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Oct 31.04 hallowe'en Once again, it's been another year landmark and cause for celebration. Even a raunchy uncooked pancake from yesterday morning bothering me for most of the day couldn't put a damper on all the events of tonight. It turned out to be very cold, so as predicted, my outfit was pretty deactivated. But I set out for Church St. (closed off for the evening) with a sort of "let's see what it's all about" attitude. What was the first thing I noticed? Probably all the straight people with cameras. Asian tourist types. I even saw some Japanese men in business suits posing with a drag queen. And you have to wonder (in between staring open mouthed and pausing the drool every once in a while to snap a picture of the hot gogo dancer on the balcony of Lub), with the straight couples right next to you, if they're enjoying the hot bodies just as much as you are. Eventually I was getting bored, cold, and more importantly achey in the lower back area, so I called up a friend to find out where her friends were at. In the meantime, I got a large (too large) cup of hot chocolate from Timothy's where the guy asked for my name. Of course, it was to identify our orders, the line was so long. Apparently there were two other Gregs in front of me, which caused a bit of confusion. Sipping my hot chocolate out of a straw (which was unnecessary as it wasn't very hot), I sat at a table outside on the street, waiting for friends of the friends of the friend to find me in the crowd, since the friends of friend would be a while. At that time an oldish looking man asked for the seat next to mine at the table, which I didn't mind at all. And did I mind his smoking? Truth be told, I was rather enjoying it. So when he mentioned some random comment about the crowds, I thought, "OK, I'll bite, why not." Out loud, this comes off as: "So, you live around here?" And as you can imagine this was how I got myself into an innocent little flirting experiment. It wasn't too hard. His repertoire included the subtle ("I drove my friend down so he could be with his boyfriend. Knowing him, he'll probably find something to do and end up staying overnight"), the tried-and-true ("So why aren't you with your boyfriend?"), the genuine ("You have a really nice smile."), and the blunt ("I hope you're not offended, but I need to say you are damn cute."). And don't get me wrong: the guy was really nice and totally upfront and decent (don't get me started on the whole idea of old gay men being perverts and sexual predators), but I just couldn't really contribute to the conversation even if I'd wanted to, living the kind of simple life I do. Eventually I gave up, against his best efforts, sipping my warm chocolate while my bladder expanded and wondering what I was missing and how the hell I was going to find these people I'd never seen before. (now I could say that I'd flirted with a 40-something year old man. Can anyone say daddy?) Also, waiting around outside Timothy's, I saw Ian McCallum, just featured in last week's Liberal and one of the higher-ups at York Region Pride, who I'd e-mailed about, not realizing that he did the correspondance. Finally I got called and got an excuse to leave, and found Fatima (Chinese, apparently), who was with a whole bunch of other fobby looking Asian girls. And it took a long while to figure out that they were all lesbians, I have to admit. They took a lot of pictures like those Asian tourists and I wandered along like the little gay puppy that I was. (weird being on the other side of the coin, where normally there's always me with a bunch of girls and the only other guy, the only poor sap in the group who likes girls. And now I was that guy, the only one who likes boys) The celebrity encounter here was Heidi (who could forget a girl named Heidi), who plays in The Cliks, featured a while ago in Xtra. We met up with the friends of friend, and finally there was another gay guy. For the next while we followed the girls as they chased other girls and cool costumes with bubbly enthusiasm. Meanwhile I discovered that apparently, the other guy went to Seneca with me, in my grade. I didn't know of him, which was odd since I remember everyone who I'd encountered in school, and it wasn't until later that I would realize I did know who he was. He, under a pet name, had actually dated one of my friends after I'd moved away. And I'd already known he was gay from a random update on old buddies a long time ago, even though I'd never the guy. So again, what a small world it is, no? (now I could also say I'd spent the night with another girl's gay ex-boyfriend). When the bulldozers came to clear us off the streets, I got into the car with my new gay friends and we went to (drumroll please) bubble tea at Pacific Mall. We chatted well into the night. What