Snow Cake has just about everything I like in a movie: good cast/acting, strangeness, made up games and words, nice soundtrack. That makes it my favorite movie of December 2006. Or maybe even...of the second half of the year.
The movie stars Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and Carie-Anne Moss. Basically (taken from imdb), it is a drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman (Weaver) and a man (Rickman) who is traumatized after a fatal car accident (which killed the dauther of weaver - he had given her a lift). Carie-Anne Moss lady is a neighbor.
One of my favorite parts was "Comic Book Scrabble". You can use any word you want or make one up. Kaboom, Shazaam, or whatever you like. However, you must be able to give an example of how to use the word in a sentence. They came up with two great words: Yaamool and Dazlious.
I don't wanna go too into the movie...it'll ruin it for you. Both my friend and I felt some form of inner glee after watching it. When it comes out on dvd I'll definitely get it.
If you wanna flip through some clips though, youtube has a bunch.
Now...some other movies.
-There was a preview for a movie about the lady who wrote the peter rabbit books. it looks awesome. Will see.
-I saw Eragon yesterday...meh. I think I may be tired of the mandatory english accents for people in fantasy movies and how they have to speak some other language (like elvish) to do magical spells...as well as dragons. It ends up being this repetitive thing where a boy discovers something, he doesn't know what it is. He decides to investigate. Then he finds out the world is in trouble and he's been chosen to save it. He doesn't want to, but he must accept his fate because everyone is willing to die for him and need him to restore peace in the lands. He decides, okay, I'll do it, and also saves some pretty lady who doesn't fight very well (wants to meet at some later date to have some fun :P), and defeats the evil ones. The End.
I think the only series of fantasy movies I'll keep up with is Harry Potter because it's fun and more imaginative/childlike (the main characters are youngin's after all)...most enchanting :).
Merry Christmas people who read my blog :D
My celebrations commence tomorrow with extended family. I've decided to make 1 pineapple cake and 1 chocolate cake. What's best is they're both vegan...this means I don't have to take lactaid. I already made the pineapple cake once as a test...dad, mom, friend, friend's mom and another friend all agree it's awesome. I may just bake everything vegan now :D
Anyways, as for the title of this post, paw was kind enough to introduce me to the new single by Patrick Wolf. It's incredibly catchy and happy. I encourage you to listen to it as well :D.
My celebrations commence tomorrow with extended family. I've decided to make 1 pineapple cake and 1 chocolate cake. What's best is they're both vegan...this means I don't have to take lactaid. I already made the pineapple cake once as a test...dad, mom, friend, friend's mom and another friend all agree it's awesome. I may just bake everything vegan now :D
Anyways, as for the title of this post, paw was kind enough to introduce me to the new single by Patrick Wolf. It's incredibly catchy and happy. I encourage you to listen to it as well :D.
This is what you come up with when you discuss the possibility of blind people being able to hunt in texas with a friend. Firstly, at the end of the article, it mentions Cheney accidently shooting his friend while hunting for quail. He's not blind, imagine what they'll do :o.
Second - I don't like hunting for sport. I understand if people are actually eating the animals...but hunting just for fun is not cool...not to mention there's meat in grocery stores.
So, I told my friend "I don't understand, it's like you and I are having a snowball fight, and then a cow decides to shoot us just for fun".
him: "lol, dont ask me, i dont get it either.. and most definitely don't want to be shot by a cow..."
me: "yeah I'm imagining this rampaging cow..."
him: "with a crossbow...on a tree shooting hunters"
alright, good stuff. That explains the cow on the tree.
Now for pizza.
I had two finals in two days, mind boggle, completely saturated. Need some time to empty it of previous course content and prepare it for the upcoming finals next week. So, my friend and I decide we should meet, drink tea and eat foodies. What? We decided to make pizza from scratch. He made the dough this morning (1.5 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 pouch of yeast, knead it 5 mins, let it sit for at least one hour, roll it out, awesomeness in a ball).
What did we put on it? Onions, mushrooms, pineapples, olives, gouda cheese and tofu (we cut it in thin slices, put a mixture of soy sauce, worchestershire sauce (whatever it's called), liquid smoke and black pepper on it...then baked it for 20 mins on 375 F. It was crispy and awesome...kinda tasted like bacon o_O), and we also put this kinda ketchup chili sauce on the actual crust. We baked that for 20 mins on 400 F.
It was a pretty much improvised recipe apart from the crust. It turned out great though...absolutely yummy. Crust was just right. It even tastes good kinda cold...and we didn't smother it in cheese too.
Anyways, so he walked me to the metro later...and he was saying bye bye...and I was saying "indeed, we did some great pizza..." and then he's giving me this kinda gun shot wink thing, then I said "shooting" instead of "making" when I saw his hand gesture. This resulted in much laughter and then remembered the evil rampaging cow who hides in the tree shooting humans, now with pizza as ammo.
My ms paint skills are not super awesome, but I think that cow looks angry.
Right now, I'm hoping that the cow shoots the people who made the FIVE arcade fire shows sell out in less than a day at 3 selling spots + admission.com. They will probably come again, but it's insane.
Anyways, I must go.
You guys should eat our pizza if only because pineapples rule the fruit kingdom. They even have spiky crowns.
So, I'm checking meteomedia.com this morning...checking out the weather.
...UN DEBUT DE DECEMBRE TOURMENTE...UNE INTENSE DEPRESSION PROVENANT DU SUD DES GRANDS-LACS REMONTERA VERS LA NOUVELLE-ANGLETERRE CE SOIR.
It's so dramatic, it's awesome. haha. So yeah, November has been pretty nice to us Montrealers...even yesterday, it was 15 degrees C, a little rain, but tolerable. My russian teacher said it's the day before december and it's so warm, no snow. (btw, in russian class yesterday, we had to sing O Christmas Tree in russian. Much fun was had. We all sucked)
HAHA, well, now...switch to december. BAM. Freezing rain warnings...snow in the next few days, and temperatures dropping below zero. Just like that. I just hope that the McGill students on Dr. Penfield don't experience a similar slippery fate, like they did last year...with the firetrucks and ladders.
I'm hoping for some nice winter nights, with snow and such. Walk around in a park where the lights shimmer on the snow :D
So, now that leads me to "Songs for Christmas". Paw is awesome for telling me about it...because I bought it soon after. It's Christmas 5 eps made by Sufjan Stevens. He recorded one every years, starting from 2001, with the exception of 2004 when he was working on Illinois.
The songs are incredibly catchy and happy.
One of the best lines from the song "Get behind me Santa!" Is "you move so fast boy, like a psychopathic color tv" <- referring to santa. Other fave songs so far are: Sister Winter Come thou fount of every blessing Once in Royal David's City Christmas in July Star of Wonder Holy, Holy, Holy If you'd like to hear the stuff, all of the cd's are streaming here
Only 25 days till xmas, which means no school...decorating someone's tree, getting a santa hat, awesome foodies, general chilling...and whatever else people do at xmas.
Well, it's school time. 2nd to last day of classes!
Lataaaaaaaaaa
...UN DEBUT DE DECEMBRE TOURMENTE...UNE INTENSE DEPRESSION PROVENANT DU SUD DES GRANDS-LACS REMONTERA VERS LA NOUVELLE-ANGLETERRE CE SOIR.
It's so dramatic, it's awesome. haha. So yeah, November has been pretty nice to us Montrealers...even yesterday, it was 15 degrees C, a little rain, but tolerable. My russian teacher said it's the day before december and it's so warm, no snow. (btw, in russian class yesterday, we had to sing O Christmas Tree in russian. Much fun was had. We all sucked)
HAHA, well, now...switch to december. BAM. Freezing rain warnings...snow in the next few days, and temperatures dropping below zero. Just like that. I just hope that the McGill students on Dr. Penfield don't experience a similar slippery fate, like they did last year...with the firetrucks and ladders.
I'm hoping for some nice winter nights, with snow and such. Walk around in a park where the lights shimmer on the snow :D
So, now that leads me to "Songs for Christmas". Paw is awesome for telling me about it...because I bought it soon after. It's Christmas 5 eps made by Sufjan Stevens. He recorded one every years, starting from 2001, with the exception of 2004 when he was working on Illinois.
The songs are incredibly catchy and happy.
One of the best lines from the song "Get behind me Santa!" Is "you move so fast boy, like a psychopathic color tv" <- referring to santa. Other fave songs so far are: Sister Winter Come thou fount of every blessing Once in Royal David's City Christmas in July Star of Wonder Holy, Holy, Holy If you'd like to hear the stuff, all of the cd's are streaming here
Only 25 days till xmas, which means no school...decorating someone's tree, getting a santa hat, awesome foodies, general chilling...and whatever else people do at xmas.
Well, it's school time. 2nd to last day of classes!
Lataaaaaaaaaa
Yes, it is true. Imogen Heap rocks much. Her rockingness holds no bounds.
The coolest vegan and I went to see her on Tuesday @ The Metropolis...this is the second time we've seen her. One great thing is that Imogen never does the same thing twice. While the songs may have been the same, she has a new spin on them everytime. She also has a knack for choosing the coolest opening acts.
Last time it was Zoe Keating - a cellist. Totally awesome. When she joined imogen on stage during her songs, it made for a kinda softer/more mellow feel.
This time there was Levi Weaver and Kid Beyond.
Levi is kinda like alternative/folk rock. Nice stuff...he has a good sense of humor...although kinda morbid at some times (when he was introducing his last song, he was sayin how he was driving his car, and he was joking bout how in england they call flashers something else...in anycase, he said he turned on the wrong one, and then a truck hit his car. His bro was in the passenger seat and he died. So he dedicated the song to him. But it's like, everyone's hahaha...then whoa...that sucks <_<).
Now Kid Beyond. Holy crapola. It's like his has a drum machine in his mouth. This dude is sic. I mean I don't typically listen to that kinda stuff often...but we were just amazed. On his site he has a clip of how he does the stuff, and there's also a clip on youtube of him doing a cover of Portishead's Heads - Wandering Star .
Imogen Heap came on around 9:15 pm. She had a live band this time (not only her parrot - aka her keyboard/looper). There was a drummer, bassist and her schnazzy new transparent and white piano. She was wearing a pink corset and a pink floofy skirt...funky hair as usual. Same quirky sense of humor.
