believe the expression is, I guess I have my work cut out for me? Yeah.

After workout I had class so we parted ways but Polish day does not end there.... it never ends without something incredibly stupid...

So Why Do Taehcers Crae Aynawy?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

So the nxet tmie yuor taehcer hssales you, tell tehm to go sing like a horse. (it's SO good! SO good! *grin*)

Henge!
(you'd have to watch Naruto to get that one - or know Japanese)

T'was a good day today - sun was out, few scattered clouds, nice breeze... more importantly though, no rain (Tuesday was horrible... spending hours downtown in wet socks is not fun at all). This was the week of first tutorials ("discusion" or "section" classes for you American students) for me and so far I have to say they have been pretty good. As I learned today, the instructor for one of my history courses is the professor himself. =P Fortunately, he seems to be a really cool guy in an older-gentleman-mocking-youth kind of way.

The other tutorial I had today turned out to be kind of strange. I arrived early, mostly because I had no class the 2 hours prior and sat myself near the centre of the table on the side. Also I had happened to have picked out a white office shirt and dark grey pants as my attire for the day. As my fellow students arrived and entered some of them gave me a look as they too sat down. For my part, I just looked up and then continued looking through the textbook and copying notes down into my notebook. 10 minutes into the class time everyone was there and all trying to find something to do (reading, writing, etc.). By about 15 minutes into the time period, one of the kids asked aloud, "So no one here is the TA right?" while looking at me. =P

It turned out that the actual TA couldn't find the room very well and was lost for a bit. I don't know, he seemed like a very knowledgeable TA - he tried to intimidate us a little with his knowledge. He kind of reminded me of the guy from Weezer though. Plastic dark frame glasses, and a bored laid-back sort of voice. Hmm...

Argh! It's driving me nuts.
(crazy/silly Robinson kids)

Well week two is over and not much has changed. My schedule is very good except for one day, namely Wednesday.

Tutorial from 12 pm to 1 pm
Class from 4 to 5 pm
Tutorial from 8 to 9 pm <-- I only found out about this a couple days ago

Inefficiency at its best! Which means its the worst day for me! Taking into account that I have to commute at scheduled GO transit times which are an hour apart (as well me needing to get a ride to the GO station in the first place), I have to be up at 8 am and I get home at 10:30 pm. Bleh. Spending time at the library in between is pretty good still. Having spent a good deal of time in most/all of them now, I have to say the EJ Pratt at Vic is still one of the best ones to study at as well as best for computer/Internet access. Unfortunately, the 8-9 hours I have to kill is still too much even in such a nice resource centre.

I cast my vote for any candidate that will promise public student napping facilities...

Ubiquitous Friends
Four days and I think I've done a pretty good job at maintaining some level of social interaction. The best part is that most of it was not by choice, they were just random encounters. *shrug* At least it keeps up the facade... =p

Of Markham District people I've met (in the order I met them from Monday to Friday): RL (heard his voice before I saw him), WS, JL, CC, DR, RZ

RJ people: Fahad, CM, SWH, LW (he wants to go out with you btw, he's disappointed at his lack of companionship)

Not bad eh? Yes I'm pretty impressed too... yes... *sigh* No time for a life unforunately, time to hit the books! (or rather, time for the books to hit me - why did I take 5 reading intensive courses?)

I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie, I'm an artsie... drinking beer.
But I'd rather be an artsie, than a f--king engineer.
- Vic Frosh

Day One
...and what a day it was. I woke up at 10:30 am, and kicked around in my bed until around 11:15 (there is only so many times you can hit the snooze button until you realise that you aren't going to fall back into the nice slumber that you were in). I stumbled my way around the house, eventually cleaning up and getting dressed. After a small breakfast/lunch, I went to my computer and sat down, reading the news and then watching anime. Killing time until about 12:15, I decided that I should probably try and test out this commute business in the event it took an excruciating long time. Naturally between the slight detour on the YRT Route #1 Yonge bus that I don't recall existing before and the ages it seemingly took for the subway train to finally leave Finch station it WAS an excruciating long time before I got on campus. At around 1:45 pm I finally found myself in front of Hart House, greeted by two old friends Sango and Ray. For a moment it seemed nothing had changed much and it felt like year one again as the Loud One started yelling out vulgar rude comments and Wayne and I pretended not to know him.

Eventually Ray left us to our lunch and went to class (surprised, eh?), eventually returning with a friend. Since we all needed to go there anyway, our little group of four left Hart House and headed off to the UT Bookstore to purchase overpriced academic reading material. As we walked across King's Circle (less than 2 minutes away from Hart House), I noticed a very young looking student walking nearby. Suggesting loudly that the boy looked like he was in grade 9, I suggested that it would be weird that a fair amount of the kids we'd see would be 17 or 18, some even 16. Somehow, this discussion was enough of a reason for Raymond to charge at the young freshman and, when only about a foot away, demand his age. Needless to say, Raymond's friend quickly joined Wayne and I in looking and walking in the opposite direction. Truly nothing has changed, a monster he remains.

Despite also being able to meet with my friends Sing and Boulder after class, I still felt that the day was a waste overall. ~3 hours of commute, ~$8 spent, much sweat and tiring boredom all for what? 1 hour of class? *sigh* It's evident that I'm going to have to have extra willpower on Mondays to keep me from slacking... there's gotta be a better way...

Back for 2nds
Well, looks like school starts later today. First class at 4pm... American Politics! Actually I have no idea how good the class is; its probably not that great, but hopefully it's an easy class? Yeah, right. Also I need to look into some fun clubs/outside school activities. I know I'll probably be trying for Dragonboat once again this year. Anyone have any other ideas?

Good luck with the whole bunch of you guys starting University this week (or those that have already started last week) and if you're at UT, I'd BETTER see you around sometime. I just hope I can deal with this whole commuting thing - I've heard many bad things about it (stress, fatigue, annoyance, frustration, etc.) On that note, let it be stated that blogging will also once again occur more regularly now that there will be more time for me to slack off in the campus libraries (being the kinda of geek that doesn't like leaving school that I am). And I'll say it once here: I apologize for the poor (quantity of) summer updates (one of which I still have yet to finish!) If there was a "god of laziness" (Procrastus?) then I'm definitely his number one follower. Not a good god to pray to for a good school year unfortunately...

Ending remark: the word "exuberant" has the word "ex uber" in it... I'm such a geek.

There and back again

Back from Ottawa! Man, what a fun trip. I have to say that its nice that although you spend a year apart from your friends some things are still remain the same. On Sunday morning at about 8:45 a.m., a group of my friends and I departed for Canada's Capital.

(blog interrupted due to laziness - not Barnahog)

ROSI Improved?

This year, the format for registration was changed. Instead of the start time for everyone in the same year of school being 6 am (which meant waking up at 5:15 and bumming over at Ray's house last year), the system was set up so that everyone had a different start time at some point in the day. My time, for example, was at 4:00 pm. My ex-roommate, on the other hand was finished by 2 even though we're in the same faculty. At first I was scared that the new system really sucked - friends of mine who were supposed to register at 3 pm were still going at it when I started myself. As you might have expected they were quite vocal about it, here's an exerpt from an ICQ conversation with a certain dorami_luv:

Me: Is it really clogged up?
J1: LIKE A SINK
J1: NOTHING IS GOING THROUGH
Me: *nod* It was bound to happen anyway...
J1: ARGH HOW CAN U BEEE SOOOOO CALM
Me: Because one can only do what they can do. You can't make your data send through the net any faster. etc. How many of your courses are limited anyway?
J1: AHHHHH I DONNO I HAVEN'T LOOKED BUT THEY BETTER HAVE ROOM FOR ME OR THERE WILL BE MUCH TO PAY FOR..... THE PPL DEMAND BURNINATION!!!

