The blog entry of this title comes from "Seasons of Love" from Rent, which our choir is going to perform next term at the formal (along with Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, but that's another story XD). Before I begin this mostly coherent entry proper, I should note that I've sent out the awaited/feared (yes, WMC...I know you fear it...and I'd send out lots of them to you if I could because of that XD) State of the Union recently. If you aren't on the mailing list...and want to get it (i.e. the in a nutshell review of the last term) e-mail me or something ^_^.

Anyhow...I'm at the Congly family complex (this choice of term is an excellent example of hyperbole of course :) AKA the parental home now for another few more days before I head back on Friday. I got back on...hmm...Monday night (that is last week) after the last exam on the 20th...so I guess I got back on the 23rd then. I took the bus back...a long ride...but I had a lot of time to dose and think about a variety of things...I liked how comfortable the Greyhound coach was...but the provincial coach...that was less comfortable. I've had a nice time relaxing...read a non-school related book for the first time since school started ^_^ [Kushiel's Chosen for those who care]. I've also got a chance to spend time with some of my friends...and that's been nice. I have done a bit of school reading...so I'm reasonably happy with that...and I've caught up on the Kevin Spencer that I haven't had a chance to watch. I thought the one with him playing chess was hysterical XD XD and that one also featured the Washed Up Canadian Celebrities home...where I picked up almost all of them...Mr. Dressup, Friendly Giant, Bruno someone or other from the Beachcombers and two guys from Degrassi...oh and the Littlest Hobo XD. "The King was a lazy ass who only could move one square at a time" (or something to that extent).

Well...I suppose I sort of went off track from what I was going to talk about in this entry. As the subject indirectly implies, I have been thinking about the past year and everything that has happened in it. As I was cleaning up old e-mails, I realise that it was only just over a year ago that I was undergoing the application process...with trying to get all my documents in order and sent off in time...so much has changed in the past year in my life. What I thought, early in 2001, that I'd be doing at this point in time is much different that what I was doing. I do owe a debt to my friend for telling me to apply for the heck of it instead of following my original plan.

A lot of one year anniversaries have passed by for me...(mostly deadlines and memories of strong angst at various times)...[side comment to myself...oh...that bit of angst I didn't think of right away...interesting] with a number more to come. It's been a turbulent year, this two thousand and second year of the common era, for me. A whole lot of things have happened...and in a short period of time (i.e. the month of August was a really busy time for me and my family with about three weeks to prepare for a move).

I'm sort of reminded again of the changing relationship map (with respect to degrees of closeness for the main thing) as this year draws to a close...the people I've grown closer to...and the people I've drifted apart from...for a variety of reasons. I do feel guilty in some cases for the drifting apart thing...since it has been my fault...and it's just that I've lost contact with them to some extent...while others...well, our paths and interests lie in different fields entirely...so the drifting apart is...more understandable. I am fully cognant of the fact that relationships change...if they didn't, we'd be static individuals...and being that the world is essentially a dynamic place, it simply isn't realistic. I'd be a fool to think that everyone I'm in contact with will stay in contact with me forever or that the level of interaction will remain the same (or will ~want~ to [smiles gently]) and vice versa (although at times, I think I manage to delude myself on the former). Opinions on others evolve...again, I'm returning to the theme again of relationships and interactions not being static. I'm not sure if everyone I know recognises this though...but that's a topic for a different day (and probably not for this arena).
Linked to this is blog reading...which I guess sort of is the catalyst for this point in the discussion. Let me be perfectly frank...I used to be able to skim all the blogs on my link list every day...now...I only look at a selected few every day...and the numbers of the selected few has been decreasing as time goes on...and I do feel a little bad for that...because I guess its sorta like losing touch in some way...some of you I know only through the blog. Likewise...the frequency of my entries here also has been decreasing too...[and my illustrious colleague Priya makes me feel a tiny (emphasis on tiny) bit guilty for her much greater posting frequency than mine ^_^;]. I suppose I could make an entry every day...but I sort of want to get an entry with substance so I usually put off things (and I know that with few exceptions, most readers of this humble log do not want or care for the day to day details of my life [which are pretty much mundane I admit fully]). I do wish I could make some more science/health commentaries on various things that come up in the news...but I wish for many things ^_-. Much of my entries have been semi-throwaway ones...but...well, I have no excuse for them...BUT, I don't care :D