She played (in no particular order):
She collaborated with Levi and Kid for some songs...truely amazing. Kid's doing all these technoish sounds just with his mouth. Levi's guitar added some cool stuff to the songs.
Also, this is probably one of the first times that I wasn't in the crowd (on floor) at a concert (at least at the metropolis. Not counting the bell center because it's huge...I don't wanna be on floor there because if you have to pee you'll lose your place/hard to get back in). It's a totally different feeling. For one, it's less crowded/sweaty. We wandered around a few times to find better spots. Secondly, my ears weren't ringing...which is always good. I think for that night it was appropriate since I was pretty tired. In anycase, both are enjoyable.
I do not have pics of this event...will possibly have video later. The cool one took a few clips during the show for her sis. I'll see if I can get them lata.
If imogen comes again, you guys should totally go. Worth it!
Also, another that happened that day - I was wounded by a bagel during the vegan cheese hunt. Not the softies from montreal bagel mind you. I went to an Eastern European store called Bucarest. It's on Decarie just south of queen mary. They have these cool little round, dry bagels on a string. If you want you can wear it as a necklace and eat them off of there. Instead I decided to break them off. Whilst in the process of breaking one...it scraped my index and middle finger. I didn't realize this till bout 5 mins later. Then I told my friend "my god man, the bagel wounded me. I'm bleeding"
"Deadly bagel!"
So if you happen to have these, you can use them as a weapon. Muahaha. You can either
1) Throw the bagel necklace at the person offending you
2) break one in half and scrape them multiple times
3) whatever else you can think of doing with bagels
The best thing to do though is to eat them. They're quite yummy.
Anyways, that's enough for now.
Adios.
The coolest vegan and I went to see her on Tuesday @ The Metropolis...this is the second time we've seen her. One great thing is that Imogen never does the same thing twice. While the songs may have been the same, she has a new spin on them everytime. She also has a knack for choosing the coolest opening acts.
Last time it was Zoe Keating - a cellist. Totally awesome. When she joined imogen on stage during her songs, it made for a kinda softer/more mellow feel.
This time there was Levi Weaver and Kid Beyond.
Levi is kinda like alternative/folk rock. Nice stuff...he has a good sense of humor...although kinda morbid at some times (when he was introducing his last song, he was sayin how he was driving his car, and he was joking bout how in england they call flashers something else...in anycase, he said he turned on the wrong one, and then a truck hit his car. His bro was in the passenger seat and he died. So he dedicated the song to him. But it's like, everyone's hahaha...then whoa...that sucks <_<).
Now Kid Beyond. Holy crapola. It's like his has a drum machine in his mouth. This dude is sic. I mean I don't typically listen to that kinda stuff often...but we were just amazed. On his site he has a clip of how he does the stuff, and there's also a clip on youtube of him doing a cover of Portishead's Heads - Wandering Star .
Imogen Heap came on around 9:15 pm. She had a live band this time (not only her parrot - aka her keyboard/looper). There was a drummer, bassist and her schnazzy new transparent and white piano. She was wearing a pink corset and a pink floofy skirt...funky hair as usual. Same quirky sense of humor.
She played (in no particular order):
- Headlock
- Goodnight and Go
- Have you got it in you
- Speeding Cars
- Clear the Area
- Daylight Robbery
- The Walk
- Just for now
- Closing In
- The moment I said it
- Hide and Seek
- Let go
- and another song from her first album...but I forgot the name. All she said was she never played it in the USA or Canada before.
She collaborated with Levi and Kid for some songs...truely amazing. Kid's doing all these technoish sounds just with his mouth. Levi's guitar added some cool stuff to the songs.
Also, this is probably one of the first times that I wasn't in the crowd (on floor) at a concert (at least at the metropolis. Not counting the bell center because it's huge...I don't wanna be on floor there because if you have to pee you'll lose your place/hard to get back in). It's a totally different feeling. For one, it's less crowded/sweaty. We wandered around a few times to find better spots. Secondly, my ears weren't ringing...which is always good. I think for that night it was appropriate since I was pretty tired. In anycase, both are enjoyable.
I do not have pics of this event...will possibly have video later. The cool one took a few clips during the show for her sis. I'll see if I can get them lata.
If imogen comes again, you guys should totally go. Worth it!
Also, another that happened that day - I was wounded by a bagel during the vegan cheese hunt. Not the softies from montreal bagel mind you. I went to an Eastern European store called Bucarest. It's on Decarie just south of queen mary. They have these cool little round, dry bagels on a string. If you want you can wear it as a necklace and eat them off of there. Instead I decided to break them off. Whilst in the process of breaking one...it scraped my index and middle finger. I didn't realize this till bout 5 mins later. Then I told my friend "my god man, the bagel wounded me. I'm bleeding"
"Deadly bagel!"
So if you happen to have these, you can use them as a weapon. Muahaha. You can either
1) Throw the bagel necklace at the person offending you
2) break one in half and scrape them multiple times
3) whatever else you can think of doing with bagels
The best thing to do though is to eat them. They're quite yummy.
Anyways, that's enough for now.
Adios.
Paw has also posted about this concert.
Twas a shivery day...we arrived at the Metropolis at about 6:15pm. Doors opened at 6:30. By the time we got there, there was already quite a line up. Even so, we managed to get pretty good spots...3rd/4th row back from the barrier. The only problem, as paw noted, was the two tall guys in front of us. I was able to see most times, but sometimes they'd just stand right in front. booooo.
Ted Leo + the pharamacists was the opening band. I didn't really know much about them...maybe heard one or two songs from paw's awesome music mixes. I'd say they're good dancy/party music for the summer. She kindly sent me some songs...the one I enjoyed most was "Timorous Me" which has a kinda irish guitar sound going on about halfway. Most excellent.
At about 9:10, Death Cab for Cutie took the stage. They were more rocking than I was expecting. On their cd's they sound more or less mellow, with the exception of some bouncy/happy songs. But that's more like wheee, not rawr I can jump to this.
I'm glad that they were so energetic live, because eventhough I enjoy the studio albums, I don't want just a repeat of it (like most people :D). So yay for rocking death cab. (There was one song in particular where there was like a 4 minute drum duo...Ben on a mini drum set and the drummer doing his thing, while other guitarist was on the piano. I think it was we looked like giants).
I tried to remember all the songs they played...there's a few I forgot and some that I didn't know the names of. But all in all, they played the songs I wanted them to play. Here's what I remembered (in no particular order really...except I know for sure that the sound of settling, tiny vessels, and transatlaticism were last, they were part of the encore):
Below are some photos taken by Paw.
This was at the end of "Transatlaticism". Ben Gibbard came toward the crowd and was singing "So come ooooooon". Everyone sang along. He really loved that. He also brought 3 people on stage to sing the "Come on" part, and they really got into it...especially one girl with red hair.
Paw also took some videos. The sound is pretty good considering it was taken on a digital camera. The first one is "I will follow you into the dark" and the second is "Title and Registration". Just little clips of like 45 and 17 seconds respectively.
http://download.yousendit.com/3D90B95F1833160D
http://download.yousendit.com/FAD25D925FCD9744
Twas a shivery day...we arrived at the Metropolis at about 6:15pm. Doors opened at 6:30. By the time we got there, there was already quite a line up. Even so, we managed to get pretty good spots...3rd/4th row back from the barrier. The only problem, as paw noted, was the two tall guys in front of us. I was able to see most times, but sometimes they'd just stand right in front. booooo.
Ted Leo + the pharamacists was the opening band. I didn't really know much about them...maybe heard one or two songs from paw's awesome music mixes. I'd say they're good dancy/party music for the summer. She kindly sent me some songs...the one I enjoyed most was "Timorous Me" which has a kinda irish guitar sound going on about halfway. Most excellent.
At about 9:10, Death Cab for Cutie took the stage. They were more rocking than I was expecting. On their cd's they sound more or less mellow, with the exception of some bouncy/happy songs. But that's more like wheee, not rawr I can jump to this.
I'm glad that they were so energetic live, because eventhough I enjoy the studio albums, I don't want just a repeat of it (like most people :D). So yay for rocking death cab. (There was one song in particular where there was like a 4 minute drum duo...Ben on a mini drum set and the drummer doing his thing, while other guitarist was on the piano. I think it was we looked like giants).
I tried to remember all the songs they played...there's a few I forgot and some that I didn't know the names of. But all in all, they played the songs I wanted them to play. Here's what I remembered (in no particular order really...except I know for sure that the sound of settling, tiny vessels, and transatlaticism were last, they were part of the encore):
- Your heart is an empty room
- Photobooth
- The new year
- Crooked teeth
- Title and Registration
- Expo 86
- We looked like giants
- Soul Meets body
- Marching bands of manhattan
- Summer skin
- I will follow you into the dark
- What Sarah Said
- The sound of settling
- Tiny Vessels
- Transatlaticism
Below are some photos taken by Paw.
This was at the end of "Transatlaticism". Ben Gibbard came toward the crowd and was singing "So come ooooooon". Everyone sang along. He really loved that. He also brought 3 people on stage to sing the "Come on" part, and they really got into it...especially one girl with red hair.
Paw also took some videos. The sound is pretty good considering it was taken on a digital camera. The first one is "I will follow you into the dark" and the second is "Title and Registration". Just little clips of like 45 and 17 seconds respectively.http://download.yousendit.com/3D90B95F1833160D
http://download.yousendit.com/FAD25D925FCD9744
This is my 4th blog entry in 4 days, and while it is probably due to a combination of having things to say and procrastination (always during midterms period), I feel like I've sold my soul to the internet. Chatting for hours on MSN, visiting message boards, downloading various multimedia, that's alright. But blogging everyday is foreign to me...and most people I know don't do that.
My friend's take on this: "Sell your soul to the internet - Brought to you by the Devil's internet provider".
In anycase, today's procrasinatory tidbit has to do with a discovery I made today:
I was reading demonbaby's latest post about poop to my mom earlier this evening (it's quite funny), when the telephone rang. So I started fiddling around with my laptop keyboard...which in the past has caused me much grief (but I accepted it as part of life and just dealt with it).