Yeah... anyhow I finished by 4:30, after having to making a subject POST change so it was all good. I really hope they fix the system up for next year though... it really doesn't make much sense that I finished so soon (there I admit it!). Don't think I'm not sympathetic to those that were "getting sick of looking at that gay rosi mascot" though. I feel for you. I really do.

Now where's my Warcraft CD?

...

I tried to stop.

I have never been so scared in my life as I was today at 8:51 a.m.

Grandparents should keep better watch over their grandchildren. Young boys should be better taught when and when not to cross the road. I was terrified that I had done the unthinkable, especially since the boy wasn't even wearing a bicycle helmet. Somehow though, even the bike was spared from serious damage.

I sincerely wish the best for the six year old boy who rode his bike in front of my car this morning and miraculously escaped with what seems like just a scatch on his leg.

I tried to stop.

Cottage Country with Courtney Boulder! [complete]

Over the past year, Raymond and I have often wondered about the lifestyles of certain... white skin-coloured people, caucasians if you will. We often think that our families are rather white-washed but does it really compare to the genuine real-deal? This weekend I got to find out first hand.

Day One - Friday July 14
It wasn't easy to get the weekend free... usually I HAVE to work on Saturdays at the Farmer's Market that the BIA runs. Fortunately, my request was granted without much pleading at all (and Courtney wanted me to grovel and beg on my knees... honestly, that girl has no sense of shame). Once I secured permission, I had to secure passage to this white wonderland (not that there's snow...) - all I was told initially was that the only way there was by boat. Eventually it was arranged that I would drive to Courtney's barn in Newmarket (for those new to my ex-dormmate's hobby, she is an equestrian attempting to perfect the art of dressage) where I would leave my car for the weekend and she would drive us the rest of the driven route. I had my initial fears about leaving my car in a place with many animals/creatures/things but Courtney finally convinced me with, "we do it all the time, Fontaine." Thinking about it now, logically speaking I don't know why that statement somehow assured me that my much-loved Pontiac would be fine...

The ride up was rather fun with lots of reminiscing and jokes at the expense of my ex-roommate. I have to admit that Boulder truly lived up to her name when she had to call her mother and ask what the name of the road she was to turn at was called. I don't know how we found our way at all... up in those cottage parts every road is called " island lane" or " resort street". We actually got to the place, called Honey Harbour, just as Courtney's father pulled up in a motorboat.

The ride there was uneventful with the horrid weather and all. As we got close to the final bay where the cottage was, it dawned on me that there would be no way to leave once I got there - I had no idea how to get back with all the weird turns it took to get there. Of course, then it occured to me that it would be silly to have to ever run from a Boulder anyway.

The main cottage cabin itself was lovely. It consisted of a large main reception room complete with kitchen, dining table, and family room (with a great view of the bay to boot), as well as 3 bedrooms, 2 washrooms (one doubling as a laundry room), and a game room (which was actually all the cottage used to consist of before they built the rest of it). First thing I did upon arriving was to hit the sauna, which was seperate from the main cabin outside (photos to follow). This was quite enjoyable as it warmed me up nicely after the chilly ride there. A dive into the lake was strongly advised by Courtney and before you knew it, we were shivering once again... this time though, we were a bit cleaner? (hard to say with all the natural pollutants, sediments, animal urine, microorganisms, etc. in the lake water) At dinner time (the meal consisted of a make-your-own pizza sort of deal - simple but good), I got to meet the rest of the Macneils. I must say... they are just as weird as Courtney said. The biggest thing was probably the amount of bantering that goes on within the family... most of it started about her father once wearing a toothpaste-stained sweater for an important family guest and it went from there to every single attack that each family member could get in on him. Man... I'm actually hoping that not all white families do that - its brutal to be the man of the family. =P

All kidding aside though, although all of them had their quirks (esp. the father) they were great people to talk and to get along with. After Court gave me the tour of the place and I talked a bit more with the family over dessert, it was bedtime. Being that my choices of beds were either with a) a friend I knew well, b) a friend's brother I didn't know, c) a spider-infested room, I just hoped that Courtney could deal with my intermittent snoring...

I didn't sleep all that well with a different bed and all so I woke up at 4 am and snuck around the house, getting to learn the terrain (where the food was, which floor boards creaked so as to avoid them) using only my cell phone as a light. I felt extremely spy-ish. After snagging a bottle of Aberfoyle I returned silently to my room to continue my slumber.

Day Two - Saturday July 15
What a crappy day... it had been raining the entire night and when I woke up the next morning the bay was grey and overcast. Even worst was that I was apparently the last to get up and this somehow gave Courtney the right (in her mind anyway) to wake me up by throwing water on my face. Although the weather was terrible, I was awoken to a fantastic breakfast which spared Boulder for any retribution I might have been planning.

I must say, if anything white people cook quite nice meals. Home-baked breads, home-style thin-crusted pizzas, well grilled meats, nicely tossed salads, etc. And of course you can't forget the desserts... very nice strawberry (with something else that I can't remember) pies, chocolate chip health cookies (which Courtney pigged herself on completely by finishing more than two-thirds of the large box herself), and fruit. And when it comes to foods, one cannot forget Courtney's horrible habit - you know the one - picking off pieces of other people's food to "sample". Over the course of the weekend, bits of waffles (the part with syrup), pizza (the cheesy part), muffins (the top part), bread (the inside soft part), and cookies (any part) were found missing and a rather boulderish individual close to the scene of the crime. *sigh* Somethings don't change, at least not easily. =P

When the rain died off a bit in the afternoon I openly suggested that I wanted to do something. Courtney's father, who was feeling the same itch for action, suggested that a fishing journey. Immediately upon hearing such a proposal, I received warning looks from both Court and her brother Cam. First they tried (for some reason) to talk sense into their father. However soon they just gave up and tried to get me to change MY mind saying that going out in that weather would be "suicide". I was a little worried but then again, this is the kind of stuff that I really get a kick out of (risks/thrills) so I decided to go out anyway.

Admittedly it really wasn't all that good weather and the boat was blown about quite a little but it was a larger boat and we managed. After a lot of failure at trying to trawl anything we decided to give up after spending over an hour out on the lake (we had dinner waiting for us!). On the way back to the cottage though fortune shone on me and I managed to snag my first two catches ever! Both were lightweights but still I did it, two small-mouthed bass reeled in by me. *grin*

Of course dinner that evening was really tasty. The dishes were simple - steak, baked potato, etc. - but it was still extremely satisfying. Mrs. Macneil is a wonderful cook. After dinner there wasn't too much to do. I learned to play Cribbage and won against Cam and then Court and I chatted for a while. I was told that they had never had weather this bad at the cottage this year - I guess its just me, eh? *sigh* Even so the day turned out to be a really relaxing one, which I think I needed more than anything. We wrapped up the day with a game of who wants to be a Millionaire which I completely and totally annihlated both of them at. Yes, that is the truth - I tell no lie. (okay I beat them but no one actually made it to 1M... who really knows so many pointless things anyway? Sleep was great. =)

Day Three - Sunday July 16

I was supposed to get up early (at 5 am) to go salmon fishing with Mr. Macneil... well, I must have been more tired than I thought because I completely overslept. Fortunately, I learned over a very nice breakfast of buns and fruit that he in fact did not go either because of the weather. It seems that at 5 am the forecast did not look good... which was not true at all because the day turned out to be a really really nice sunny breezy day. Such a waste... no salmon for the family back home... a shame I say. A darned shame. *smirk*

So the main activity of the day was water skiing. Now I had not done this in a couple years but I guess you really don't forget too much. I tried to be daring (I tried to cut the boat's wake) but that resulted in my stumbling headfirst into the water. *sigh* I think I'm getting too old these days - my guts/craziness isn't what it used to be. Also I guess I should remember for next time not to use my lower arm muscle to pull the rope close to my body... my arm muscles are going to be sore for weeks. Bleh.

