|
|
|
Dec 31.03 (new year's eve) New year's eve skiing was cancelled since the weather was slushy. Saw The Last Samurai, which was really good. It seemed like the movie was in English even though most of the dialogue was actually Japanese. The real star of the movie though was Tom Cruise's hair, looking good no matter whether it was covered in mud, blood, or sake. I figure he's probably the male equivalent of Jennifer Aniston in terms of perma-good-hair-day-no-matter-what-the-style-ness. Eventually it came to a point where I was faced with the choice of the year-end highlight as having spent 3 hours admiring Tom Cruise's hair or actually going out and doing something. And having taken pains to dress myself all up, decided to go down to Nathan Phillips and see what new year's a la city hall is like. York Region Transit on new year's is *free*. We briefly entertained the thought of catching the bus to Newmarket and beyond, just for the hell of it, but decided to stick with the original plan. There were a few other people on the bus. We saw one or two coolers, so I assumed our destinations were similar. As chance would have it, we met up with a couple other Bayview kids in the crowd at Nathan Phillips. We formed a human chain and forged our way in through the masses (kudos to Loretta for somehow getting us in the middle of it all). There, bathed in blinding lights, deafened by gigantic speakers, and suffocated in the inescapable clouds of smoke, we were crushed together like sardines (sadly, despite the numbers, there seemed to be no hot ones at all, let alone within the well-packed body-grinding radius). We took lots of pictures (I was extremely conscious of my new and delicate digicam), laughed at the Kiss cam, pushed and shoved our way further up, and enjoyed the general closeness of the time leading up to the big countdown. The performances were rather yawn-inducing, and making our own brand of fun (prom, anyone?) was not an option given limited space and often disgruntled neighbours. However, we screamed as hard as anyone leading up to and including the bash and sang with the rest of them when the clock struck midnight. "Uh ... now what?" Good question. We lingered against the backflowing surge, and screamed "happy new year! 2004 woohoo!" to engaging passersby at the drop of a hat. When we could see the ground again it was noted that, despite several reminders throughout the evening that this event was non-acoholic, there were plenty of crushed beer cans scattered around. Unnecessarily linking arms, we walked back up to the subway, following the flow and hubbub of the revellers for a bit, and answering happy new year calls. The Queen St. subway stop was in a right state, to say the least. It took a good while to get through the turnstiles, and then there was the constant dread of someone tripping and causing a lemming-like domino of transit-takers falling off the platform on to the track. The first car passed us and there was no hope of getting on. However, we took it in stride by laughing, pointing, and taking pictures of people squished up to the subway doors and windows. We missed a few more chances to get on, and eventually moved along the platform until we got a good opportunity to board. An evacuation at Lawrence (which merely allowed us to take more pictures) was the only other significant thing happening on the way back, aside from giddy future after-partiers interacting with other innocent TTC patrons. I provided the ride back from Sheppard and that concluded the year. It was filled with lots of precious 2003woohoo memories. Hope you had a good one. May 2004 bring you more woohoo than the last. --------------- Dec 30.03 Went skating again at Nathan Phillips Square, and later tried a deep fried banana with honey, which was delicious. Later, made the short walk down to grandma's house for New Year's Eve (eve) dinner. --------------- Dec 29.03 Watched Down With Love, which turned out to be surprisingly funny. Reminds me of grade 11 English with all of the elements of comedy. --------------- Dec 28.03 Shopped for batteries for my precious -- er, digicam. Other family purchases of the day include socks (finally! This was the one Christmas when I would have loved to receive socks.) and a karaoke system to compliment the new downstairs home entertainment centre. Don't ask, I don't make the financial decisions in the house. Tested out the digicam with my telescope and took a cool shot of the moon, before a last minute call to see Peter Pan. It was a great movie, as expected, and held it's thematic weight to the original story. The tragedy of Pan, and Wendy. Striking close to