July 2004 Archives

It's a bitter entry to write. It would have been a better idea to write this entry when I wasn't tired, or content with the way things turned out. But that's ok. I'll work with what I have. The last two weeks has been relatively crappy. I actually felt crappy, and I hardly ever feel crappy.

I missed ~Mel going away to Florida. She's going to be gone for 10 days, which sucks. All plans to do anything with her fell through again and again. So I haven't seen her in a long while (minus SL101, which doesn't really count). Not seeing ~Mel means I haven't seen Josh in a while (and that reminds me that I really need to do a new layout, and rework the autolink things). Maybe ~Jess has a good idea for what I can do with a layout. Only I don't see ~Jess ever. When she is home, she's on FFXI, which means she may as well be dead because you won't get any real conversation. All you hear is: Gotta level. Smash the rarab! Don't bite my tail. Ok, so I bite, what can I say?

I've decided my sister has good taste in music. Or at least her friends do. As terrifying as it is to hear Ice Cube coming from her party, I secretly want to go out and party with Stef. Blackie I miss you.

I need to get new socks. And boxers. American Eagle seems like a good place for that. There's your totally unrelated thought for the day.

We've already established people are stupid. Easy to manipulate. You can get people to do whatever you want to, especially if they're motivated by fear. Or it has to do with something you want them to believe. That was the 1st rule: people are stupid. Now we have the 2nd rule: don't bother.

The greatest harm can result from the best intentions. In most cases the harm is one caused to yourself. You try to make everything perfect, which is stupid. As much as I hate having to say it, it's probably better that you don't care about a lot of things. Just go with it. Stand on the outside and laugh. Laugh at everyone being stupid. Everyone trying, and hurting themselves in the process. Or hurting the people around them. Nothing like a dark, pseudo-gloomy entry to get the juices flowing.

So Phase One of the photoshoot is completed. I'm extremely happy with the results. I have my three favourites. One was even chosen despite constant remarks that I look reanimated, or fake, or like a mannequin. Oh well. Hopefully I'll get at least one more set of good pictures. Maybe I'll bring a bunch of clothes to change into and what not. Thank you ~Natasha for your photoshop skills. They've proven themselves extremely useful yet again. And I love you for it.

I'm working on a new layout. Phase One: Good Idea. Basically it means that I know it's time for a new layout, but I don't have any inspiration at all to do one. I have no drive to do one right now either. I'd have to find something really cool to inspire me. I think I'm going to turn to what I always turn to: TV and Games. With it will be a new way for me to quick-link. Grr.

I've changed my stance on the song: Things I'll Never Say. I remember talking with a bunch of people about how we love the song, but couldn't relate to it. Well, apparently I can relate to it now. I've decided that I can relate it it perfectly. On two levels even. There are things I'm never going to say because theres no need to; it would be a waste to make things awkward or ruin something. Then there are things I can't say because I'm not ready to say them. So there, two levels.

~Eugene is working on some super secret project. I think I'm involved. I'm not sure though, I was tired so I could have dreamed it. If I didn't dream it, it will definatly be cool though. Like my dream to have a mass protest across the USA, in all major cities. The release of 99 Red Balloons. Yes it's cheesy, but deal with it.

I out with ~Natasha and Alex today. It was fun. They were looking for clothes. It didn't exactly turn out to be very productive. We just walked around and looked at things. Then I pondered the rules. The first rule is probably one of the most important. And definatly one of the most relatable rules. People are stupid. Yes, I'm talking about you.

Not posting when you're in a bad mood, or not feeling up to it is fine. Fine, until it gets to the point where you are neglecting your blog. It's not even been a week since my last real entry. It feels like much longer. I guess that just shows you how uneventful my summer is. Well, sorta.

After a ridiculous 8+ levels in a day on FFXI, I've stopped playing. I hit the White Mage rut. No matter how much ~Jess claims she's better than me, time played doesn't equal skill. After a long run with DAoC I know that from personal experience. It's a the little bridge between grouping, and not grouping. That menas that everything I kill is worth nothing, but killing something worth something is a pain in the ass and dangerous. I'll probably end up passing it by the end of the night. Summerfest is on, and ridiculously annoying.

So Yesterday was ~Kaitie's Battle Royale. It was super fun. I'm going to get the files and post pictures and what not, because it will be fun. Class of 2004: ~Jess, ~Natasha, ~Alyssa, Alex, ~Mel, Mel (~Kaitie's cousin), Stoner, Denise, Barone, Nick, Me, Morganti, and Josh. ~Kaman, Laura and Adrian all tried to escape, and died. It was good times. The battle itself went on for a long time. Then we all had to run and shower at various houses because we were covered in blood. After that it was a BBQ and random sitting, laughing, and Tamagotchi playing.