Here is, what I thought was the cause of my keyboard woe:
About 1.5 years ago, at the beginning of March 2005, was the funeral of a friend of mine. Sad day, as can be expected. After coming home from the service, I decided to turn on my laptop and then make myself a cup of tea. I'm walking into the living room with my cup and then I trip. Naturally the tea spilled all over my laptop. What followed after was "AHHHH...SHIT, damnit, freaking...fuckin, blarghy, mrar" and so on. I turned off the computer, flipped it over, and lay it on paper towels in an attempt to save its life.
After I tried turning it on hours later, there was a black screen...a few hours later, some error messages. Things that I don't like to see. I forgot what exactly I did after, but it somehow started working again. hoorah. all is well in the world...until about 1 month later, my keyboard started doing funky things when I typed.
For example, if I typed gmail, it would come up as g0a53.c60.
I thought that maybe this was a delayed response to the tea incident. I didn't know what to do. The only thing that seemed to work was plugging an external keyboard to the back of my laptop, and then somehow, all the keys worked perfectly. I sent it to a computer fixer dude who my family knows. He had no solution. Karate teachers husband..."well, i guess the external keyboard overwrites any signal your shortcircuited keyboard sends to your computer" (not his exact words, but something like that). Someone upstairs who got himself a new laptop, donated his old laptop keyboard to me (which was of the same make). We installed it...still the same problem.
So for 1.5 years, I've been plugging this large, old, external keyboard into my laptop to be able to type properly. During that time, my mom even offered to get me a new laptop. But I figured I could survive like this for a while.
So here's the discovery. I only found out today (after 4 years of owning this thing), that laptop keyboards have numlock. I figured that the keyboard area is so small, that numlock just didn't exist, and there was no real reason to have it anyways.
I noticed that the little green light was on where the numlock thing is, which indicated that numlock has been on all this time. I turn it off...lo and behold, I can type.
On the one hand, I'm really happy that my keyboard is fine after all and my laptop doesn't need changing. But I also feel really, really, really stupid. All this time I had been blaming the tea incident for my keyboard problems, when it was just numlock, that for some reason had been turned on for 1.5 years. I'm only comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only one that missed it. Still. You may all laugh now.
-signing off...and feeling slightly sheepish.
My friend's take on this: "Sell your soul to the internet - Brought to you by the Devil's internet provider".
In anycase, today's procrasinatory tidbit has to do with a discovery I made today:
I was reading demonbaby's latest post about poop to my mom earlier this evening (it's quite funny), when the telephone rang. So I started fiddling around with my laptop keyboard...which in the past has caused me much grief (but I accepted it as part of life and just dealt with it).
Here is, what I thought was the cause of my keyboard woe:
About 1.5 years ago, at the beginning of March 2005, was the funeral of a friend of mine. Sad day, as can be expected. After coming home from the service, I decided to turn on my laptop and then make myself a cup of tea. I'm walking into the living room with my cup and then I trip. Naturally the tea spilled all over my laptop. What followed after was "AHHHH...SHIT, damnit, freaking...fuckin, blarghy, mrar" and so on. I turned off the computer, flipped it over, and lay it on paper towels in an attempt to save its life.
After I tried turning it on hours later, there was a black screen...a few hours later, some error messages. Things that I don't like to see. I forgot what exactly I did after, but it somehow started working again. hoorah. all is well in the world...until about 1 month later, my keyboard started doing funky things when I typed.
For example, if I typed gmail, it would come up as g0a53.c60.
I thought that maybe this was a delayed response to the tea incident. I didn't know what to do. The only thing that seemed to work was plugging an external keyboard to the back of my laptop, and then somehow, all the keys worked perfectly. I sent it to a computer fixer dude who my family knows. He had no solution. Karate teachers husband..."well, i guess the external keyboard overwrites any signal your shortcircuited keyboard sends to your computer" (not his exact words, but something like that). Someone upstairs who got himself a new laptop, donated his old laptop keyboard to me (which was of the same make). We installed it...still the same problem.
So for 1.5 years, I've been plugging this large, old, external keyboard into my laptop to be able to type properly. During that time, my mom even offered to get me a new laptop. But I figured I could survive like this for a while.
So here's the discovery. I only found out today (after 4 years of owning this thing), that laptop keyboards have numlock. I figured that the keyboard area is so small, that numlock just didn't exist, and there was no real reason to have it anyways.
I noticed that the little green light was on where the numlock thing is, which indicated that numlock has been on all this time. I turn it off...lo and behold, I can type.
On the one hand, I'm really happy that my keyboard is fine after all and my laptop doesn't need changing. But I also feel really, really, really stupid. All this time I had been blaming the tea incident for my keyboard problems, when it was just numlock, that for some reason had been turned on for 1.5 years. I'm only comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only one that missed it. Still. You may all laugh now.
-signing off...and feeling slightly sheepish.
And I like lists.
I was blog browsing and found a post about "Musical horoscopes". I don't see how it's a horoscope at all (doesn't even correspond to the number of signs in the zodiac...in anycase). All you do is shuffle your music list and write down the first 10 that show up. So now you can all see some of the music I listen to. yayishnest.
Behold, my "Musical Horoscope" for today:
I'm rather pleased with the outcome...I enjoyed listening to all of them. Haven't listened to Radiohead, Death Cab, Coldplay, YYY or AF in a while. Good stuff.
Anyways, on the topic of music lists. There's this thing I did on a message board (ts.net :D) in 2004, called "The Soundtrack to your life". I've done it 3 times (keeping a record of each to compare). Here's the most recent (April 22, 2006) , with what intended to be a few song modifications...whee
I was blog browsing and found a post about "Musical horoscopes". I don't see how it's a horoscope at all (doesn't even correspond to the number of signs in the zodiac...in anycase). All you do is shuffle your music list and write down the first 10 that show up. So now you can all see some of the music I listen to. yayishnest.
Behold, my "Musical Horoscope" for today:
1) Type O Negative – White Slavery
2) Placebo – Spite and Malice
3) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion
4) Radiohead – Anyone can play guitar
5) The Tiger Lillies – Snip Snip
6) The Arcade Fire – In the backseat
7) Coldplay – Proof
8) U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Rattle and Hum live)
9) Death Cab for Cutie – Brothers on a Hotel Bed
10) Radiohead - Permanent Daylight
and an extra - Mindless Self Indulgence - Shut Me UpI'm rather pleased with the outcome...I enjoyed listening to all of them. Haven't listened to Radiohead, Death Cab, Coldplay, YYY or AF in a while. Good stuff.
Anyways, on the topic of music lists. There's this thing I did on a message board (ts.net :D) in 2004, called "The Soundtrack to your life". I've done it 3 times (keeping a record of each to compare). Here's the most recent (April 22, 2006) , with what intended to be a few song modifications...whee
*Opening Credits: Mum – Green Grass of Tunnel
*Waking Up Scene: Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla
*Average Day Scene: Modest Mouse – The World at large
*One Night Stand Scene: Silverchair - Steam will Rise
*First Date Scene: The Crystals - Then he kissed me
*Falling In Love Scene: Pete Townshend - Let my love Open the door (e.cola mix)
*Sex Scene: Massive Attack – Risingson
*Fight with Friend Scene: Thom Yorke - Analyze
*Break Up Scene: Devotchka – How it Ends
*Get Back Together Scene: Sondre Lerche – You know so well
*Life's Okay Scene: The Beatles – Obladi Oblada
*Heartbreak Scene: Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek
*Mental Breakdown Scene: Ladytron - Cracked LCD (live in Sofia)
*Driving Scene: The Cure - Disintegration
*Lesson Learned Scene: Malcolm Middleton – Crappo the Clown
*Deep Thought Scene: VNV Nation – Endless Skies
*Flashback Scene: Les Tetes Raides – Ginette
*Party Scene: Party Monster OST - Money, Success, Fame, Glamour/Le Rock 01
*Summer music: Kaoma - Lambada/Daddy Yankee - Gasolina
*Back to School: Final Fantasy – The CN Tower Belongs to the dead
*Happy Dance Scene: T-Rex - Children of the Revolution
*Regret Scene: New Order - Ceremony
*Long Night Alone Scene: Michael Andrews - Mad World
*Saying Goodbye: Bajaga - Moji Drugovi (means "my friends" in serbian)
*Closing Credits: The Pixies – This monkey’s gone to heaven
I am the worst breed of Canadian born Nigerian (of the ngwa sector). I can pronounce various words (mostly numbers) in about 10 other languges...count like a CBC (canadian born chinese - told to me be a few chinese people, not my own evaluation), sing in Russian, but cannot say dad properly in Igbo (the languge in south eastern nigeria, which my dad speaks). I don't blame him for being slightly depressed.
In my 21 years of existence, I learned how to count, say hello, greetings and thank you - all with horrible pronunciation. Whenever people ask me to teach them something, I refuse...just because I suck. I end up mumbling...It's pretty embarassing.
My dad suggested that while learning russian, I send him some of the words they give us to learn by email and he'll translate it to Igbo. Cool! Instead of emailing him, I just wrote it down and discussed with him on Friday night.
I discovered a trend, woohoo...adding various suffixes to words changes its meaning (like in possessive terms).
my - mo
yours - nkege (short form - ge)
theirs - nkha (sf - ha)
ours - anye
hers/his - nkya
so if I wanted to say my mom, you would do mom + my -> nne + mo = nnemo. Our mom would be nneanye. Not to be confused with anya which means eyes.
What's also great is, like russian there are no articles.
So what's the problem? Tone Difficulties.
During my study break (which has now lasted for 1 hour - far too long), I decided to look up Igbo on the internet. It led me to an article on wikipedia:
Igbo (also known, less commonly, as Ibo; asụsụ Ndi Igbo in Igbo) is a language spoken in Nigeria by around 18 million speakers (the Igbo), especially in the southeastern region once identified as Biafra. It is written in the Roman script. Igbo is a tonal language, like Yoruba and Chinese.
note - Yoruba is a language spoken in Western nigeria.