home. --------------- Dec 27.03 Went skiing at Snow Valley. The base depth was only 50cm, having actually decreased from the recent muggy weather and the snow drought. Sigh, snow in November was so promising. There wasn't enough snow for the snow machines to churn out the powder so we had ... I forget what the official lingo is but it basically amounts to crushed ice. The skiing was good (I held off the snowboarding, knowing how soggy I get from hitting the snow so much, and seeing as how there was no snow and all.) -- we did a lot of fun runs (and jumps) and there was a minimum of wipeouts. As usual, we sang bandsongs and yelled from our ski chairs, where we could see Sauron's () forces marching down a valley from afar. There was no mangling on the lift this time. --------------- Dec 26.03 Boxing Day. I headed downtown alone to check out the so-called boxing day madness, after having enjoyed the previous year's post-boxing day experience. They don't call it madness for nothing. There were lineups forcing people on to the street, there were retail staff with megaphones, and security guards fighting hordes. There was a minor crisis on the escalator inside Eaton centre when the end of the escalator was approaching but people couldn't get off. I resolved to always do my Christmas shopping on boxing day, after having my eyes burned by prices considerably lower than what I'd paid for just a week previously. Honestly, when you don't see people until after Christmas, why not just buy their presents on boxing day? A valid question which I will follow up on next year. I also have one comment for people who complain about the crowds ... what the hell do you expect? This is Toronto, not (yournamehere)land. That's all. Two decidedly sexy grabs of the day: a heavenly Doug Riley CD (and Guido Basso, but less significant) and an equally heavenly Finepix S602 digital camera. These two things make the world a better place. But let's not forget the real reason I came downtown. I was meeting two friends from Seneca Hill (my institute of higher learning), who I'd known since kindergarten there, for skating at Nathan Phillips Square, and dinner. However, unbeknownst to me, only one would show up. And she didn't have a cell phone. So I had to call her house to see if she'd left. I'm only putting this in because it's sort of funny, but her dad answered the phone, sounding all officer-like and saying she'd just left and was I going to meet her. I said yes, and then muttered something like a thanks to avoid prolonged exposure. You see, her dad is a cop (he used to visit our classes for talks and whatnot), which is as I'm sure you can appreciate, kind of intimidating. Apparently her mom also became a police officer recently, having tired of the world of accounting. To my delight, we were actually able to spot and recognize each other from across the skating rink. When I'd arrived, the zamboni was in the middle of smoothing out the ice, so it was nice and glassy when we got on. Just my luck, since I hadn't been skating for over a year. But eventually I got the hang of it again and we caught up on old times and new times and skated well into the evening so that the sky was dark and the stars were up and the lights were on (the Christmas tree's ultramarine lights were quite eye-catching). It was all quite romantic and thus lost on me. After we'd had our fill of skating, we chose the Pickle Barrel for dinner. The food was good, but hockey highlights kept either of us occupied at times (I think at one point I snapped my neck). Desert was better -- I had a white chocolate raspberry espresso or something to that effect. Burning sweetness. The return trip was quiet but nice. We promised to keep in touch. Upon arrival home, I found that the A. Lee family was over, so I got to test out my new digicam and play lots of video games and billiards. That was a fun way to end the day. All in all, a frantic and romantic boxing day. As I said when it was all over: "I'm never doing that again. I can't wait for next year." --------------- Dec 25.03 Christmas Day Today we all put on our nice new clothes, revelled in our good fortunes once more for luck, and then headed for my grandmother's house downtown for my mom's family's Christmas party. I was delighted to find *more* chocolate, of the Garden of Eden variety -- namely, Ferrero Rocher and Lindor. There was also lots of snacks to munch on before dinner as well, which I gladly took up. Uptook. Intook. There was the annual kids picture, which I'm happy to say turned out quite nicely. One of pictures from '99 (from the time period in which I hadn't quite mastered how to