the_samizdat

wow, so I haven't updated in a loooooooooooong time, long with a capital loooong.

I just got back the other day from a month long immersion french course in La Pocatiere Quebec. It was tellement geniale, I learned a ton.

It was a very social milieu - met lots of people and made a couple of good friends while I was there. The days were filled with classes and workshops and chatting with the other students. I took a couple of really cool bike trips plus me and a couple of my friends rented a car at the end of the program and took a 'highway to hell' style road trip out to gaspe/perce on the ocean. I also learned traditional call-response quebec music so now I can lead a song while stomping my feet and playing the spoons. Being a natural at the spoons I think I can now safely say that I am 100% nerd. Once I get some pics developed I'll see if it's possible to post em somewhere.

After a couple of days back I miss everything, the people and the new experiences, also the quebec beer and high grade poutine. Thoughts of escaping Waterloo on schedule this fall are right in the front of my mind.

Been quite some time since I updated. Just kind of got sucked into school stuff and whatnot.

Went to see Ministry in Kitchener last night. It was a pretty kicking show, although thanks to vodka I rocked myself out. So, today is going to be a lazy day of recovery.

Ahh, back in K-hole/Dub-town. Train ride back was mostly uneventful. It was assigned seating and by good chance I got seated next to a pretty and charming girl. By bad chance, within 20 minutes I found out she was a cell phone addict. And on the train that means a lot of:

"Hello ... hello .... hello .... can you hear me? .... hello, lost the connection ther... hello? .... hello?"

So that kind of call happened about 5 or six times in the space of 5 hours. Now, here she is when she finally gets through to what I think must be a boyfriend:

"Hello .... yah .... yah .... no, I just called to say I'm on the train now ...ok ... yah.... love you too"

And here she is as we pull into Toronto:

"Hello .... yah .... yah ... no, I just called to say the train's pulling into Toronto now .... ok ... yah ... love you too"

Mental note to self: next time bring extra CD player batteries.

I am currently getting toward the end of my second visit to Ottawa within the last week. You see, my darling Grandma has thoroughly outlived both of her hip replacements and is for the moment very very immobile. She needs someone to be with her for a good chunk of the day to take care of all the things all of us take for granted. Since my sister is currently the only one of our family in Ottawa (and she works full time) I came up to stay over at my Grandma's for the week (and the past weekend too).

But really, it's been my pleasure. My Grandma totally kicks ass and it's been great sitting around drinking tea with her all day.

On the down side I haven't been able to be in touch with anyone Ottawa folks while I'm here so I apologize for that. And also it puts me a week behind in my research schedule. But this is just the big phat slap in the face my research has been begging for for quite some time now. So take that!

P.S. all of you Ottawa folk who are into the rock are making me a bit jealous, you're getting a pretty top-knotch lineup for that Bluesfest thing as far as I can tell.

They read me like a book, like a book! 'Cause that's exactly what I'd be if I was a robot.

wrote what could have been my last final exam ever yesterday morning. The prof emailed us our marks today, which makes it the fastest turnaround for a course that I've ever seen. Anyways, got the summer started the right way after the exam by strolling to Uptown for patio beer.

Today I was just doing some lab work that involves 3 hour waits in between doing stuff, so I took the opportunity to walk out to Chapters. The walk there took me by the famous Rim corporation where stuffed shirt yuppies out lunching with Blackberries clipped conspicuously to belts were forced to dodge around me on the sidewalk (they pretty much always walk in threes for some reason).

I got The Satanic Verses which I'd been meaning to read for a long time but had never got around to because the library copy was always on "missing" status.

Well, I finished my assignments this week the way I like: on time and within the page allowance.
Thanks for the words of support from my last post, I appreciated it.

For anyone who has been a fan of South Park in the past, I recommend a viewing of the last two most recent episodes (easily findable through torrentspy). The eps were advertised as a rip on Family Guy and they do poke a bit of fun at Family Guy. The main point made by the episodes, however, has to do with free speech and I think they make a pretty good point. With some good laughs mixed in of course.