Lunch followed the water activity and this was probably the simplest meal - understandable as we had to pack it all up and leave shortly following said repas. We had... actually I can't remember what we had; I really should have finished this blog sooner... now my memory is really faded. Perhaps Court could refresh it?

There was, however, a moment of excitement this day, suitable as it was my last one in the cottage wonderland. At some point while we were outside Court's mother spotted a snake on the ground in the grassy area. We all cautiously got near the snake, which emitted rattling sounds (rattle snakes are very very poisonous). Upon a close look, it appeared that the snake was not a real rattler but rather one of those that imitated the rattle snake as a defensive mechanism (I can't remember the name of said species). Mr. Macneil was able to broom the snake into a garbage bin and the creature was released somewhere away from the cottage grounds. I have to say that the fact that a rattlesnake bite in cottage is fatal is silly. Isn't there some sort of anti-poison that can be carried around? Normally the wound can be treated if you could be taken to a hospital... blah. So much for medical advances if a snake can still take a person out.

As we departed the cottage, I felt sad. I felt like I never wanted to go back to work; it was so nice to be able to relax like that. I just sat as the wind swept by, as the beauty of the north seemed to blur by me, as the police patrol boat stopped us? Oy. Yeah, apparently, Courtney's father was speeding. As well when they did a check of the boat (number of life jackets for the passengers, signal flare, etc.) we were missing several items. Courtney's father of course did the guy thing and tried to impress the officer with silly non-related things like the fact that everyone in his family but him had taken the boat safety test. As always, Courtney was thoroughly embarrassed. =) Ah...

Court drove me back to her barn for me to get my car of course. It was tons of fun be able to talk to her about all sorts of stuff again like we did in RJ420. The good times will continue hopefully though. I guess her family really is as crazy as she ever said it was, esp. her father. I think to sum up what I learned this weekend I would have to say: Ray, you were right about them white folk. Everything you ever said, just - you were right. =)

Toronto Festival = hot stuff
On Sunday I went DT to Toronto to enjoy the festivities of the Celebrate Toronto Street Festival with Joyce. It was pretty crazy down there... lots to do and see and hear. We spent most of our time at the Dundas Square at Dundas and Yonge where there were trampoliners (is that the right word?), beach volleyball (which for some strange reason I do enjoy watching), and pretty decent rock bands. It was pretty fun to see the entertainment as well as to doing a little shopping. Shoppers Drug Mart (the main sponsor for the event this year) had sunscreening stations set up at each location

Truth be told, we spent half the time in Toronto inside the Eaton Centre to avoid the heat. I really couldn't take it that day... not only was the weather once again pretty hot and humid (although not nearly as bad as it had been - see previous post) but I was also dead tired from not really getting enough sleep the past couple of days. Still I think it was worth going down to see what Toronto does to celebrate in the summer - obviously it completely blows Markham's festivals away but I don't think we do too bad considering the difference in budget and crowd turnout. A couple things I really enjoyed seeing were a African drum ensemble (for the really cool beats) and an authentic Vietnamese water puppet show (its cool because they actually do puppetry above a pool of water. I wish they had a translator though so that I could understand the story - I think Trogdor some dragon ate some little boy or something).

On a side note, yes I know I said I would continue my heat rant in my previous post but the truth is that my mom was bothered enough by the heat that we got an air conditioner installed the very next day. *grins* So basically I have two essential ways to spend my free time most days, go out and sweat to death or sit at home and enjoy the air con - you better believe I park my ass in front of the computer. =)

On a side note, go buy the Cowboy Bebop movie... its so much better on DVD than the 576 mb (or smaller if you're some kind of odd fellow who settles for crap quality CB) file. Plus it has nice extras. =) I don't like how they took away the movie's title "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" though. I shouldn't start ranting here though, I once promised myself I wouldn't stoop to the level of critiquing movies on A Glaring Dream. Anyway, go and buy it. And while you're there get Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne... I really need to do that. Damn the hobos (1, 2, 3) who are already B-Netting it up. Argh!

Tastes like burning
Anyone else having troubles with the recent temperatures? I'm sure all of you are, unless you never leave your air conditioned home. In that case I hope you burn in the afterlife (which could come quicker than you might imagine if you leave me your address in the comments section). It's frickin' scorching outside! I can't even step outside for more than 30 seconds without sweating. Heck, I sweat while I'm sleeping on my bed with no covers. Dammit!

Of course, this is where I might mention that air conditioning does not exist in my house (a foolish oversight to be sure). As a matter of fact, temperatures on the main floor have been reaching in excess of 32 degrees Celsius and temperature in this room where I am blogging from been in excess of 34 degrees. Naturally, this also means the house the extremely humid on the ground floor and especially on the second floor. Did I mention that its hot? And humid? Freakin'! In order to make it marginally cooler we have employed the age-old strategy of opening windows such that a current of air flows through the house. Since the air outside is hot and humid, this usually has little to no affect, except to make the blinds bounce against the window every now and then.

The same method of cooling is also employed in my car, which also suffers from the same lack of air conditioning (it used to have it but my dad broke it sometime before the car was given to me). The windows at leat least do something here but I can't say that it helps all that much - by the time I drive off my street I'm already sweating.

To further the problem, I'm constantly tired due to sleeping late. This is really not a good thing when I'm on the road in 30+ degrees weather. Have you ever had the sun work its lulling magic on you... when you can feel the heat and your mind starts to get muddy and before you know it you are drifting off? Yeah? Yeah. So I need sleep, and now would probably be good. The rant will continue tomorrow. Good night.

The cell phone saga
The story of a lone phone, and its journey home
**Warning: this is a long read, even moreso than usual.**

[Prelude]
As you may know, my cell phone was confiscated well over a month ago in an examination, in my ECO105 one on May 8, 2003 to be precise. I had accidentally worn it in since I was so accustomed to its weight on my belt. When it was taken from me, I was told that I would be contacted when my phone was ready for pickup after a through inspection by the Dean's Office. No such contact was ever made.

[Chapter I]
For over 4 weeks I was phoneless, largely since the University did not bother contacting me regarding the status of my cell phone like they said they would. I knew something had to be done; who knew what horrors my phone was being subjected to? After playing a bit of phone tag, I eventually got through to someone who knew something and I was given the whereabouts of my precious Nokia. I was overjoyed; my phone's liberation was at hand. Taking Wilmer "the Pole" with me (since I decided I might have use for brute force), I went downtown at around 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday June 10, 2003 to bring my electronic friend home.

I had eventually located where I was supposed to go (after the various secretaries at Sid Smith directed me all over the place) and, surprise surprise, the lady I had to see was at a meeting. It was annoying the way the system was set up with only one person with access to the cell phones; she was the only one with the combination/key to the cabinet where they were kept. To kill time, the Pole and I walked around campus a bit and we ran into Courtney (my ex-suitemate) at lunchtime. We had a nice chat looking at some hilarious pics from RJ420 (the only pics sadly); my only complaint is that that girl really needs to learn to use COLOR film. *sigh* She couldn't stay long though (she had to go horse riding) so soon it was back to the waiting game at the Arts and Science office.