I learned is that there are, even in a small world, people just like you (for sure, I at least have a better idea of real-life lesbians now that I've met living, breathing specimens). And that's a lovely comfort. Especially when you still do stupid things like forgetting to take off the bow from your bottom and necktie and armwear and have to strip as soon as you get in the door where your pissy dad is waiting, then finding out you've left your phone in your new friend's car after she's dropped you off and you have to run out into the street and meet her in your boxers to get it back. Happy Hallowe'en. It's been a good one. (sure as hell beats last year.) --------------- Oct 30.04 Spent most of the day getting little things done at home. Dwelt a lot on what to wear for Hallowe'en the following night, and surprising myself, came up with a sort of Santa's Little Cocksucker getup. But I'm 99% sure it's going to be too cold to wear it like that so I'll probably end up homogenizing it anyway (and not in the good way). No pictures are going up any time soon, but the concept basically came out of looking around for the central prop (santa hat. I use it everyday to make my hair anyway). And then building on the red, that lushest of colours. I had the red Ecuadorian pants, the lucky red boxers (with a Christmas bow pinned to the bottom), the red camera bag, the red scarf covering the camera strap (and, the idea was, 'covering' my upper body), the red arm band made from Christmas wrapping paper, and the red bracelet from tree tinsel. My two favourite accessories though, were the candy cane (never underestimate the power of sweets) and the lovely red necktie got from last year, along with another red item that shall go unnamed. Ho ho ho. --------------- Oct 29.04 Went out for lunch and a tour of Ryerson's imaging arts building. It's like a whole different kind of school life. And that's not much of a profound statement, but it was just so cool to see practical arts and editting stuff. The best part was getting to go in a darkroom, which was very House on Haunted Hill (it was fun and scary to I fumble and grope my way out of the darkness). Shopping after class, I saw (deep breath) Shawn Ashmore! Only the hottest guy alive! And Canadian! And with an identical twin (!!!)! He was walking down Yonge St. alongside me with his (short, dumpy) girlfriend and her prettier friend. The thing I noticed first (before his identity) was how he walked. With an odd spring in his step because of the way he pauses briefly with his heel off the ground before taking the full step. You kind of have to see it to get it. Also I noticed how tall he is in real life (and how). Later on I saw him again in Eaton Centre at American Eagle, which was like a second dose of heart attack. The good kind. All's I have to add is that, I am *this* much closer to being able to die a happy man, that's how transcendingly satisfying this experience was. --------------- Oct 28.04 Finished reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, which was at times disturbing on multiple levels. Although the actual development of the story seemed weak to me, I found myself getting teary eyed during the philosophical and moral discussions. Why do I keep picturing it in fuzzy 70's British colourful camp style? --------------- Oct 27.04 On this day where nothing much happened, I can take the time to mention our new profs. Prof. Bishop has replaced Baker in biochem. So far he seems rather unremarkable, a lot like Miller from chm139 whose class we repeatedly left early. Prof. French is in and Chang is out. I didn't have a big problem with Chang (I think her attitude got blown out of proportion once everyone found out her extensive academic qualifications). French seems good. I get a big lesbian vibe from her. But that's probably just my own invention. Watched Supersize Me, which has got me thinking even more about what I eat and my health and body image and all that. I guess it's all for the better. --------------- Oct 26.04 Watched Van Helsing, which I recommend to all those people who are looking for a laugh on Hallowe'en. The movie is stupid and funny and makes no sense, which means it'll top off your monster mash well if that's your cup of tea. Someone I know is having issues and all of a sudden it's like in high school where I never knew how to support my friends. I know it's supposed to be about 'just being there' for them and not necessarily 'doing' something, but I always feel so inadequate in such situations. Not to be such a self-centred drama queen but I do tend to make things about me all the time. Plus there's that factor where it's like I'm trying to save myself through this person through all the parallelism, which is kind of disturbing. So meanwhile I have to deal with this constant scrutiny of my own motives. Unpleasant. So