Mindless Blather, etc.

pitas

Friends, etc.
my first page.
my friend Laura's blog.
our damn page, run by my friend Yell.
Anthony's page.
MOE's blog.
Jessica's blog.

I love
cinnamon hearts, candy canes, swivel chairs on wheels, blueberries, instant noodles, icecream, the new-car smell, the Sharpie smell, blue, black, red, Canada, my family, my friends, staying up late, sleeping in, doodling and drawing random pictures, kiwis, dark chocolate, Tim Horton's Ice-Caps, cats, dogs, birds of paradise, Spongebob, candy canes, Coffee Crisp, my long-lost knife, floating in pools, the smell of pool chlorine, skating, ice, snow, winter, snow days, pens, my scanner, my stuffed animals, my room, my red pants, my red fingerless gloves, the neighbourhood demon-cat, chocolate chip cookies, etc.

Books
Expendable
[James Alan Gardner]
Dead Romance
[Lawrence Miles]
The Colony
[Rob Grant]
The Free Lunch
[Spider Robinson]

Sunday, February 16, 2003
11:45 p.m.

This entire weekend has been saturated with BATCO and Mainstage. I have all the songs stuck in my head. Yes, all of them, with perhaps the exception of the one about the migrants and the one about the father and son. They play randomly and continuously. Like some kind of musical seizure... I had BATCO after school on Friday, BATCO 9-5 on Saturday, and BATCO today 10-6. Actually, the only reason I decided to go today was to give Drew his course selection sheet back, and return Kevin's lighter... Blarg. And in between all that I've somehow managed to finish all my art homework (albeit in a completely crappy way), and worry about my course selection for next year.

But enough about school shat. The only thing I did this weekend that was completely not related to school was visiting the Lui household Saturday after BATCO. Mmm.. shepherd's pie, roast beef with gravy, spaghetti.. just a few of the delicious items in our non-Chinese food Chinese potluck! No, seriously, there wasn't even any rice! Gah! Now let me tell you a long, drawn out, probably boring story. But it explains a lot about why I was so pissed today.

I got to Kyle's house, eager to go online, as I hadn't been anywhere near a computer since Thursday night. When I arrived, Kyle was on the computer, with Kelly in line. We had dinner. Kyle got off, and came and watched the Spongebob video with us. When I returned to the computer, Kelly was playing Neopets, and she was kind enough to show me her collection of.. well, Neopets stuff. The deformed pumpkin on a stick was cute, though. Anywho, went and talked with Tiffany while watching Kelvin, Derek, and my sister play one of the Lui clan's numerous Pokémon video games. Time flies when you're listening to elementary school gossip, because the next time I went downstairs to the computer, Kelvin was playing. Apparently, Kelly had left long ago, and Kelvin had just kicked Kyle off. I asked him if I could possibly check my email. He said he'd call me when he was done HIS Neopet crap. I said okee and went back upstairs. After a while, my dad came upstairs and said we were leaving in ten minutes. I went downstairs to see if Kelvin was done. The following conversation ensued:

Me: So.. You know we're leaving in ten minutes, right? Can I check my email NOW?

Kelvin: I'll let you go later.

Me: No, no... I don't think you understand. I'd like to check my email NOW. As in, before I go. You see, when I get home, at.. what? quarter to twelve? I will be expected to go straight to sleep. They'll [my parents] say, "Why didn't you check your email when you had the chance, at Kyle's house?"

Kelvin: No, they'll let you! Besides, I'll let you go later!

Me: [gesticulate wildly, and rage at the walls; Kelvin can be so difficult at times] Fine! Call me when you're done.

Eight minutes later, and two minutes til leaving time.

Me: [stomping into the room] NOW?

Kelvin: [waving distractedly, and feeding his damn Neopet] Later.

Me: [seriously considering slapping the kid] Later? Later when? Later, when I'm freaking leaving? Holy crap, kid! [stomp off]

Two minutes later, leaving time.

Me: [retrieving my bag] Bye, Kelvin. We're leaving now.

Kelvin: Really?!? No way! [speaking as if he sincerely didn't know we were going to leave, despite me.. yeah.]

Me: [roll eyes]

Kelvin: Ok, ok. You can check now.

Me: You're kidding, right? Kelvin! You're such a... ugh. Bye, I'm going.

I can't believe that kid. He can be such a little turd...

Thursday, February 13, 2003
11:47 p.m.

I have an idea for my B-day, people! I know, I know, it's February, and my birthday's in May, but still! I gotta get this down somewhere before I forget! Besides, I have nothing better to do. Or, actually, nothing better to do that I actually wanna do. Do I want to write a reflection on I Am Sam? No. Do I want to do a contour drawing of my kitchen? No. Do I want to attempt to fix up my comparative essay? No. Do I want to study for my science quiz? No. So HA! I waste time good.