YAY, tones. Wonderful tones. I already screw up some words in Russian because of stresses (or just misread words completely. Example: thursday I read bad city and somehow made city feminine instead of saying bad weather. City is gorod and Weather is pagoda. I dunno how I did that).
Instead of saying King ( eze - with a kind of low tone at the end - also used as a name) I say tooth (high tone), just because of these doomful tones. (When I learned Eze was tooth, intially I'd asked my dad..."why would someone name their child tooth?")
Apparently in Mandarin (I dunno how true this is, I got it from a website) -
Just by saying "ma" in different tones, you can ask, "Did mother scold the horse?" - (mā mà mă ma?)
So, I shall make the Igbo equivalent Tooth King...or alternatively King Tooth. Whichever you like best.
(The Tooth King could be the ruler of the tooth fairy kingdom and set up dispatching schedules for all the shaky teeth around the world. I'd imagine that the King Tooth would be one of the molars though... Not wisdom teeth, they're kinda like the wise old village men.)
In anycase, these tone difficulties only encourage me to eventually master (or at least know enough to come across knowing something without sounding stupid) these languages. Mandarin and Cantonese were already on my list of future languages to learn (probably mandarin first), and Igbo because it's 1/2 of me. (the other half - french has been studied many times as part of the curriculum at school :P).
I figure once I do these harder languages, ones slightly related to them will be a lot easier to learn.
This is what I know and what I'd like to learn - ambitious list and I doubt I'll get to know most of them...but it'd be fun.
Legend:
Yes! = I know it, mostly
IP = In Progress/Counting rocks
N = Nothing
Yes!
English
French
IP (hoping to do most of these...the one that'll probably suffer is tagalog.)
German (#1-10)
Spanish (#1-10/hello/goodnight)
Mandarin (#1-10/hello)
Cantonese (#1-10/hello)
Japanese (#1-10/tidbits/karate terminology + singing along to songs)
Tagalog (#1-5/ 6-10 always escape me)
Igbo (you know the story)
Russian (learning that right now at school)
Nothing (* priority over others)
*Dutch (recently added - shall be difficult)
*Italian (slightly related to french or so mommy says...hoping that when I tackle it, it won't be so bad)
Portuguese (toughest of latin languages, god help me)
Vietnamese (this is gonna be really hard)
Korean ( a friend of mine wants to learn it one day, I said I wouldn't mind joining in)
*Icelandic (the spy machine is pretty much what I know)
*Arabic ( I could've put this in IP, but I can't even count, I just know hurry, I love you, sweety and it's enough)
Hindi/Punjabi/Tamil - one of the three and I'll be happy.
Classical Tibetan (my friend is learning that now and it looks so cool. I'm interested :P)
If any of you are interested in learning more about Igbo Language, I found this site today: http://uwandiigbo.com/wb/pages/lessons.php
It has 12 lessons, some of which are accompanied by an mp3 to show you how to pronounce sounds. There are some words that my dad uses which are not included in the lessons (like in the greetings), but it's a lot more than I've found in the past about this language.
And since I don't even know how to say "Bye", here's how to say Greetings - "Ndewo".
In my 21 years of existence, I learned how to count, say hello, greetings and thank you - all with horrible pronunciation. Whenever people ask me to teach them something, I refuse...just because I suck. I end up mumbling...It's pretty embarassing.
My dad suggested that while learning russian, I send him some of the words they give us to learn by email and he'll translate it to Igbo. Cool! Instead of emailing him, I just wrote it down and discussed with him on Friday night.
I discovered a trend, woohoo...adding various suffixes to words changes its meaning (like in possessive terms).
my - mo
yours - nkege (short form - ge)
theirs - nkha (sf - ha)
ours - anye
hers/his - nkya
so if I wanted to say my mom, you would do mom + my -> nne + mo = nnemo. Our mom would be nneanye. Not to be confused with anya which means eyes.
What's also great is, like russian there are no articles.
So what's the problem? Tone Difficulties.
During my study break (which has now lasted for 1 hour - far too long), I decided to look up Igbo on the internet. It led me to an article on wikipedia:
Igbo (also known, less commonly, as Ibo; asụsụ Ndi Igbo in Igbo) is a language spoken in Nigeria by around 18 million speakers (the Igbo), especially in the southeastern region once identified as Biafra. It is written in the Roman script. Igbo is a tonal language, like Yoruba and Chinese.
note - Yoruba is a language spoken in Western nigeria.
YAY, tones. Wonderful tones. I already screw up some words in Russian because of stresses (or just misread words completely. Example: thursday I read bad city and somehow made city feminine instead of saying bad weather. City is gorod and Weather is pagoda. I dunno how I did that).
Instead of saying King ( eze - with a kind of low tone at the end - also used as a name) I say tooth (high tone), just because of these doomful tones. (When I learned Eze was tooth, intially I'd asked my dad..."why would someone name their child tooth?")
Apparently in Mandarin (I dunno how true this is, I got it from a website) -
Just by saying "ma" in different tones, you can ask, "Did mother scold the horse?" - (mā mà mă ma?)
So, I shall make the Igbo equivalent Tooth King...or alternatively King Tooth. Whichever you like best.
(The Tooth King could be the ruler of the tooth fairy kingdom and set up dispatching schedules for all the shaky teeth around the world. I'd imagine that the King Tooth would be one of the molars though... Not wisdom teeth, they're kinda like the wise old village men.)
In anycase, these tone difficulties only encourage me to eventually master (or at least know enough to come across knowing something without sounding stupid) these languages. Mandarin and Cantonese were already on my list of future languages to learn (probably mandarin first), and Igbo because it's 1/2 of me. (the other half - french has been studied many times as part of the curriculum at school :P).
I figure once I do these harder languages, ones slightly related to them will be a lot easier to learn.
This is what I know and what I'd like to learn - ambitious list and I doubt I'll get to know most of them...but it'd be fun.
Legend:
Yes! = I know it, mostly
IP = In Progress/Counting rocks
N = Nothing
Yes!
English
French
IP (hoping to do most of these...the one that'll probably suffer is tagalog.)
German (#1-10)
Spanish (#1-10/hello/goodnight)
Mandarin (#1-10/hello)
Cantonese (#1-10/hello)
Japanese (#1-10/tidbits/karate terminology + singing along to songs)
Tagalog (#1-5/ 6-10 always escape me)
Igbo (you know the story)
Russian (learning that right now at school)
Nothing (* priority over others)
*Dutch (recently added - shall be difficult)
*Italian (slightly related to french or so mommy says...hoping that when I tackle it, it won't be so bad)
Portuguese (toughest of latin languages, god help me)
Vietnamese (this is gonna be really hard)
Korean ( a friend of mine wants to learn it one day, I said I wouldn't mind joining in)
*Icelandic (the spy machine is pretty much what I know)
*Arabic ( I could've put this in IP, but I can't even count, I just know hurry, I love you, sweety and it's enough)
Hindi/Punjabi/Tamil - one of the three and I'll be happy.
Classical Tibetan (my friend is learning that now and it looks so cool. I'm interested :P)
If any of you are interested in learning more about Igbo Language, I found this site today: http://uwandiigbo.com/wb/pages/lessons.php
It has 12 lessons, some of which are accompanied by an mp3 to show you how to pronounce sounds. There are some words that my dad uses which are not included in the lessons (like in the greetings), but it's a lot more than I've found in the past about this language.
And since I don't even know how to say "Bye", here's how to say Greetings - "Ndewo".
Firstly, I'd like to inform you all, that on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at about 7:45pm, a bag of Ginger Green Tea that had been in my bag since August 12, 2006 (a gift from a fellow counsellor), was consumed. Here's the play by play:
1) water was boiled in a pot
2) after the water was boiled, the tea bag was placed inside the pot...and it steeped. (we huddled around the pot waiting for our tea)
3) poured it into 2 cups...and went back to the couch to continue viewing "Goodbye Lenin!" (excellent movie by the way).
This is what fall is all about. Sitting in front of a fire, drinking tea and watching movies.
After the movie, we ate foodies with his parents. It was boiled carrots and turnips (butter optional - but was nice and melty), some kinda pickled onions, and bread (not just any bread, it was baguette).
Tea friend mentioned that the bread was pretty good. Sir Tea said well "It's just from IGA, didn't make it to premiere moisson in time. But better than industrial bread".
Mrs. Tea says "le pain industriel, ce n'est pas du pain, c'est du "Blegh"". Basically, industrial bread is not bread, it is yucky. It's too soft, doesn't have much flavor, etc.
"Tu sais, le pain POM...un si bon nom, pour un pain si "bleh"."
I found out that night that POM means "Pride of Montreal". Mrs Tea then said that she understands why people like montreal bagel, because it's real bread baked in those nice wood ovens. Ah yes...wonderful fresh bagels. yum. (His dad also mentioned in passing that cockroaches give bagels their real flavor. Then his mom said that that's how Raisin danishes were created. She's joking of course... :P)
Anyways, after thinking about the state of bread for a little bit, it's pretty true. However, there are presliced industrial breads that are not as bad as others. I don't remember all of them, but I shall make an attempt to rank the bread that I know. Feel free to add any breads you know...if you feel so inclined to comment.
1)POM - everyone knows pom. It comes presliced in white and whole wheat flour varieties. It's soft and squishy, very square. I'd say it's decent and convenient. 6/10
2)Country Harvest - they've got a whole selection of breads...the 12 grain, 7 grain, stone ground, flax seed. I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with this one, just because of the selection, some of them are organic and there's little to no white flour in most of them. My only complaint is that I've found some moldy ones sometimes. That's the supermarket's fault, not theirs though. Stone ground for the win. 8/10
3)Zellers sandwich bread (probably not the exact name, but whatever) - it's cheap...something like 1$. It's nasty. My mom says it sticks to your palette (like most long loaf, thin square sandwich bread. Good for toast, but lacks personality). Not my style. D: 2/10
4)D'italiano - white and whole wheat varieties. Before crossing over to the country harvest side, this was my family's bread of choice. Soft, tastier than most and not thin/lacking substance. They used to have one style of white bread that had sesame seeds on the crust...don't see that anymore though. Only on their hamburger buns. saddness. 7/10
5)Bread from La Vielle Europe - this store owns. So anything from this store owns. I don't get to go often, only because I have to travel on the orange line for about 20 mins, then walk for 10. I won't do that only for bread (for wild cherry tea on the other hand...- I'll have to make a tea post one day). In anycase, their bread is nice, tasty, and not thin. There is real substance there. 9/10
6) Premiere Moisson - Apart from homemade bread (by people that know how to bake), this is probably one of the best. This is the bread that occupies Mr. Tea's house 90% of the time. They have sooo many different kinds, and you can have them sliced. All tasty. 9.5/10
7) This organic bread you find at health food stores...I forgot the name. It's nice and crunchy...tasty too. But not for those with weak teeth. My mom thinks it's like eating concrete...but it's really good for toast. 8/10
So, I'm going to challenge myself...just for fun. I'm going to try and avoid Industrial/Supermarket bread. My family needn't participate - they probably won't, they think my tastes are strange enough as it is. De toute facon, I got some round whole wheat bread from Exofruits today.