smile or dress yet) is up in the dining room and I'd love to see it replaced. Dinner was yummers, though it can't rightly compare to the previous night's, from which I was still smarting. After a good thrashing on various Nintendo Game Cube games (the end, I fear, is already here), it was present time. There was much to live up to tonight, and unfortunately the bar was not beat. My fault for not working up a wish list, but there was so little I wanted this year. I can't complain though. I still ended up with a lot of great stuff (and a lot of credit, since this will be the first year I ever opt for it) and gravy for the self-indulging. Merry X-Mas to all, and to all a good night. And one last ho ho ho to you too. --------------- Dec 24.03 Christmas eve. The big day. This year's party on my dad's side of the family was at our house. All the stops had been pulled already to make this a go but the excitement was still running high. The actual party was great. I got a chance to snooker some of my cousins (thereby upholding the house pride). The food was, since it was mostly cooked by us, excellent (and not in the least bit spoiled by devouring all the finger food and snacks before the guests had even arrived). We even attempted carbonated punch, which turned out quite nicely. I couldn't believe how good the harvest was this year, since usually on this side of the family it tended to be less than stellar. The one piece of clothing that I did get was actually a very nice, besides being wearable shirt, so cheers to that. Speaking of drinks, one of my cousins brought a coffee machine and brewed a delightful concoction containing coffee, kahlua, Bailey's Irish cream and several hundred other unidentified liquors. It was deceivingly sweet and non-alcoholic tasting, though I was red-faced sooner than I would have preferred, so I restrained myself from having much. Little did I know that that jolt of caffeine and alcohol would throw my previously well-balanced sleep schedule (for the past two weeks) completely off, keeping the entire family up well into three in the morning opening our own presents. There were a lot of great presents there, as well. I got a Lord of the Rings calendar (it's twelve times better than a poster!), an evil villain handbook (self-picked, admittedly), more pajamas (one can never have enough, I always say), a new scarf (been meaning to get one), a hairdryer (good call), and an electric shave (another good call). We all made off with more chocolate as well. Melanie got a lava lamp, which I think was shagadelic. They're so hot (literally) and who knew that they take so long to warm up, and are so bright? It's so hypnotic ... One more Ho ho ho for jolly good measure before to-morrow is in order. --------------- Dec 23.03 Gorged on chocolate today at an almost-missed movie night, in which we watched Thumbtanic (shudder ... Steve Oedekirk. Sometimes funny. Mostly off the mark. In more ways than one.), and Deathtrap. Where to begin on Deathtrap? The Farah Fawcett wannabe marbles-missing wife? The abusive and painfully serious about nothing Michael Caine? The we don't care non presence of Christopher Reeves? I guess the award should really go to the psychic Scandinavian's warnings of "pain". Because movies like these ... are truly painful. Also, in the spirit of Christmas eve eve, I'd like to comment on how sexy red is when you're wearing it. Agreed? Ho ho ho. --------------- Dec 22.03 Went to the library. Then bowling. Nice to see that I'm still able to get the turkey every once in a while, even when playing horribly. There was a disturbance in the middle of the night that woke me up, unfortunately. Lost sleep over that. --------------- Dec 21.03 Nothing doing today except for a billiards break. Despite the blatant being used, the company was nice. --------------- Dec 20.03 Took Evelyn and 'cousins' Alex and Andrea on a downtown tour for shopping. True, we spent most of the time in Eaton's centre, but what can ya do. Of note was probably Seduction, Brass Rail, Zanzibar and other adult fixtures. And Mr.Cheapies. (Note: the above note was of note to them, not me, having been adequately exposed to the various sights of Yonge St.) After the shopping was over, we detoured quite a long way so that I might check some of my marks on the UT St.George campus. Seeing as how the exam period had just officially finished two days previously, I was confident that the buildings would be open. After all, there was mucuh marking to be done. Much to my chagrin, I found all doors locked. This was bad since I desparately needed to use the bathroom. Thankfully, good old faithful Robarts library