Barenaked Happiness

So, a couple of nights ago I went to a BNL (Barenaked Ladies) concert in Toronto ... although I went to one less than a year ago it always feels like forever in between concerts (except for that time I went to two in two nights) ... so it was great to see them again!! It's always a delight not having to sit through an opening act, as well, especially since most of them are nothing compared to BNL.
I even got a pic that Ed threw at the end of the show (way back to row J), but I gave to a little kid who looked like he wanted it, and I already have 2 from other shows ... I almost gave it to Curtis Joseph, but I thought he was going to find the one under the seats in front of him.
I won't bother going through what they played, how hilarious Sean Cullen's Christmas story was, and all of that, but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. They are sincerely the best live show ever, especially when playing in their hometown.
World Junior's start soon, and thing are looking good for Team Canada, and something like Christmas is coming up soon as well. All of you should know this, as we have been forewarned of it's approach ever since the passing of the American Thanksgiving.
Hey everyone, want a tip? If buying gifts, buy something practical, or at least something they would want 2 or more years in a row ... not something they'll forget about/not use for more than a month. This applies more and less to kids, depending on the item (ie. kids grow out of some toys, and some items need replacing (hockey equipment)), but generally it works. If you're at a loss trying to buy something for the person that has everything, how about doing something for someone that needs help and telling them? I would be happy if someone said that as a gift for me they gave a meal to a homeless person, or something of the like. It's a better Christmas present than a mug, anyhow.

call me slacker...

I definitely won't be offended ... at least it means I'm not spending exorbitant amounts of time looking for something to do and ending up engaged in something fairly pointless ...
So, I went to an OHL game tonight, in which an unbeaten streak record was tied. It's nice finally cheering for a winning team for once! It was a great game, pretty chippy, with a couple of fights and some pretty plays thrown in there as well.
Other than that I'm really glad classes are over for Christmas (a.k.a. holiday) break. Not too much fun or interesting going on, and I definitely need some time to restore my creativity. At least I think I once had it ... it's been so long.
Things that have been really bothering me lately (most being recurring):
- prejudice people
- bad drivers
- rude people
- squirrels
Well actually, one of those is not like the other. The list should be made up of only 3. Choose which bother to eliminate at your own leisure.
Oh, just remembered another one ... tacky Christmas lights!! Boo!!! The world need a lesson in tastefullness.

Insomnia still wants to be my best friend ...

and I'd like nothing more than to choke it to death, forcing into the deep sort of sleep that continues to elude me because of it's presence ... So, I'm up late, but it's not THAT late.
I have once again been struck with the realization that, despite my apparent lack of fear concerning many things, I remain extremely trepid regarding people I think don't like me - clammy hands and shortness of breath being the physiological symptoms. I think it comes from a variety of incidents and confrontations throughout my public school and high school years, and has been reinforced by certain personality characteristics.
I need a psychological makeover ... or maybe I should just write some really self-pitying (or sadistic) poetry.
My apologies to anyone reading this, although I don't think there's many/any people who do, that this is the best I could come up with ... at least I didn't incorporate Christmas music. Or wait, now I did. Crap.
Jingle the bells away

You can get a license ..

But they won't let you write the GRE?!?
How crazy is this, and how much more obvious about being greedy do the GRE people need to be. I mean if you have a license and a health card (so you can endager other peoples' lives ... use tax-payer money for personal health), why would you need more identification, just because you aren't Canadian-born, to write the GRE? You need proper identification to get those pieces of identification. And if it wasn't really you why would you WANT to write the exam? It's not like it's fun, or is it? I'm sure all of this is besides the point but I'd really like to hear their justification on treating someone this way (not letting them write, and taking their substantial amount of money anyway), although it might make me more frustrated.
Possible verdict on that coming after I've written/oralized (that sounds good, really good) it ...

I wonder as I wander ...

How many people have choked to death on peanut butter? And is all natural peanut butter easier to choke on than the additive-preservative etc. filled stuff? Chunky vs. smooth?

This isn't all I wonder about, nor is it by any means related to most of the stuff I wonder about ... but it's all I'm sharing, for now.

School is so many things ...