Anywho, you're all officially invited to my B-day Drop-in Party! So named because if you want, you can drop in at my house for a hug and a bag o' candy on my B-day. I think it's on a Sunday this year, so it'll work out fine. Of course, you could also come inside my house, perhaps eat, take the tour, watch TV, play video games [courtesy of MOE], etc. I haven't asked my parents yet, but I think it'll be noon-ish to midnight-ish. Damn, my grade eight B-day party ran late, though not as late as Yell's. Mine took the form of a marshmallow roast. We had a BBQ tray thing on a log... and in the middle of the night, after everyone left, the log burst into flames by itself! Ooo! Spontaneous combustion! I don't think we'll be roasting marshmallows this year...

Thursday, February 13, 2003
11:22 p.m.

Perhaps I should archive this page... It's getting a tad long, don't you think? Ah well, maybe when I feel like it.

Thursday, February 13, 2003
11:08 p.m.

Oh yeah! And just this week, I've discovered something really freaky/funny/painful!

Okee, lean your head all the way to one side. Yup, that's it... as far as it will go.

Now before you get too comfortable, blink hard.

Doesn't it hurt?

You know what else sucks? Having to burp and sneeze at the same time. But you know what rocks? My first semester marks! They rock SO much! I actually went up to a 90 in history, which is really odd, because I KNOW I completely messed up on the exam. I mean, come on. A third of my non-multiple choice questions were incomplete, for crying out loud! I knew that my ISP/CPT mark would be good, and hold my high-eighty average, but I never DREAMED it would actually bump it up into the nineties! Blarg!

Thursday, February 13, 2003
10:57 p.m.

Stayed after school for BATCO again today. As usual, I didn't really do much, just read the course calendar by blue light and stuffed myself silly with cinnamon hearts. Cinnamon hearts burn if you eat them by the handful! Woo! You know what else is good? Strawberry cheesecake, with strawberry wafer base! YUM! I'm trying very hard not to salivate.

What else happened today? Oh yeah! Had a very interesting conversation with Joan, MOE, and Julia [see Profiles, etc.] in art today, about dreams. I love my dreams! They're like movies, except WEIRDER. And they're long, and in full colour and surround sound. And FUN. With a capital N. Continued dreams and recurring dreams are also tons of fun! Sleepwalking is not-so-fun, but ranks higher on the Scale-O-Fun than, say, falling down the stairs head-first. Or maybe it's only cause on the rare occasions that I've sleepwalked, I've walked into something, like the wall, or the door.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003
10:31 p.m.

Since nothing much happened today, I'll talk about random things. I have time. After all, I've given up on agonizing over the stupid English comparative essay. You can't see me right now, but I'm shaking my fist at it.

Anywho, you know what I'll never understand? Makeup. I've only worn it once, for my grade eight graduation. God, it felt so freaking queer to have that foundation crap slathered all over my face. I don't even know what made me agree to wear makeup in the first place. Makeup may work for other people, but it certainly doesn't for me. I looked in the mirror after they were done, and my personal opinion is that I looked as deathly pale as a ghost. It was too late to cry out in horror and wipe it all off, however, as we only had a limited amount of time to get to the banquet hall without being late. Blarg.

The only potential use I have for makeup is for art. When I see all those neat rows of foundation, eyeshadow, nail polish, lipstick, and mascara in drug stores, I think art supplies. Those colours don't belong on human bodies, they belong as great rich swaths on paper! Especially nail polish! What is nail polish but pretty paint that's conveniently bottled for carry with its brush that never needs a washing? Thus, most of the nail polish my aunts send me end up on paper. Ta-DAA!

Well, I gotta go now, my sister's getting all weepy because apparently I'm hogging the computer...

Wednesday, February 12, 2003
12:50 a.m.

Just another small entry before I'm off to sleep.

Go here. I've recently stumbled across this site while belatedly reading the Nanowrimo forums... Yeah, shut up, it was last year, but so what?

Also, Ryan's suggesting we all go out for eel rice after the last Mainstage show. Never had eel rice before.. Sounds.. interesting.

Also, my right wrist hurts. From squash and the art sketchbook cover and having an unusually large amount of writing in all subjects except for religion, which still rocks, by the way.

Also, English can kiss all our asses. And Bruce can go commit unnatural acts with a poodle.

Tuesday, February 11, 2003
04:13 p.m.

Happy Birthday, La-ura! Spongebob loves you!

Yes. I went to Laura's surprise sweet sixteen b-day party on Sunday. Squash is fun, but hard. That makes it evil, tricking me into unnecessary physical activity... but it was so fun! The party was at the Parkway Athletic Club. I swam, too, but not as long as I'd have liked to because the water was... strange... And the cake was good! And Yell's dad played virtual golf, and the rest of us just threw golf balls at the screen of the simulator! And KT and I played a drinking game--chug a cone of distilled water each time we see someone with hair! FUN! Well, that is, until I started choking... too many people have hair these days..