was open. There were even a good number of people using the computers (presumably, to send their holiday greeting e-cards). --------------- Dec 19.03 Today was the holiday assembly at Bayview. I wore my santa hat with pride, though I have to say the choir made me beam, almost all dressed in red and sounding great. We played our decidedly un-wintery songs (with the exception of Frosty the Snowman) and watched the rest of the show. It wasn't as good as some of the previous years, but it was jolly good fun. Later there was a bit of a billiards break before a night of Korean barbecue, uncalled-for guessing games, and called-for insults over furious Mah Jek. Festivities were cut a bit short, but seeing as how there're still two full weeks of holidays, it's all good. --------------- Dec 18.03 Had another jazz rehearsal this morning. No, it's not my imagination, either. I am seeing a lot of santa hats being worn in the school these days. Looks like I've actually set a trend at Bayview (last year the santa hat rarely left my head for the last week of classes before the break. I encountered no objections by staff to the headgear). Well, imitation is the highest form of flattery, after all. Today was also a big day, as we tackled the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy marathon (I thankfully remembered to get the first two DVDs back from Mr.Horner). The third installment premiered the day before (December 17, 2003. A date etched into my memory for the past two years. The last time I did that was for the Charlie's Angels sequel ... which was disappointing). Funny how when the first one came out (and blew my mind), we were all thinking along the lines of: "I can't believe we'll be in university when the third movie comes out! It'll be so weird for us to go out and watch it." Turns out it wouldn't be weird at all. > The "fun-atics" (a term deliciously coined by Kenneth), minus Jaclyn (she had school, after all) gathered at my house at 11:00am. I prepared numerous snacks and refreshments, and we commenced at high noon (unfortunately, none of us had access to the special edition DVDs). By the time Jaclyn arrived, we had finished the divine Fellowship of the Ring, and had devised a scandalous secret club to honour this event, complete with mantra ("Hail the lidless eye!"), and secret hand sign (). The Two Towers dragged on ... I was finding more and more reasons to curse "Damn you, Peter Jackson! Damn you!". But eventually 6:30 or so rolled around. > We fetched dinner at McDonald's, and headed off to Collosus (Famous Players) to pick up our advance-purchased tickets and wait in line. > Not that we'd needed to do either. By the time they let us all in, there were only twenty people in line. When the lights dimmed at 8:30, the theatre was less than half full. Oh well. Anticipation is good. Anticipation is precedent to pleasure. In fact, I was on giddy on the edge of my seat, wondering what surely exciting previews I would see. The lights went out. Words slowly materialized on the screen. > Strange ... that looked like the font face for the Lord of the Rings movies. And it was produced by New Line Cinemas. And, wait, yes, that's the Ring theme. Oooh, the preview was a parody! (Peter and Bobby Farrely at work again, no doubt) Scandalous, and brilliant, I thought. > Yet it was only scandalous. It took us five minutes to realize that we weren't watching a trailer. We were watching the frickin' feature presentation. The movie had started, and without any warning. Outrageous! I didn't pay eleven dollars to go see a movie without my fifteen minutes of previews! Where's the justice?! What kind of sick, sad world is this?! > Neverminding the initial disgruntlement, I have to say I was slightly disappointed by Return of the King. Of course, having timed my finishing the reading of the original books ever so perfectly to coincide with the day before starting the movie marathon, that was understandable (full details below). However, in retrospect, it was a great finale and a fantastic experience (we even hailed the Dark Lord with our sign in our seats on several occasions), and it brought back a lot of the eye-opening element that was lacking in the second movie. Despite its ungodly running time (at least the money's worth evened out, after missing out on previews), we felt just the right amount of satisfaction, and upon returning to the car at midnight, we all couldn't stop shivering. Nevermind the fact that it was minus ten degrees and that we had to sit for a good while in the car while the windshield thawed after one hair-raising attempt at leaving the parking lot. (life lesson: don't