... a trial, a distraction, a means to an end, a job, a learning experience ...
I'm doing my best to motivate myself into viewing it as the latter 2 of those 'things' school can be ... I can't believe I'm so easily distracted by stupid tv and video games ... hockey's a factor in there, but I won't dare call it stupid, and hockey at least is something I'd be doing/watching regardless of whether or not I had anything I was trying to avoid.
So, that said, anyone who reads this should feel welcome to pray for all students for the ability to concentrate on and allot ample time to school work.
Thanks. :)

anime-ing it up

So, there was an Anime Festival in the vicinity at the end of last week and I managed to make it to ... only one movie. Just one. But it was Appleseed (2004) and I really enjoyed it!!
It was possibly the only time the English sub-titled (a.k.a. original Japanese) version will be shown in Canada ... so that made it specialer-er. :)
Want to check it out? : http://www.a-seed.jp/en.html

thinking but not talking

I can't claim to know a lot about American politics, or even much about Canadian politics (a situation of which I am slightly ashamed, and looking to rectify) ... but I have been forced to know something by the fact that news of the upcoming American election has been everywhere. There was even a report about the amount of political opinions being shared, defended, and explained in blogs ... so I thought I would share my political stance, and thus become a statistic!! Go numbers!! And Nader ... or as my Dad called him: "The David Suzuki of the States".

again it's Tuesday ...

So, after having my car break down last Tuesday morning, I head out the door this morning expecting to be able to drive my car to the arena (and subsequently play hockey) ... Instead, I head out the door, and start my car, and drive. Quite quickly I stop. Because cars are not supposed to make a noise like that, while their moving or otherwise. I have a flat tire. (Not just slightly deflated but totally flat.) And no spare. :-# <--- that's my angry face
How did this happen? No idea, the tire was fine last night. I got to hockey, but it was expensive. I wouldn't have paid that much to go play soccer, so is it bad that it wasn't?
On a bright side (I'm musing on a cube, not a coin) I got concert tickets today.
And going to an OHL game on Saturday shall be fun. At least it should be fun.
I hope anyone reading this is doing well, as I am, really. These are just pesky annoyances/pleasantries.
Feel free to make grave comments, or spout boisterous opnions.
I like both. :)

random funny-ness

Okay, so brought to my attention today was this orange pen for sale on ebay. That in itself, not very funny or unusual. What was interesting was the item description, and subsequent additions are definitely not showcasing 'normal' selling points. Check out a couple of excerpts:

"I received this stupid pen on my birthday years ago from my ex-wife, and even before I divorced her flabby body, I hated the pen. I have no idea why she bought me this piece of crap. Sure, it writes fine and could "seem" kind of cool, but I hate it. The color is ugly, it barely fits in my banana sized hands, and it comes with some weird carrying case. King Kong could barely write with it."
"I have to tell you one more thing about the Ex. She was a tad younger than me, so she was still hanging out with her high school friends when we met. No, she wasn't still in High School, she just acted that way. So she had this friend, who I will call "Laura", because that was her name, who was very odd. This was her best friend in the whole world. Brainless as well, I might add. She wore dark makeup and black clothes always, and could have been Marilyn Manson for all I know. She had a boyfriend that was a complete psycho, who loved to have bonfires in his back yard, about 3 1/2 inches from his house, and got drunk and threw explosive spray cans into the fire to hear them blow up. Another Yale graduate. He was great with cars and engines though, so he was destined to go somewhere in life, like Jiffy Lube. He had fixed up an old truck for Laura and thought it would be cool to decorate it, shall I say, differently. So what does the braniac do? He stuffs her deceased cat's head, inserts some glass eyeballs in it, puts a bolt in the neck part, and mounts it to the gear shift in the truck. I kid you not. "

Do you think this guy is serious, or that he just makes up these stories to attach a stigma to the items people are bidding on, so that said items can be conversation pieces?

Orange is fine, on leaves. That's it

Give thanks for Thanksgiving.
That was a smashing break! I enjoyed myself fully this past weekend, with an assortment of activities including, but not limited to, ball hockey, volleyball, horseback riding, and ice hockey.
And eating, of course! mmmmmmm, pie .... PIE!!!!!!!!
Coming back this week has been a smack of school reality, for sure. My car breaking down on Tuesday morning on my way back to school did NOT help, for sure, and consumed a lot of time that didn't need to be spent sitting by the side of the road, eating grass, and watching a Mennonite woman pick apples. It wasn't all bad, obviously, but awfully consuming of time that I felt should have been spent on school related activities.
But what's done is done, and although I'm still playing catch-up the weekend is up and coming and that will bring relief. And much needed sleep.
Boy, am I ever a whiner today.
Somebody shoot me ... with a paintball ... preferably a lime green one.
Thanks.

ewwww ...