I'd also like to extend this post a bit and talk about something I've been trying to work on over the last few months. And that's non-commital language. This is something that a coworker whom I greatly respected pointed out to me on a summer job about 2 years ago. As she described it, it's a problem for people around about our age and especially with guys (she was a hardcore feminist, so there may have been some bias in that).

Here's an example:
Person 1: Hey, I'm inviting a bunch of people to my place Saturday for a bit of a box social, I have a pool if you want to swim, would you like to come?
Person 2: Yah, I might be interested in that.

Basically, person 2 has said they would like to come, but have used language ("might" and "interested") to protect themselves in the case of two outcomes: 1)they have no intention of going to person 1's place at all. 2) They think the idea sounds intriguing, but leave themselves the possibility of simply not showing up if something better comes along.

My experience since this was pointed out to me has been that people (myself very much included) use this type of non-commital language more often than you might have been aware of. Pay attention to how you respond to invitations and how people respond to your invitations over the next little while, I'd be curious to know what you find.

My findings have been that I had been using this language A LOT, and many people I've spoken to also use it A LOT. It can be aggravating when you're trying to make plans. It's much better to be honest with people and with yourself and give a straight-up answer right away. Either a "no" and explain why (if appropriate) or a "yes" and then stick with your commitment.

It's just something I found very intriguing when it was pointed out to me.

I was reading a review for a new album this morning and it (for whatever reason) mentioned Paul Simon's '86 album "Graceland". As soon as I read that, my mind snapped back to a cross-Canada trip my family took when I was seven.

It was a tent trailer camping trip with long days of driving, so that particular tape was on at least once a day. Looking out across the prairies to the sounds of The Boy in the Bubble and You Can Call Me Al, good memories. I got car sick a lot on that trip.

On the drive back from BC we went through some of the more northern states. We went to Deadwood. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure the actual town wasn't as entertaining as the TV series is.

While I'm thinking of BC I would like to give a recommendation to anyone who drives to BC and that is to try and make it out to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Trust me. It's a rainforesty kind of place with gigantic trees with huge piles of moss hanging down from the branches everywhere. A bit more remote than Vancouver so there tend to be fewer people around.

The weekend was splendid. Still processing it all.

I have the next week to do two assignments for a risk management course I very, very foolishly took this term (I guess I wasn't paying attention to George's lesson when he had to learn about risk management on seinfeld). I have a largeish written term report to do, plus a smaller calculation assignment. I have not skipped a single class but I still feel totally incompetent with the material. Oh well, guess I'll just take it as a life lesson about being careful what you commit to. I am really looking forward to being done school so I can stop having to think about it and talk about it all the time.

What's the deal with Ovaltine? The can is round ....

Today marked the first outdoor pitchers of the year on the grad club patio. It was still a bit chilly, but not too bad while sporting a jacket, and it's a rooftop patio so it gets quite the dose of mean old mr. sun.

finished off the catalysis course I'm taking this term today, just the final for it is left in about three weeks. Once this term is finished them I'm in a research oriented sprint to the finish of my degree, hopefully within 8 months if all goes well.

I've also been on a reading binge with Cormac McCarthy's newer book No Country For Old Men. It's not as epic as Blood Meridian was, but it's still chock full of appalling violence and every once in awhile throws some interesting philosophy at you. It's about a hunter named Moss who stumbles on to a drug deal gone wrong and takes the opportunity to make off with all of the dollar-y-doos. He is then hunted by an inhuman killer named Chigurh who seems to really be into determinism and playing games of chance with people before he murders them.

Happy Vernal Equinox to everyone today. Don't forget that this is the one time of year that you can balance an egg on its end. Don't miss out!

Back in the day, St. Patrick set up one of the earliest holy Sees in Britain/Ireland .... therefore, today let's wear something green and get pissed up! wooooooooooooo ....ooooooooooooo!!! ooooh!

St. Patrick's Day + Guiness = St. Valentine's Day + Hallmark. Comments?

It's been a good day so far, had a couple of beers at lunch (ahhh the pluses of still being a student) then played some ice hockey later in the afternoon. Considering the beers I had earlier in the afternoon I think I did pretty well, only took two spills.