By 2:00 p.m. I was seriously considering using some Polish muscle; more frighteningly, Polish was seriously considering using some Polish muscle. Not wanting to be kicked out of University just yet, we continued to hang around but even at 2:30 I had no luck with the lady (the assistant registrar I believe) coming back. Wilmer and I tried to look like thugs hanging around the office (not hard with him in a wife-beater and me just glaring at people) but we eventually gave that up and settled for being just bums sitting in the hallway. At 3:00 p.m. I sent my accomplice off to get the car so we would leave as soon as I got my phone since I had to get back to Markham by 4:00; also we didn't exactly park legally so I wanted to get my car out as soon as possible. Every 2 minutes or so the assistant in the office assured me that she would be back "any minute now." It was a good thing the Pole wasn't around or he would have probably done something rash and deserving.

That minute turned out to be 3:14 p.m. - it turned out that she had finished her meeting at 2:30 but had decided to chat with some friends on the back patio. I didn't think that I could be anymore annoyed that I was then. She brushed me aside to talk to her assistant for a couple minutes and then finally ushered me into her office where she made me wait while she finished up some paperwork. Finally, she asked me what I wanted and when I informed that I was here to reclaim my cell phone she changed her tone. "Oh" she said, as if realising that one of those students. She retrieved my phone promptly but gave me a lecture about not bringing cell phones into examinations before letting me go away with it.

Her (with my phone in hand): So was that your first exam?
Me (eyeing my phone): No ma'am, it was my last one on-
Her (now holding my phone with both hands): -then you should have known better. Did you not see the signs? It was announced everywhere that cell phones were not to be brought into the writing area. Do you know why cell phones are prohibited?
Me (considering grabbing the phone and running for the door): Uhhh... I'd guess cheating? With text messages and such?
Her (lecturing): Precisely, it is our job to ensure a fair and equal environment for the students... (insert Charlie Brown teacher voice here)

Anyhow, I finally left WITH my battery-drained phone at around 3:22 and despite traffic on the Don Valley I made it back in good time. Wilmer made some comment about why I didn't just punch the lady and leave but I wasn't really listening. My phone was coming home! When I returned home I immediately plugged my phone into the charger and whistled happily to myself.

[Chapter II]
The next day I checked my now fully charged phone - I turned it on and I got the Nokia symbol etc. it was great! It was working, it was powered, and it was... off. For no reason my phone just turned off - then it turned back on. And off. And on. And it continued until I snapped out of my disbelief and turned it off myself. Broken! UofT broke my phone! I had no idea what to do; I didn't think that I'd be able to get kind of reimbursement from UofT since I had no proof that they broke it (and since screwing people does appear to be a part of their policy). Frustrated and angry, I called my dad and he had the idea that it might only be a small problem that could be easily fixed. So on Sunday June 15th we went to the Rogers store at Times Square in Richmond Hill to have them take a look at it.

I don't know why we bothered as the people there were obviously just salespeople and not phone technicians but I did find out that my phone was still covered on a 1-year warranty. They said they would send my phone to the factory for repairs and give me a loaner phone in the meanwhile (so I wouldn't lose anymore of the 5 weeks of paid cell services that was already wasted). Of course all this was pending my father's ability to procure a receipt. Assuring me that he had it somewhere at his place, my father dropped me off at home. Knowing him like I do, I groaned and hoped for the best. I was pleasantly surprised when he called me at work on Tuesday letting me know he had found the original receipt. I arranged with him to get the proof of purchase I required and went to bed that night feeling good about my phone's future.

[Chapter III]
Today I went back to Times Square, receipt and broken cell phone in hand. My Nokia was disassembled and put into a bag and I was handed a used but functioning older Motorola phone. On a separate note, I must say that its weird dealing with Chinese shops. I spoke Cantonese with the sales representative at first but I hesitated at one point and used English to convey my point (something about my phone battery being drained at one point). From that point on, she spoke accented English to me despite the fact that I continued to use Chinese. It was really kind of odd. Mostly I think its either because of my slightly accented Chinese and that fact that I guess I didn't know the Chinese "lingo" (colloquial phrases) that she got the impression that I was uncomfortable speaking the language. *shrug* To be honest I was feeling a little uneasy, but I wanted to practice speaking. It's becoming harder and harder to get to speak Chinese regularly now that my grandmother no longer lives with me.

[Epilogue]
Anyway, I got home and charged the phone I had borrowed and yes, now I can once again be reached at my cell! However I don't have any of my old contacts; it's really very annoying as I haven't memorized any of my friend's cell numbers yet. I knew I should have saved my numbers on the SIM card - damn. Well at least for now I'm enjoying the change of cell phone games here... they have Bricks! In three weeks time though I should be using my own phone once again, and it will be the end of its long and arduous journey.

MVMF
I still really want to continue the Gunslinger but there isn't too much reading time this week with the Markham Village Music Festival coming this Saturday. I just got back at 10:00 p.m. from a 7:00 committee meeting. I mean, it's all worth it I guess - with the entertainment lineup we've got going and the kinds of events that we'll have running. From a skateboard competition to a silent auction, there'll be something for everyone. The fact that its the people of Markham will have an opportunity to enjoy this almost makes days like this worth it. Almost. So come one, come all. Come on to the Music Festival!

Now for specific targetting... Come out and enjoy the talents of our local musicians. Support your community. Lots of food and fun, for everyone. The event is highly attended by attractive asian girls. Hmm.. I think that just about does it for appealing to my friends... you can guess which ones.

Just the Road and I
What do I like to do when I've slept the day away? DRIVE!!! After work yesterday (7 a.m. to 2 p.m.) I went home and collapsed into a nice dreamless sleep. When I woke up, the clock read 11:15. Man... well I had plenty of energy and I wanted to do something but obviously I couldn't find any of my friends who agreed with me (actually the Pole was good to go but I couldn't get a hold of him). I tried to entertain myself with the usual on the Internet (games, ICQ, news) but even that got boring soon, believe it or not. (if only there were people online to play Warcraft III with...). I was determined to go outside so that's what I did. I took care of the important things first... I drove over to Pizza Pizza for dinner. I made use of the 25 minutes that it took for my stuffed sandwich to be made (isn't that longer than they usually need? Damn pizzaman) by reading a book that was highly recommended to me (to the point that it was borrowed from the library for me therefore forcing me to read it). The Gunslinger by Stephen King... so far it seems to be a very interesting read, but we'll see. *grin*

After I left Pizza Pizza, it was around 2:00 a.m. Not entirely satisfied with my excursion quite yet, I wanted to have a goal. Then I remember something I had tried to do a month ago. Last summer, my friends and I occasionally went and hiked at some trail somewhere in the southeast area of Markham. I had tried to find it before but was unable to. Feeling charged with purpose, I revved off into the night.

Well, given that I couldn't find it in broad daylight I guess something should have clicked in my mind that trying to locate a small entrance in the side of the road in the pitch darkness of the night would be rather difficult. So I didn't find it, but I guess that wasn't the point. The driving and getting out there was the point. I find that for me driving alone on a road without street lights is really relaxing. Just turn off the radio, open the windows and drive( and its doesn't have to be fast, although I stayed near the maximum). No cars, no lights, no noise (other than my clugging vehicle) - just fresh air and that's it. Of course the little trip cost me almost a quarter of my fuel tank but still, it was worth it. My only advice would be to avoid the dirt road (I hit a few of those out in the boonies). And of course stay on the right side of the road; well try at least. =P

To the Banquet I say!
Music Banquet! Ah the good memories of years past, and the good memories made last night. There's not much to say, just that it was nice to see a lot of people I knew there, the food was exactly the same as it was each year (bad pasta, tasty salad, etc.) and the music was mediocre (What is with the music skipping every 30 seconds? It happened last year too, but I guess it WAS Paul in charge of it once again this year... and play some Savage Garden dammit!). Congratulations are in order to all the award winners, you all deserved it (esp. Tasha - silly girl).

