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Nov 30.03 | More or less studied all day again, but at night I watched Bruce Almighty and 28 Days Later. The former was actually quite funny, and at times even flirted with philosophical questions. The later I enjoyed as well. Wins the most tense and intense movie of my year, for sure. Graphic, creepy, disturbing, everything that Resident Evil promised to be but wasn't. --------------- Nov 29.03 Cracked open the old psychology text book to start the 150 page weekend marathon. For some reason, it felt a lot like a day when you're sick and you stay home from school, or, more accurately, the day after you were truly sick at school, and you felt like you deserved a day off to recover. --------------- Nov 28.03 Our biology lab TA, Sandra, is off in some tropical country studying bats, so we were left with Ian, who was actually cool, but not as fun as Sandra. And at least, her nose isn't a piercing weapon. After the lab, we were walking back to the subway station when we saw a lineup outside of Robarts. And, lo! People were walking away with frozen pizzas. Of course, we jumped into the line and picked up two Delissio (plug) pizzas each. One of my boxes was partially open, but whatever. Free pizza is free pizza. I'd say, this is a better return than the new undergraduate chem labs. I support UT moving more of its expenses into the free pizza budget. Finally saw X2, which I really enjoyed. Less than enough said. --------------- Nov 27.03 Revived the crossword craze (and I still got it) in a friend's math lecture, where everyone has a newspaper because they have the free stands down by the entrance of Sidney Smith. Met up with one of the previous day's study buddies in my psych class and it turns out she's a neurosci hopeful as well. That makes three now. --------------- Nov 26.03 Studied in the secret upper level of the chemistry lab. Davenport library is now *the* place to be. Especially if you want to sleep rather than study. Everything is so soft cozy. We found an empty conference room and claimed it as our own study base. Posh. The test wasn't horrible, but I gave Prof. Browning a dirty look when I got to the reaction mechanism, which I spent a good half of the test on. Afterward, I was a bit bummed about having to miss the Markham Theatre concert. But I was walking out with a friend who I knew only from the lab. She was walking to her car and I was walking to the subway station, so the location of our neighbourhoods arose in the conversation. It turned out that she lives in Richmond Hill too, and she graciously offered me a ride. I was shocked, and me being me, I ventured that my house was a bit far from hers ... unless, isn't Markham Theatre near your neighbourhood? Not only was *in* her neighbourhood, but she had actually attended Unionville high school, and for *music* of all things! Thus, I came to Markham Theatre, missing only the first fifteen minutes of the concert, and was able to enjoy the terrific show that Bayview's music department put on. Of personal note were the symphonic band, which sounded oh-so-pro, and the chamber choir, which stirred my pride since I'd missed the concert choir. Thanks Julia, for this night. A simple generous gesture to someone you don't know could mean the world to them. Sometimes, you just wanna share the love. That's the story of how I got to Markham Theatre, and why this concert was such a big success in the first place. That's was tonight was all about. --------------- Nov 25.03 Spent most of the night figuring out how to deal with the button fly on my pants, and studying for the next day's chemistry test, the first of seven to be written ere the term ends. Also, since I have officially been grounded, it looks like there will be a lot more of these long brooding nights at the desk ahead. Brace yourselves. --------------- Nov 24.03 The sky was blood red, crimson even (sailor's warning), which cooled down to a fiery tangerine, by the time I was out of the house. Did our last chem lab of the term in the sexy new undergraduate labs. It smells like a new house, and it has everything! Good to know some of our tuition goes back to us. We'd better have next term's labs in there though ... Went back to Bayview for the winter concert dress rehearsal. I was amazed at how big our music department was. *Sniff*. Though to be honest, having not eaten since breakfast, I was even more impressed with the mountain of pizza boxes lying around. I was even *more* elated to find that they still had pizza in them, and even more still when in good time, we were invited to finish them off. There was just too much to be eaten. I had a respectful six pieces, and took four home in good old tupperware. Still, the sight of pizza going to waste pains me in deep