had a fun chat with Cass while poll clerking.
a: Old AUSers are awesome.
b: old stories about current AUSers are also awesome.
(Graham, I'm looking at you.)
September 26, 2003
September 16, 2003
guilt.
this is pretty bad.
gotten so used to posting somewhat regularly that I feel guilty about not having done anything since Radiohead.
here goes!
__
The School:
The usual, I suppose. Classes are mind-numbing (LING 100) to really very interesting (THTR 150). Good to see everyone back. Well, most everyone, anyway. There's always the one who you could do without, and the one who's passed on (not dead, graduated) that you miss.
__
The Sister:
she left her husband last Tuesday, after seven stormy months. He wouldn't stand up to his mother (basically, it would have been "Stop picking on my wife, your unrealistic expectations are ridiculous and I will have none of this.)
she's back. and I never really mentioned her before because she was married before I started the blog, and since she wasn't allowed to visit home (see also: unrealistic expectations). I love her (she is my sister, after all), but there's a number of things we don't get along on.
so, instead of telling her when I disagree, I have to grin and bear it. So far, this includes:
- saying goodbye to half my closet.
- shuffling around the furniture in my already-tiny room to make space for her stuff
- not flipping out when I get yelled at for the faults of her ex.
- being wrong. all the time.
it's minor, but it adds up.
___
The Mentor
Spencer is a giant ass (in a good way). I'm not going to turn into him. I promise.
Stop worrying.
So far it's been me tagging along with Spencer and meeting people and being a/bemused. Eventually, I will teach him useful things, like
- how to make bread
- how to break into cars with a coat hanger (to retrieve other people's keys, not to drive away in them)
- how to make butter chicken
- MP3 snobbery (VBR vs CBR, LAME vs iTunes, etc.)
- and of course, get him hooked on Eggos
suggestions are welcome (basically, I'm teaching him things to impress people with.) and if you want to tag along, then let me know.
___
The Home Life
Sucks. I want to get out, but I will only do so with a laptop.
I didn't at all want to go home at 8 after the welcome back (and certain people didn't want me to either, which was incredibly awesome) and sobering up on the bus ride + waiting around at scott road station (being sure to stay on camera, in case anything happened) blew goats. Harder than myUBC blows goats.
which is pretty. damn. hard.
September 15, 2003
September 04, 2003
erosion, cont.'d
people who claim membership into a group to which they don't belong (or have been removed from) bug me.
deeply.
September 02, 2003
12:35am, August 31
ears still ringing.
face hurts from continual silly grin.
feet hurt more, from 6 hours in parking + more jumping up and down.
whatever.
show was amazing
from opening (2+2=5) to closing (EEIRP), I was enthralled, jumping, bouncing, hovering, moving, swaying with slow songs and pausing for the odd sip of water, and flat out having a bitchin' time.
ex:
(during 2+2=5)
[GERALD turns around, sees GRAHAM and VANESSA]
[VANESSA grins]
GRAHAM: you're hovering [grins like small child at Christmas]
(beat drops)
[GERALD ROCKS OUT]
3 encores, 7 songs.
Myxomatosis!!
Wolf at the Door with keyboards!!
Ed rocking out, and air-drumming!!
Michael Stipe coming out for Karma Police!!
Ricer-shaming bass on The Gloaming
I... wow.
now, to track down a bootleg...
August 30, 2003
things that erode my faith in humanity
- Riced-out Camaros.
- men wearing Cher shirts.
- the Toyota Echo Hatchback.
- the sheer number of people who think that a "DO NOT ENTER, TRANSIT VEHICLES ONLY" sign does not apply to them.
- Coldplay botching "The Scientist" at the MTV VMAs.
August 28, 2003
08.27.2003, 10:03pm
today didn't suck.
there were no ridiculous arguments, no "where-are-you" messages, and maybe the silly jungle creatures on my wall aren't that bad.
okay, scratch the last one.
__
now, for long-postponed updates:
__
peer advising is mad fun.
if you're helping someone, then there's the whole fuzzy-happy-helpful feeling of making someone else's life easier.
if not, you're chatting with the other people, or on MSN.
win/win/win. I'd love to work there.
___
parking is 60% standing around, 25% chatting (either with "guests" or other parkers) and 15% waving arms.
not bad, but I'd much rather do something.
whatever. parking is still better than some of the other PNE jobs, like sweeping (exclusive domain of 15-year olds for whom this is a first job), concessions (no explanation needed) or lottery tickets ("win a house! win a car!" x 8 hours = yowza)
___
got my radiohead ticket.
the guy who sold me mine did so at a loss.
odd.