Which reminds me! What is WRONG with teachers these days! They don't know how to freaking teach! I'm talking elementary school here. Elementary, as in the place where young children are supposed to learn all the basic skills they need in high school. Apparently not anymore! God! My sister, who's in grade four, has a speech due in April. And is her teacher taking the class step-by-step through the research and speech-writing process? No! Not at all! Just,"You have a speech due in April, class!". No guidelines, except that it has to be one to five minutes. Can you believe that? And my sister says the same thing happened last year, too. How do they expect these little kids to know what to do? Aren't teachers supposed to guide--or at the very least, talk--the students through the process? Especially at this age? I mean, it's all very well for a teacher in grade seven or eight to expect the students to be able to write a speech with no guidance, but.. but! Holy crap, not even a trip to the school library to teach them how to choose a topic and research it! You know what my sister said when I asked her what her speech was about? She said, "Canada." I pressed further, "Canada what?" A shrug from her, so I thought perhaps she'd misinterpreted my question. "As in, Canadian people? Geography? History? What?" After extensive questioning, I found out the horrible truth: she had no idea what she was doing, and as far as she knew, her teacher didn't have any plans to tell the class how to go about doing it. I've heard of the hands-on approach, but this is ridiculous! So to save my sister from possible Mackenzie-ism (a fate worse than death), my mom and I gave her a brief overview of what writing a speech curtails, and my dad took her to the library last night to find material on major Canadian tourist spots. May God look kindly upon her.

Also! Religion retreat today! I'm very lucky to have no classes this semester that contribute to my knot of boredom--the one that tightened regularly in the pit of my stomach last semester. But this retreat came pretty close... One relatively pleasent surprise, though. Ryan was there as a retreat leader. And there was free pizza, so that part was okee. But they had no Coke! Gah!

Sunday, February 9, 2003
12:43 a.m.

BLARG! I return triumphant from the Abyss of Non-Internet! My hotmail imbox has just exploded in my face, I can't feel my left foot (but at least the bleeding has stopped!), and I have a million things to type here, for your viewing pleasure.

Hmm... what first? Last night's events are still fresh in my mind, so I'll start there. We (family and I) went to Costco! Woo! Yeah, yeah, it's a warehouse store. So what, you say? The point is, it was the first time I'd stepped into a Costco in over a decade. A DECADE! And it was my sister's first time going, too. We were giddy, my sister and I, prancing through the candy aisle, trying out the swivel chairs on the bare concrete, setting all the radios in the electronic section to the Edge... Costco is incredibly BIG. It has high ceilings, high shelves, and huge, happy freezers. Their fries aren't too bad either. Even so.. we didn't really buy that much stuff, in comparison to most of the other people there. We have no family motto, but if we did, the word frugality would be in there somewhere. In spite of that, we managed to blow about a hundred and fifty bucks. It was the novelty that made us do it, I think. Anywho, I don't expect to be returning to Costco anytime soon, as we have no membership. We'd went on Tiffany's dad's card.

Oh yeah... new semester... in order:

Religion--I can say with certainty that this course will be the highlight of the semester. Already, Hyponen is proving just how much he rocks by giving us the rocking-est ISP ever. We get to read Lord of the Rings for our ISP, at the small price of looking for the themes introduced by the religion text in the novel! Is that awesome or is that awesome? Of course, some people don't like reading, or are intimidated by the length of the book, or read at the pace of a salted snail, but that's their problem. Also, it's an excuse for me to get my parents to buy them for me. In terms of the class, it's okee, I suppose. There's JonA, Basim, and Ben of PACE, though I don't talk much with the last two. Acquaintances include: Nathan, Nick, Liane... there are more people I know from previous classes, but I don't know them, I know of them.

English--I hated English last year and I will most likely hate English this year. Don't ask why, I just DO. As well, this year I don't like the teacher either... too bad the damn thing's compulsory..

Science--Ah.. science. Same class, same classroom, even the same seating arrangement (alphabetical order). After a hellish English period, what better way to calm the nerves than by figuring out that nitrogen trihydride is really ammonia? Yar, I'm a science freak. Science is fun. I love science. Though I'm not as... quick on the uptake as I was last year... which sort of worries me... but whatever!

Art--Didn't take art last year, because I'd wanted to get gym out of the way. Art is fun... but art class... scares me... I work slowly, very slowly. Would you believe that all I have to show for a period's work on my portfolio is a single, solitary leaf? That someone on the bus said looked like a crab's pincer? Argh! I... like to doodle! But... this.. argh! It's now that I realize what a crappy artist I am, if I can indeed pass for one... I suck at reproduction work, I suck at shading, I suck at proportioning, I suck at colouring in the lines, I have no cutting skills, I have no manual dexterity, precision, or fine motor skills, paint is my mortal enemy, hatching and cross-hatching is torture... it's courses like this that make me feel like a complete and utter ass who does not belong anywhere near art supplies, lest I stain them with my incompetence.

And there you have it folks, how I'm going to spend my life until the end of June. The tricky part is getting to all my classes on time with all my crap in tow. Would you believe that only first period is in the relo with my locker, and all the others are upstairs in the main building? Of course, I could always steal a locker; Vicky has offered me the use of her wrench, but I'd rather not, since I would feel guilty if I did. How time flies... it seems only yesterday I was cursing my civics/careers teacher, and now I'm cursing the English one... Well, that's all for tonigh... er... this morning!