Oh, and another thing I got - Spaghetti Squash. For those of you who've never tried it before, it's awesome. I had it for the first time on thursday night at my karate teachers' house. All she did was steam it and when she scooped it out, it was all noodly. It blended in well with the buckwheat soba noodles. I shall attempt to recreate it tonight or tomorrow.
Alright,
Until next time
1) water was boiled in a pot
2) after the water was boiled, the tea bag was placed inside the pot...and it steeped. (we huddled around the pot waiting for our tea)
3) poured it into 2 cups...and went back to the couch to continue viewing "Goodbye Lenin!" (excellent movie by the way).
This is what fall is all about. Sitting in front of a fire, drinking tea and watching movies.
After the movie, we ate foodies with his parents. It was boiled carrots and turnips (butter optional - but was nice and melty), some kinda pickled onions, and bread (not just any bread, it was baguette).
Tea friend mentioned that the bread was pretty good. Sir Tea said well "It's just from IGA, didn't make it to premiere moisson in time. But better than industrial bread".
Mrs. Tea says "le pain industriel, ce n'est pas du pain, c'est du "Blegh"". Basically, industrial bread is not bread, it is yucky. It's too soft, doesn't have much flavor, etc.
"Tu sais, le pain POM...un si bon nom, pour un pain si "bleh"."
I found out that night that POM means "Pride of Montreal". Mrs Tea then said that she understands why people like montreal bagel, because it's real bread baked in those nice wood ovens. Ah yes...wonderful fresh bagels. yum. (His dad also mentioned in passing that cockroaches give bagels their real flavor. Then his mom said that that's how Raisin danishes were created. She's joking of course... :P)
Anyways, after thinking about the state of bread for a little bit, it's pretty true. However, there are presliced industrial breads that are not as bad as others. I don't remember all of them, but I shall make an attempt to rank the bread that I know. Feel free to add any breads you know...if you feel so inclined to comment.
1)POM - everyone knows pom. It comes presliced in white and whole wheat flour varieties. It's soft and squishy, very square. I'd say it's decent and convenient. 6/10
2)Country Harvest - they've got a whole selection of breads...the 12 grain, 7 grain, stone ground, flax seed. I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with this one, just because of the selection, some of them are organic and there's little to no white flour in most of them. My only complaint is that I've found some moldy ones sometimes. That's the supermarket's fault, not theirs though. Stone ground for the win. 8/10
3)Zellers sandwich bread (probably not the exact name, but whatever) - it's cheap...something like 1$. It's nasty. My mom says it sticks to your palette (like most long loaf, thin square sandwich bread. Good for toast, but lacks personality). Not my style. D: 2/10
4)D'italiano - white and whole wheat varieties. Before crossing over to the country harvest side, this was my family's bread of choice. Soft, tastier than most and not thin/lacking substance. They used to have one style of white bread that had sesame seeds on the crust...don't see that anymore though. Only on their hamburger buns. saddness. 7/10
5)Bread from La Vielle Europe - this store owns. So anything from this store owns. I don't get to go often, only because I have to travel on the orange line for about 20 mins, then walk for 10. I won't do that only for bread (for wild cherry tea on the other hand...- I'll have to make a tea post one day). In anycase, their bread is nice, tasty, and not thin. There is real substance there. 9/10
6) Premiere Moisson - Apart from homemade bread (by people that know how to bake), this is probably one of the best. This is the bread that occupies Mr. Tea's house 90% of the time. They have sooo many different kinds, and you can have them sliced. All tasty. 9.5/10
7) This organic bread you find at health food stores...I forgot the name. It's nice and crunchy...tasty too. But not for those with weak teeth. My mom thinks it's like eating concrete...but it's really good for toast. 8/10
So, I'm going to challenge myself...just for fun. I'm going to try and avoid Industrial/Supermarket bread. My family needn't participate - they probably won't, they think my tastes are strange enough as it is. De toute facon, I got some round whole wheat bread from Exofruits today.
Oh, and another thing I got - Spaghetti Squash. For those of you who've never tried it before, it's awesome. I had it for the first time on thursday night at my karate teachers' house. All she did was steam it and when she scooped it out, it was all noodly. It blended in well with the buckwheat soba noodles. I shall attempt to recreate it tonight or tomorrow.
Alright,
Until next time
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day while trying to decide what picture I should put up on the csme site. I showed him 4 pics, all varying in degress of rockingness.
1) I had my tongue sticking out going \m/ - total webcam fuzziness. Suiting for a VP Academic n'est pas? Seems not.
2) Halloween 2003 picture. I was supposed to be Twiggy Ramirez. According to a different friend that was in the picture too (dressed as a checkers board), I looked like someone from the band emperor...if only emperor had a female bandmate.
3) + 4) both pics from the same night at checkerface house. I was pretending to play electric guitar. I cannot play, I plonk, it sounds like crap. But that's okay. Air guitar, baby...air guitar is all you need.
So friend I'm talkin with evaluates these photos.
He sees the halloween one: "SO KISS FEEL D: - KISS feel will own all noobs "
Then guitar picture: "if that guitar look combined with halloween make up --> 200% KISS ownage"
At that moment, I had never heard such genius. I laughed...for a while. And told many people...but now I'm making sure everyone knows about 200% Kiss Ownage...as it will become part of my regular vocabulary. So when I say it, don't be shocked, alarmed, or confused...just nod in agreement.
Finally, one of the guitar pics was chosen.
Now onto other tidbits:
TA's in a slight funk:
Numerical Methods:
My general approach is to write the procedure on the board in a clear/more or less concise way, then show how to use it with the given examples. That part's good. yeah. The booboo comes when I explain. It's like when they ask a question, my answer comes out all wrong and confusing at first (I try to use the "mathematical notation as given in their notes). Then, I decide, HOLD ON MY PEOPLE, I will do this question first, and then if you are still confused ask me. Then it's all good...I'm somehow able to explain it ("yeah, dude, just...never do that for these kinda questions"). Is this normal? Or am I just a bad TA? :P
Tidbit 2:
Saw a friend on friday. Good times. Nearing the end of our encounter...she told me about this Talent Night her department is hosting in april. Her friend was thinking of doing something for it...but they weren't sure what. She thought maybe sing, but sing what? So I suggested, why not change the lyrics of a song to make it suit your field of study? Eureka! So that's what we did!
We ended up choosing the song "I still haven't found what i'm looking for"...and this was the result. (some of the stuff in there is Physical Therapy lingo...like OSCE's, rom's, mmt's. Dr. Penfield is a steep street, and osmer house is one of the mcgill PT buildings. (?) near the physio because it sounds kinda strange)
After showing this to a fellow mech. eng. friend of mine, he suggested I write one for mech eng. It sounds kinda depressing. There's no way you can modify a Nine Inch Nails song without keeping the general mood. It's slightly embarassing...for some reason. I'll post it, and then end this long ass blog post (it's to make up for my lack of activity for these passed few weeks. take intermissions if need be)
I used the song "Reptile" because it sounds so mechanical haha. Now, this song doesn't express my exact feelings about the program (there are times where I've been frustrated, but overall it's been alright. I'm not that doom)
AHHH, okay. Stop reading.
Now.
1) I had my tongue sticking out going \m/ - total webcam fuzziness. Suiting for a VP Academic n'est pas? Seems not.
2) Halloween 2003 picture. I was supposed to be Twiggy Ramirez. According to a different friend that was in the picture too (dressed as a checkers board), I looked like someone from the band emperor...if only emperor had a female bandmate.
3) + 4) both pics from the same night at checkerface house. I was pretending to play electric guitar. I cannot play, I plonk, it sounds like crap. But that's okay. Air guitar, baby...air guitar is all you need.
So friend I'm talkin with evaluates these photos.
He sees the halloween one: "SO KISS FEEL D: - KISS feel will own all noobs "
Then guitar picture: "if that guitar look combined with halloween make up --> 200% KISS ownage"
At that moment, I had never heard such genius. I laughed...for a while. And told many people...but now I'm making sure everyone knows about 200% Kiss Ownage...as it will become part of my regular vocabulary. So when I say it, don't be shocked, alarmed, or confused...just nod in agreement.
Finally, one of the guitar pics was chosen.
Now onto other tidbits:
TA's in a slight funk:
Numerical Methods:
My general approach is to write the procedure on the board in a clear/more or less concise way, then show how to use it with the given examples. That part's good. yeah. The booboo comes when I explain. It's like when they ask a question, my answer comes out all wrong and confusing at first (I try to use the "mathematical notation as given in their notes). Then, I decide, HOLD ON MY PEOPLE, I will do this question first, and then if you are still confused ask me. Then it's all good...I'm somehow able to explain it ("yeah, dude, just...never do that for these kinda questions"). Is this normal? Or am I just a bad TA? :P
Tidbit 2:
Saw a friend on friday. Good times. Nearing the end of our encounter...she told me about this Talent Night her department is hosting in april. Her friend was thinking of doing something for it...but they weren't sure what. She thought maybe sing, but sing what? So I suggested, why not change the lyrics of a song to make it suit your field of study? Eureka! So that's what we did!