I got my new Tamagotchi a few days ago. It's fun. I could have sworn I ordered the dark blue one, but they sent a light blue one. Oh well. Maybe I'll get another one some time. Maybe. After that I went home and ended up passing out. At like 9:00, ~Josh and ~Kyle called and then showed up and took me out of my house. I had a huge headache and felt sick. I couldn't figure out what causes it. Bad food? Nope. Dehydrated? Nope. Eventually I figured it out.

Figured it out at like 11:00, when I went for late night pizza with ~Natasha and Barone. I got my Bacon and Mushroom which I love. Greatest pizza toppings ever. And now I have no money for the week.

I've started a campaign to get my picture taken so that I can have decent pictures. I mean, picutres of me are decent. But they could be better looking than they are. I think I'm going to make ~Natasha take the pictures for me. ~Torie could have taken them, but she's gone off to Austria for the rest of forever. I didn't even get to see her to say goodbye.

My cousin has her 18th birthday coming up in 4 days. For her birthday her friends plotted an elaborate kidnapping. They told her parents, and had them get clothes for a weekend. Then told her it was movie night ... and drove her to Jasper. I'm ridiculously jealous. Not because I like Jasper. It's the opposite, I don't like it. But because her friends are cool like that.

Student Life 101 was the other day. It was .. Well it was a big waste. I only went to two of the presentations. Campus Leaders, and the Math Faculty one. Campus Leaders was a big waste of time. A huge waste. Stuff I would have assumed. Or could have gotten from a book like Mac has. If you're going to try and make your budget look big, don't bother. Because you'll say something stupid like a high school student council has an operating budget of $50 000. Idiots. Our school had something like a $5000. That's probably pushing it too. Whatever. The Math Faculty one was decent though.

I'm still undecided about Waterloo. Obviously it has the name. The people there are all ugly though. And pretentious. It's gross, and a bad combination. I doubt I'll have fun. Waterloo also has one of the ugliest campuses ever. Acadia had a nicer campus, and there are 3500 people going there. Figure that one out. I'm upset about the Japanese Fiasco too. Oh well.

It's a good thing to feel. A quick entry before Barone gets home and I go back on FFXI. I've become addicted to that game. It's ridiculous how that one happened. And now the coffee is wearing off and I'm feeling sluggish.

The other day my brother and sister ordered pizza. Then I was disappointed to find out that there would be no bacon and mushroom. Damnit ~Kaitie! Look what you've done to me! I think I'm addicted. That's one of the greatest pizzas I've ever had. Forever. Forever ever, forever ever. Mmm Ms Jackson.

Wow my brain turned off. I don't remember!

Typhoon Season. Today I woke up at 10, like I was told to do, and prepared to go to Wonderland. Of course, ~Josh, who said he'd be up at 10, wasn't up at 10. Oh well. And I had no car. So I had to try and figure out when the bus ran, and had to wait for ~Josh to get up. Eventually we got there, despite a rush to make it to Square One in 15 minutes. Go mom go. So the bus ride was as eventful as a potato farm, but I lived. We made it to Wonderland and saw nothing but sun. I danced, and felt like rubbing it in my moms face after she had argued that it was supposed to thunderstorm. Feh. So we went on Sledgehammer. Then we got in line for Vortex. Right as we were getting on Vortex, it started to rain. It was nothing that bad though. ~Josh got wet because it dripped on him, but it was doable. It stopped raining after we go off, so ~Josh went and changed into his bathing suit. It was still spitting as we walked around. Then it started to pour.

And oh, did it pour. It was like some strange jungle adventure, during a typhoon. Or a monsoon. You pick. So we ran to Kingswood Theatre, sat, and waited. It didn't stop. It rained non-stop for about an hour and a half. At one point we found ~Heather and her friends. So we talked. When it looked like it was slowing down, they left. I laughed because I knew they wouldn't get on any rides. We went to get New York Fries. Halfway through that it started to pour again. When it finally let up, it was 2:00. We called it quits and went to the bus. I ruined my shoes.

So we moped on the bus ride back, and ~Josh's mom was nice and came to get us at Square One since my mom had a doctor's appointment. On the bright side, I got my new shoes. They're nice. I'm not sure if I like these pads I got for the shoes though. I think it's doable.

It amuses me when people wonder why fast food places get so much business. They get business because it's fast, easy, and cheap. That's why. My parents decided to put me on a budget of $40 a week. I don't care about being on a budget. That budget is ridiculous. Weekly lunch will generally cost me almost $50. I eat a lot. It wouldn't be a problem if there was food in my house. But there isn't. So tomorrow I'm going to have to fight my case to my mom.