how do you help someone if you're afraid to get close to them because of your own demons waiting to be unearthed in the process? --------------- Oct 25.04 After the jazz band rehearsal, we all headed over to the Duke of York, a nice little bar near Avenue and Bloor, for food and drink on Jules. Which was cool, except for the fact that I was the only one under drinking age. Not that it mattered when the four pitchers of beer arrived but I didn't drink anyway. (thankfully, I wasn't the only one). Everyone mostly talked about big-people stuff, like their jobs, or their hardcore music interests, so there wasn't much for me to contribute. But I got some free food so who's complaining. --------------- Oct 24.04 Got back from the cottage. I feel like there's something wedged in between vertebrae in my neck somewhere, probably from sleeping too much and badly. Went out for dinner with Ashley's family, and it occurred to me that we haven't seen much of anyone this year just because of school, work, the cottage and squeezing in time with my own friends. There's something in the fact that all the kids are growing up and I'm missing it all. But that can't be it. Maybe it's just that in comparison, I've stopped growing, and essentially, I'm going to stay the same from here on in and get left behind while everyone is still moving on. So this better not be my peak. Need to make sure of that. --------------- Oct 23.04 Today was spent doing mostly brainless things, like stacking a truckload of firewood, scratching the itchy shutterfinger while playing with the neighbour's dogs (sadly, the neighbour's son wasn't around), eating food that I didn't want and then dwelling on it, and finishing Chuck Palahniuk's Diary. I think I'm starting to lose my capacity for fully appreciating his thematically and stylistically rich writing. I couldn't take much out of it aside from the already-laid-bare-on-a-silver-platter comments that I could (more orless) relate to, like "inspiration comes from suffering" and "history repeats itself". --------------- Oct 22.04 mountains and molehills Well, it's been a while and I think I can now justify identifying this downward trend as a depression. Not in one of those psychopathological ways, but just one of those unpleasant periods that build up like an glacial ice flow and then surge your way and occupy an era or two, then recede. I'm looking at this in kind of an objective way and hoping that it'll be gone by December, just because traditionally (so to speak, for the last two years), this sort of thing has had the tendency to overshadow my birthday and then use the holiday season to pull it out. But of course, that's up to me. As far as heading this off, right now I'm looking at going to Michener Institute of Applied Health Sciences and finishing my degree there in nuclear medicine technology. I'll lose a year but I'm kind of getting tired of the certain apocrypha that is every BSc. student's idea of what they're going to do after undergrad. Then, the plan is to do a two year graduate program in MRI. It's ugly to think of using education purely as a stepping stone to a job, but there it is. After years of holding out, this is probably the last step of the breakdown of my future. I'm ready to surrender. And it feels good. Giving up hope, selling out, taking the low road. Whatever. This could just be the years of brainwashing and torture talking (is it? IS IT?!), but it takes resolve to be one of those people who gives their dreams everything they've got. And I don't think I have it in me. Maybe everyone is right -- that you've got to find your own way, in your own normal mortal existence, to make a difference and do something for yourself. Meanwhile, what's genuinely disturbing is how my dad has a new job prospect. Still in telecom. More responsibility. More stress. More pay. How do we do these things to ourselves? And will I still be as tragically self-objective and self-analyzing when I inevitably wind up doing the same thing? Because when you start actually believing in the philosophies that everyone else is drilling into your head, and you see in yourself the parallels and the futures of those zombies, it would at least be nice to know why you're on your knees with your head in the shitter, wretching and wondering why nothing's coming out. Why you're empty. Haven't had anything to eat in the past twenty-four hours. And come to think of it, I haven't felt real hunger for a couple of weeks now. Yet I've just stuffed myself with turkey and I feel bloated and now I'm heading up to the cottage, where, invariably, I will eat and sleep until I'm sick of both. This weekend was going to be a guilt-free weekend. --------------- Oct 21.04 When I wasn't in class or doing my biology lab prep, I was busy trying to memorize over forty different reactions for organic