53.50USD x 1.39965 CAD/1USD = $74.88 CAD.
___
paige is back.
she has been since saturday, but I hadn't made it out to campus until today.
am somewhere between relieved and excited (paige returning = radiohead and school starting)
___
first time I've actually been excited for school to start.
classes aren't going to suck (THTR 150, LING 100), the AUSgang, and the slowly increasing likelihood of a campus job, things are looking up. finally.
___
waterproof khakis are awesome.
and only $40!
___
no longer allergic to grass.
melons will be tested shortly.
___
really odd to write after such a long hiatus. feel sort of guilty for neglecting the blog, and my writing's not where it used to be.
August 20, 2003
we apologize for the inconvenience. normal service will resume shortly.
I find that proper writing of any sort requires a certain organization of thought, and also a fair bit of time in which to do it.
Unfortunately, using the library computers puts a damper on things.
blarg.
August 13, 2003
arranged myself a twilight zone ticket.
this means I have to back out of buying one from jon loewen.
I feel terrible about this.
if anyone who reads this needs (or knows someone who needs) a radiohead general admission ticket, email jon - it's jonloewen (at) telus (dot) net
---
got the info centre job - it's 5 hours and not ten, but it's still a foot in the door.
I think I find out about street team tomorrow.
August 12, 2003
weird dream #2
on the #41 bus.
see vanessa.
go over, sit down, start a chat, and then...
THOM YORKE gets on the bus.
and we have a discussion.
don't remember what about, but it was engaging.
August 09, 2003
a little bit longer and a little bit worse.
so now I have *two* interviews on Monday, one for street team, and the other for temporary Aleksing (read: working in Brock Hall during the fee-paying rush). Am appropriately excited/nervous.
---
PNE orientation was... interesting.
did stupid icebreakers, which are stupid but effective - we had to name our table, and since we were all from Parking (got there late, so they couldn't really mix us in with the rest) we were the pylons. apparently, this was extremely witty and the name + our presentation (one guy made car noises and "drove" around us, appropriately knocking a couple people over) won us single movie passes (wtf? could you not at least spring for two a person, Giant Corporation?) and Starbucks gift certificates. w00t.
---
have made arrangements for RH ticket. it's very cloak-and-dagger; jon promised it to someone else who couldn't deliver, so I have to keep the fact that he's selling it to me on the so-called down-low.
---
Friends continue their reign of awesomeness; brother has yet to grasp that farting is not funny.
---
Delta library is weird. Has Go Plastic, but no Bends. why?
---
headphones for beer = best trade ever.
---
finally listened to a live version of Kid A; which made the lyrics decipherable. What I thought was "please don't be so scared" was actually "we have heads on sticks".
-1 to my ears.
---
was listening to "how can you be sure" (track 14, bends japanese release), and I caught the female backing vocals, something I hadn't previously noticed.
+1 to the eggos
---
found the old Kid A/Pablo Honey/Amnesiac MD. (it was in my sock drawer, for some reason)
also downloaded a concert from 1993 at a cousin's from Cuttooth.com
it's not great quality, but still worth a listen.
(Cuttooth is the name of a b-side off the Knives Out single, in case you were wondering)
---
happy birthday, graham!
you're not that old.
honest.
---
August 06, 2003
microentries, cont'd...
spoke to paige for an hour last night, including a small three-way call to Vanessa.
as well as flat-rate long distance, telus seems to have tossed 3-way calls into our phone plan, which means we can all talk to paige!
made things inexorably better, knowing that she wasn't as down as her posts would have me believe.
---
am dropping VISA 180, for as yet undecided course.
I don't know if I can swing moving out yet, and the course sounds extremely time-consuming.
this wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't losing most of a day every week to commuting. (2hours/way x 2 ways x 5 days/week = 20 hours)
but I am going to be (temporarily, I hope), and I can always take it later. I do need something to replace it now.
---
got a phone call: they want me for AMS Street Team interviews on monday
this means I need to:
- get a haircut
- figure out what the hell I'm going to do to fill up my three minutes of "wow-the-interviewer-time"
- possibly make a billboard, courtesy of graham-taught skills.
---
hindu suits as curtains got me an extra two hours of sleep.
my mother mentioned that they'd probably fade in funny patterns, and that she might just sew some for me.
August 03, 2003
1:45 am, August 2.