Well, I've never been one to mind Mondays that much, but this one is awful! Just for me, though, so for anyone who's enjoying it ... good on ya, mate. I have a lot to do this week, so I hope I can get feeling better by tomorrow. It's probably nothing a good night of sleep won't fix.
The weekend was great fun, and I wouldn't have missed any of it for an hour or two more sleep, that's for sure.

Brian Burke ...

... should be given authority to construct and impose the new CBA for the NHL. His ideas are great.
I don't think anything else needs to be said on this issue, except that I wish I could play hockey for a living. I would even play for 10% ($140,000) of the average NHL salary (1.4 million). Well, I guess that didn't need to be said. *shrug*

Another year?

I don't know whether to complain, or just to resignedly accept that it's for the best, as the sooner it starts the sooner it's over. I guess that's the way I'll go.
Also on the bright side, I had a great summer. Pretty great ... not spectacular, though.
Looking forward to tomorrow night, I am! Why? Think "little black chunk of rubber" and take a (slap)shot in the dark.

Food is good

But dreams can be just as good.
I was thinking about dreams, and wondering if you could really be surprised in dreams. I guess that would depend on how they're formed, because if they are just a collection of things you have been thinking about, as a lot of people believe them to be, then you couldn't really be surprised by one, as the only things to show up in your dreams would be things you are already aware of.
I think, instead, that they are an amalgamation of things from your conscious and subconscious. This would mean that ideas and people and whatever else that never entered your conscious, but that you subconsciously noticed or "thought" about (had some part of your mind on), could show up in your dreams.
I think last night's dream was the first time that I can remember being even remotely surprised in a dream, which is interesting since I've definitely had my share of terrifying nightmares and weird, unpredictable dreams.

What's my Mean Time to Story Failure?

Who reads Dilbert?
I have no idea how many INTERESTING stories I have but I certainly can tell a lot of stories. Any one want to hear about the time I broke my toe? Or when I had a stalker? Or was a 'stalker'? I think my dreams are the best stories I have to tell ...

more of the same ...

It takes practice to be really original. Or maybe it just takes some actual thought, which is something I can't come up with stuck at a desk. Or stuck in a car. Or apparently even horseback riding.
Or maybe I just don't care one way or the other right now, so don't bother to actual form any original, abstract, liquidy thoughts into something that can be spewed out through a keyboard.
Data entry sucks!!

Too busy? Or else I just don't care ...

One way or the other something's gotta change before I can post again. Not that anyone else cares either, but I'm not asking you to.
Go fly a kite.
I mean it, and no spy-cam attachments this time, or I'll sick a platypus on you. They have venom in the claws embedded in their innocent looking webbed feet.

Happy unbirthday

I think this was a great invention, and people should seriously celebrate this once in a while, especially those unfortunate (in my opinion) to have their birthday close enough to another special event that it's barely distinguishable.
Anyone have their birthday in such a position .. and how do you like it?
Are you xenophobic?

What should be outlawed?

For one, I think self-pity for the sake of attention.
There are a lot of reasons. Think about it. That's today's assignment. That and GET OUT OF MY TREE!!!

Another day another few dollars ...

Sometimes I wish I could only find a job that paid but a few dollars a day, so I could sympathize with all of those people who can barely scrap out a living ... and as an aside it would be an interesting educational experience to learn just how infrugal people (well, middle and upper class people) tend to be, without notice, on a day-to-day basis.
I think this would work better than simply observing (and seriously holding to) a Buy Nothing Day.
Maybe I should do something along those lines anyhow (e.g. A Buy Little Fortnight), and just save all the surplus and do something "good" with it. You following me?
I bet you are. I'm so paranoid.

There's a first time for everything?

Doubtful, but anyhow, this is one of those first times. For a few things. Mostly for a post on this blog, but if that is the best thing I can come up with this is a boring world. Or at least a boring computer space.
My apologies. But maybe it' a first time for something for that guy lying on the floor over there...