chemistry. And as much as I love that course, I was getting slightly stressed (probably because up till now I'd figured that my enthusiasm for the prof and the course was some sort of default substitute for understanding of the material). Before the test we had a nice little trip down memory lane because our chemistry classes were held in OISE (I miss the sound of that subway). I only wish that I could have said the same for the actual test writing. For most of the questions I just stared blankly at the page not having any idea what to do. Anyhow, I guess that's only fair. The biology lab after was fun (though I'd left my good prelab in the photocopier just minutes before. I wonder if the TA will notice when she can't read the dry toner on her copy). We did gel electrophoresis of e.coli RNA under funky UV lights. I wasn't sure what the whole purpose of the lab was, or even had a vague awareness of what I was doing, but once again that's the name of the game these days. Now that everything's over (no deadlines or other real stress-inducing factors), I feel like I should be greatly relieved, and yet I'm not. In fact I feel the opposite. As if there's even more reason for anxiety. Is there? What -- me, worry? --------------- Oct 20.04 Let's see ... stayed up late to do my biology scientific research review all in one shot (sort of like the review of literature from grade 11 intro to anthro/psych/socio, where format was everything and thought was nothing). It wasn't horrible, only taking five hours. And I even had time to watch America's Next Top Model thanks to physical chemistry being cancelled (due to lack of overhead projector). Considering how much I have to do tomorrow (another one of those days), I'm feeling pretty good. --------------- Oct 19.04 After watching the abysmal Halle Berry Catwoman just for kicks, I realized that I'm becoming one of those people who watches movies to kill time but under the pretense of wanting to be entertained. So I'm not even going to discuss the movie, though that critic inside desparately wants to. Why pretend I have something to say for today when I really don't? --------------- Oct 18.04 Today was a long, bloody fucking day. Which means sweats. After my four hour lab, I had three hours of class (not including the tutorial that I skipped) and then a three hour biochem midterm, the length of which was my studying time, and finally, an hour of jazz band (having missed the first two and half because of the aformentioned exam). After all that, I went to go unwind at Robarts, to realize that because I didn't have my student card (left my wallet in my "wearing in public" pants), I had to please leave. Well, at least they were nice about it. Funny how you can have so much shit to do, but be strung out because of what's not happening. Somehow having more other stuff to worry about would make everything so much easier to deal with, in a way that puts things in a perspective (even if it doesn't solve any problems). In another world, my dad is getting laid off today, and before everyone reflexively says "oh, I'm sorry to hear that," keep in mind that he didn't like working there and the only reason why he didn't quit a couple years ago was because he was expecting to get axed and wanted the severance package. Or maybe I'm just not fully grasping the implications of this, because it seems like he's planning to go in a different direction with his career anyway (truck driving?). But it's not like I'm right in the loop or really care to be, as naive and inconsiderate that sounds. Something always happens. Whatever that means. --------------- Oct 17.04 Watched Shrek 2, which, like the first one, wasn't as good as eveyone says it is. The movie is suffering from excessive star power now as well. My favourite character was the Fairy Godmother for sure. The bleached ex-showgirl with dark, sleazy roots showing was delicious. The pop culture references were goodies, but the gems were the ones you catch in a split second and then wonder if you're imagining things, like the slick Garfield and Street Fighter nods. Yes, this is what I did the day before massive hemorrhaging pileup week. Vegged out and enjoyed the lazy afternoon so to speak. Why. Why do I always do this to myself? So I can implicitly brag about it in a masochistic way after? Am I just damn lazy or is it in fact as deep rooted as I think sometimes? Either way I'm not amounting to much these days and this is what happens. People say my priorities are all mixed up, but that's the problem. I function best at school when it's shunted to a lower priority and I've got more other, better things to do in my life. That's just the way I work. --------------- Oct 16.04 Relaxed and enjoyed most of the Saturday morning. Which involved running on the treadmill (somehow I'm getting fatter since I've started working