I recommend giving Neko Case's new album a fair listen. It's kind of a country rock kind of thing, but her voice can just soar sometimes. Anywho, that's the best I have to say on a Friday.

I went out to Future Shop this morning to buy myself one of those executive meeting type tape recorders. You know, the kind where someone will be all like "Note to self ....." on. The reason I was looking for one was to record guitar picking patterns that I come up with since it turns out my memory for them won't make it more than 12 hours.

But the recorder's ability to annoy and generally be ridiculous was obvious as soon as I popped the batteries in. The abuse of this technology is going to provide rich hours of entertainment .... rich.

So I bought it about 6 hours ago and already have a healthy length of tape devoted to Gary Busey's rantings, clips from interviews with Kevin Federline, and Hulk Hogan screaming that God created the Heavens and the Earth and then He created a pair of 27 inch pythons.

Moustache construction has reached completion. With my avant-garde style, I truly am a king of kings ... or a sleazy lunatic, it's a fine line.

The subject line is from an antony and the johnsons tune called "Hope there's someone". I only mention it because it's very pretty.

Went to see a friend's band play the Grad House last night. It was a good time. The only problem was that when I wasn't paying attention someone would keep topping up my pint glass. That's just asking for trouble. So here's the sound I woke up to this morning: bwohw - bwohw - bwohw - bwohw. Think of the sound of the signal they receive in Contact. Kind of like that. Cup of coffee and I'm fine though, so don't worry.

"Open up the broken cup
Let goodly sin and sunshine in
Yes that's today.
And open wide the hymns you hide
You find renown while people frown
At things that you say
But say what you'll say
About the farmers and the fun
And the things behind the sun
And the people round your head
Who say everything's been said
And the movement in your brain
Sends you out into the rain."
-Things Behind the Sun, Nick Drake

Nick Drake was emo before emo was cool ... or uncool, I'm so confused.

One of my favourite hobbies is recycling un-canceled stamps from letters people send me. First I cut off the appropriate corner of the envelope. Then I soak that corner in a saucer of warm water until the stamp's glue dissolves and the stamp floats free. Once it has dried, I then glue the stamp onto the letter I'm going to send. It really is a great time. I must've saved at least 51 cents so far this term.

When I was much, much younger I used to like reading Garfield. Then I got a bit older and started liking it less and less. I saw this link the other day and thought it was pretty funny: what would happen if you took a Garfied strip and removed all of Garfiel's thought balloons?

http://www.truthandbeautybombs.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4997

I decided over the weekend that I really don't like it when people underline passages in library books. Most of my reading comes from the university library and I'd say the majority of books that are more than 10-15 years old have messy underline jobs and nonsense comments written in them.

walking home from the store today in the blistering cold an older gent, also walking laden with bags, struck up a conversation with me. The old me might have considered an ingenious plan like taking a side street in order that my tranquility be restored post haste. But that's not the kind of person to be, so I took the situation at face value and heard many anecdotes giving insight to my own personal situation.

Actually, I didn't hear that, but it was a very pleasant conversation.

Seeing Stars in a week at a 200 capacity club a 10 minute walk from my place . . . does it get better than that? Yes, seeing Art Brut in April.

From me to all of you, on Valentine's Day,

Your feet are pink flowers,
So sweet in the sun,
Your hair is cool grass,
Where my fingertips run,
Your voice is the murmur,
Of wind through the leaves,
your face is my shade,
On a close August eve.

With love, Colin.

P.S. I choo choo choose you . . . and there's a picture of a train.

Got in to school nice and early this morning to get started on an analysis ... but then had to wait around for 2 hours until the technician arrived. Curses for lost opportunities for sleeping in.

First results are looking promising, my newest batch of "material" has a surface area of over a thousand square meters per gram. That's the kind of surface I like to see. And when I'm happy, the whole University benefits.

I want to see The New World this week, might be tough to work it in since I have a dumb assignment due tomorrow and then a stupid midterm Thursday. Actually, going after the midterm would work since I won't be up for much thinking after that anyways.