drive when you can't see through the windshield.) The day ended at 1:30am, thirteen and a half hours after it began, and those hours of our lives we will never get back. > I wouldn't take them back anyway. True, reading the book tainted my perception of the final installment of the movie trilogy, but on a positive note, I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of some of Tolkien's work in the movie, even under interesting directorial decisions. > Of note from the canon: "I gave my hope to the race of Numenor. I saved none for myself." (Aragorn's mother to her son, in the movie the context is, more appropriately but less effectively Elrond speaking to Aragorn); and the description of the land over the sea (by the narrator, given by Gandalf to Pippin in the movie) as the world after this one just gave me shivers. 'Silver sheets of rain giving way to white shores' is the best I can do without brutalising the beautiful lyricism of that passage. > Elaborations that I thoroughly enjoyed: relationships between Merry and Pippin (not fully fleshed out in the book, yet seeming so natural and familiar); Faramir and Denethor (not done well enough in the movie ... and limited by the actors, I think. Yet what they did was excellent.); Eowyn and Theoden ("You already have saved me." Great addition.); and the brief glimpse of Galadriel in Frodo's despair, which was bloody brilliant. In a fraction of a second, Peter Jackson serves up everything about Galadriel that makes her the beautiful, powerful, enigmatic creature that she is. In that flash of a smile and gesture of support, you see the warmth and love shining out from the complex diamond of her identity. I got shivers there too. Definitely one of the subtle yet high points of the movie. What else worked: Gandalf and Pippin's relationship; interactions between Frodo, Sam and Gollum; the Nazgul winged-abominations; singing (I was surprised. It was creepy, but interesting). > What didn't work so well: Merry and Eowyn (a bit plucky); Merry and Theoden (so patronizing in the movie, this was a highlight in the book for me); the drawn-out action of the Last Alliance (who cares? Everyone knows it doesn't matter if King Aragorn dies now, it's whether Frodo makes it to Mount Doom or not); Denethor as a whiny cad. > What I missed: Eowyn and Faramir's romance (come on! It's a charming subplot, a heavensend in the book, which lacked any romance on Aragorn and non-existant Arwen's parts. And it would've been a breath of fresh air to the low-chemistry drama provided by Liv Tyler.); the scouring of the shire. Both of these things are in the director's cut, I'm sure, but still. Woulda been nice. > What I could have lived without: Gimli and Legolas, collectively and individually ("Look, I'm a stock comic relief character!", "Look, I'm an action figure who draws attention to CGI!"); Gandalf usurping Denethor (although this worked. The best comic bit in the whole movie); every calculated tear-jerking moment of Sam's (some were good, some were bad. Too many makes you forget the good ones); the multiple endings of the movie. > This year's "Let's hunt some orc!" award for worst, in-your-face directorial bit is a bit of a tossup. It's between Denethor's human fireball (downfall, get it?) and "Arwen is dying." Dishonourable mention goes to the pulsating embodiment of Sauron when the lidless eye's pedestal tumbles (the rest of the movie it's tolerable), and Legolas' pointless oliphaunt wrestle. The award is named after Aragorn's slammer "Let's hunt some orc" almost closing the first movie. Dishonourable mention in FOTR goes to the slow-motion-closeup-cue-the-theme scene for the fellowship after leaving Rivendell. TTT's winner: "He fell." Dishonourable mention for that whole scene where Aragorn 'dies' and has pointless wet dreams, Legolas' mind-boggling mounting of the Warg in the scene before that, Legolas' shield-boarding down stairs in Helm's Deep, and Haldir's death (applaud). This concludes my extensive critique of the finer points of my movie marathon experience. --------------- Dec 17.03 After spending the majority of the day doing nothing, went out 'shopping' at Hillcrest mall at night, I don't know why. Then had hot chocolate at Timothy's. A rather pointless outing but on the bright side, providing something to write about today. --------------- Dec 16.03 Woke up early today to get to school. Bayview Secondary School, that is. I was joining the jazz band rehearsals this week in preparation for my highly anticipated (by myself) guest appearance at the holiday assembly. It was refreshing to be playing jazz again on the old trombone, and sight