Oh yeah, I've also updated Profiles, Etc. and Adventures, etc.. English homework blows.

Thursday, January 30, 2003
10:15 p.m.

There was an ASP at Yell's house today... ASP stands for Awkward Silence Party... the standard St. Pat's PACEr party.. we truly are an odd bunch. Everyone was invited, however, only five people showed: me, MOE, Joan, Aky, and Paula.

The guys.. well, let's just say they're not very.. Arthur was supposed to give Matt a ride to the ASP, but then Arthur couldn't come 'cause he was too busy being enthralled by his new computer. So with Matt and Arthur not coming, of course the other guys wouldn't come.. it's like a pack mentality almost, with them. If one of them can't make it to whatever it is, then more often than not, none of them come. I know that two of them have relatively valid excuses: Anthony, being sick, and JonA, completely oblivious to the fact there was going to be an ASP. I could have sworn we'd invited everyone.. I guess we're not very organized either..

Anywho, we did stuff at Yell's house, though it felt like nothing at times.. it's so easy to fribble away the hours at Yell's house:

Computer, TV, food, ping pong table, a comfy couch, comfy pillows, comfy new hardwood floor, MOE's PS2, Lord of the Rings, Truth or Dare (I won't go into that, but Paula and Joan were picking on me! Those meanies...), pizza, making fun of soap operas, ice cream, chips...

I tried several times to update this page, and the links on the top right of this page, but got sidetracked muchly.

Wednesday, January 29, 2003
10:10 p.m.

A short, quick entry today, I'm hoping, so here goes:

Woke up. Went to the mall with my mommy. Bought lots of stuff, like books, picture frames, a wedding card for some people I don't know, a new bag for me, three CDs (I now owe my mommy over fifty bucks), etc. I ran into Terry-sa. Actually, she found me at HMV. She has short, half-pink hair now! Ooo! The hair on the left is bright, happy pink, and the hair on the right is black. She says her dad doesn't like it, but we both agreed that it was too happy-coloured not to love. Went home. My mommy took a nap, so I had to go pick up my sister after school. It was cold. Er.. what else today? Nothing I can think of, so bye!

Wednesday, January 29, 2003
01:12 a.m.

Right. Instead of going to sleep as I should, I will take this opportunity to finish/continue my description of the Day at Aky's Place.

Aky's dad drove us to her place after the history exam. We sat in Aky's room, burning funky incense,listening to music, and vegetating until MOE finally arrived, PS2 and DVDs in tow. We watched one episode of Cowboy Bebop, which was excruciatingly funny, what with the mushrooms and the hallucinations... Then there was this other game, which was a car chase type thing. Me, KT, and Aky destroyed our cars time and time again within a matter of minutes. Gee, I hope I do better in real-life driving.. What sucked was the fact that when the car caught on fire, you couldn't make the character stop, drop, and roll.

Next, me and Aky went off to her computer room to do the Shitlist. We got a message board for it, and had a slight disagreement as to what we should register ouselves as. First Aky typed in "Linda Tridesky" or something like that, and I thought it was just plain stupid. I preferred "Linda Lin". Then Aky typed "Laurie L", and I had no problem with that name, but then we thought it'd be more realistic if her/our last name was more than just one letter, so it was "Laurie Lee" instead. And then for some reason it became "Laurie La", and we stuck with that name.

My memory is failing me, so screw chronological order:

We ate nachos with cheese and salsa and sour cream, and MOE and I had a contest to see who could make their bowl of nachos more aesthetically pleasing. Aky's microwave is old. And I think her amp for her bass is broken. KT and I watched Lilo and Stitch. She named it after that freaky sandwich song.. We watched MOE play Devil May Cry. MOE made a blog, to learn HTML. After MOE left, we watched some TV--History Bites on the History Chanel, which is a strange and amusing show. I fed Aky's cat chocolate milk. Before MOE left, we played Guilty Gear X. MOE wants to get Guilty Gear X Two. We had some more fun burning more incense and candles. I accidently on purpose burned holes in the pages of my school agenda. I had dinner with Aky's family. I normally never eat salad at dinner, but whatever. MOE had to leave at 3:30, and KT left a little while before dinner. Dinner was green peppers stuffed with rice and Greek pasta and cheese and a tomato-y sauce, yum! I was the last to leave.

Alright, I'm off to bed.. big day tomorrow, staying at home and doing nothing...

Tuesday, January 28, 2003
10:59 p.m.

Me. Again. Well, I've been back from Aky's for... several hours now. It was fun at Aky's.

First we went up to her room and lit funky incense sticks and listened to music and stuff, and then MOE came...

OH MY GOD! JOAN! YOU ROCK! *hugs repeatedly* TANKEE, TANKEE! Now I'll never not know the date again! For the rest of 2003! Yay!