Ah...2003...a new year...pregnant with lots of possibility. Issues to deal with? Of course there are some that need to be resolved...although I'm not sure I really want to deal with the potential consequences of resolution in some cases...but...it'll be for the better overall...and of course...my issue of Balance...that I'll keep working on until one day I finally find it.

Oh..the Harry Potter fic that Venkarel linked to a while back...the Naked Quidditch Match is absolutely hysterical...I don't read much fic...and actually this is the first HP fic I've read...but it was well worth my time :D...go read it ^_^

Surviving...
Monday, December 16, 2002 -|- 06:15 p.m.

Revising for exams...that's my life effectively...had the Christmas concert (choir) on Saturday...that went well...

Have to lose weight this break >_< [gained weight over the term...I think the big bag of Halloween candy and the lower amount of exercise has something to do with it...]

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On 2225, December 26th our journey ended.
Tuesday, December 3, 2002 -|- 11:28 p.m.

And with that line...Infinite Ryvius effectively ends...episode 26 is an aftermath episode (I think a year later)...wow...the last 5-6 episodes were amazing...the ending (25) blew me away as well...at the end of each episode on my final run (Friday evening/Saturday morning)...I was in sort of a shock after every episode as things began to happen faster and faster...people were cracking under the strain...I learnt a lot of background about certain characters...which explains many things...part of the OP now makes sense...(when you see Ikumi staring at the sky)...Heigar goes pretty much batty and he gets off on the new Ryvius system of organisation...let's just say that by the very end..."Lord of the Flies" is a VERY apt comparision...

The show just kept getting Wronger and Wronger...the characters evolved...especially Kouji...who actually decided to take the advice that other people gave to him for value...

The evil one saw the last episode (26) without having seen the rest...I think that was a mistake in that a lot of the character tension and the...drama of the situation is lost when you know how the relationships are resolved at the end...(BTW...get better soon WMC)

Oh...Neeya is cute...especially when [deleted for spoiler reasons...but it's clean]...here's a very lovely fanart that someone did of her ^_^...

As for couples...Blue/Yuuki is no dice...at least not canon...I like Cliff and Charlie quite a bit :D

Over all...I thought Ryvius was a hell of a ride...a little slow at the beginning...but after it started to move...the Wrongness just propogated greatly...

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Saw "Bowling for Columbine" on Friday night...was very good...I highly encourage you to check it out...it certainly makes you think. It doesn't answer its question (re. why so many gun killings occur in the US per annum)...but it's good film-making...it tells a compelling story. There are certainly places in there that make you think...there were a few scenes that I thought were over done (i.e. opening doors in Canada)...but overall...it was a well presented film. Go see it.

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Ah...Spirited Away...I actually didn't see it this weekend...something about it being really far away from me...and that I did shopping on Saturday and didn't get up early enough on Sunday to go see the early showing and make it home at a decent hour...gah gah...I might just have to wait until the cheap theatre (based on my schedule and things coming up)...drat indeed.

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Played a bit of Baldur's Gate on the weekend...now starting Chapter 3 (of 7 ^^;;)...my party is doing very well now...my main character...she has a nice AC -5 (of -10 is best)...and she has a lovely weapon stolen from one of the NPCs (Scimatar +3 from Drizzt Do'Urden XD)

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Went to the anime club "Gong Show/Night of the Tentacle" last night...how this works (for the Gong Show) is that they play 5 minutes of something... to take it off... to keep it one... to take it off...etc...they then stop the show every so often and do the same routine...now...theoretically...there's supposed to be good and fresh anime and bad anime there. However...I didn't see any good stuff in the 1.75 hours I was there (of 3). Let's see...they had a Pikachu short (hide and seek)...had a Sera Myu musical (I think it was Super S...which wasn't bad...but I left to go do some stuff outside and pretty much missed what they showed of it)...umm...an episode of Digimon Frontier I guess...and something else...