places. --------------- Nov 23.03 blank. --------------- Nov 22.03 Went shopping at the mall. Finally bought something from American Eagle. Uh oh. Later, got all dressed up preppie style (too bad no one had a camera to record my cool hair -- the fruits of my self-cutting labour) went out to eat scary ten-course Japanese meal. That's probably the last time I ever try new things -- especially if I have to pluck it from a shell. Watched Trainspotting after that, which was, well, just messed up. By the end of that movie, plus devouring a whole World's Best Bowler chocolate bar, and consuming a bottle of hard-as-a-pillow lemonade, and let's not forget the unrestful dinner, I was feeling pretty queasy. Some MadTV and other channel-surfing made it much better, but when I arrived home, which was all decked out in Christmas spirit, I could only trudge upstairs to scrub my tongue with steel wool. --------------- Nov 21.03 Took a tour of York University, which was very modern and cool, except for the parts that looked like an inner city high school. My tour guide took us through the built-in shopping mall, some under-construction buildings (the elevator smelled of a gas leak and the handle rail broke off), and a library where you could kill people by squishing them between bookshelves. I had an anthrax attack from ancient Chinese scriptures, though, and we had to leave. I then led the tour of UT, which was a bit more sprawling. Most of my 'classrooms' were being used for other strange devilry, including Celtic banquets, some club's musical rehearsal, and a concert (that would be convocation hall). Had dinner at Spring Rolls again, only this time we got to sit upstairs. I must therefore attribute the last occasion's lowly downstairs seat to the company. --------------- Nov 20.03 blank. --------------- Nov 19.03 Ate at the Hornero restaurant. Kept getting my napkins yanked away, again. --------------- Nov 18.03 There was a massive delay on the subway that caused us to be extremely late for our first class, despite having actually caught the bus that I usually miss. Thus, we came to be packed like sardines into the pillbox of a subway car. Cut to: a marimba showcase in the little art gallery at UC. I was right up there near the front. The concert was amazing -- although at times, a little *too* contemporary in the selections. The accompanists (flute and marimba, for one song each) were so cool. Went to the ROM to do the virtual biology tour. It was half-assed, rushed, and fun. --------------- Nov 17.03 Wore my Santa hat in a couple of classes today, and got funny looks. I guess it's a tiny little bit too early for it. Well, on the bright side, it inspired another mood-brightening motto. Ho ho ho. --------------- Nov 16.03 Went down to catch the 99th annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade. Haven't attended in years, so it was exciting -- plus, an excuse to bust out the Santa hat early (after all, it's already started snowing). Got stuck on the wrong side of the road and missed the first half, but it was fun (and extremely warm). My calves are very sore from standing on my toes. After Santa Claus passed by, we jumped into the parade and followed on the street, though we were waylaid by parade officials at an intersection. It was still cool though because we got to march down the streets for some time. Got into the commercial Christmas spirit by jumping into the Christmas shopping. Temporarily overwhelmed with ecstatic jubilant giddiness. --------------- Nov 15.03 Saw A Mighty Wind. It wasn't nearly as funny as Best in Show, but the music was great. --------------- Nov 14.03 Left the house half an hour early. Missed the bus by a second. Got stuck in the subway. Got to class half an hour late. Finally did gel electrophoresis in my biology lab. It was simple, but fun. We used mussel tissues. My hands smelled like Big Land Farm long after it was over. Later, measured the height of the physics tower in the cold as the sun went down, putting our own eyes' resolution to the test. Finally, at night, went bowling at the Pro Bowl and had ice cream, candy wrappers, eye lashes (or nose hairs) and oldies at Lick's. Sang classic Disney songs and realized how freakishly good our memories were. Note: interesting circumstances at the road less travelled. Met some people coming back up from it. --------------- Nov 13.03 Was extremely everything-deprived for most of the day. Wasn't sure what nature was trying to say. It snowed, and I was happy. But it was gusty and frigid. Eventually it got downright icy. Doing my thing, while all this was going on, I felt very much like a lost soul. Though I don't think I really qualify. --------------- Nov 12.5.03 Stayed up all night. --------------- Nov 12.03 silence of the squirrel Today I was in the