For those of you who are completely lost, Joan just came to my house, and has given me a Spider-Man movie calendar. Yes, in the middle of the night. She'd told me on MSN that she was coming, for unknown reasons, but I'd thought she was kidding. Apparently not. When she left, she said she was going to Paula's house next, to give HER a present. Joan rocks. All hail Joan.

Tuesday, January 28, 2003
01:58 p.m.

Here I am at Aky's house. Typing. Etc. MOE wants to learn HTML stuff... Anywho, I now have no more exams! NO MORE! BWAHAHA! I completely fucked up on my history exam though. Oh well, memory repression will take care of THAT.

I went in for history, but I couldn't concentrate or any of that... I... ugh. I'm not even gonna try to describe the horror. On an up note, I got the mark for my history ISP! Woo! 78 out of 80! And my math mark isn't as bad as I'd thought it would be, so yay!

Monday, January 27, 2003
04:07 p.m.

WOO! ONLY ONE EXAM LEFT! After I do the stupid history exam, I'll be free! FREE! Well, at least for the rest of the week... then the second semester will begin, and I'll be overwhelmed with work again... Oh well.

I'm sure you all want to hear about my math exam experience. No? You'd rather commit unnatural acts with poodles than hear me blather on about my exams? Well, too bad for you, because I can blather about whatever I damn well please.

Right. Woke up the usual time today (seven-ish), but instead of taking the school bus, I bummed a ride from Tim. Got to school, returned the math textbook, walked to the exam room with Yell and Aky.. The exam was much easier than I'd expected! Which was rather shocking. The only thing that pisses me off about it is I'd spent lots of effort memorizing that financial shit, and we didn't even really need it at all! On the other hand, he'd said that there wouldn't be any questions on the ambiguous case, but there was! I left that blank. I finished with twenty minutes to spare, so I went and checked my answers, which I never do on normal tests.. But I'm glad I did for the exam; I found several stupid mistakes.. nine plus two SO does not equal twelve..

I'm considering putting up another page that describes all the people I mention here... I'll add that to my post-exam list of stuff to do, which includes building the Shitlist with Aky, illustrating pet's compilation, going shopping with my mom, buying Escaflowne with Joan, cleaning my room, etc. I really should go study history now, but Collapse is such an addictive, mind-numbing game!

Sunday, January 26, 2003
08:54 p.m.

Easy Steps To Creating Your Own FF8 Romance Fanfic!

Fun! Even if I know nothing of FF8..

Math Day was a huge success. Everyone learned loads of math, and gained a deeper understanding of the course content. It was about six hours of pure, unadulterated math. Us PACErs are truly a dedicated bunch.

The above paragraph was a lie. Math Day was fun, yes. But I wouldn't really call it completely successful. I mean, if it was, and everyone is now a grade eleven math guru, then why is Arthur cramming (and asking me stuff) as we speak? Anywho, people who came: Bion, JonA, Tim, Matt, Arthur, Laura, Sally, Yell, Paula, Michelle, Jessica, Addie, Aky, Joan, and I. If you don't know me, all of these names will mean nothing to you. Math Day officially started 1:30. We didn't study all together, at the same time; we sorta each did our own thing. Bion knocked over a ship made of Lego, and broke it! That fiend! Then Anthony knocked over my Coke! That fiend! Well, none of that matters, I just wanted to use the phrase "That fiend!" somewhere.. So Aky and I reviewed the entire course in about an hour or so, because speed reviewing is my specialty. Then we got Anthony to give us a guided tour of his house, which is large and spacious. All my friends have houses which are larger than mine, with the exception of Tim and Jessica (but I've never been at their places of residence, so they don't count). While we were touring the upstairs, people joined our tour in large, confusing numbers. .. In the end, Aky and I were left to our own devices with Anthony's laptop. His laptop has an evil keyboard, and lots of Chinese on it. We were periodically confused by the Chinese, but we managed. We also met Mark, on Anthony's MSN contact list. He's not to be confused with Mark Mark, so I shall call him Mark F. (F. is for Finland). Mark F. has a physics exam tomorrow. I wish him luck. I didn't know that it was exam time in Finland as well... After Aky went home , I went downstairs to find everyone still in the same room, watching the Superbowl and studying at the same time. Well, everyone except Anthony, JonA, Bion, and Anthony's brother, who were in the other room playing DOA. At that point, I was hit by severe cramps, so I was sprawled across the couches with a pillow clutched to my stomach for the rest of Math Day. I left around 7:30, and my dad and I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to buy some watch batteries and bags of Coffee Crisp, KitKat, and Aero.

And now, I'll recount a strange dream I had last night. Actually, all my dreams are strange, but whatever. It was a recurring dream, or at least the setting is the same in all of them, and most of the characters. Me, my family, Kyle and his family, and Tiffany and her family were all walking along a wide dirt road through the countryside. Except the feel was very museum-ish. Like it was a heritage nature trail or some other shaznat like that. I think we were retracing the route of some obscure pilgrims. The scenery changed: country field to desert canyon to forest, etc. But the canyons were strange, and really contributed to the whole museum-exhibit feel. They were really like small rooms with rough, plank walls, filled with pebbles, sand, desert insects, and small cacti.. I remember a disembodied voice that intoned, "While the first settlers came through the canyon, they had to fight off wild cougars and withstand the extreme temperatures." Strange indeed..