Joyce - NO MORE HOT PEPPERS!!! But thanks for a great time once again. =)

I'm going to once again make an effort to post a bit more these days. Its hard now - so used I am to "blogging hour" at RJ420. *sigh* RJ420 - the name still makes me long for those days of laziness and nights of craziness. At least there was a constant then, now I don't even know what's what anymore.

A day of media schmoozing and spare ribs (don't forget the couch!)
A very interesting day of work was had today. I had taken a few hours off in the morning so I had no idea what to expect. When I called to check in with my coworker, I was promptly informed that I would be going to a press conference at the Markham Civic Centre. Eventually at 3:00 p.m. I found myself in the main lobby at Markham City Hall receiving a little sticker with my name on it. It turns out that the press conference was to officially announce the launch of a new festival in Markham. Since us Markham people like a good party (a good party being defined as involving good music, good food and alcohol) the Rotary Club of Markham Sunrise had created something that fit the bill - the Ribfest and Blues Festival. What happens is they bring together the top "ribbing" teams across North America together and they have ribs making competitions; alongside this is a blues festival, with some great live blues performers from across the country to entertain. And of course there will be much to drink with the Molson Extreme Team on hand to entertain and give out prizes and merchandise.

Basically its a great way to spend the weekend of July 11th to the 13th; eating some of the best spare ribs in North America (with professional teams like "BAD WOLF BARBECUE", "BILLY BONES BBQ", "STICKYFINGERS", "THE PURPLE PIG", "CAMP 31", and "BIBBS BBQ"). Of course, being a vegetarian I'm going to have to miss out on this one. Of course, I already missed out on this one. That's right, you saw it. At the media launch, that mountain of gourmet ribs (made by the Purple Pig and Billy Bones BBQ on location) was available for "sampling", along with refreshments, appetizers, and little deserts. Man. I can see why some people like being in the media - I mean there wasn't really all too much reason to actually stay and attend anything. Sure there were speeches and annoucements made by various people of importance but there was nothing that wasn't already in the press release kit that they handled out at the reception. I can only imagine how many of these things local politicians get invited to. Needless to say, I made up for the not eating spare ribs with lots of other snacking. *grin* But man, I think there was an entire tray (1 of 3) left over afterwards that was probably tossed out...

After this great relaxing day of "work", I found that I had to deal with something that would require more effort. A friend of my father's was moving out and he had a spare couch (in decent shape) that he wondered if I wanted it. Seeing as our basement was still largely unfurnished, I said yes. Little did I know that my actions would wreak much havoc upon my house. The problem was that the couches were much larger that I expected, so large in fact that the 3 seater did not even fit into my basement. There we were, my brother and I, struggling to move a huge couch down a narrow staircase only to painfully bring it out again. *sigh* Well now we have a nice couch in the kitchen, good for dozing off in when the one in the television room is taken (by a sleeping Polish man). Hopefully we won't have it there for much longer though, its honestly pretty weird...

Home handyman to be? Not me.
Have you ever tried to install a chandelier with 2 people? Have you ever tried being the one holding the whole thing up from below while the other guy fumbles around for 10 minutes while he's trying to put the screws in? (not my brother's fault, its a tough job too; its just not as painful). If you haven't I don't recommend it.

Well, at least one of two is installed; that's right, one of two. *sigh* I'll post with more detail when I do the second one (tempted to say "if" I do the second one but knowing my mom I will probably have to do it and soon). *rubs aching shoulders*

Fontaine Liu, what every office needs...
Well first week of work has been an interesting experience so far. I can't remember all the details but already I've been an exterminator, a ceiling light technician, a counter cleaner, a street errand boy, a delivery boy, a database manager, a phone receptionist, a interior redecorator, and last but not least, a garbage boy. Great job, eh? (I'm serious about the extermination - the very first thing I had to do when I came in on Monday was to hunt down the slight ant infestation we had with bug spray and traps before it could get at our computers and other technically equipment. Someone had left cans of open pop in the recycling bin and that was what had drawn them in.) One thing I must make clear is that I am NOT a farmer. Again, that is I am NOT a farmer; as a matter of fact I have little to do with the rustic agricultural traditions of our country. The only vague connection is that fact that the office I work in runs an event each Saturday of the summer called the Markham Farmers' Market. Don't listen to everything that you hear, especially anything from this guy.

My actual position title is the "Main Street Ambassador", and in actuality what I do fits that nicely. I work for the Markham Village BIA, that is, the Markham Business Improvement Area. We are a geographically designated zone in which the businesses have to pay an extra tax levy and in return the BIA uses this funding to find ways of promoting these businesses. We accomplish this in many ways, through street-wide festivals, a bi-monthly newspaper, as well as other promotional opportunities. Of course that's just the rehearsed stuff that I regurgitate on the phone whenever someone asks about us. Last year I got bored one day, well there was more than just one day (I hope my boss doesn't know about blogs), but I created this awesome poster for my position.

Honestly though, it a great job all in all, aside from the 6 am Saturdays (and this is my 4th year doing that). I hope people sign up for the community garage sale this Saturday (which I am incidentally in charge of this year). Come sell your junk, only $25 for a 6' table, a 10'x10' space, and advertising! Okay enough of the self plugging, I must sleep if I'm to be even half-awake tomorrow morning at 8:30. *flops down to bed*

Conned
Well Anime North is done and done now. The verdict? Although it was pretty cheap as far as conventions go for $25 at a group rate, it was a pretty shoddy affair, one that I found to be unworthy of the effort. I can't say I didn't enjoy the experience - wait, I just said that. *sigh* It really wasn't that good, at least when taken in perspective to the CN Anime convention, which is held annually in late August. Although a 3-day pass at Anime North IS $15 cheaper than CN, there are a great many other things lacking. The anime screenings are all of generally older animes, there weren't enough staff actively working (except for a tall lanky out-of-place volunteer that was very very good at his job of asking all the other volunteers and staff whether they wanted water - he even kinda talked like the Waterboy), there were no notices for schedule changes, there was a general sense of complete disorganization, the food selection was plain terrible, and the venue itself was pretty poorly suited to host thousands of people. On the plus side, there did seem to be a great deal more strictly anime artists there (probably because of cheaper costs for renting display space). Well, I didn't buy much this time even though there were a couple great deals; I walked off with a Chrono Trigger piano music book. I can't wait to get to a piano to try some of it out (or better yet, just pu tit under the fingers of one the many wonderful piano playing friends I have *nudge nudge*). Another plus was the cell painting workshop on Saturday; Steve Bennett is both really talented artist and teacher (not to mention good at cheap humour). Of course, all that talent didn't save the Graveler from looking like a Haunter after my colouring (I haven't played Pokemon in a while!) ^__^;;

In any case, I believe I have put forth my opinion, laid out my points, and kept it objective and not rant-tastic; now I'm supposed to finish with some sort of conclusion. Overall, Anime North could benefit from a lot of work, esp. in the area of organisation and resource manangement. With the convention seemingly steadly growing each year, perhaps it is time for them find a more appropriate location. As much as it might cost less for a 3rd rate Hotel in the middle of Etobicoke, I'd rather pay a little more for something at least a little more spacious. Their current method of bringing in the crowds appears to be to have lots and lots of events - on paper, this looks fantastic with pretty cool guests and everything. However, the execution of said events were disappointing for the most part (the music videos were enjoyable though). They need to stop focusing on bringing in more people and work on improving what they have so they can keep the people they have. Then again, with anime fanatics (fanboys and fangirls alike) who knows? Just hang a picture of a cute anime girl/guy with a date/time/location and they'll probably show up.