We ended up choosing the song "I still haven't found what i'm looking for"...and this was the result. (some of the stuff in there is Physical Therapy lingo...like OSCE's, rom's, mmt's. Dr. Penfield is a steep street, and osmer house is one of the mcgill PT buildings. (?) near the physio because it sounds kinda strange)
I have climbed Doctor Penfield
I have run to Osmer house
To learn how to treat you
Learn how to treat you
I’ve endured many OSCE’s.
Many OSCE’s,
Only to treat you
I have touched many backs
Used my healing finger tips
That sooth while healing
Massage like no other
I’ve held the hands of the injured
To help them to walk
They won’t face this alone
Mmhmm
I assess the wounded ones
r-o-m’s and m-m-t’s
m-m-t’s…
Yes I’m still working
We’ve come this far and we’ve worked our brains
Carried the books
With so much pain
So much pain
And now I’ll be leaving
And Now I can see what I’m working for
But I still deserve more than this salary
After showing this to a fellow mech. eng. friend of mine, he suggested I write one for mech eng. It sounds kinda depressing. There's no way you can modify a Nine Inch Nails song without keeping the general mood. It's slightly embarassing...for some reason. I'll post it, and then end this long ass blog post (it's to make up for my lack of activity for these passed few weeks. take intermissions if need be)
I used the song "Reptile" because it sounds so mechanical haha. Now, this song doesn't express my exact feelings about the program (there are times where I've been frustrated, but overall it's been alright. I'm not that doom)
Books on my desk wide open to let the knowledge in
Sheets leave a trail of mistakes to show me what I've missed
Solving large equations to show where flow begins
Results from experiments produce these giant lists
Oh mech engineering
With your large course load
My desire or pain infliction
I am so unsure
Oh…
Drill it…
My head leaves from the droning sound of this torment
Give me something concrete to alleviate my bewilderment
Tell me, what is bending moment and shear stress?
Epoxy resins galore
Lathes, milling and grinding
I can take no more
Oh mech engineering
Forced convective flow
Differential Equations
What else is in store?
One more year to go
Leaving all this behind
To learn something more
AHHH, okay. Stop reading.
Now.
Well, I saw Ladytron on Sunday. I really only knew two songs (International Dateline, Playgirl). But le dude, it was tres awesome...really fun. I could always go into detail about that actual, but my friend Paw the music connaisseur has done that already. So click her blog :P.
I will however show you the setlist:
(yes twas signed by the band - this is not my copy of the setlist...it's this girl we met there, who's an uberfan. We did meet the band though and take photos with them. They're really cool and laidback people. During the show they said come with us to Cafe Cleopatra, right across from Club Soda. So of course, we go...though my friend remembered it's a nudie bar....We went anyways. There were lots of confused people outside when we got there though..thinking maybe they meant cafe cleo somewhere else. So we went back to Metropolis, saw one of the band mems, and he's like yeah, follow me, it's all good. So this was indeed the place they wanted to go to, but the room they wanted was closed - The Transvestite room. He said last time they were here, well the room was completely empty except for some trannies singing, and it was marvelous, absolutely beautiful. Not to mention it was free. Saddness, so we went with them to a club across the street and hung out a bit. The opening band was there too. Their name is CSS - I can only think of Cascaded Style Sheets...though it's spose to stand for CanSeiderSexy.
In anycase, Reuben - another band member is the one we met after Danny. He's also super laid back...though could've been the alcohol or tired neither, possibly both, either way, cool. He'd be dancing around every now and then, then taking pics with people...had a leather coat, made him look badass. Helen left early, so our uberfan friend was quite sad. Then we met Mira...kinda shy girl. I read later that she has a PhD in I think...Molecular Genetics. She's also bulgarian. Awesome! Dr. Mira sometimes sings songs in bulgarian (like true math, fighting in built up areas, discotraxxx) - It gives the song a very industrial feel. In anycase, after taking photos Paw and I left with slightly blocked and ringing ears...but a fantastic night. )
Well, I'm gonna listen to more Ladytron and do some heat transfer...good day.
PS. Entirely unrelated, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qvDzvVwVtE It's from summer when I was working at camp. We all decided to scream randomly...and it was filmed. Look at the attacked counsellor! aye, I'm too easily amused.
you should look at this too: http://www.keepersoflists.org/index.php?lid=1906
pants pants paaaants wheeeee
I will however show you the setlist:
(yes twas signed by the band - this is not my copy of the setlist...it's this girl we met there, who's an uberfan. We did meet the band though and take photos with them. They're really cool and laidback people. During the show they said come with us to Cafe Cleopatra, right across from Club Soda. So of course, we go...though my friend remembered it's a nudie bar....We went anyways. There were lots of confused people outside when we got there though..thinking maybe they meant cafe cleo somewhere else. So we went back to Metropolis, saw one of the band mems, and he's like yeah, follow me, it's all good. So this was indeed the place they wanted to go to, but the room they wanted was closed - The Transvestite room. He said last time they were here, well the room was completely empty except for some trannies singing, and it was marvelous, absolutely beautiful. Not to mention it was free. Saddness, so we went with them to a club across the street and hung out a bit. The opening band was there too. Their name is CSS - I can only think of Cascaded Style Sheets...though it's spose to stand for CanSeiderSexy. In anycase, Reuben - another band member is the one we met after Danny. He's also super laid back...though could've been the alcohol or tired neither, possibly both, either way, cool. He'd be dancing around every now and then, then taking pics with people...had a leather coat, made him look badass. Helen left early, so our uberfan friend was quite sad. Then we met Mira...kinda shy girl. I read later that she has a PhD in I think...Molecular Genetics. She's also bulgarian. Awesome! Dr. Mira sometimes sings songs in bulgarian (like true math, fighting in built up areas, discotraxxx) - It gives the song a very industrial feel. In anycase, after taking photos Paw and I left with slightly blocked and ringing ears...but a fantastic night. )
Well, I'm gonna listen to more Ladytron and do some heat transfer...good day.
PS. Entirely unrelated, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qvDzvVwVtE It's from summer when I was working at camp. We all decided to scream randomly...and it was filmed. Look at the attacked counsellor! aye, I'm too easily amused.
you should look at this too: http://www.keepersoflists.org/index.php?lid=1906
pants pants paaaants wheeeee
For those of us with a low caffiene tolerance, coffee is absolutely deadly. Combine that with sugar and tiredness, and you have the most hyper child in the universe.
Symptoms include:
-the jitters (that is, shaking legs, arms and possibly some twitching)
-fast speaking
-high pitched voice
-Short term ADD
-general fast movement (fastest typing evar mang)
-sometimes a slight redness in the cheeks.
You probably won't be able to sleep for a good while either.
If you've experienced this before, you should probably stay away from coffee because, while you think it may wake you up, it won't help your concentration in any way at all.
But for those of us who haven't learned (like me), you'll keep on doing this until you ram into a door because you were talking fast and not at all looking where you were going (didn't happen today though!).
Farewell friends. Wish me luck in dehyperization (this is not the worst case though).
omg it's 2:40 am. So I'm reading through message history and found something funny a friend said:
"when i notice that the person is pwning me with intellect, I automatically accept it, and let them ramble on and just agree with them, then I change the subject. So the conversation goes like "....and that is why japan blocking coffee export to philippines is bad for atlanta's black community." and I would go "yeah man. have you had the white kitkats? the pwn"
awesomeness prevails.
Symptoms include:
-the jitters (that is, shaking legs, arms and possibly some twitching)
-fast speaking
-high pitched voice
-Short term ADD
-general fast movement (fastest typing evar mang)
-sometimes a slight redness in the cheeks.
You probably won't be able to sleep for a good while either.
If you've experienced this before, you should probably stay away from coffee because, while you think it may wake you up, it won't help your concentration in any way at all.
But for those of us who haven't learned (like me), you'll keep on doing this until you ram into a door because you were talking fast and not at all looking where you were going (didn't happen today though!).
Farewell friends. Wish me luck in dehyperization (this is not the worst case though).
omg it's 2:40 am. So I'm reading through message history and found something funny a friend said:
"when i notice that the person is pwning me with intellect, I automatically accept it, and let them ramble on and just agree with them, then I change the subject. So the conversation goes like "....and that is why japan blocking coffee export to philippines is bad for atlanta's black community." and I would go "yeah man. have you had the white kitkats? the pwn"
awesomeness prevails.
I was browsing the cinemasmontreal site yesterday and found this movie called "The Science of Sleep". At first I thought it was a documentary of some sort talking about sleep. But alas, I was wrong.
This is the trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fkf-7Z3EdG4
It looks strange...so of course I'll have to see it at some point. If it's good I'll let y'all know. They also play a Death Cab for Cutie song I like "Your Heart is an empty room".
Another song I've been listening to lately is "Ceremony" by New Order. It was on the trailer for "Marie Antoinette". Don't think I'm gonna see that, but the song rocks. Yay 80's.
Last but not least, my russian teacher played "Kalinka, Malinka" in class. I've heard that song before, but never knew what it was. So I downloaded a version by Ivan Rebroff, which is pretty good. Music to put yourself in a silly/good mood.
Sleepyness prevails. Nothing too eventful apart from getting over 10 lbs of apples for free.
ZzZzzzzZzZZzz
This is the trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fkf-7Z3EdG4
It looks strange...so of course I'll have to see it at some point. If it's good I'll let y'all know. They also play a Death Cab for Cutie song I like "Your Heart is an empty room".
Another song I've been listening to lately is "Ceremony" by New Order. It was on the trailer for "Marie Antoinette". Don't think I'm gonna see that, but the song rocks. Yay 80's.
Last but not least, my russian teacher played "Kalinka, Malinka" in class. I've heard that song before, but never knew what it was. So I downloaded a version by Ivan Rebroff, which is pretty good. Music to put yourself in a silly/good mood.
Sleepyness prevails. Nothing too eventful apart from getting over 10 lbs of apples for free.
ZzZzzzzZzZZzz
Good Morning (it's a nice one too, wheee),
firstly, I'd like to inform you that an elastic (that was in my hair), somehow came off and fell into my soup. Now it's wet and smells like foodies. Until it dries, I'll have to find a temporary replacement. Saddness.
Now on to business. Those of you that know me may have heard me say grumblecakes from time to time. Where does it come from you may ask?