The one show that did make it all the way through was episode 1 of Princess Tutu...mahou shoujo...but I thought it was ~bad~ mahou shoujo...it was so bad that I was heckling the show throughout (and I usually shut my mouth when watching)...but others around me where heckling too...and it was the Gong Show...so it kind of is different than normal...ballet dancers...a duck...and a weak OP song...there were a few sardonic comments made by the people I was sitting around...but they are really not polite and so I'm not going to repeat them...^^;;;;

Now...I admit that I didn't toss money into the pot...so I guess I can't bitch super much...however...the bad stuff...wasn't so bad that it would have been funny and good...it was just mediocre stuff...I wonder if there was actually any good stuff after I left @_@;;;

Oh...you likely wonder about the Night of the Tentacle reference...well...after the Gong Show (that raised like 0+ for the club)...they clear the room...card people and then show some hentai pr0n...I wanted to see Excel Saga 26...but I didn't think I could stand watching mediocre anime for another hour @_@...

Ah...due to me skipping out on another meeting early...I missed the announcement about signing up for the club dinner (out to a Japanese restaurant)...and so now there isn't a seat guaranteed for me...alas alas...because it might have been fun...I guess I'll just do this other restaurant trip that classmates are doing...:)

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Oh yes...my brief rant...for dog owners...I can understand your dog barking at me as I pass by...that's okay. What really really pisses me off is a dog running to chase me in a place where the yard is not contained as I simply walk on the sidewalk in front of the house (the one house in particular has a big hedge surrounding the house...so I can't really see if the dog is out there or not...which usually gives me a start and adds to my stress... Related to that is that I get even more pissed off when the dog comes out to bark at me...when I'm bloody across the street from it...i.e. it was standing middle of the bloody road (small residential road). Guard your property...okay...but the mother*ucking sidewalk is not your mother*ucking property...especially when I'm on the *ucking sidewalk across the street. Bah...[incidentally...I figured out an alternate route that avoids those two locations...which I'm starting to use now...]

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One more throwaway before a real entry
Sunday, December 1, 2002 -|- 03:29 a.m.

From Katelynne...who got it from Janaki:

Real entry later today I hope...hopefully can also go see Spirited Away later today (depends on making to theatre o.o;; )

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Thanks Kourin (for this pointless entry) o.o;;
Tuesday, November 26, 2002 -|- 05:04 p.m.

Courtesy of Kourin:

Will Darkfacimile Survive A Pit Match Against Clinton And Bush?

. 0% chance Bush would kill you. . 12% chance Clinton would kill you. . 0% chance he would sexually harass you. . 88% chance you would kill them.

Enter Combat

Book Worm Meter for Darkfacimile

Shut In 71% . . 29% Out Of The House Intellectual 77% . . 23% Moron High Attention Span 95% . . 5% Low Attention Span Bookitude 96% . . 4% Book Burner Book Worm 84.75% . . 15.25% Bug Stomper

Take your bookworm readings.

. . . What is my spectrum? I am red: My main color is red. This means I am goal oriented. Success is important to me. Achievment is the marker of a great life. . What is my spectrum?

On hiatus for exam revision until the weekend.

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Tempted...
Friday, November 22, 2002 -|- 04:54 p.m.

Tempted by the Right Stuf's sale on ADV stuff...40% off...so the net effect is that I'd get things at par ^_^; The Excel Saga DVD 1 tempts me as well as the Noir DVD 1 (with t-shirt and box set)...^^;;; [just issues with setting up an account with them though @_@;]

Ryvius is to be released in April (22 April 2003)...first DVD is 5 episodes long...and at like US on sale ( list)...I'll likely pick it up ^^;; I do love my Ryvius ^_^;

Oh...the test below wasn't entirely valid (due to the test being designed for females)...but amusing nonetheless:

What's your sexual appeal?
brought to you by Quizilla

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Decisions decisions...
Thursday, November 21, 2002 -|- 06:34 p.m.