Saturday, January 25, 2003
09:23 p.m.

Today was hellish. In the boring way. I spent the entire day sitting in the living room studying. I will spend the entire day tomorrow studying, except this time in the company of friends. It's "Math Day" at my friend/pet Anthony's house. It's still studying though. I sigh deeply. Oh yeah! And:

Friday, January 24, 2003
06:44 p.m.

Go to Engrish. Today's thing sumarizes the entire exam experience, or maybe life in general, depending on who you are...

Last night I went to bed at eight. No really! Eight, as in before midnight! And I fell asleep in less than an hour, too! This gave me time to have several fun/odd dreams. In one, Sally, JonA and I were walking down some town's main street, with all the quaint little shops. We went into one, a chocolate shop, I think, though it didn't have just chocolate. We were browsing all the shelves, and JonA got really excited about these little truffles, individually packaged in pretty-ful muted gold paper bags. He grabbed a whole bunch of them, at least ten, I'd say. Sally and I were laughing at him, and telling him he didn't have enough money to buy them all, but he wouldn't listen. So we shrugged, and followed him to the cash register, and the little old lady told him the total came to 86 dollars and something cents. Tee-hee.. it was so funny! The expression on his face was priceless, even if it was only a dream. But after the initial shock, he looked very broken-hearted, so me and Sally pitched in to help him pay for it all. The last part of that particular dream that I remember was us exiting the store, and walking headfirst into a cold, biting wind, with bystanders gawking at the large bag of truffles JonA had.

In another dream, I won a happy blue digital camera at school, when some guy was throwing stuff off the balcony over the atrium... Erk. Gotta go eat. More about my dreams later/tomorrow, if I still remember them..

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
08:00 p.m.

Icon's Story

Hey, it's me again. The above site has brightened up my day. Not that it was an exceptionally crappy day.. but still! As you can see from my previous entry, I was feeling a bit... doomed.

Anywho, today was the last day of class, and like the good, non-rebellious student I am, I actually went to all my classes. In uniform. With (some of) my books. See what a good, non-rebellious student I am? Though we didn't really do much in any of the classes... watched movies, played cards, sorta did half-hearted reveiw.. you know, the usual stuff you do when at least half the class isn't there. Oh, and here's something that happened today which will fully demonstrate my stupidity:

I ate lunch in the caf, as usual, and then left with KT, Joan, and MOE. Upon arrival at careers class, I had the urge to draw on my hand, so I asked Tim D. to pass me my pencil case. He said it wasn't there, so I thought, hmm, it must be camouflaged with the inside of my bag (my pencil case is black..). So I went to get my pencil case, and found that it really wasn't there. Then I panicked. I went back to math class to check my desk and all the desks in the vicinity of my desk. I went to my locker. I went to the caf, searching all of one side of it, because I'd forgotten where we had been sitting. I even went to the lost and found box, which I hate, because there's all this nasty, dirty crap in it. I finally gaveup looking for it, and trudged back to careers, feeling very melancholy. I tried to console myself by saying things like, "Oh well.. it wasn't like you had large amounts of money in there, B.. And it's not like you've lost your CD player..", but it didn't work because it's my pencil case, damnit! MINE! Er.. anywho. I got back to careers, and sat down. Then I noticed something sticking out from underneath KT's bag. Surprise, surprise, it was my pencil case. I felt excruciatingly stupid. Excruciatingly.

Also, I started experiencing sharp, shooting pains up my right side today. Joy. It hurt when I sat, and hurt when I breathed deeply (or laughed). In history, MOE convinced me to lie on the desks, sorta like how WM-Brian does at BATCO.. My friends pampered me, covered me with jackets, etc. and soon the pain subsided, so I got up again. Mistake. It didn't hurt for about five minutes after I got up, and then it slowly came back, tenfold. I was crippled for the rest of the day until I took a hot shower.

Oh! As well, Yell came over today because she forgot her keys at home. She watched a bit of My Fellow Americans, went online a bit, and then took an inventory of the contents of my pencil case. Then she went home. The end.

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
05:48 p.m.

Well.. this is it, my first exam is tomorrow. After exam week, I'll officially be one semester closer to my post-secondary doom. I sigh deeply.

Tuesday, January 21, 2003
11:32 p.m.

Nothing much today.. in school or otherwise, except!

1. On the way to the bus stop today, I noticed bunny tracks in the snow again. BUNNY! We have a bunny in our neighbourhood! Woo! So now there's the neighbourhood Demon-Cat, and the Mysterious Bunny. Woo!