It just kinda happened. One day a friend of mine expressed some anger, and said growl. I said grumbles instead. And well, you all know how I love food, so I added cakes at the end. Little did I know that grumblecakes already existed from a cartoon called Homestarrunner. I've seen maybe 1 homestar episode and I don't intend on watching all of them (that might make me uberlame, but I still won't).
In anycase, my grumblecakes look different that homestar ones. Behold:
This is a homestar grumblecake : It looks pretty rotten, like 4 year old slimy moldy cheese (I've never seen 4 year old smily moldy cheese, but I imagine that's what it'd look like. Yes, with spots). It also kinda looks like that huge rotten sandwich that Homer ate and refused to throw away. Anyways, all on the brink of death. booooooooo
Now, these are my grumblecakes:
Njosnavelin grumblecakes are like little cupcakes with funky icing (multicoloured naturally - they're little punks mang). Notice that they also have attitude...their yellow little frowns. They also walk around saying "grumble!". It is rare that you'll see njosnavelin grumblecakes though. They turn on their cloaking device when they decide to cause trouble.
So here some grumblecake vocabulary for you:
grumblecakes (with or without a ! - depending on your level of anger) (gr-uhm-bol-kayks):
You say this when you're annoyed with something. Like say you're walking down the street and a mean, large person bumps into you without saying sorry...that is a perfect time for grumblecakes. (In fact, a grumblecake probably decided to jump on the large person's head for that little while and made it do the evilness). So it's kinda like letting the grumblecake know that you know it's there.
grumbles (gr-uhm-bolz):
short form of grumblecakes. I say grumbles often. It's short and sweet, slightly cheerful. Mostly for only slight annoyances. Examples:
a) walking on the sidewalk, you trip off the edge, looking rather silly. "hahaha grumbles man"
b) you drop your falafel on the ground "arggh....grumbles :( "
c) you're hungry "mang, maaad tummy grumbles"
grumbletruffles (gr-uhm-bol truh-fols):
I rarely say this because they're just poseur cakes. The annoyances they cause are so small, it's not worth mentioning unless you get pissed off about everything.
grumblecakes of doom (gr-uhm-bol-kayks uhv doooom or duum):
Okay dudes, this is bad stuff. Grumblecakes of doom means you're quite angry, and it's making you feel totally doom. Examples:
a) You're losing at mario kart 64 "damnit! freakin grumblecakes of doom -.-"
b) You fail an exam "doom..." (if you can't say all of it, you just shorten it to doom. When you fail an exam you don't feel like saying much anyways, so doom will suffice)
grumblecake production is increasing (gr-uhm-bol-kayk pruh-duhk-shuh
n ihz in-krees ing):
Grumblecakes come from the magical grumblecan (preheated to 95.1413 degrees C - the optimal temperature of grumblecake production). No one knows where the grumblecan comes from, it just exists. The green and yellow frosted grumblecakes (a.k.a. the radicals) tell us that grumblecake production is incoming.
At first I thought that grumblecake production occured in a large oven (imagine they all bake, then kick the door open and run out). But they definitely come from a grumblecan, with each of them saying "Grumble" as they come out (with different tones of voice).
You can say this when you're already slightly annoyed (or something like that has happened before and you know the grumblecakes are just doing it to piss you off). For example; I was on my way home the other day, via the metro. I get off at lionel groulx from the direction angrignon train, and wish to take the direction cote vertu one. Upon arrival at L-G, the CV train leaves. I said (seriously :P) "....grumblecake cake production is increasing" *clenches fist*
My two friends laughed, but agreed.
If you're feeling particularly energetic, you can try and find the source of the grumblecakes, but you will fail. So give up now and just accept that grumblecakes are a part of our lives. Despite their mischieviousness, they're kinda cute afterall.
*pets a grumblecake*
firstly, I'd like to inform you that an elastic (that was in my hair), somehow came off and fell into my soup. Now it's wet and smells like foodies. Until it dries, I'll have to find a temporary replacement. Saddness.
Now on to business. Those of you that know me may have heard me say grumblecakes from time to time. Where does it come from you may ask?
It just kinda happened. One day a friend of mine expressed some anger, and said growl. I said grumbles instead. And well, you all know how I love food, so I added cakes at the end. Little did I know that grumblecakes already existed from a cartoon called Homestarrunner. I've seen maybe 1 homestar episode and I don't intend on watching all of them (that might make me uberlame, but I still won't).
In anycase, my grumblecakes look different that homestar ones. Behold:
This is a homestar grumblecake : It looks pretty rotten, like 4 year old slimy moldy cheese (I've never seen 4 year old smily moldy cheese, but I imagine that's what it'd look like. Yes, with spots). It also kinda looks like that huge rotten sandwich that Homer ate and refused to throw away. Anyways, all on the brink of death. booooooooo
Now, these are my grumblecakes:
Njosnavelin grumblecakes are like little cupcakes with funky icing (multicoloured naturally - they're little punks mang). Notice that they also have attitude...their yellow little frowns. They also walk around saying "grumble!". It is rare that you'll see njosnavelin grumblecakes though. They turn on their cloaking device when they decide to cause trouble.
So here some grumblecake vocabulary for you:
grumblecakes (with or without a ! - depending on your level of anger) (gr-uhm-bol-kayks):
You say this when you're annoyed with something. Like say you're walking down the street and a mean, large person bumps into you without saying sorry...that is a perfect time for grumblecakes. (In fact, a grumblecake probably decided to jump on the large person's head for that little while and made it do the evilness). So it's kinda like letting the grumblecake know that you know it's there.
grumbles (gr-uhm-bolz):
short form of grumblecakes. I say grumbles often. It's short and sweet, slightly cheerful. Mostly for only slight annoyances. Examples:
a) walking on the sidewalk, you trip off the edge, looking rather silly. "hahaha grumbles man"
b) you drop your falafel on the ground "arggh....grumbles :( "
c) you're hungry "mang, maaad tummy grumbles"
grumbletruffles (gr-uhm-bol truh-fols):
I rarely say this because they're just poseur cakes. The annoyances they cause are so small, it's not worth mentioning unless you get pissed off about everything.
grumblecakes of doom (gr-uhm-bol-kayks uhv doooom or duum):
Okay dudes, this is bad stuff. Grumblecakes of doom means you're quite angry, and it's making you feel totally doom. Examples:
a) You're losing at mario kart 64 "damnit! freakin grumblecakes of doom -.-"
b) You fail an exam "doom..." (if you can't say all of it, you just shorten it to doom. When you fail an exam you don't feel like saying much anyways, so doom will suffice)
grumblecake production is increasing (gr-uhm-bol-kayk pruh-duhk-shuh
n ihz in-krees ing):
Grumblecakes come from the magical grumblecan (preheated to 95.1413 degrees C - the optimal temperature of grumblecake production). No one knows where the grumblecan comes from, it just exists. The green and yellow frosted grumblecakes (a.k.a. the radicals) tell us that grumblecake production is incoming.
At first I thought that grumblecake production occured in a large oven (imagine they all bake, then kick the door open and run out). But they definitely come from a grumblecan, with each of them saying "Grumble" as they come out (with different tones of voice).
You can say this when you're already slightly annoyed (or something like that has happened before and you know the grumblecakes are just doing it to piss you off). For example; I was on my way home the other day, via the metro. I get off at lionel groulx from the direction angrignon train, and wish to take the direction cote vertu one. Upon arrival at L-G, the CV train leaves. I said (seriously :P) "....grumblecake cake production is increasing" *clenches fist*
My two friends laughed, but agreed.
If you're feeling particularly energetic, you can try and find the source of the grumblecakes, but you will fail. So give up now and just accept that grumblecakes are a part of our lives. Despite their mischieviousness, they're kinda cute afterall.
*pets a grumblecake*
allo! привет!
school has commenced! and on a totally chill note at that. Only one class left to visit...and that is tomorrow :D So far Russian is awesome.
The prof is actually italian, but she has a "russian soul", has been teaching russian for 35 years. Has some form of mushroom cut, reddish hair and was wearing a blue kinda house dress with funky designs all over, and platform shoes. Made all of us name tags and put labels all over the class room like "enter" "exit" "Break", all in cyrillics though.
She says that in russia it's a compliment to tell someone they're a cucumber (or something like that...that's what I had remembered). So I decided to test my theory.
On friday, I went to see one of my russian friends. Hello, what's up, blah blah blah. Then I said *thinking I'm so witty* "You're a cucumber!"
He looks at me very confused and says "what da hell are you saying?"
*looks around* HAHAH doot de doo..."Well see my russian teacher said if you tell someone they're a cucumber it's a compliment"
"oooooh noooooo, that's completely different. It's you're like a cucumber...and it's not exactly used in that way. It's more like if say, you have a hangover and you tell them if you do this remedy, you'll be as fresh as a cucumber".
Ah, makes sense. This could be used on Anti-perspirant commercials. Or for that Dove cucumber green tea soap.
Like, imagine you're gardening and you're all sweaty and stinky...dude your anti-perspirant just ain't doin it for ya. So a new one comes along "Lady Speed Stick's new line of vegetable scented anti-perspirants. With 24/7 protection. You'll be as fresh as a cucumber, all day, everyday."
And then, the gardening lady takes a bite out of the cucumber at that instant.
It seems a little more ridicuoulous when it comes to shower soap because I don't eat cucumbers in the shower. But that soap is actually good.
Also, all insults in russian become worse if you add "mother" to it.
Say you wanna tell someone "go to hell"...it's more like "I'll send you to the devil". What could be worse than that? "I'll send you to the devil's mother!". Oh shit, we're all doomed. :o
Alright, time to practice more script cyrillics and read stuff.
Toodles
I returned from the lands below (USA) on wednesday and decided it might be time to post about it. Last saturday I wanted to be all witty and post something amusing (like a rhyming post!), but my wit has escaped me on this very lazy weekend. So I'll just list some of the highlights and things you might check out should you venture to these places.
BOSTON land of many colorful cows
If you're going by bus, when you stop at the White River Junction, at least 20 people will line up to go to the bathroom. Skip the line by going to the China Moon Buffet right next to it, run to the bathroom there and then pick up some eats (I paid 3.04$!). Not the best food ever, but it's edible.
