Monday, May 31
_________________________
Marks
[journal] I have all my marks back from school and state exams. I got a 4.0 gpa for my 12 class courses and although that sounds impressive, the teachers here are pretty lax about marks. For my first state exam, the LAST, I got a 90% on it. For my second state exam, the ATS-W, I got a 95% on it. That only leaves me with the final NY state content test exam, the Ontario teacher's qualifying test, and my four month placement before I can officially be hired full time. The end --- or beginning --- is near; I can see the light!
|
Sunday, May 30
_________________________
Political News
[journal]
I found this picture at uselessjunk.com, where someone put that caption down in the comments section.
I was also reading about the Canadian federal election in the Toronto Star, and they had a questionnaire for the candidates to fill out. I found an odd answer made by each Martin and Layton. For example when Martin was asked if he wore boxers or briefs he put "Yes." What the hell is yes? As opposed to no, I don't wear anything? And when Layton was asked what his idea of a fun night out with the wife was, he replied that it was none of The Star's business. To me at least that sounded like a very conservative answer for an NDP leader. I was sort of surprised. I mean, he could have just said dinner and a movie. No one was bending his arm to confess all the kinky stuff he's into. |
Friday, May 28
_________________________
Irritation
[journal]
I don't know why --- maybe school stress --- but I've been easily irritated lately. A few things that have stirred my anger pot:
1. People who don't look when they cross the street. It's like they actually think there are good drivers on the street.
2. People who play loud music late at night. It's always either hip hop or Michael Jackson. You never hear someone blasting Michael Bolten, John Tesh, or Kenny G. You have to listen to that kind of music quietly in a closet.
3. People who take their time pulling out of parking spots when someone is waiting. They'll open their trunk, close their trunk, adjust the mirror, move their seat, roll down their windows, check themselves out in the mirror, and buckle their seatbelt. They may as well do a 360 degree physical inspection around their car too and we can call it a driving examination.
4. People who like to correct the professor on insignificant, irrelevant things. Hand shoots up, "I think it was July 3rd when that happened, not July 4th." These are the same people who always ask the professor to clarify or repeat what was just said, and again this isn't bad at all, unless when it's for insignificant, irrelevant things.
5. Guys who piss in the toilets instead of the urinal and spray everywhere as if they had their finger over their dick. Have you ever put your finger over the hose? Yah, that's what I'm talking about. Also people who don't flush after they take a nasty dump.
These five things have happened to me over and over again the past two weeks. Normally I don't quibble because I don't expect much of people, but lately it's just been too frequent!
|
Wednesday, May 26
_________________________
Two Degrees of Separation
[journal] I went to a club with a few friends recently. The guys I went with usually pick up girls they don't know. This time it was hilarious because one of the guys didn't know the other guy had already met the girl. Friend two is on the dance floor grinding and making out (maybe tongue action) with an asian girl. Friend one comes up to friend two, after the girl left, and tells him "I thought you'd like to know that a few minutes earlier my dick was in her mouth."
|
Saturday, May 22
_________________________
Boy's Club
[journal]
Ever so often, we boys get together and gluttonize ourselves with meat and beer. We called this reoccurring event meatfest. Through meatfest's evolution we eventually had girls, music, games, and sometimes even non-meat products (you can thank the girls for that). So May 2-4 weekend is here and I decided to do another one. Only problem is that everyone has something planned (why is everyone going to Niagra Falls?) and the weather is pretty darn shitty. The main thing is, three out of the four founders will attend and we have a lot of meat lined up: Click Here To See Our Meat. Tell me that isn't just delicious looking! |
Friday, May 21
_________________________
Homophobia 101
[journal]
During my research I happened across this figure. It was a used in a physics textbook to explain positive and negative charges. It's funny because it's so wrong.
|
Wednesday, May 19
_________________________
Gay Joe
[journal] I've been at the library every day that I've been at school. Writing my project one for my masters requires me to read every single piece of literature written on the subject. My teacher expects that number to be around 100 or so if we have narrowed the scope of our topic to the right size. My topic is about school violence and particularly about GLBT students in public schools. I have read so much stuff on the matter that it's coming out of my ass (pardon both puns!).