out again. Highly irregular and more than somewhat disturbing), cutting my hair (which also included scissoring my knuckles on several occasions. Snippy.) and watching Shaun of the Dead. Now here is a highly entertaining, classical zombie movie. Everything that Dawn of the Dead was supposed to be but wasnt. In addition to ironic British wit, there were some bits where I was having trouble breathing from laughter, which is a rarity to be treasured. In the classic zombie movie vain, you also get the genuine cheese that hits all the right notes and makes you want to cry or scream or hit someone. Shaun of the Dead: everything you want from a comedy/horror and more. Note: the sad pathetic loser that he is, it's so easy to see why Liz sticks with Shaun through everything (writer Simon Pegg). You just have to love the guy. Who could say no to that face? Went downtown to the Montreal Bistro to catch the last night of Doug Riley, the Hammond B3 organ GOD, with son Ben Riley on drums, Chris Mitchell on sax and Jak Langley on guitar (also cool). The songs weren't spectacular, and I'm not a fan of the whole time-eating format of melody-melody-saxsolo-guitarsolo-organsolo-drumsolo-melody-melody, but what can you do. The food was divine (though I should have skipped dinner and just got all desserts. Sweet taffy apple cheesecake), the seats were better than last time (no seats at the back next to the kitchen and right in front of the bartender), and the performances were great. Right before the first set, I got practically orgasmic shivers and goosebumps from Doug Riley just playing a few notes to limber up his fingers. I picked up a CD (turned out to be solo piano, not organ, sadly, though it's still good) and got it and Lazy Afternoon signed. And I want everyone to know that Lazy Afternoon (Doug Riley on B3 and Guido Basso on flugelhorn) is one of the best albums I own. Ended up spending a pretty penny tonight, but it was worth it just to see Doug Riley live. Mana for the ears. --------------- Oct 15.04 Had dinner with family in Chinatown. The occasion: relatives of relatives visiting from L.A. I didn't really interact with them, but they gave us all ten bucks American. ("American currency?! When would you like your breakfast, sir?!") At the end of the meal, I found two fortunes in my fortune cookie (not an unusual occurrence at this restaurant, where the stash of cookies is left in plain site scattered all over the cash register). I'll reproduce them here. "You have a reputation for being straight forward and honest." All three adjectives (or two, whatever) are totally off base. "People find it difficult to resist your persuasive manner." Maybe true, but only because the above fortune is wrong. --------------- Oct 14.04 Okay, you have to try this: Sit at the front carraige of the subway in the priority seating, facing backwards. And you need to be facing the window so you can see the reflection out the front of the train. When it moves, you'll see yourself going in the direction you're facing, but your body will be lurching forward into that direction, so the inertia is all backwards. Granted, I got sick, but it was a cool experience. --------------- Oct 13.04 Now that all the foliage is burning and that lovely autumn smell is in the air, I'm starting to feel all nostalgic and romantic and etc. I'm also starting to feel the hole in my chest where hockey should be (even though we all saw the lockout coming since last year). Struggling to find another purpose in life during the school year ... Music isn't often enough (and not even that fulfilling right now), romantic opportunities are few and very far between. I guess it's back to the books. Shudder. --------------- Oct 12.04 This week's gonna be a breezy one before the havoc coming up. Basically I'm just catching up on things on the to-do list (maybe tonight I'll even wipe the dust off my bookshelves and if I'm feeling really daring, reorganize my sock drawer). This included photocopying some of the jazz music that's been thrown my way. It took me almost a whole hour to get it all figured out and photocopied the right way, but I'm proud of myself. Where's my award? Watched Spartan, another movie penned by David Mamet. It was OK as far as action/war/government types go, but there wasn't anything impressive about it at all aside from the script requiring Val Kilmer to call everyone "baby" and "honey" all the time. A blip on the gaydar at least. --------------- Oct 11.04 Thanksgiving Well, this is the first year where I haven't had any turkey on the Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't get to attend any special feasts due to work and because the big one at my house for today was cancelled. Back into the freezer until Christmas, it looks like. Today was also the first day off (as in, no school, no work, no going out) I've had