Where we stayed - Hostelling International Boston
If you don't mind sharing a room with 5 other people, this is the place for you. It's cheap compared to other places in boston, there's free breakfast and the staff was very nice/helpful. Sometimes the roomies cause a ruckus at night, but nothing too bad.
MIT - Cold, Institutional and Impersonal
It looks pretty...but that's it. I mean it's got some famous scholars, or so my friend told me. The tour guide told some humorous stories. Here's one:
Smoots - On the bridge in between Boston and Cambridge, you'll see smoots written all along. Like 100 smoots, 120 smoots, etc...you'll also see Halfway to Hell :D
Apparently...sometime in 1960's there was a dude name something Smoots. One of the frats decided that the bridge should be measured in
smoots. Alright, easy enough. Take a piece of string, measure him up, then do that for the length of the bridge. Oh no no, that would be too easy. Mr. Smoot must get up and down each time they mark his height. Eventually he got tired, so they had to pick him up and lay him down for the rest of the time.
Harvard - warm and cuddly on the outside (kinda like mcgil), cold-hearted on the inside (or so the tour guides said :P )
If you happen to venture out to Harvard, take the Hahvahd tour given by two students Dan and Jordan. They're funny dudes and make a totally chill atmosphere. I won't go into all the details, but check out their site. http://www.hahvahdtour.com/index.html
Things you will learn about there - terminology, architecture, american history with harvard history, the rivalry between cambridge and harvard, titanic - daffodils - swimming, drum rolls - rankings, 1956 fire and primal scream. There's lots more.
The Prudential Center - shopping for the middle to upper class
I bought nothing there but truffles, tea (at teavana), sushi, cheesecake and more truffles. Clothing waaay overpriced. But zomg Toblerone Swiss Almond Cheesecake for the win.
Strawberries dipped in chocolate = awesome. Maraschino cherries in milk chocolate = sweetness overdose.
Museum of Science - Body Worlds 2 - go see it in Toronto if you can. It's awesome!
Inspired Burritos - 5$ - good stuff and near the hostel
Arirang Buffet - 10$
Yeah there's an arirang here...better than the buffet too. :P
Artu's - didn't actually eat there, but ordered from there since the hostel said it had awesome food. Eh...so so. Not wonderful, but it was alright.
Some espresso place on this street...that looks like Sherbrooke and is parallel near Boylston. - 5$ meal - Chia Bagel + Iced Tea (not nestea, like actual iced tea). awesomeness
NEW YORK CITY crazy peoples
Raaaaaaaiiiiined the whooooole time. grumbles.
I will say this, NYC is good for shopping and some good deals. Food is so so and public transit it screwy.
My opinion of this city hasn't changed much. It's dirty and crowded and some of the people are really rude. Not all of them...there are some nice ones (especially if they're grocery store clerks trying to hit on you).
Holland Motor Lodge Hotel - Stay there. It's awesome. We paid 75$ a night for a room with two double beds, 1 tv, 1 fridge w/ freezer, 1 microwave and A/C, free breakfast. And it's SUPER clean. It's located 10 mins walk from the PATH train station in Jersey City. Only takes like 10 mins by train to get to Manhattan. The train ride is 1.50$.
I didn't get to go to Columbia. Maybe next time.
The morning we left...was somewhat icky. Rain again. At the PATH station a 70 something yr old man came to me and said "CAN I HAVE YOUR FUCKING SEAT?!" I was like o_o....sure go ahead. Then he kept on rambling about ny and new jersey or something.
Later, we took a cab to the Port Authority...stopped in the cab area. I open the door and a cyclist rams into it. That is what is called a Door Prize ( I learned this from my biker friend). Then he yelled at me saying "watch where you're fuckin going".
Now, if you're biking in between 20 something cabs, at some point you will get hit, especially if it's raining and the cab passengers can't see anything. HAHA. yeah...
Toys R US has a T-Rex in it!
Verdict - Boston is Montrealesque. NYC is Torontoesque. Given the choice, I'd live in Boston :P.
MTL rocks, nuff said.
cheers and good night
BOSTON land of many colorful cows
If you're going by bus, when you stop at the White River Junction, at least 20 people will line up to go to the bathroom. Skip the line by going to the China Moon Buffet right next to it, run to the bathroom there and then pick up some eats (I paid 3.04$!). Not the best food ever, but it's edible.Where we stayed - Hostelling International Boston
If you don't mind sharing a room with 5 other people, this is the place for you. It's cheap compared to other places in boston, there's free breakfast and the staff was very nice/helpful. Sometimes the roomies cause a ruckus at night, but nothing too bad.
MIT - Cold, Institutional and Impersonal
It looks pretty...but that's it. I mean it's got some famous scholars, or so my friend told me. The tour guide told some humorous stories. Here's one:
Smoots - On the bridge in between Boston and Cambridge, you'll see smoots written all along. Like 100 smoots, 120 smoots, etc...you'll also see Halfway to Hell :D
Apparently...sometime in 1960's there was a dude name something Smoots. One of the frats decided that the bridge should be measured in
smoots. Alright, easy enough. Take a piece of string, measure him up, then do that for the length of the bridge. Oh no no, that would be too easy. Mr. Smoot must get up and down each time they mark his height. Eventually he got tired, so they had to pick him up and lay him down for the rest of the time.Harvard - warm and cuddly on the outside (kinda like mcgil), cold-hearted on the inside (or so the tour guides said :P )
If you happen to venture out to Harvard, take the Hahvahd tour given by two students Dan and Jordan. They're funny dudes and make a totally chill atmosphere. I won't go into all the details, but check out their site. http://www.hahvahdtour.com/index.html
Things you will learn about there - terminology, architecture, american history with harvard history, the rivalry between cambridge and harvard, titanic - daffodils - swimming, drum rolls - rankings, 1956 fire and primal scream. There's lots more.
The Prudential Center - shopping for the middle to upper class
I bought nothing there but truffles, tea (at teavana), sushi, cheesecake and more truffles. Clothing waaay overpriced. But zomg Toblerone Swiss Almond Cheesecake for the win.
Strawberries dipped in chocolate = awesome. Maraschino cherries in milk chocolate = sweetness overdose.Museum of Science - Body Worlds 2 - go see it in Toronto if you can. It's awesome!
Inspired Burritos - 5$ - good stuff and near the hostel
Arirang Buffet - 10$
Yeah there's an arirang here...better than the buffet too. :P
Artu's - didn't actually eat there, but ordered from there since the hostel said it had awesome food. Eh...so so. Not wonderful, but it was alright.
Some espresso place on this street...that looks like Sherbrooke and is parallel near Boylston. - 5$ meal - Chia Bagel + Iced Tea (not nestea, like actual iced tea). awesomeness
NEW YORK CITY crazy peoples
Raaaaaaaiiiiined the whooooole time. grumbles.
I will say this, NYC is good for shopping and some good deals. Food is so so and public transit it screwy.
My opinion of this city hasn't changed much. It's dirty and crowded and some of the people are really rude. Not all of them...there are some nice ones (especially if they're grocery store clerks trying to hit on you).
Holland Motor Lodge Hotel - Stay there. It's awesome. We paid 75$ a night for a room with two double beds, 1 tv, 1 fridge w/ freezer, 1 microwave and A/C, free breakfast. And it's SUPER clean. It's located 10 mins walk from the PATH train station in Jersey City. Only takes like 10 mins by train to get to Manhattan. The train ride is 1.50$.
I didn't get to go to Columbia. Maybe next time.
The morning we left...was somewhat icky. Rain again. At the PATH station a 70 something yr old man came to me and said "CAN I HAVE YOUR FUCKING SEAT?!" I was like o_o....sure go ahead. Then he kept on rambling about ny and new jersey or something.
Later, we took a cab to the Port Authority...stopped in the cab area. I open the door and a cyclist rams into it. That is what is called a Door Prize ( I learned this from my biker friend). Then he yelled at me saying "watch where you're fuckin going".
Now, if you're biking in between 20 something cabs, at some point you will get hit, especially if it's raining and the cab passengers can't see anything. HAHA. yeah...
Toys R US has a T-Rex in it!
Verdict - Boston is Montrealesque. NYC is Torontoesque. Given the choice, I'd live in Boston :P.
MTL rocks, nuff said.
cheers and good night
You know what, eggs are great.
- they have a cool shape
- they can be cooked in many different ways
- they are two colors at the same time - yellow + clear (clear is now a color)
- they come in convenient packages
- they can withstand a fair amount of impact
That last one was the most important. impact.
While cleaning up in the McConnell basement this afternoon, 3 egg cartons were found in the fridge. That my friends is 36 eggs. These were used for egg drop competitions. They were survivors. They did not feel the doom of incoming concrete. Instead, with the help of popsicle sticks and straws, they bounced off and escaped peril.
So anyways, these magically strong eggs were distributed among the three of us. One carton each. They expire September 1st, 2006.
For a little bit of the day I carried this carton around with me. I brought it to the faubourg while buying a bag, and even to Dawson, where I saw a friend.
Now, I like eggs...but I already have a fair bit at home. My mom believes there's always a shortage of eggs and therefore we have like 24 of them. So I decided to pass on my treasure to someone deserving of eggs. I asked my friend's friend if he would like a 12 pack of eggs.
Such glee, there was a twinkle in his eye. His day had been fulfilled. He took my eggs, inspected them. Decided they were good...and thought maybe he could egg the school. Instead, he asked my friend and I to accompany him on his egg adventure. He carried the carton under his armpit and asked the first person he saw if they wanted a carton of eggs.
"Why?" asked the blonde haired stranger. "Why am I blessed with these eggs?"
"Because they are a gift from me, and therefore a gift from her"
"Are they good?"
"They expire sept 1". I explained the whole camp thing.
"Have they been refrigerated?"
"Yes, the whole summer"
"sweet. I shall take the eggs. thank you"
I do not know what happened to the eggs after. I hope whoever ended up with them (Because he may have passed it on to someone else) enjoyed them...or will in the near future.
now I shall leave you with this inspiring quotation care of my friend just now:
"man, somehow the msi mp3 tags identified it as an obscure genre of "industrial jungle pussy punk""
ta ta
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