The library at this school has a central printer and a network of computers hooked up to it. Printing is free, so everyone prints off all their journal articles. Today at the printer there was a pretty girl waiting for something she printed off. I started walking towards the printer to go pick up my research. She grabbed the papers as they came out thinking that they were hers and she stood there reading it, clearly looking confused.
"I think that's for me" I said. She nodded and smiled knowingly, and so the pretty girl passed over to me the journal article titled, "Let's Stop Ignoring our Gay and Lesbian Youths."
|
Tuesday, May 18
_________________________
Man of Mystery Revealed
[journal] I was lying in my bed half asleep when my mysterious roomate entered the room. He was dressed in a baseball cap, jersey --- and I kid you not --- baseball tights, and shoes. He was wearing freak'n spandex, tighty whities! In between his armpit he was squeezing the life out of a Toronto Raptors pillow, so I was thinking, what kind of obsessed sports fan am I rooming with and how much longer will I live?
Lucky for me I soon found out that he just came from a baseball game. The guy is as friendly as Mickey Mouse, married, older, and serious. I couldn't have asked for a better roomate. As usual, my fears were unwarranted.
PS Is anyone getting pop ups when the log onto the site? I mean right away, and not after you click and do the poll.
|
Sunday, May 16
_________________________
Single White Male
[journal] I've lived in a residence at a university two times. During both periods I always knew ahead of time who my roomate was and, in fact, I choose him. For the first time in my life I will be randomly paired up with some dude for my stay here during the summer.
I was not expecting this at all considering less people go to school during the summer, but apparently the masters program here is popular and a lot of people attend. So basically, the only thing I know about this guy is that he's also in the Masters program in Education. Other than that, he could be your natural-born-killer-psycho-bastard-dickhead-motherfucker! Or worse: he could be like me.
|
Saturday, May 15
_________________________
Weak Willed
[journal]
I'm pretty good with telemarketers. I'm pretty good at saying no. But they always find new ways to entrap me. So I guess that makes me no good in actuality. Take a few years ago. It was no mere man solicitating me. No, he had to be a blind man. God dammit. Everyone in the newspaper office scattered like mice into their cubbyholes pretending to be busy working on things, typing away nosensical words but watching this angry looking blind dude stroll around wacking things with his stick. I was the only brave---maybe stupid---soul lounging on the couch because I had finished my section. The blind guy zeroed in on me like he knew I was a sucker. "Where am I?!" he demanded. "You're at the Silhouette office." "Have a seat," he ordered, like he was some kind of boss (remember, I was already sitting down). He passed me a sheet of written propaganda and asked me to read it out loud. I said, "You mean this part at the top?" "I'm blind. I can't see!" he said. Like I was stupid, or to make me feel more guilty. He was so angry at being blind. I knew he couldn't see. I just assumed he's been doing this schtick for quite some time and knew where the words were located on his crummy paper. Basically it was some self righteous spiel talking about how we should STOP VIOLENCE! and some kindergarten operation hoping to do something about it. He could have been peddling pig ears and I still would have bought it. I ended up buying the ugliest t-shirt in the word for 20 dollars. The entire office was behind me watching me suffer through his guilt attack and seeing me cave in to the t-shirt. They were all laughing, but that dry, quiet, shoulders gyrating laugh so the blind guy couldn't hear them. Bastards. Well today someone did it by phone. Much easier to say no to right? Wrong. The guy said he worked in association with the Toronto Police department. Damn. Then he started talking about an event going on at Canada's Wonderland to help stop gang communities. They would have off-duty police officers mingling with children and show police in a good light and help get relations better. He asked for 20 dollars to support a family to attend the event. I said I am nothing but a poor student with bills myself. Then the sonuvabitch cut it down to 10 dollars. How can you say no to someone who's asking for only 10 dollars to stop gang violence? I asked if he wanted me to send a check out (because there was no way I was going to send a check out to some guy on the telephone even if it was addressed to the Toronto Police Department). He said that he would send me the information package. No harm in that right? Then he kept calling me David all the time like he knew me and we were suddenly chums sharing a pint of beer. We said our good-byes. Well I guess caving in twice in five years isn't that bad and besides the information package is going to be addressed to David. Sucker. |
Friday, May 14
_________________________
The DiMAGE Xg Will be Mine!