I went to Playdium with Barone and ~Natasha tonight. It was fun once I broke in my new shoes. For the first bit they were being stupid. Planning it was annoying. I had one job: Call ~Kaitie. I called that woman at least 5 times. On the last call I got through, but she wasn't home. Sigh. So I failed. I did almost pass Max though. I would have been fine had it not been for my tired legs. Near the end I was like: Hmm, no. Even though the end is easier in comparison to some of the earlier parts. Stupid random moving is not compatible with my legs.

I'm not sure if I've mention this, but we made an Oakville Grads LJ community. So check it out, and sign-ah up.

~Eugene has some cool feed thing on his site. Cool feed thing. Mmm. I'd do it, but not with this layout. I'm thinking it might be time to start cooking up a new layout anyways. Cooking up. Don't stop cooking!

Before I forget. I can't stand when people have no logic. Or bad logic. Those are both really bad things. And I've been unfortunate enough to run into a lot of both recently. Way to fail.

Coffee is bad for me. I've decided. I can not follow a simple thought process after having coffee. It's not good. Oh well.

My Javascript hates me. Maybe it's because I'm tired, but I don't htink so. I think it just hates me. Stupid useless language. Oh well, I shall try and fix it tomorrow. I've been working on it on and off today. When I got frustrated I got together with ~Natasha and we started up an LJ community for all the grads so we can keep in touch. Good times, I think.

I got my rez package from Waterloo. I'm in Mackenzie King. Which is good. Except no one else is in that rez, so it's bad. Sigh. I'm not sure whether or not I'm looking forward to that. I did manage to finish that thank you letter for the grad award. Except I haven't mailed it yet. I fail.

I didn't do much during the day today. I watched the rest of cowboy bebop (minus the last two episodes). It's to deperessing to watch the last two knowing the the series is over. Even Hard Knock Woman was depressing to watch. I think I shall listen to the song from the end of that episode. I watched Dark Angel too. Just part of the first episode. I was too antsy to finish it.

TV is really sad. Everyone's lives on it are so interesting. I get to sit at home and wish my life was as interesting as theirs. Although my life isn't that uneventful. This morning my mom woke me up saying she needed my help; it sounded like an emergency. The problem: She needed to go pick my brother up at Assumption because he was at the wrong school, and she didn't know how to get there. Or how to get to BR. Sigh. Of course, because I drive around so much I know these things. And she knows I know these things. So I got woken up at like 9:00 for that.

~Josh picked me up to save me from my boredom earlier today. And then I phoned Morganti and got no answer. So he failed and I didn't go out with him after. I had originally been planning to go to Playdium, or get coffee, or anything. Then I forgot I told ~Josh I'd do something with him, so I told Morganti to wait an hour. I got coffee and wandered Glen Abby. Then Morganti was no where to be found. Failure.

And I can no longer complete a thought. So I'm done.

I had this quiz I wanted to fill out, and then I didn't do it. I remember there was a good reason for it, I just can't remember it now. Oh well. Today I was sick. It was not pleasant. A combination of a bad choice (poutine from Burger King) and stupid parents (making fish). Now, the smell of fish in the kitchen is one of my most hated smells ever. This time, they were inconsiderate enough to not use the fan so the whole house wreaked of fish. The smell of fish is enough to make me sick on a regular day. Add that to the fact that I was already sick because of the bad poutine (which I only had two bites of), and I was down on the floor getting ready to pray to the porcelain gods. Sigh.

So, because I was sick, I did what I always do when I'm sick: watch DVDs. Today was a showing of Cowboy Bebop. I forgot how much I loved that anime. I'm getting ready to finish it, and start watching Dark Angel again. I need Season Two. And Season Two of Smallville. So many things to spend money on, no money to spend. See my problem?

I decided to check on my airmiles today. 112. Not bad considering I only use it when paying for gas, and they only give them at Shell. Hmmm. I need to save up and get something really cool. I also wrote my thank you letter today for the grad award. I feel like such a slacker, but I'm done. I'm not sure if it's good enough; I hope it is. My WTCARD photo is sent. I think I've done everything I needed to do. Except upload recent pictures.

And that's about it.

Who saw this coming?

The world's gone to hell in a handbasket and I'm too tired to care.

So E3 2004 has come and gone. I felt out of the loop when I realized it had gone by. All the next generation consoles are gearing up. Playstation 2s early release gave it a big advantage over the competition and made it the undisputed winner of this rounds console wars. Despite someone sad sales numbers by Gamecube, I still stand behind it as a better system than Xbox. The Japanese sales for it are more than the world wide sale for Xbox.