UC quad for some peace and quiet as I take every day, and a cheeky squirrel ran right up to my feet. We stared at each other for a bit, before someone walked by and it scampered off. I got out my lunch and proceeded to eat. At some point while I was mindlessly chewing, I saw a lady and a familiar dog pass by me down the steps. The dog dashed off onto the grass, targetting a squirrel that was heading for the nearby tree. I had just enough time to do a mental projection and realize that the dog was going to intercept the squirrel before it reached the tree, and the naive question "I wonder what would happen if ..." entered my mind. Before any of this really registered, the dog stopped and was shaking its head quite viciously. I heard a few gasps and what sounded like a snap. The dog stopped. Someone called out "put a leash on that thing". I was unsure of whether this was the first time occasion on which the owner had witnessed this happen. Silently, she approached the dog cautiously, attached the leash, and left the quad. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to share this experience. Maybe it's because it's the first time I've ever seen a mammal end the life of another mammal. Truth be told, that's life. Living things die. Is it fair that one event should strike a chord inside when others don't? Not really. But what does, or doesn't, register in our worlds still needs to be considered, to give meaning to everything else. Anyway, there's my tribute to one life that came to an end today. --------------- Nov 11.03 Remembrance Day I didn't attend the remembrance day ceremony this morning. I didn't have a poppy, either, though I saw lots on the ground. Maybe one of them was mine. At one point in the evening I found myself sitting at a bench alone in the cold. Wandering around, looking for a friend. --------------- Nov 10.03 Visual vestiges of the day: a frosty pane at a bus stop. All the leaves in my sanctuary mowed and ground to bits, making the courtyard look shaved, ravaged and burnt. A beautiful alley. Other notes: I was brutally stabbed in the arm by a poppy. Enjoyed a long, wandering walk for the first time in weeks. --------------- Nov 09.03 My eye twitch is gone, but the only reason I noticed is because it's travelled down to my nose (leaning more to the right side still). Should I be worried? It is extremely irritating, although somewhat less conspicuous than it had been previously in the bag under the eye area. Got bored and cut my hair again. This is what it's come to. Spending three hours staring at yourself in the mirror at various angles, thanks to a small mirror taped to the corner of a wall. This time I waged all-out war on the back of my head, avoiding the sides after I finally realized that the asymmetry was because of too much cutting, not too little. Note to self: let the left side grow for a bit before hacking at it again. --------------- Nov 08.03 Saw Matrix Revolutions. It was pretty good, but felt much too big and Star Wars-like. On the bright side, it made us forget about the horrid second movie. There was good stuff and bad stuff, but none of that matters since it's The Matrix. High points include Seraph and Sethi, and entering machine city (beautiful). Other high points: every trailer that preceded the movie, especially LOTR: Return of the King (December 17, anyone?). Went out into the freezing cold to watch the total lunar eclipse tonight. It was trez cool, and actually did make the moon look like a 3D object in space, not just a pale disc on a black sheet. Too bad no one else was around to see it with me -- it's probably the only time the weather has ever swung in my favour for this sort of thing. Watched Finding Nemo (Peach for president) at a friend's house afterward, as well as the 200th MadTV epsiode, which was a big disappointment. Sort of like the state of the weekend. --------------- Nov 07.03 Had a good long sleep, since there was no class today. So I sat around doing what I always do -- eat, read, sleep, play music, listen to music, avoid tv and now the computer, shoot pool, exercise. And sit by the phone wondering who to call next. It snowed at night! I'm ecstatic -- this must be the earliest snow I've seen in many years. I guess that's understandable considering it was still snowing in April earlier this year, and considering how dry the summer was, and how wet autumn was, and how suddenly cold it's gotten just now. I think I'm rambling. Well, sue me. I never ramble on these journals. I'm just so giddy that it's snowing already. Bring it on! --------------- Nov 06.03 Did the biological invader thing again. Success has yet to be decided, but it's turning out to be quite fun. Turns out that I'm in the wrong physics lab group, on the day that I hand in my last stress-causing