Lots of decisions to be made in the very near future (nearer than I want to think about)...which all are mostly linked together and have significant effects on me...isn't life fun...

I have to highlight Ingrid's "Song for Jinxer" (follow the link) for its amusement value...it's worth a gold star from me :D

Parasitology...pictures...well...some unique ones...the Ascaris one...not one I'll ever forget o.o...and after some of those lectures...it's a wonder I can still eat meat...

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Technical entry
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 -|- 06:53 p.m.

Inspired by WMC's whining on the comments =P (and no...at times my posting record is much much better than yours...but I admit it's not consistent).

Didn't buy the LotR Extended DVD...still thinking about it. Beat my first 8 foot DDR song on Friday (Cowboy on 7th Mix)...not much else to say other than revising for exam now...

Sleep and time...two thing I could really use...

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Fixed?
Tuesday, November 12, 2002 -|- 01:15 a.m.

Ah poor Darkfax... he's been fixed. Ummm...not quite :P--SC *laughs* Rather, I think I finally got this pita design FIXED. Or the worst faults, I finally managed to get the vertical alignment of the sidebar fixed, and the background is now showing in the border. And Netscape is no longer showing the spacer images. Woohoo!

Darkfax, if you mess it up after this, it is all your fault. You can reset your password again. Or I can continue to post here :P and abuse you muchly. *CACKLES*--Although it might be interesting...in the interest of self preservation, no dice :P SC 12:35 AM

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Delayed entry
Sunday, November 10, 2002 -|- 09:25 p.m.

A variety of topics that I wanted to mention here...as normal, in no particular order.

Wynona Rider getting convicted of shoplifting...now..."My director told me to shoplift"...forgive me, but that's an extraordinarily flacid defence...I'll spare you all the tautological exercise of taking this to the logical conclusion by extending the reasoning to an absurd extent.

I really am thinking of seeing a physician about this cold that is still nagging with me. I haven't been able to clear it yet...so may be it isn't viral [either that, or I've been hit by two infections]...it's more the nose right now (mild), sore throat on the back right side...and a productive cough (speutum is clear...not green or red...which is a Good Thing). *uck...I really want to clear this (so I can get my flu shot)...and just be rid of this persistant infection...it's significant enough that I might head to the university (where I can see a physician) on Tuesday, which I have off thanks to the faculty's benevolence.

Anyhow...what else can I mention here...I sat my midterm on Friday...so I took until today off (well...I'll start working tomorrow...though I didn't manage to clean my room yet...though I'm on a tangent now). After that...there was a special anime showing...the shows were...Azumanga Daioh: The Very Short Movie, Detective Conan Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven and Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Unfortuntately, I had to miss the end of the Bebop movie (due to concerns in getting home)...they put in an extra 30 minute OAV (that sucked horribly) which explains why I missed the end...[I left just before 12...thinking the train leaves on 30 minute intervals...actually 15...but seeing the end [from where I gather I was in the film] means that I'd have left closer to 12:30 AM...sorry...can't remember the OAV title to tell you to avoid it...basically about this pair separated because of space travel and their e-mail messages are delayed due to the speed of light, etc...I had no sympathy/pity for the character's plight (since the guy actually spends a year moping around waiting for a message)...poor poor...it earnt a big Booerns from me.

Saturday morning...went out to the book sale put on by the students' association...got three texts that I'll need in the future...saved a fair bit...so I'm happy (though I did spent quite a bit for them o.o;;)...also picked up a number of books free (that they were giving away)...I was surprised to see so few people there from my class...as normally the used books are snapped up quickly...[I got there before the sale started at 11 AM]...oh well...