Playstation 3 is expected to debut this time next year at E3 2005. Despite the fact that Xbox is still losing money, Microsoft Officials feel that they can take on Playstation 3 with Xbox Next. Good luck with that.

Nintendo is still keeping Revolution under tight guard. Instead of it being released around the same time as the other two consoles, Nintendo is focusing on games that should have been released a long time ago. One of the biggest disappointments was the lack of the next Perfect Dark. For shame Nintendo.

Playstation is also working on releasing its first handheld, the PSP. Well good luck with that one. At and estimated $300, I don't need something else to play more music and movies. I wanted games. Not internet. Not a camera. At least Nintendo is reinventing gaming, instead of flashing it up. DS looks like it will be tons 'o fun. Expect me to get one of those before a PSP. The game list looks better too. EGM's E3 focus had a section on comments from prominent game developers. The friendlier comments were towards DS. The only worry is what good a touch screen is for some games, and the target audiences.

After a craptacular week, I've spent the last two days trying to amuse myself. Yesterday was an all out day. Square One was good as always, except for lots of walking. Heather had her pool party. I ended up delayed and arriving late, but I made it. Danced around in the pool before it got cold. Then ate a lot of food. Boss! Itsumo sudo ni ite ne! Oh good times. After that it was off to Playdium, where we made fun of people before heading to Midnight Madness. It was my first Midnight Madness. I was definatly not impressed. Other than the live bands every block, it was just a lot of walking.

Today was wonderland. More walking for my poor feet. I have blisters everywhere. I went up and partied in the waterpark for most of the day. Mmm sunburns. I didn't actually get burnt though. Then we went to quickly meet ~Natasha before running to Wendy's to get lunch. Then walking back to the park and trying to find rides with short lines. Everything was long. So we left.

I went out with ~Josh and ~Kyle after to see Dodgeball. It's such a funny movie.
We didn't do much more. And I'm dead tired. Bleh. But my weekend has been looking up so far.

What a week. I finally managed to fix up the pictures page so that it has all the new pictures from my cruise that I got. It was ridiculously tedious. But they're up there, so whatever. I accidentally screwed up the random picture thing, so now I have to rewrite it. Not tonight though. I'm lazy.

This week has been a whole lot of nothing. Ok, that was a lie. Monday was Games Night. It was lots of fun. It was more like a Mario/Cranium Night, not that I'm complaining. Cranium definatly fried my brain. Stoner and I kinda won. Sorta. I left halfway through to pick up ~Natasha who had just come home. Then we never really finished. That game takes forever, and hurts the brain. So we played a lot of Mario Party 5. After that, Josh and I called it a night after I had driven Stoner and ~Natasha home. So ~Mel and ~Kaitie stayed at ~Torie's and they played Mario games all night.

Tuesday was supposed to be a costume shopping day. It was. Originally it was cancelled because ~Torie's sickness from the previous night had worsened, and I didn't want to make ~Alyssa go out after he rough night. So then ~Heather turned up and took me down to Toronto. I ended up getting the pants and shirt, after walking around Queen Street for two hours. And Kensington. Kensington is the biggest waste of time ever. Never again will I go there. After that I went with Charly to visit ~Josh because he was sickly too.

Wednesday was ~Alyssa's birthday. I was supposed to go to Toronto with Magee, Jessica and Project Cool but that didn't work. After the thunderstorm which kept me up for a while, I woke up and threw up. Which wasn't pleasant. So I had to cancel visiting Much on Demand with them. By the afternoon I was feeling decent enough to move around, so ~Natasha and I went to Square One to try and buy her clothes. I didn't really work. She bought a CD instead. Then we went at saw Sleep Over. Which was better than I thought it would be. Then we got me a pita before heading over to ~Alyssa's. Originally I was supposed to see a movie with her and ~Torie, but they had been super late so I assumed it was cancelled. So I went to her house to watch Requiem For A Dream. It's still an odd movie. ~Torie and Stoner were there. And I got to meet ~Alyssa's WOSS friends. So it was good. Half way through Zoolander I had to leave to be home.

And now we've reached Thursday. Which was today. Or technically yesterday. I woke up with nothing to do. So I went out with Barone so we could try and finish our costumes. We started by getting pitas. I had to use my free pita emergency ration card, because I had no money. Then we used a free dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme for dessert. Then it was off to Oakville Place. Barone got his top, but every single store there failed me. So I went home. Not to be defeated I picked up ~Alyssa and we went CD shopping. I also found my top at Winners. Go Winners Go. Then later in the night it was off to Milton to hang out with Kristen and the rest of the EC Drury kids. Good times.