for a few months. It was so relaxing. By the end of the day, I was bored almost to tears once again and desparately thinking of things to do to pass the time. Good thing I've been working out again recently, otherwise the day would have been a complete and total waste. Goal for the month: to acheive level of fitness that I had at October 2003, right around when everything went to hell and my body gave up. Got a message from Jules (jazz band). Apparently the Toronto All-Star Big Band is looking for trombones. I think I'm gonna hold back on giving it a shot, just because I'm not feeling all that hot on the old sackbutte yet. And then there's the whole Mike Tutton factor, which is just a little too creepy (did I mention he was teaching at band camp this year? So glad I didn't go to see my sister). --------------- Oct 10.04 Isn't this my last shift at Paramount Canada's Wonderland? The answer is a big, orgasmic *YES*. Sadly, it was a also a big drag, ending very sour for me because of all the superiors not sticking around for the whole day with me and the only other original Ghoster Coaster crew member left. I got raped with four and a half straight hours at Rocketport and one and a half at Aerofield, with a half hour at Ghoster Op. I almost expired twice and my I took my second break at 7:30, half an hour before closing. After which we all had to clean and lug shit over to the storage spot. Needless to say, there was much swearing throughout the day. Fittingly, Alexei Ponikarovsky and family were in the park, though I noticed they avoided my ride. And I would know because I was stuck there in that position from 9:45 to 2:15. Being stuck in any position for that long is no fun. My only lucid moments were when I thought to write a short journal on a ride coupon while stuck at Rocketport, but the only good entry I could pull from the ramblings was: "In the year 2033 when amusement parks have been replaced by virtual home entertainment complexes, archaeologist robots will unearth this journal and discover what it's like to operate rides here at Paramount Canada's Wonderland. Where thrills are paramount." So long. If all goes well, I won't see you again. --------------- Oct 09.04 The last weekend of work at Wonderland is finally here. I slipped and slid down a damn hill in the wooded path on my way up to Ghoster Coaster. My ass is bruised but otherwise OK. The day was brightened up by my friend from school, who'd been sent to Ghoster to temp for us from Speed City Raceway. Then felt self-dignified and special because I had a friend (that I could flash around like a new camera). Later, went out to bowling for a big get-together now that the last bunch of us have gone off to university. Everyone's in town for commencement and the Thanksgiving weekend so it was a night of mass picture-taking (more the feature than the bowling, though I kicked ass of course). We were designated by our universities so I was St.Geoorg, the German academy for gifted artists of course. As usual, bubble tea followed bowling. Nothing too crazy going on there except for the complete wife-swapping to get rides home according to geographical proximity. Finally, a full-blown night out. --------------- Oct 08.04 Ouch. I was feeling more than a little post-rejection depression today. Forgot what that's like. In the spirit of this wave of confidence that's going around recently, I'm just gonna move on and look forward to the next blah blah blah. Bring me more meat. Was supposed to go see a whole bunch of movies today, but only saw one. At Elgin Mills, we noticed a bigger than average crowd of teenage driftwood, then saw the ambulance and fire truck outside. So maybe there was a fire in the theatre. Or a drug overdose. But more likely, a combination of both (like someone dropped a joint and their pants ignited). After all that, the movie we ended up seeing was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (from the video store). It was funny, thinky, zany, sweet, and ear/eye-pleasing. There's just so much going on in this film that it overwhelms your brain and becomes hard to discuss. We spent a good two hours afterward talking about the film and other Kauffmans, and all the while it was begging to be watched again right there. Maybe I'll get around to discussing the movie, but probably not. Just too much. Like an post-ecstatic, euphoria. --------------- Oct 07.04 In today's biology lab our group of eight did a little interpretive physical art to illustrate primary and secondary structures in DNA, RNA and proteins. Now that was one for the books. It was sort of like Twister meets charades meets Trivial Pursuit (that's what post-secondary education's all about anyway). Intro: This morning, I saw another ad for Showcase (Canada's HBO) and chuckled to myself like an idiot: "I just grabbed a complete stranger's