2. I got my averages for two courses going into the exams, history and Spanish, though both aren't very accurate. The Spanish is 96%, but the mark for the speaking exam and the last unit project haven't been entered yet. In history so far, I have 89.19%, and I am so pissed off at myself. If I hadn't gotten 30% on that stupid, stupid test, I would most definitely have 90 or above. And since social science hates me, I will do badly on the exam, and the exam will only bring my mark down more. Oh well, at least Spanish balances it out, sorta..

3. I took a four hour nap today after school. I never used to take naps, ever. I wonder what's wrong with me. Am I dying? If so, then good, I won't have to do my exams, or ever pay taxes, ever. Yay!

Monday, January 20, 2003
10:12 p.m.

I've noticed something about my textbooks, the careers one in particular. They're very fond of using less conventional names for their hypothtical story characters. Like "Aysha". What is the purpose of this? Are they trying to give the characters more personality by giving them names that most of my class will stumble clumsily across when reading aloud? Do they honestly think that a story about hypothetical girl "Aysha" will connect on a deeper level than a story about hypothetical girl "Mary"? And what's with the language they use? God, everytime my textbook tries to.. it always.. textbooks that try to use slang sound like old people trying to sound young, except in text form.
e.g. page 4 of Careers 10, my careers text reads:

a Day in the LIFE
On The Average Day In High School, Most People Avoid Discussing The Future Beyond Lunch!

Dirk, snowboarder extraordinaire, and Aysha, Webmaster of a hip-hop hype Web site, were leaving the assembly on "What to Expect from High School." One of the panel speakers had shared some brilliant insights on "how to maintain a positive attitude towards your career in taxidermy." In a brief, history-making moment, Dirk and Aysha simultaneously stopped and pondered their futures... [meaningless page of filler for insertion of "key terms" deleted] ...They can also start reflecting on who they are and what they might become. But the only decision at this point? "Let's go boarding!"

See what I mean? Like, what the hell? "Let's go boarding!" ? And, "One of the panel speakers had shared some brilliant insights on 'how to maintain a positive attitude towards your career in taxidermy.'"? I do believe they're trying their hand at rambling, which people my age can pull off effectively, but when they try, especially in text, they seem overly "youth conscious", so to speak... it's horrible!

Saturday, January 18, 2003
11:27 p.m.

Today was... eventful and not, at the same time.

I slept at about two this morning after finishing off my history notes. Then I had to wake up at around 7:15. I got to school at eight for Mainstage, the musical theatre thing. As usual, I helped set up and clean up, and not much in between, which allowed me to alternately do my math and piss away the daylight hours. Highlights of the day included, in chronological order:
1. donating a pair of scissors I'd found this week to help cut tape.
2. hanging around in the music room before the start time. My respect for Kevin has risen; he can play the drums.
3. going for lunch at McDonald's with Drew and Kevin. Well, Drew and I bought from McDonald's, and we accompanied Kevin to Pizza Pizza. That was fun(ny), because we ate while watching Kevin wait for almost fifteen minutes to get to order, and then they told him that the pizza would take another ten minutes, so he said screw it, and we left.
4. dropping off two textbooks at my friend Sally's locker. Now I won't have to bring them to school on Monday! Yay!

I went home around six.. sweaty, tired, and hands covered in grease and the sticky stuff from electrical tape. Even so, I like being in BATCO (Brother André Technical something something), for reasons unknown. I'm not a very tech-y person, so it's odd.

We had family friends over to our house around the same time I got home. I haven't seen them in a while... they've grown taller! Nooo! Soon I'll have to be content with just being the oldest, instead of oldest AND tallest... We endeavoured to watch the first Lord of the Rings after dinner, but we didn't get very far before they had to leave. We also watched some of Spider-man, and my favourite movie. There's a part in my favourite movie where the two main characters have to hitch a ride with a lesbian motorcycle gang to Cleveland, and their leather jackets read "Dykes on Bikes". It's a mildly funny scene, but I was too busy looking apprehensively at the parents to see if they would, well, you know... be all parent-ish, and tsk at the sexual reference. I was a bit surprised to see that there was no reaction, until I realised that they probably don't know what the word "dyke" means, since I doubt they were taught that word in their Hong Kong schools. Sometimes it rocks being an immigrant child. On the other hand, my mom has decided to make me drink this nasty Chinese brew to combat "yeet-hay". If you are Chinese, or Cantonese, rather, you'll know what I'm talking about. Sometimes people assume things about me, because I'm Chinese. I've had the following conversation a couple of times:

Random Person: So... what grade are you in, in piano?
Me: I don't play the piano.
Rp: *disbelief* What?
Me: *slowly and deliberately* I. Don't. Take. Piano. Lessons.