reading the music was a lot of fun. Spicy. --------------- Dec 15.03 Visited the school briefly before going out for Vietnamese, which I always enjoy, at lunch. We had been distributed santa hats from the littlest jingly elf, so that we were a veritable Santa gang. Later, went to Pacific Mall for a hopeless shopping endeavour (what's there, anyway?) , though I did pick up a CD. Stupid AA Azns snickered at us as we walked by with our hats on, so I commented loudly how I'd hate to have to wear black and white all day. Finally, we settled in to watch Best In Show, which was actually, if possible, more funny than I remember. Robyn dropped by and gave us cookies, which I devoured shamelessly. Much like these quotes from Best in Show. > "Get the busy bee!" > "Let me comment on your wife's luscious melon breasts." ... "Thank you!" > "It's his slobber rag." ... "We have one of those too." > "The day we met, we were in Starbucks. Not the same Starbucks. I was in one Starbucks and he was in the Starbucks across the street." > "It was a shitbox." --------------- Dec 14.03 Snowed overnight, and all through the day. Went downtown for my grandmother's birthday dinner. Now I actually know how to get to these places! --------------- Dec 13.03 Braved a lunch at a Japanese restaurant, though, admittedly, didn't brave any new food. Meanwhile, was busy brushing up on my trombone playing in preparation for a concert up in King City which I was called to play in for support. When it came time for the concert, Mr.Horner picked me and one of Ev's friends up. We would be the only Asian people there. We arrived early, and got a chance to see some rehearsals. These were drama-musical types in slippers and tights and headbands and tanks with numbers pinned on them, and some unseen lady was barking orders (from a megaphone?). It was all very intense. We heard comments along the lines of "You, in the brown! That's not in the steps. Get rid of it." and "I said step-step-ball-change, not heel-step-ball-change. Then pivot, step! Now, now! Get it right." By the end of it, dancers/singers were called out by their numbers and were dealt with, American Idol style. I wasn't sure if this was a joke or if they were serious, but I was impressed. Then they all went out for a smoke. Dreaded Mr.Hill from bandcamp was there, though I put on the smiley face and watched while he commanded and shoved little children during another rehearsal. It turned out that the band I would be playing in was only thirty strong, and composed of little children who were actually quite skilled in their instruments enough. On top of things, there was already another Greg, *and* another trombone player. I wasn't sure why my presence was needed at the concert at all but I had a fun time for the while that we were there. The kids' performances were endearing (well, the young ones anyway) and it was a cute way to begin the holiday break. After getting home, Evelyn's birthday shindig was well underway, and I joined in the merriment briefly, but mainly because I had no other company for the most part. There was time for a bit of house of cards later, which was equally scored. --------------- Dec 12.03 This day marks the end of my exam period. The first half of PHY138 (stupid, unnecessarily taken, hard "physics for life science") will be done with today. I actually used the textbook to fix up my cheat sheet, but in my own defence, I'm still using last year's work in progress. (Too lazy to make a new one and fill up all the space.) While waiting for the bus, ran into a friend who I haven't talked to in a very long time, but have been meaning to since school started. We chatted for a bit in the cold about recent news relevant and less so. Funny how you can look up to someone and never know it. Wrote the test in the barn that is Kruger hall (yes, it is located in Woodsworth college, to which I am affiliated). Before the test started, I was relaxing with my lollipop in mouth, plugged in with my big headphones. I wasn't deaf to the comment between the seats behind me, "Look, someone's stressed." That little remark made my day, and locked in my pleasant attitude throughout the test despite Harrison's presence, (won't he ever leave us alone) -- Vatche showed up only briefly. With optimistic thoughts coursing through my head, and the knowledge that exams were already over before this day had started, I ploughed through the test like a hot knife through butter, barely wondering why it was so easy. By the time I reached the stumper of a last question, I had the wonderfully developed piece of mind to Just let it go. And I did, and appropriately left the question