butt today. Thanks, Showcase!" A salute to boundary pushers everywhere, or something to that effect. On the street today, a panhandler muttered "C'n I have yer shirt?" as I walked by. I was wearing my beloved McGill hoodie and it was so off-base that I almost laughed out loud. I walked on by and he laughed and said "Thanks for smiling." That actually brought a genuine smile on my face. I considered going back and giving the guy a toonie but you know me: I'd been standing listlessly for a while thinking about it and then it would just have been weird. I guess if I ever see him again I'll pay him back for the day's smile. Probably the month's, to be honest. Later that night ... I'm not sure what's up with us all these days, but I just asked someone out on a date (!!!) . I haven't felt this giddy in years. And even though it's not going to happen I'm still happy. Sometimes you can surprise yourself. Thought of the day: I guess life's just as much about the things you don't do as the things that you do. (Do things???) --------------- Oct 06.04 For my weekly dose of TV, I watched America's Next Top Model. I'm not sure if it's the gay in me or what but I found it so interesting. After that, I felt guilt-compelled to do a little (long overdue) exercise on the treadmill and in the gym in my room (primary equipment: 30 year old sack of steel ball bearings and the floor). I don't care what people say about being figure-obsessed. Physical activity makes your body feel really good, and it makes your body look really good, and then you feel really good. There aren't any downsides in that equation. --------------- Oct 05.04 Took a shower in the shower in the basement for the very first time. I imagined it felt grimy but otherwise it wasn't bad. The pressure was low and the coverage was worse but the water was hot. Severely chilled but feeling nice and clean afterwards, I donned my Ecuadorian red (pyjama?) pants and had me a lovely day. As a complete non-sequitur, I was eating cereal randomly throughout the day, and was reading the nutrition facts as any cereal eater would do to pass the time. I noticed at that point that cereal is around 90% carbohydrates by mass. Mostly starch and sugar. And that most of the vitamins and minerals that don't come from milk are added in artificially. So really, what's so great about cereal? It's just a sugary, starchy vehicle for milk and dietary supplements that you have to go out of your way to consume in the morning. --------------- Oct 04.04 Woke up before the sun rose to prepare for my early organic chem lab this morning. It was actually fun and simple, and made all of us love TA, Van -- especially when compared to the scary, shrill, stressed out bald-spot girl TA for the group next to us. I felt bad though because I got complimented on my excellent and lovely crystals, and then I screwed up the filtration by dissolving them, resulting in a 60% yeild which he told us all was fine. Once again, go organic chem! The physical chemistry test was deceptively easy -- we'll see how it went. Mostly I was pissed off that I had to miss the end of organic chem to get to the test room where Scholes was invigilating. Temperatures skirted the zero mark at night and I walked back to my grandmother's well past midnight. I thought I saw wet cement where the construction was taking place on College St. No one was looking so (after some characteristic waffling and deliberation) I poked my finger in it. It was solid, of course. Well, no one can say I didn't try to leave my mark at least. --------------- Oct 03.04 After work, headed right downtown to stay the night so I wouldn't have to wake up before the sun rose for the next morning's lab. --------------- Oct 02.04 Just ticking away the hours at Paramount Canada's Wonderland still. Even Ghoster Op is losing a lot of its fun. Understandable, since I'm one of the couple people left who're certified there, resulting in my spending six or so hours in the booth. I resorted to getting out my CD player and bigass headphones to play over the station P.A. Sort of like a DJ except all I had was Matthew Good Band. --------------- Oct 01.04 Dr. Baker, the new biochem prof, gets two big thumbs up. The course is starting to get interesting now and it's a good time for a good prof. Good. Meanwhile in class, some friends invited me for dinner in the evening. Whereabouts? Around Ryerson. Funny, I'm meeting my cousin who goes to Ryerson for lunch in a bit. We're going to eat Thai. Oh, that's what my friends are eating too. They're going to a place called Salad King. Coincidence huh? And, no, I didn't go twice. Hanging out with my cousin on a social level was a weird concept for me to wrap around. Family is just one of those things you take for granted and when you see it from a new angle it forever changes your perspective. --------------- |