At this point, the conversation may branch off into two standard scenarios:
Scenario #1
Rp: Yeah, right. *rolls eyes, or laughs*
Me: No, I'm serious, I don't take piano lessons.
Rp: No way! You're Chinese!
Me: Yes. I am Chinese. What of it?
Rp: Well, Chinese people... I always thought... All the Chinese people I know... They... You... *trails off*

Scenario #2
Rp: Really? What grade did you quit at? How did you get your parents to let you quit? Or are you done all of it?
Me: Actually, I've never taken piano lessons.
Rp: Really? And your parents haven't tried to force you to?
Me: No.
Rp: Really?
Me: Yes, I'm pretty sure.
Rp: Really?
Me: Yes.
Rp: Really?
Me: Uh-huh.
*pause*
Rp: Like, really?

Friday, January 17, 2003
05:50 p.m.

Hi. I'm B. And this is the first entry. Well.. actually it's the third, but I deleted the first two for unknown reasons... spur of the moment and all that stuff. Stuff you should know about me and this weblog. This is my first weblog, second site... I'm Canadian... I'm in grade ten at a Catholic high school... I procrastinate and sleep at ungodly hours... I often use made up words [tankee (thank you) or shaznat (shit)]... I will most probably update this thing infrequently... and that's about it so far, I think.

Anywho, on with what I wanted to say.

THANK GOD THIS WEEK IS OVER! School is killing me. I can't wait until this semester is done. Exams are in... oh. They're next week. A brief overview of this semester:

Spanish: Easy. Nice teacher. Very little homework. An average-booster. However, grade 11's scare me.
Math: Not easy, but relatively fun. All my friends are here. The teacher doesn't mind if I draw/blather mindlessly on my tests and quizzes, so he's okee in my books. Much homework, even on test days.
History: Easy-ish, but very tedious. All my friends are here too. About 99% of my all-nighters are pulled for this subject. Teacher is okee, sometimes funny in his mannerisms.
Civics/Careers: Two courses in one. The Civics was done the first half of the semester. Politics are fun to watch, and political history is fascinating (yes, I am a freak). Careers, on the other hand, is a load of bullshit. The only thing even remotely useful that will come of it is our résumé. Teacher--an idiot. I mean, she makes us take notes on how to take notes, for God's sake!

This week has been hellish. Scrambling to finish my history ISP, rooting through my closet for stuff for my careers portfolio, and all the while trying to keep up in math. Joy. Once again, as always, Spanish was the softest course this week, in terms of homework. ISP/oral exam presentations all this week. I went on Monday, so Spanish didn't bother me for the rest of the week, though she did give us two take-home units in about fifty photocopied sheets; our class is horribly behind schedule.

On Thursday--or was it Wednesday?--something happened in history that had puzzled me/pissed me off the rest of the day. We were discussing the 60's when Canada got it's official maple leaf in 1965. Then some people said that they thought the flag was ugly--ugly! Can you believe it? Ugly!?! And you know why else they didn't like it? Because... because it's "hard to draw"! What? would you rather draw the U.S. flag, with fifty freaking stars? Cambodia, with a tiny, tiny sketch of some palace in the middle? Haiti, with it's palm-tree coat-of-arms? Hmm? I don't mean to offend any of the aforementioned coutnries, my point is just that the Canadian flag isn't all that hard to draw. It sure is easier to draw than the other candidates in the history text: a triple-leaf flag, a triple-leaf flag with squiggly bars at the bottom, the Union Jack ("We're Canadian, not British!" "Then why are you waving the British flag around like a lunatic?" "We're not quite sure..."), the Red Ensign (mini-Union Jack in the top-left corner, some indecipherable shield in the middle)... Besides, how can you live in a country for most of your life, and not feel some sort of attachment to the flag, let alone hate it. What did the flag ever do to you? Did you run into a flag pole several times as a child? It's hard to define Canadian pride, but seeing the flag makes my heart swell with nationalistic pride. I'd join the army if I didn't detest physical activity. It's the same sort of inexplicable pride that rises when the Microsoft Word American spelling spell-check puts squiggly red lines under my Canadian spellings of colour, honour, neighbour, realised... when I hear the national anthem... when I watch Royal Canadian Air Farce and Red Green... when it snows like crazy and is freaking cold outside... when Canadians kick international ass, athletically, musically,diplomatically, et al. Canada rocks. I love Canada. I'm freaking glad I moved here, at the tender age of nine months. It might not be the best country in the world, but it's the best country in the world to me, and to hell with the rest of you!

Sorry. Being Canadian makes me crazy. Moving right along, I finally get the math! Conics and all that stuff. We had a quiz on circles, parabolas, and ellipses today, and I'm pretty sure I got most of it right. Of course, it was open-book, seeing as we haven't been in this unit very long, but still! I think this year's math textbook sucks. It uses vague wording, ambiguous diagrams, an often-times incorrect answer key, and stupid, large pictures of unrelated topics. e.g. a large, almost-quarter-of-a-page photo of fat white rabbits in the exponential functions section. Yes, bunnies reproduce quickly, but do we REALLY need such miscellaneous pictures throughout the book? If they took out all such pictures, I think that a good thirty or so pages would be gone, never to burden my aching fourteen-year-old back again.

Alright, I'm going to go swimming with the family now (read: float around on a pool noodle for about an hour and a half).

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