space blank. It felt gooooood. Caught up with a friend after everything was done with. Had a little Pirates of the Carribean night and took some funky pictures in my basement. Also pigged out on anythnig in sight (note: the free pizzas from before turned out to be truthfully-thin-crust, but as with pizza, it's the surface area, not the volume, that matters). A wonderful end to the first term. --------------- Dec 11.03 Today was the organic chemistry (half course = no more organichem!) exam. It was held in a gigantic gymnasium where we were told to face either "the flag or the pepsi sign". For once, I think I actually got the reaction mechanism! It'd be nice if I actually did well on this exam, since the term tests have been easy to get perfect, but I've always managed to screw up and ruin a chance to surpass the 80 mark. Well, whatever happens, I can't complain, considering the morning-of studying that I did, literally. My last exam (physics) is tomorrow -- definitely not spending too much time on that. As usual, the cheat sheet is my studying. In my world, exams are officially over. Note to all you kids with nice plush santa hats from Shoppers Drug Mart: don't put them in the laundry. It's not worth getting the oily hair smell out. The result is a coarse, bushy, rumpled hat that looks like every other santa hat. Woe, woe undeserved on a very nice hat! --------------- Dec 10.03 Today was the PSY101 (neurosci hopefuls' psych half course) exam. I had a hell of a time finding the building -- spent nearly a half hour wandering around dark, empty, secret passageways in the New college residence, only to find that the newly built (and still under construction) building was across the street from it. When I found the room, I finally met up with some of the other PSY101 students. It turned out that of the 60+ students writing in that room, only one row, *eight* of us, were PSY101'ers. The rest were second-year civil engineering kids. The exam itself was a brutal 3-hour (7:00pm to 10:00pm), all essay marathon. Needless to say, by the end of it, my hand was severely cramped and it hurt to pick up and/or grasp things. I think I did well, but I'd felt much more prepared for an all-out 150 multiple choice battery. Tried the state-of-the-art elevator on the way out -- a voice pops out of the ceiling and announces your floor -- and took a strange Spadina TTC route to get home. Upon arrival home at 11:30pm, I decided to give up on stressing for the last two exams. (This was a combination of late night homecoming and exasperation from the essay efforts.) --------------- Dec 09.03 Three exams in a row coming up. --------------- Dec 08.03 Today was the biology exam. I thought it went very well, but, then again, that's what I said for the first term test. After, I did buy myself a birthday present, which actually did make me feel much better, despite the shallow and materialistic implication of that fact. I bought myself a birthday present today since I figured who else would. It's a red Canada hoodie from Roots which I postitvely adore. I got a gift box just for the hell of it, and sipped apple cider in self-content. Elsewhere in the world, the Uptown cinema was demolished, which caused a large disruption in the area. Unfortunately, I've never had the experience of watching a movie there, so I don't have many comments on this event, beside regretting terribly the loss of the LOTR (The Two Towers) poster of Eowyn that graced the face of the building. --------------- Dec 07.03 blank. --------------- Dec 06.03 Got a chance to check my icq messages, and was flooded with messages. Another fuzzy moment in sucky times. Family came over for dinner in the evening. There was turkey and a gigantic pot of gravy with all the other requisite sides. In the end, the harvest was all cash in some form or other, which reminded me how it was my job to make myself happy. There was, however, another guest in the house whose presence I greatly appreciated, completing the three best things I got this year. --------------- Dec 05.03 Stayed at home, isolated in my room for the whole day, though in the morning I had the pleasure of receiving a real, live person bearing a card. It was as heart-warming a gesture as I could ask for. --------------- Dec 04.03 Today, on the day of my birthday, on the last day of classes in the fall term, I had my first real exam, on calculus, to write. However, I donned my santa hat and put on a happy face, and I think my attitude was generally noticed by fellow students on campus. At least, I got several comments, including, "Hey santa, I'll sit on your lap". Ho ho ho. Studied in the Sid