[journal]
I'm supposed to be the tech guy, not my sister, and yet she holds in her hand the beautiful DiMAGE Xg. My camera, the Canon Powershot A300, is not crappy by any means, but it positively feels like giant elephant balls compared the the svelte ergonomic designs of the DiMAGE. The point of me getting a camera was so that I could take it around with me anywhere and snap pictures for this site when I saw something of interest. Two things hold me back from that: 1. The camera, as mentioned, feels in size, shape, and weight like elephant balls. 2.The camera start up time is so slow that by the time it prepares, the moment has passed and I missed my mark. So tonight --- Karen you better read this --- my sister better sleep with one eye open! Say good-bye to your precious. |
Thursday, May 13
_________________________
Eternal Movie
[journal] I was browsing other people's blog sites yesterday and I noticed a lot of people wrote about how they just saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I had even written about it here. I think you've made a good movie when there's office place chatter. I mean, you never hear people talk about movies like Van Helsing do you? |
Wednesday, May 12
_________________________
Disposable Lifestyle
[commentary]
North American consumption has an obsession with convenience. For a little less labour and a little saved time, people sacrifice the environment and a lot more money. Brooms and mops are being replaced by disposable magnetic or pre-soaped attachments. Facial washes are now facial wipes. Even your standard dental floss is now a disposable clip on. The consequences of our desire for material conveniences is bad enough, but there is a deeper implication. An implication that deals with our how we live our lives. If buying these items reflect our current attitude and priorities (time and convenience), do these priorities apply in other aspects of life? Do we have a disposable lifestyle?
Take marriage for example. My parents -- no matter how many times they argue, sulk or swear -- would never have a divorce. But I'm sure they've thought about it. Go back to my grandparents and I'd bet they didn't even think of it. Today, fifty percent of marriages turn out in divorce. Celebrities marry for publicity, professionals for prestige and blue collars for benefit. Marriage doesn't seem like a sacred institution any longer, it's simply a convenience. It's easy (unless you're gay) and you get many conveniences from it. Once you've abused it for all it's worth, you dispose it and look again.
I could talk about other conveniences. I could talk about disposable religions, jobs and friendships , but that would take work and frankly that's not very convenient for me! I think society should realize that the easy-peasy way, although it may be good in the short run, doesn't hold out in the distance. There's something about hardwork, persistence and holding on that builds character and maturity. One could probably mix in the old adage, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. |
Tuesday, May 11
_________________________
Poll Up
[website update] I placed a poll up. I hope to be doing this regularly (monthly or quarterly) depending on how many people actually vote. I mean it's great and all putting up new polls all the time, but how comprehensive are the results if my only votes come from my dog bagel and me?
My next poll will be the same except with guys. If you have any ideas on which guys to put down (I'll put Jude Law for you Karen and Ewan McGregor for you Dora) or have any ideas for polls just email me or put a comment here.
As you can tell, the topics of my polls will be highly academic and will examine the pressing issues that help shape contempoary society. Speaking of which, what do you guys think of "Britney Spears: Are They Real or Fake?"
|
Monday, May 10
_________________________
The New Blogger
[website update] Blogger came out with a bunch of new features for this website and that's why it's 3 a.m. and I'm still up. I really liked their new comment system, which allows me to post people's comments right on the main page. It's really exciting except for the fact that you have to sign up to post (or post annonymously), and I know that you punks would never sign up. A couple of changes I did to the site included having trackback ability, "recent posts" links, permalinks, and having the archive section links on the front page. Figuring all that out only took 2.5 hours (sarcasm).