Been playing Baldur's Gate this weekend, watching random TV and watching anime...I saw some episodes of Sexy Commando...strange...but I like it :D. As for Baldur's Gate...I'm now on Chapter Two (have two or three side quests from Chapter One that I'm going to do before I begin on the Chapter Two events proper...I got sick of being nagged to go visit...what's that town called...Nairish?...may be I'll finish up that section tomorrow (after doing revision on last week's worth of revisions [as I was revising for Friday's exam]).

While revising for the exam and reviewing autoimmune responses (and allergies...which are hypersensitivity type I typically) and trying to figure out how my latex allergy should be classified...I'm not quite sure how to classify the welts that appear...since they didn't itch...it rather burned and hurt...and they lasted a while...I could still see the markings for a few days later (faint, but still)...I thought that the wheal and flare response (example = mosquito bite) was supposed to fade within 30 minutes...but I'm wondering about that...can't remember my last mosquito bite (not that it was long ago...just can't remember it)...so...I wonder. I'm thinking though that my reaction could be classified as localised anaphylaxis...if that's the case...putting latex in my mouth for a long period of time (not that I want to do so) would likely kill me by constricting my airway. I wonder if I've actually inadvertantly sped up the reaction to the latex proteins previous wearing of latex gloves before the virology lab incident...may be I'll ask the immunology guy about that some time...

Still toying with whether I'll buy the extended LoTR DVD (on sale Tuesday)...with WMC's preorder from Amazon, she gets Two Tower tickets...if that comes with the package....I'll certainly buy it ^^;. Also deciding if I'll head out to the Harry Potter movie when it opens (some classmates are organising it).

Spent three hours yesterday reading Something Positive after someone on #y pointed it out....it so appeals to my twisted sense of humour ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; It's very Wrong XD

Bwahahahaha...my recent comment box troll amused me quite a bit. Not worth looking up the IP address for though...reminds me of the weak insults/trolling on the *uckedcompany.com boards.

Oh...updated my links list a bit...trimmed some ones that haven't updated in a while...added a few LJ links (so many people with LJs now...a lot of #y people that I'm missing [either blog or LJ] which isn't a slight...but more that I have no clue where they are ^^;;; A few blogs I try to look at everyday...while others, I skim when I get some time.

A few other minor things...but not super noteworthy so I'll let them be ^_-

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Just Because I Can...
Wednesday, November 6, 2002 -|- 07:23 p.m.

WMC here, typing from inside the realms of DarkFax's mind. What a scary place to be... have I taken him over? Is he possessed? ... Hmmm at the very least, he is going insane thanks to the fangirls in his life. Aw... I feel so PROUD.

I'd feel even more proud if we could work out these last few quirks of the design. If anyone can help, please by all means speak up! The journal entry section of the page, appears to NOT be top aligned as it should be (either in IE or Netscape despite having valign=top). The remaining problems all appear to be Netscape compatibility issues. In Netscape the transparent space(r).gif's are visible, AND Netscape fails to show the journal entry border, that is part of a background image in the table code.

So, um Help!

Also in the world of WMC design news, Pipe Dreams, the pita for my hobbit-loving friend Usagi, is now up. She and DarkFax have a tendency to commiserate about having to put up with me. Ah well, they're so not worthy. I give them such cute pita designs ^o^. DA!

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Formatting test
Sunday, November 3, 2002 -|- 10:12 p.m.

Nothing of note...please ignore this entry :)

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Ceeding control is sometimes a fun thing to do...
Sunday, November 3, 2002 -|- 05:57 p.m.

...and sometimes it isn't.

Anyhow...this is the new blog layout courtesy of WMC and Seimei.

For those who missed it, my Halloween costume can be found in the last archive (as well as my attempts to pick up a new part time job [snerks]).

I'll work on updating the link list when I find time in the future (likely this weekend) (and modifiying a few minor things in the code)....I fixed the major problems today (something about non absolute coding :P)

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