Smith cafe downstairs, and then realized that this is where all the Chinese people at UT are. We took off our shoes and warmed our feet on the radiator while half-heartedly studying math. After all, the exam was comprised of twenty multiple choice questions. The math tests are always designed so that anyone can get a 75, but to get higher, you have to be able to do level 4+ thinking and manipulations. Which we knew we couldn't, by looking at past tests. So my plan was, don't bother trying to find the most correct answer. I would just guess them all (c). With this method, I was much more likely to get at least one question right. With this attitude, around the time Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree started playing, we gave in and sang along, being merry in the new old fashioned way. The night was both remarkable and not so, and I wondered whether this year's or the previous was the more. --------------- Dec 03.03 Today was Vatche's last day as our physics prof. Not that I had any grudge against him, but he was just getting on my nerves. The last class was a pitiful one, in which the freak engineers' (redundant) marching band interrupted and made a spectacle while the prof cracked jokes to keep an ounce of dignity. Those people give musicians a bad name, I tell ya. Later, some jerk threw paper airplanes down and yelled "read them!". There was no booing, but the unnecessary clapping and other antics made the class drag painfully to its overdue end. Today was also the day of my psychology test. I was just about to bubble in the first multiple choice answer when one of the supervisors said "I have an announcement for Gregory Wong, if he would please come down." There, I was handed a piece of paper that said my exam had been changed. The messenger said "You've got more time." This, I wasn't so sure about, since this test wasn't the exam. Apparently the other PSY101 students had already been notified. However, I had to leave the room and hand back the test. Still in disbelief of what was happening, I headed to Sidney Smith, to hopefully find one of the undergrad psychology staff. Better judgment (or was it worse?) won out, and it turned out that the message did not pertain to today's test. The one that I was supposed to be writing right at the moment. When I found someone and showed her the note, her eyes widened and she gasped, "Oh no! You're not supposed to be here!" However, I was given my own room to write the test in (I could have cheated, too. My bag was on the table and no one was watching me). Karma paid off, I guess. My reward for writing the test was a 92% on the multiple choice. The essay portion remains to be judged. --------------- Dec 02.03 It was snowing wonderfully this morning, but maybe a bit too much. I had slept in, after hitting the snooze button nine times instead of the required three. Traffic at the bus stop was horrid, and along Bayview as far as I could see, and, I'm sure, farther, cars couldn't pass the intersections at green lights because they were clogged up. So I waited, watching the bus creep slowly towards me, and when I finally got on, it took about twenty minutes to traverse a five minute length of road. Having missed my early morning class, I took the time to prepare myself for the physics error analysis test which had to be done some time before the end of the week. I went up to the room where other students, unsupervised, were working in pairs at the computers to do their tests. Me, I was in and out of there in twenty minutes. Luck of the draw for the easy questions, I suppose. Later, I handed in my last chemistry lab report, feeling quite pleased with myself with respect to term work being done before exams, and knowing that I was going to get home early today. I was muching on a cookie waiting for the subway to move at Bloor and Yonge when I was looking in my bag for a crossword, and saw the fifth page of my lab report. Fifteen minutes to get from there back to the chem lab building, which was conveniently the same distance from St.George, Museum, and Queen's Park. This is another reason why I hate the Queen's Park stop. I was five minutes late and huffing and puffing but they accepted the crumpled page. Needless to say, I took my damn time on the way back and got home late. --------------- Dec 01.03 Did the course evaluation for chemistry in class today. We decided that Prof. Dicks deserved to be elevated to Lam's status in the anti-calender so under the comments section, we all wrote that we would be his potential organ donors. I volunteered a kidney. Someone who shall remain unnamed signed off her uterus. --------------- |