I went to the MDHS spring concert at Markham Theatre tonight; it was a night of great music as always, at least from what I heard. I had to leave before it started to attend a festival meeting that I'm now apparantly on the committee for (tell me you Markham people know of the "Olden Days and Antique Cars festival" that runs in late summer - apparantly everyone I've asked, with one exception, has never even heard of it). It all looks to be good. Anime North 3-day convention starts tomorrow and I'll be looking forward to that, although I'm not completely set on going tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday will be for sure though =) I'm hoping they'll have some new stuff to strut or at least some good screenings of stuff I've not seen yet. There are a ton of events going on as well at least according to the website. If you're going, I'll see you there!

And now for something completely different:
Listening now more and more,
Makes me wish that I could ignore
Lest this thing become a chore,
When heart and brain are hurt and sore.

Ugh... eyes ARE hurting now... I really need to sleep. I stayed up until 5 last night on the computer... so bad. But so GOOD! =)

It'ssss minesssessss, give back my precioussss
Give me back my cell phone University of Toronto!!! I'll admit I should have known better than to bring it into an exam but still, surely I don't deserve this. I feel like I'm cut off from the world without it these days. I called the Dean's office yesterday to try to see if I could just go down and pick it up and here was my responce:
"I'm sorry but we are trying to process the several hundred cellular phones that were confiscated from the examinations as quickly as possible. The Dean has been going through them individually so just be patient and you will be contacted when you can come pick up your phone."

If they end up "contacting" me by trying to call my cell phone... *shakes fist*

The sweet taste of summer... curry?
Well its my first full day back in Markham. I'm definitely already running on summer time as I woke up at 3 in the afternoon. Quite nice to be able to do that again (I couldn't do that at RJ because I had to get up or miss my paid-for meals) Going downstairs expecting a nice fried noodles or egg-fried rice or something Chinese and yummy, I quickly learned that I wasn't competely free of the University life yet. Curried vegetables over rice...this is what was prepared for me for lunch, the EXACT food that I had been complaining about in the past few weeks months (just ask the crazy I-don't-sleep man). Bah! Foiled again. Fortunately my family went out to a nice Chinese restaurant in the plaza at the back of Market Village/Pacific Mall for a mother's day dinner. The really really tasty-like-I've-never-had-before tofu almost made up for the horribly currified Indian breakfast/lunch I had. Almost. (don't get me wrong because I actually do like mildly curried food; just not after Burwash food where they think throwing curry into half their entrees makes things better)

Yesterday a whole bunch of us went over to a friend's place for dinner/movie and the whole bit. It was pretty cool seeing these people again (except for him of course), especially since we were all in the post-school mood and all. I mean, most of the people there I had seen throughout the year at U of T anyway but the feeling of us all joking around and being loud while playing games and relaxing was great. While I'm on the subject though let's get a few things straight.... "Henry" Hung = mad Halo camper wh0re + flukiest Mario Party player ever. As well, I hate Folkers. To ensure that my own hatred cannot be misinterpreted as "I like Folkers", or "I think Folkers is okay", or even "I dislike Folkers" I will state it again: I hate Folkers. Your day will come, markypoo... =P

I'm already looking forward to this summer, I hope the feeling lasts.

Time to go
Well, this is it. I can't believe its over for now. I'm going to miss this place, RJ420. The craziness and fun times had in this place will always be in my memory... or failing that, at least in this blog and the several others. I know complained several time about school and the work and the food and everything actually, but its all really culminated in a fun and amazing time. I can't even remember half the antics but just thinking about the ones I do recall make my smile.

Just yesterday Sing and I were outside RJ for a while trying to juggle a soccer ball (one that he bought from the Nike Store yesterday when everything was 25% off) in the air for over 10 hits. After many ball-in-the-bush retrieval antics (all Sing's fault of course given his unwitting stupidity) and Sing falling to the ground after using his head to stop a strong kick from me, we finally did it.

Right now the room is bare except for bits of Ray's junk and my computer, and I'm going to pack up the latter when I finish this. *sigh* I've made my mark (literally, if you look at the right place on the walls with an ultraviolet light) and its time to move on. Time to move out too in a couple hours I guess.

Farewell, RJ420. Cheers.

The end of school... and the start of everything else.

I'm breaking my usual blogging rules (not finishing an old blog and typing without structure) but YEAH!!!! FINISHED MY EXAMS!!! This feels so unbelievably good!

On a sad note, I forgot to remove my cell phone from my belt and they confiscated it to check it for being an instrument of cheating (or SOMETHING). Now I'm phoneless for the next few days until I get it back. *sigh*

BUT STILL! NO SLEEP TONIGHT! NO MORE (until I collapse somewhere...)

OH BABY! (yup, that old expression is back!)

BWAHAHAHA! Never leave your BLOGGER ON THE LIBRARY COMPUTER AND WALK AWAY!!!

TROGDOR STRIKES AGAIN!

2 down, 3 to go... damn
Ah... just finished my French exam yesterday; it didn't go too bad, if I may say so myself. Unfortunately I had messed up a earlier examination that day, my G2 exit test. Gah! I have to say that of all the times for my mother to schedule my road test, 9:00 am on the the same day as an university exam would probably not be the best. Of course I attribute my failure to my own nervousness before the examiner and lack of prior practice to raise my confidence. Of course I might say that the circumstances were not favourable for me at all but I should know better (after Psychology brain pounding) than to use the self-serving bias. I should have also known better to get more sleep the night before; 4-5 hours cannot possibly be all that conductive for driving. *sigh*

Well, back to reading about European history for me.

66 bottles of beer on the wall under the sink, 66 bottles of beer!
Underneath our sink, something had been building upover the course of the year, growing larger and larger - we had to do something. Our suitemate Danielle's collection of beer had been slowly building up ever since whenever the heck the last time she took the time to take care of it herself (I'm not sure that's ever happened actually). Molson, Budweiser, Labatt, MGD - we had it all. Raymond and I had been wondering for a while whether we should get rid of them oursleves; the deciding factor in the end was that we were really getting poor. I mean, who can really pass up a $0.10/bottle trade when a) we are under such economic stress b) the bottles aren't even ours! After much delay and many attempts to break away from ICQ conversations, we embarked upon our little adventure.

We quickly realised, as we were waiting for the elevator, that carrying 66 bottles of beer is no easy task. With the general opinion of "BOTTLES ARE STUPID! I HATE CARRYING FREAKING BOTTLES!!! DIE BOTTLES DIE! (YEARGGHGHHHH)" being formed, we strengthed our will and continued. Unfortunately, our musclar strength was not on par with that of our determination - our arms were really begining to hurt by the time we made it to the front of our building but knowing that we had to do this, we decided to take a break every block to make it bearable. And so our journey commenced... (each point represents a break we took)

[EAST]
RJ (Every journey has its first step...)
--> Bay St.(Green light = short short break)
--> Yonge St. ("We'll switch later, okay Font?" "uhh... sure...")