factor -- the error analysis assignment. Thankfully my TA is going to let me stay in this group and transfer my marks to the right one (hopefully!). Which is good, since I would hate to have all three labs on the same week. So, finally, I am home free for the next three weeks. Leaving me with nothing to do but relax and dwell on my own self-resentment. Cheers! --------------- Nov 05.03 I was late for class this morning, but arrived in the middle of another of Prof. Rowe's increasingly interesting lectures about sexual behaviour. "How to increase your chances of getting ... higher chances of mating success", and "some animals get lots, some animals get none". Pens fell from the sky in convocation hall and there were TV crews outside of Sidney Smith, but more importantly, mixed messages are getting sent all over the place. On the way home, I noticed a guy's poppy was messed up. The pin was shooting out and was going to do one of two things: fall out, or stab the guy when he least expected it. I watched with apprehension. His stop came and went, and I looked out the window to see what had become of the poppy. When we moved on, I noticed then that my own poppy was nowhere to be found. --------------- Nov 04.03 Got a poppy this morning after getting off the GO train. I wonder how long it'll last. Today was Prof. Browning's first day as our chem lecturer. He has big British shoes to fill, I must say. His webnotes suck, but since I don't use webnotes, I don't care. The lectures are all right (better than Winnik's for sure), the "um, uh" is still there, so he's cool. However, of my all my organic chemistry lecturers, my vote goes to Prof. Dicks. Today I injected myself into a new circle of friends via a fellow Bayview grad. Three of us hung out together for several hours on the floor in the foyer of a library, 'studying'. Truthfully, we spent less time studying for tonight's calculus test than we did studying the passersby. Finally, feeling at ease. The calculus test was all right. I'm not making any predictions after the biology letdown. I'm just glad that *it's all over*! No more tests for three weeks, baby. It was extremely foggy coming back home. Another one of those situations that I love. Walking through the neighbourhood in a fuzzy halo. It's almost like everything's is dead and preserved in formaldehyde, floating pickled in a jar. And you're inside it too. Occasionally something stirs, but you can never catch it. Whatever it is, it's just another phantom that slips back into the haze as soon as you realize something's there. You walk in the middle of the road, and stop at an intersection. It's like being on a stage, with four spotlights aimed on you. You look up, and all around, and all you can see is the light filling the air, and your four shadows. Everything is flooded out with the glow, and the only clarity is centralized. Localized on you. You could just sit there forever, in the midst of everything pickled in that jar. But eventually you realize your place and go back to preservation as a phantom, the same as everything else. --------------- Nov 03.03 Today was Prof. Dicks' last day. I think I just died a little bit inside. Today was also Prof. Deyirmenjian (goes by the name of Vatche)'s first day as our new physics lecturer. And what a welcome change he is from Harrison. Sure, he's a bit of a horrible stand-up comedian and he looks like he's shrunk in his suit, but as they say: "Whatever. He's not Harrison." Insert soundbyte of one thousand students in convocation hall clapping for that very reason. Plus, any proud Canadian (superceding other native culture) gets my vote. Glimpses of the day: Passing by Mount Pleasant, and seeing a certain tree that had shed much of its crimson leaves on the tombstone underneath it. There it looked to me as blood spilt. A black kitten crossed my path on the sidewalk. Caught a flash of another subway tunnel connecting to the one through which I was traversing at the time. There were green lights in it, leading to God knows where. --------------- Nov 02.03 Had a nice little walk today. See store for details. --------------- Nov 01.03 Went bowling to start of the new month. I kicked booty, despite not feeling at my best game. Also, it looks like someone is picking up my "last frame turkey" technique. The new homepage has arrived. What do you think? I actually haven't touched it for a month and it's been sitting in the can, but I figured I should just get it over with and put it up now. As I said before, the left bar is dysfunctional. Most likely, I won't get around to functionalizing everything on the homepage until Christmas break. All comments are welcome. If you find the new look disturbing, then notify me (no subject will ever be taboo), so that I can deal with it. --------------- |