Meeting/party was fun.
did the usual party thing, but didn't drink. went through 2.5 pitchers of iced tea, instead (thanks, payne!). had a shot of raspberry vodka (cough syrup + burning)
had a number of interesting conversations - notably with Vanessa, Jayme, and Eaton.
first: props to V - she's an excellent listener. and very attractive.
second: Jayme seems back to normal. I miss having a backyard in which to stare at the sky. Saw two shooting stars, though.
third: worried about Eaton. We had an actual, normal chat in which he didn't threaten me. THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN, PEOPLE. unfortunately, I don't know him well enough to nudge him into talking about whatever's bothering him, so I'll fret from a safe distance and wait for the days of incredibly witty death forecasts to return.
1:15 am, August 2.
not having internet at home blows.
as such, I've started writing them out and saving them for later.
here goes:
every now and then, someone does something stupid. stupid beyond the normal bonds of idiocy. such incidents include swearing at Graham's mom, or demands so incredibly presumptuous it make's your head spin.
I got one two days ago.
my dad sat me down and made up some crap about me having changed (fuck, obviously. if you want constancy over time, get a goddamned statue) and launched into a spiel about how his time on the temple committee some time ago had screwed him over by distracting him from getting his business done. therefore, the AUS distracts me from class.
---
first problem: I don't skip class for AUS stuff - I skip class because it's incredibly boring. Or was, anyway. Next year looks all sorts of awesome.
second problem: *you* can't manage your time. I am not you. bad assumption to make.
---
said distractions led to drop in grades
---
problem: grades dropped because I didn't go to class, and largely because I was burned out.
---
also business about last year, when I ran the yearbook, which brought down my grades, made me incredibly moody and unhappy around the house, and robbed me of scholarships.
---
it brought my grades up (really, I've got report cards that prove it), allowed me an outlet for previously untapped talent, and let me mock everyone else in the school. Oh, and the moodiness? Try being 17 and sleeping on the couch daily
---
but I digress. this ended in him demanding that I resign and walk away from AUS business, as well as the Fair.
I flatly refused.
You (seeing as most anyone who reads this is either an AUSer, or fulfills below requirements) made first year bearable. I didn't want to go straight to school - I wanted to take a year off and travel. Since my brother had said the same and has yet to return to school, I got pushed into somewhere I didn't want to be, took courses to fulfill a career path that wasn't one of my choosing, and got ready to hunker down and despair.
Then I got a copy of the Source, decided that maybe this wasn't all bad, and walked into a bunch of random, random experience.
- Slurpees and Push and NERD ALERT
- Word of the Day, Go Fish tournaments, and Drunken Drunken Hippos
- "well, shit" and beer o' clock and Sea-to-Sky
that's not even touching the work.
had you asked me in september to run a stage, make billboards, create a phrase for the office to use as well as an absurd nickname for graham, find velvet ropes, and set up beer gardens, I would've asked for some of whatever it was you were on. But I did it all, and to walk away from another four years of this(although I don't think an office phrase or a nickname will pop up quite so easily) is something I won't do.
in short: I <3 you all.
July 29, 2003
microentries: 1 of many.
bleargh.
dinner at payne's was fun, car ride home wasn't.
"do you want a ride home?"
"do I have a choice in the matter?"
---
welcome to blogging, naf.
---
psycholology undergraduate advisor = suck.
"go to room 2527 for drop in appointments."
get to room 2527, there's nobody there.
----
stupid rechargeable battery.
if I'm editing on the MD (dividing tracks, shortening tracks, adding names, etc), and the battery dies (usually I have it plugged in while editing, but I didn't because the battery meter was at 3/4ths), then I've effectively wiped an MD. this is what happened last night.
luckily, it was only the gaudy-ass mix disc (the disc is gaudy, the music is mixed), but it's still annoying.
---
writing cover letters is a pain in the ass.
---
note to V: who won the pool?
---
July 23, 2003
...
I hate not having the internet at home.
Besides lacking the capacity to MSN, I can't blog right when things hit me, and I miss, well, Paige.
I'd say more later, but I don't know when later is.
:\
July 21, 2003
take that, electrons!
well, I passed CHEM 121, and I must have done pretty damn good on the final, given that I skipped an entire page (calculating atom size from the degree at which an x-ray is diffracted = confusing) but I managed to get a 57 overall - which is averaged with the 45 from beforehand.
so, I'm buying a headphone amp as a self-reward.
yes. I said headphone amp. Mock me now, but you will be amazed later. Well, Graham and Paige mostly; the rest of you are philistines.
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