[SOUTH]
--> St Mary St. ("Hey *grunt* how many bottles are you carrying anyway Font?")
--> Irwin Ave. ("Stop making racist comments Ray!" "What? It's true! Freakin' white people always boozing it up!")
--> St Joseph St. ("Maybe we could give these bottles to that homeless person Ray..." "Yeah right and CRAP!!!" "What?" "Well, 65 bottles now." "You idiot.")
--> Wellesley St. ("Are you sure its this way Font?" "Yes?")
--> LCBO ("I'm sorry, but we do not accept bottles for refund. You'll have to take them to The Beer Store." "I see. Where's the closest one?" "Oh, it's not too far. It's just another block east." *groans*)

[EAST]
--> Switch of bottles ("Your load was so light Font! Freakin'!!!! I could carry this all day, damn you.")
--> Halfway to Church St. ("AHHH... Ray I feel like I'm going to die." "So how do you like it, eh?")
--> Church St. ("I don't see any Beer Stores, Ray." "If that guy told us the wrong information I'll give HIM what's for!!! With beer bottles!!!")

[NORTH]
--> Break while I was looking for the store ("Hey I think I see it Ray." "Good. How much are we getting again for these bottles? $6.60?" "No, you broke a bottle remember" "Yeah...")
--> The Beer Store ("You got the money Font?" "Yup, six fifty. Ohh bay-bee! Ohhhhh bay-bee!!" "Stop that.")

(On the way to the Eaton Centre)
F: I can't feel my shoulders.
R: You know it wasn't that bad Font. We basically made minimum wage in 30 minutes.
F: You know those also weren't our bottles.
R: Ah true, but its our money now.
F: *sighs* What has university turned us into...
R: Thieves?
F: *stops and gives a look* *continues walking* I can't feel my shoulders.

So we took our hard earned money and spent it at the Eaton Centre (another healthy walk albeit without the fun of beer bottles) buying two 1L bottles of Life-brand carbonated flavoured water and two apple pies from McDonalds. All that for a little measly back-breaking, painful manual labour; we cleared the under-sink space too! And people say we don't do any work around here...

1 down, 4 left - w00t!
The psychology textbook will never have to be opened again. It has finally seen its last days of infringing in my time. Farewell Psychology 100. You came, you saw, and you probably even conquered, but who is the greater man for it now?!? Probably you. *sigh* Dammit Professor Wall you win again, but at least this was the final time. Now to start the day of COWBOY BEBOP! Come one, come all. Non-stop showing of all 26 episodes starting after the Leafs game tonight. Popcorn included. =)

(read the angry man's blog for his rage-filled take on this day of reckoning)

The Egg and I
Last night, my suitemate Courtney was bored. Naturally despite me having to do studying for evil murderous vile Psychology, I went against my better judgement and allowed myself to be dragged out into the streets of Toronto. Now, it would have been nice if we had a purpose but no, Courtney a.k.a. the "Boulder" obviously had no inkling as to what we were trying to accomplish by running around. After much complaining on my part, we decided to go into Shoppers and just see what would be interesting to do. Courtney spotted an easter-egg making kit and the rest, as they say, was history.

Well at least its history if you come into the living room of RJ420 and notice the multi-coloured eggs sitting on our window sill. I don't know what made me agree with her on buying the barnyard animal themed kit because I think it looks ridiculous now. How are coloured eggs (rainbow coloured in some instances) with pieces of paper struck to them supposed to look good anyway? On a side note, to clear any innuendos that might have been suggested in the comments of any previous posts, these were the "fine" eggs I were refering to (so stop harassing me Court!).

Yes, nasty business it was; I managed to clear myself of any painting duties (leaving it to the girls of the suite excluding Rayray) However, I was stuck doing the majority of the egg-blowing (you know, when you have to poke 2 opposite holes in the egg and blow out the inside). I suppose that's fair enough considering that I did end up eating the many omlettes that followed (except for those that I cooked as a late-night supper for other *cough*Lawrence*cough* people). I didn't get the mushrooms in time for them though. =/ I suppose cheddar, onion, and peppers did do the trick.

Anyhow if you see Courtney, be sure to compliment her on her nice eggs. And stop by for some late-night food; RH420's late-night diner is open from now until the end of this semester. *grin* Back to PSY study I suppose for now... so much to know. So little that I know. Crap.

Crazy Late Night Antics IV

Time: 2:17 a.m.
Place: RJ420

R: Time to throw some clothes on!
F: *turns over to look, a little afraid to find a naked Raymond*
R: *picks up a huge pile of laundry and throws it on himself*
F: You're crazy.
R: Hmm... *starts hitting the wall with his palm really hard*
F: Wha...?
R: *stops* Ah, I think I heard something crack.
F: I wish I had a camera.
R: *rubs his hand* I love exam period.
F: *pauses* Yeah.

I really do love exam period. Nothing makes any sense, esp. around here. Raymond really has to stop beating people up... Then again, when you consider the stupidity of these people that meet his fist...

F: *starts typing things*
Lawrence: *reading over my shoulder as I type* You're going to post this on your blop?
R: Did just say blop? Your face is a blop!
F:*chuckles*
Law: What? No it's blob isn't it? B-L-O-B.
R: BLOB?!? *falls off chair laughing*
F: *snickers* So stupid...
Law: You guys are idiots.

Class in, Class out
Yay, finally all done! No more classes! Well actually I was finished on Wednesday but classes officially ended at U of T yesterday (Friday). A great feeling to be free... at least until exams find me and devour me.

Another job well done?
No, I didn't just complete a fantastic project or write an amazing paper; tonight's work called for a different kind of diligence and clear-thinking.

OPERATION REPORT
Name of operation: Tartu Evac
Date of action: Thursday April 10, 2003
Time of action: 1:30 a.m. to 3:45 a.m.
Location: the streets of Toronto
Objective: Move Chris Wilmer's from Tartu Residences (Spadina Road and Bloor Road) to Hotel RJ420.
Details: Wilmer's clock has finally run out, he can't keep hiding any longer. Due to lack of payment, Tartu Residences is finally pulling the plug on the Polish Man and forcing him out on the streets (where he arguably belongs). Naturally, he has asked for temporarily room and board at none other than Hotel RJ420 (we treat j00 right!). However, things were not that simple; the fates themselves sided against Wilmer as on the day before the operation, team transport Black Beauty (Wilmer's ancient Ford Tempo) experienced a flat tire. This meant that without vehicle-support, this meant we had get the job done the hard way.

This forementioned task involved relocating all items, including several pots and pans of different sizes, garbages full of clothing, a electic blender, a deep fryer, a box of cutting knives, utensils, 2 glasses, 2 mugs, 2 large containers of strength vitamins, a pleather computer roller chair, a case of bottled water, lots of food (including a bag of onions, many bottles of sauces, 3 bags of frozen ravioli, vegetable oil, container of garlic, toilet paper, vermicelli pasta, countless binders and books and random papers, shoe cleaners and polishers, a humidifier, 2 4L bottles of water, 2 boxes of stuff, and lots of other miscillaneous junk. All this had to be moved across Bloor St, from Spadina Avenue to Avenue Road with only the use of a shopping cart (borrowed from a friend who "liberated" it from Dominon's) in a single trip.

Of course Wilmer's great ingenuity led us to make our work easier; we used the chair as a makeshift transport, loading it up with as much was possible. The end result? 3 19-20 year olds (Wilmer's girlfriend helped) carrying bags of stuff, wheeling a chair loaded with goods, and pushing a shopping cart full of items across Bloor St. in the middle of the night. It worked out well but there were a few casaulties; one of the five plastic wheels on the chair did not make it, as well as a bottle of water (which was consumed quickly so as to lighten the load). There is also now a large puddle of used vegetable oil somewhere on the northern sidewalk on Bloor, future ops planners should take note. The troops were very glad when they made to the haven that is known as RJ420, as they collapsed to the ground with their stinky, sweaty, and sore bodies. There was no doubt that we would eventually succeed, afterall a man's life was a stake tonight. We were only fortunate that losses were so minor. Things here are a little messier now but at least we brought our boy home. It was an excellent team effort. Mission accomplished.

