I Never Went to Junior High

The Catholic school board I was brought up in didn't have a junior high; just elementary and highschool each with its own little divisions, for what mostly seemed to be inter-school sport competition purposes. That said, it was shortly after the middle school/junior highschool time period had I been in school that I started mailing it in effort-wise.

It comes as no surprise then that I haven't written here for a few weeks after having been certified as a junior high accomplished blog 'writer'.

Three months at work has flown by, but it hasn't changed the status of my bachelors thesis, which is still a work in progress. I've stretched the definitions of the words 'work' and 'progress'. Its December 1st, and the people with the gaudiest of x-mas decorations already have them blazing at night. The mall parking lots are packed, and I have next to no ideas for gift giving this year, though I know none of them will be decorative x-mas coffee mugs or glasses.

Why is it that people give these little sets as gifts? 4 or 6 glasses at a time that don't fit with all the other tacky sets that are given during the holidays every year. We have at least 4 different sets sitting in boxes in the fruit cellar that never see the light of day, and likely never will. Its where poinsettia laced, reindeer printed glasses go to die.

And now its time to go dream up gift ideas that are only moderately better than a box of glasses.

I've Come So Far

Found on Raymi's blog.

Rock & Roll Review

So almost a week later, I guess I could write something about the Matthew Good show. It was, as expected, a fantastic show, replete with humourous banter, and Ted Nugent appreciation. The highlights for me were Prime Time Deliverance, Silent Army in the Trees, a 5 minute tangent about the miraculous healing powers of ingested Vick's VapoRub and the acoustic re-working of Suburbia, which I hope to be laid down at some point in a studio setting.

It was so good infact that I attempted to get last minute tickets for the Hamilton show, but by the time I was able to find someone that wanted to go with me, a trip to pick up tickets in Mississauga from the seller on eBay, and then backtrack to Hamilton would have put us 45 minutes into Matt's set.

The time since has been filled with little to no work to do, an e-mail to potential Masters supervisors for the winter, and the first 3 seasons of the Office since Monday night. I caught what I assumed to be a re-run about 2 months ago and finally remembered to download some last week. Those who have seen it know by now why I haven't been able to stop watching since, those who haven't, this is what torrents are for. Absolute hilarity, though Steve Carell's character does get to be a bit much at times. I'm sure in the normal half hour prescribed doses, there's no issue, but that's what a slightly addictive personality will do.

This post would have been a lot better if my camera wasn't a piece of shit in low any light.

BlackD'yerRoll

8 hours driving, and 10 hours of actual dirty fieldwork in the past 2 days. Its nice when the time flies like that, though you can only play along with so many classic rock trivia call-in shows before you feel you should really call in with the answer and save the poor people. That is until you remember that the tickets they're giving away are for a Pink Floyd cover act and some Canadian 80's rock bands who, while catchy, are not great.

If only I could have remembered that drum outtro was from Rock and Roll, I would have been at a Loverboy show.

But instead, I'll be at the Matt Good acoustic show on campus tomorrow night. Small venue, acoustic show, and decent sound from every show I've ever seen there; it all promises to be a good show. And since I'm working on campus tomorrow, I may have to try to drop by and see if I can coerce my way into a sound check, though I won't keep my hopes up.

Guitar Hero Killed the Radio Star

Video never did kill it, but guitar hero just might. Sure the game might teach people to respect some of the greatest guitar riffs of all time, but why not actually learn the instrument for real. It'll be far more entertaining in the long run and more enjoyable than hitting some buttons on a plastic mock guitar.

Its not even as challenging as getting people together to play a game of hockey or football or something, where playing a game as a substitute seems to fit. The next thing you know there will be an Eating Hero set of games.

Hey press these buttons to eat your twinkies and cheetos. Hit the secret bonus sequence for all you can eat ice-cream bar!!. Yea, they're not real, but you'll set one sexy high score.

On second thought, Eating Hero might not be the worst idea for some lazy ass kids out there. They'll be too busy game-eating to real-eat. I guess the qualification shouldn't be limited to kids either as there are some damned lazy people out there who aren't simply genetically predisposed to these kind of things. Nonetheless, we can all just blame it on the government and let them tax us more to deal with the problem.

Rock Dungeon

I spent the last two days at work cutting rock core in the basement of one of the biology buildings. Dirty, wet, loud, and yet peaceful. Working for 15 hours in a two day period, I didn't see a single living person down there.

That's not to say that I saw any dead people either, though at least one person has died down there; from my recollection, a girl who hung herself from the pipes during midterms the year before I started my degree. Things like this happen more often than you'd think to students, but the school does its best to hide the realities of these things. Probably for the best for the families of the dead.

But a few days down there to yourself, not bothered by anyone, and taking your life should be the last thing on your mind. Plus, I had some time to work on some do-it-yourself (read cheap) x-mas gifts. I know, with all my bitterness and contempt for winter, I should be punched in the face for mentioning it, but hey, I've learned you have to jump on these things when they present themselves...kind of like...well never mind. Steak's on..

Mailing It In

Mailing it in is trendy, but i fly in the face of cutesy. See: Tony, Nick, or Anthony.

Oktoberfest Sucks

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the admin around the university? Really I do. I love how none of their multiple online systems seem to interact with one another. I love how the different departments of the admin themselves don't interact. I love them not putting my paycheque through on the scheduled pay date, with a MasterCard bill sitting and collecting interest. I love the vagueness of the responses when I ask for some clarification in trying to track down just what happened to my money. And I especially love being told that my pay request would be in on a specific date, that being today, and still not finding it there.

Other people get charged twice for their tuition because no-one cross checks things.

And still others are forced to write petitions to stay in school only to be informed, after being told that the petition was denied, that a completely different term from the one that the petition was written for was actually considered. Was there any kind of outline of the whole petition process to be found anywhere on line, or were people more forthcoming on the phone, this kind of thing could be avoided. But instead, the administration around the university just continues to build great report with those that ever have dealings with them.

And then there are the people swarming to the city for North America's biggest beer festival. Driving like idiots. Staggering around like idiots. Closing streets. Its an overrated sham, like every other year. I don't understand why people need an excuse to drink beer in the first place; but then they wait until the price on it is jacked up, and the stuff being served is old stock being cleared off in mass quantities. Don't get me started on sitting through the awful music, along with accordion accompanied covers of otherwise tolerable songs.

Am I bitter? Just a little bit. But at least not watered down like all those $6 cups of beer that in no way actually taste like a good German brew.