|
Sunday, May 9
_________________________
Vietnamese Culture
[journal] One thing I like to do on occasion is make fun of my culture. Take for example the Vietnamese newspaper that is distributed across Toronto and other parts of Ontario. The name you ask? Well translated, it's basically called "The Newspaper." Creative bunch of people we are.
|
Saturday, May 8
_________________________
An Apartment for Cliff
[link] Hey Cliffy, here's an apartment on eBay that's your dream place. Click HERE. Oh and when you're feeling horny Cliff, you can go HERE. |
|
Karen's Cuts
[journal]
My ugly mug is up in Karen's Cuts. It's actually a few months old, but we never got around to posting it. If you're wondering why I'm holding a toy car it was because I was play-acting out a number of scenes, none of which showcased the hair very well. |
Friday, May 7
_________________________
I am Robot and Proud
[journal] I finished school at teacher's college yesterday. Everyone was very emotional , but I didn't feel a single thing. Why should I? Or should I have? I made really good friends with a group four people that I can guarantee I'll keep in contact with, so I couldn't be sad about them. There were other particular people in the class outside of my group that I made friendships with that I will continue to speak to. Otherwise, sure, some people were nice but nice people are everywhere. I can throw a stick outside my house and hit a nice person on the head. The point is that we had a good time and now that time is over. They will go on and be teachers without my knowledge, and I will go on without theirs. We meet too many good people in the world to be sad for them, especially when good things are going to happen. There are more important things that go on in the world we should be sad for. |
Monday, May 3
_________________________
Gmail Ebay and Insanity
[journal/links]
A while back I posted something about Google adding email capabilities to their Internet dominance and how wickedly awesome it promises to be. Then, a few days ago, coincidently through Blogger--because Google owns Blogger, I got invited into the beta. I have to tell you that I'm loving it so much. Well, as much as a man can love an inanimate, virtual thing that is composed of strings of numbers and words. Do remember that I'm a big nerd and the first to admit so. Therefore, you will not be excited as I am once you try it out (I let my friend Kevin log on and try it out. He left after 3 minutes. He told me he signed me up for spam and then logged off). I wasn't going to post or rave about how good my Gmail (what google calls their email) experience was since no one would give two shits, but I found out that they are selling really fast on ebay. One just went for 100 USD. I swear, anything will sell on eBay. Apparently there's some guy who's now famous because he sold his ex-wife's wedding dress on eBay. He's just your average bitter schmoe, but now he's famous. He's even getting marriage proposals, spots on television and radio, etc.... The Internet makes stars out of anyone. It's crazy. The funniest part is his description of it: "One Slightly Used Size 12 Wedding Gown. Only worn twice: Once at the wedding and once for these pictures." Do you like how I suddenly went on a tangent? First I wrote about Gmail, then I switched to eBay, and then I talked about how I switched. I've been meaning to write how psychotic I've been because this is the last week of school and I've been stressing out writing final papers. Right now if someone sold the act of watching paint dry for two dollars on eBay, I'd buy it. I'd buy it and do it just so I wouldn't have to go back and troll along writing the next supporting paragraph of my research paper. Actually watching paint dry sounds particularly exciting right now. I mean it encompasses both a noun and a verb. I would even just sit and watch paint, plain and verbless. It wouldn't need to dry. That's how badly I want to procrastinate right now. Okay, peace out. I'm getting back to work. |
Sunday, May 2
_________________________
Speech Begone
[journal] The class I'm in sort of turned into what I hated about highschool. It became catty and cliquey. I couldn't write a good speech. I didn't feel like the class really connected. There was nothing special I could say about the class. It was a very lame speech. I ditched the idea and instead grabbed a binder, wrote people's names on each page, bought stickers, and wrote instructions on the first page. The idea was to write nice things about other people in the class (annonymous or signed) and pass it around the class. At the end of the year you take the pages that belong to you. I figured with the class segregation that this would be the easiest and nicest thing that people could gain for a year end sort of thing. The book idea worked, and some people have up to four pages written about them. |
|
|