Never say never
Last Saturday I was pretty nervous walking to the Athletic Centre. After dragonboat pool practice, the final team roster was supposed to be announced... well, I guess they must have had a couple tough decisions to make because they postponed the team announcements until next Saturday. Next "Saturday after practice" became "next Sunday in an e-mail" and so last night (Sunday) got an e-mail with subject heading, "ViCrew 2003". My name wasn't included in that e-mail. *sigh* Cut.

After thinking about it and then thinking some more, I guess I can come to an understanding with the decision. In the end its not really why I didn't make the team that bugs me, it's why some of the other people did make it that annoys me. But I guess that's a very petty and useless train of thought, as well as being just a human response to failure. Bah. I'm happy for my friends Chris and Wayne that made the Victoria College and University College teams respectively though. I wouldn't know who to cheer for though. In the end, I might just cheer for the Engineering team that my dormmate and I may end up joining (or try to join anyway). And there's always next year. Either way, its not over for me yet.

Dragonboat did lots of good for me anyway; it has helped me get more in shape, as well as get me used to a regular training schedule. I've also met several cool people whom I hope to be cheering on in the near future. Best of luck Dragonboaters.

Keeping the world a cleaner place
The most demanded request made to my roommate Raymond by others, not including the impossible request for less obesity, is probably that he shave. And if you know him or have ever seen a picture of the guy, you'd know what I mean. Well today, Garway and I took it upon ourselves to do the filthy man (and the world) a favour.

He was actually planning to go to a banquet at night having not shaved in who knows how long. Weeks? In any case to put it concisely in the words of an unbiased observer: "He's mad ugly!" And in case anyone disputes the impartialness of the previous person, I questioned someone who we have met only this year. Lawrence Wong says: "I have never seen an uglier man in my life." It cannot be denied, all evidence points towards the ugly truth. And so in order to protect his image (and our reputations of being his friends), we decided on a course of action. After we tackled him, Garway held him down while I approached with an electric shaver turned on and ready to go. With the shaver a several inches from his face, I guess the message must have gotten to him that he indeed needed to take care of his personal hygiene like any other person. The ugly bear grabbed the shaver and grumbled his way to the washroom, coming out with quite a bit less facial hair.

Good thing he did it too, I'm not sure if I would have actually done it - I don't know when he last showered.

Come one, come all
Gah, people are over as usual. Only this time it isn't the usual bozos, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Naturally with friends here at RJ when they want to make some noise they come to (Hotel) RJ420. Meanwhile, I'm trying to do an essay here. I think I'm the only person who still has non-final exam stuff to worry about. That really sucks. (well roommate Courtney still has an essay and presentation or something but considering she usually sleeps at 11 p.m. I think this staying up will do her a little good) Here's a rundown of what was happening here not more than 30 minutes ago. (mental image mode) >>>|| Raymond lying on a bed resting while insulting people. Lawrence constantly assaulting him for nearly 40 minutes using weapons such as toilet paper rolls, his feet, and his ass. Sing, when not playing the violin, is subtlely attacking Raymond's ass (which according to him is very important part of his being) with a clipboard. ||<<< Yes, I would agree with some people that there are problems in the world, but there are also problems right here at RJ420! *sigh* I need more caffeine.

So what do you think?
"I don't know" is such an annoying answer to receive, especially when you know that it's probably the truth. Is it just me or are telephones just less effective these days? I just can't seem to communicate with them anymore. What gives? I think I've realised what's pathetic about patient optimistic people; they don't ever DO anything. I hate myself. I should really be going to class rather than blogging right now. Damn it all. *sigh*

I can't hear the music anymore
Ever look out the window and see a bleak dead world? Ever feel cold inside, like your heart is clenching up? Ever try to reach out, but realise there's nothing for you? Ever listen to the beeping of a busy tone until it was no more?

I thought I had finally found a path to walk on, but I realise now that I have yet to take my first step.
I still want what I wanted before.

To offset my rather down mood today, here's something silly, appropriate for you (April) fools.

"What sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'ni!' at will to old ladies?"
*checks date of last post* This is how lazy I feel these days; I barely even want to post, let alone do these essays and assignments I have due this week. But alas, I have duty to report the ongoings here at RJ420. Last Thursday afternoon, I went to watch my roommate Courtney horse-ride up at a barn somewhere north of Stouffville (or something like that - it was out in the boonies). I have to say, horses are pretty interesting creatures once you care to learn about them. "Frog", Courtney's own Thoroughbred (a breed of horse primarily used for racing around the world) was no exception. Did you know that horses have a 5th toe that is evolving away? I think I must have seemed like a complete nerd to the other barn people there, asking all my questions. All the same, horses are pretty nifty creatures, and I can see why they are so loved by many around the world. I watched Courtney go through her routine and all, pretty impressive. Alright I'll concede the point; it takes a LITTLE more than just being able to walk and talk to be able to ride a horse. Only a little more though; I still can't believe Courtney actually breaks a sweat doing this. The barn itself wasn't that bad, I was expecting smells more putrid than those I experienced so all in all it was bearable. My crowning acheivement was probably finishing chapter 6 in my history book and reading the entire Toronto Star front page, GTA section, Life, Sports, etc. *nods* Well at least I don't have to go back there anymore; been there done that, right? *grin*

I went back to Markham District High School on Friday. I have to say its pretty interesting to see how nothing really changes around there much. I joined a grade nine debating club group. I have to say, those niners are very silly kids. I was coerced into doing a 30-second speech. Having mentally prepared to talk about a serious topic, I had no idea what to say to the subject of "why it would be better to wear one shoe rather than two". Still I managed, putting that good old BSing skill to (poor) use. I felt really old after that ordeal, esp. when I had to refute their questions at the end. I tried to being logical and practical but I don't think it made much of an impression. I'm just not silly enough anymore. =/

Dragonboat practice(s) on Saturday was not that bad. I was kind of nervous as this was the practice that they were going to make final cuts to the team. As a result, I had a bad feeling at the end given my poor performance at the pool practice. In either case, the coaches decided to postpone the final team annoucements until next Saturday, which means another week of me going all out at practices. Oh well... hopefully this will turn out well for me. I've got to improve my stroke, or failing that at least stop going to the land practice on Saturday. Doing a lot of running and arm/abdominal/back muscle training before paddling (what I'm mostly judged on to make the team), doesn't things any easier.

I have to mention here that I saw the UC team at the Athletic Centre, having their first ever pool practice. Of course this means that I encountered my UC friend who was vying for a spot on their team. I don't know but Vic looks pretty pathetic compared to UC numbers-wise. They must have had over 50 people at their pool practice, which is manditory for all. Vic's practice had just a little over 20, including coaches. I don't know, while its true that its harder to get on a team that has to make more cuts, it also sucks incredibly when there are 2 people being cut and you are one of them. Well at least I know that somehow, having more people to choose from doesn't mean that you're any better; according to my coaches, Vic beats UC almost consistantly. And as my friend Chris pointed out, "They got more people Font, but they mostly look pretty weak; I'll take on 5 myself." Hmm... actually I think he may have been refering to starting a huge brawl in the AC. Ah, crazy Polish Combat. Seriously though, if I can make the team this is going to be tons of fun in the summertime. Heck, just getting out of this place for the summer will make everything tons of fun. Can't hardly wait.