I had the strangest dream last night. It was about going to Parkdale High in Toronto, which is where my parents went. Except there was people from all over the Oakville Catholic Schools. And we were all in our uniforms, even though it was a public school. I was in the Loyola Uniform too, which was odd. So I ran home to my grandmas to change. Running back I ran into ~Josh. He said we couldn't be late because they locked the doors? We were late. So we had to sneak in a side door, and found the principal yelling about Oakville kids being late. Because everyone from Oakville was late. Then I woke up.

Apparently someone called the cops on Matt's death list. Well that sucks for him. I don't see the need in calling the cops, but whatever. I know who did it too. And they had even less of a reason to call the cops than most logical people. I guess he just really pissed them off. He can probably get off without anything serious though.

I've been downloading Ayu commercials today to pass the time. Some of them are way to funny for it to be healthy. Divine Ayu has some great ones in the downloads section. So ... check it out.

Choose a band/artist and answer only in song titles by that band/artist: Missy

Are you male or female?: You Don't Know Me
Describe yourself: It's Real
How do some people feel about you?: So Addictive
How do you feel about yourself?: I've Changed
Describe your ex-girlfriend: Da Real World Fourteen
Describe your current girlfriend: Smooth Chick
Describe what you want to be: Funky Fresh Dressed
Describe your current mood: Dog In Heat
Describe your friends: Gossip Folks
Share a few words of wisdom: Pass That Dutch

Some of them were funny to put in. Other's were just strange.

Today, my speakers and ultra-floppy drive arrived. After that I decided that it was now time for me to purchase a webcam. So after picking up ~Torie, we tried to find out how I would get the money in order to buy one. I knew I had the money around, the question was how was I to get it into order.

So we picked up loose change from my room, sat down in the kitchen and started counting it. The verdict: $12 in twoonies, $18 in loonies, $56.00 in quarters, $24.20 in dimes, $4.90 in nickels, and $2.50 in pennies. $117.60 total. Which was assumed to be enough to by the $99.99 webcam alone. Then we had a wicked idea. Walk in and pay for it in all change. Best Buy would go insane. So we decided we needed to film it. ~Mel and ~Josh were contacted about a camcorder. ~Josh had one but needed film. So we went and got film.

Then we hit a problem. Filming in Best Buy would be easy to fake since we had just purchased film there. But we had a problem. The webcam was not what it was supposed to be. Instead of the expected $99.99, it was $149.99. Well. It's my own fault really. I should have realized that it was American prices on the site. Stupid stupid stupid. So we were defeated for now. Paying for the webcam and walking out, we tried to figure out what to do.

Then I realized I wanted Wavebirds. So Toys R Us was our next stop. We filmed a brief introduction to our failure, and then set off for Toys R Us. Walking in we were filming. Then we got smacked down. The camera had to go off. We did manage to buy two wavebirds though. They were cheaper at Toys R Us too. And we paid in coins. It was amusing. Something like $92.00 in coins. Oh man. So we walked out, and filmed about our failure. Then went home.

I installed my speakers and webcam today. Mmm 5.1 Surround Sound. I definatly need a new sound card now. I'm having some difficulties with the rear speakers because my current sound card is a piece of junk. I knew I should have upgraded the sound card when I upgraded the video card. Well maybe not. I got the 9000 pro when it was top of the line. Now its ... not. It's still decent I guess. Stupid face paced industry.

So now I have a list of things I want. Or need. Or want and need. Sound card is the top of the list. I'll probably install my floppy drive when I get that. After that I want a new monitor. I have my eyes set on a nice 19" flat panel. Then I'm going to want more memory. I want to double what I have. So I need to check and see if I need a new motherboard. And I want a camcorder. So much money.

I definatly need to look into the filming of a real The Mike Haddad Show. It would be like The Brendan Leonard Show, with a lower budget. By which I mean: With almost no budget. Oh the possibilities.

Friends don't let friends go to Western.
Or U of T, or MAC, or Queen's, or Guelph ...

So I've had nothing of interest to talk about in the last few days. I still have nothing of interest, but I feel like I've been slacking.

Yesterday Waterloo opened up their online scheduling. So I went in to find out that they had moved my math session from Thursday to Wednesday, overlapping with the Japanese for Business course. Well that was lovely. By the time I went to phone them today the class was full, so I had to drive to Waterloo to get things sorted out. It gave me something to do I guess. I have to get an override for the course now.

Everyone's started summerschool. Rob, Morganti, ~Josh, and ~Kyle all have summer school. Tim, Steve, and all the rest have gone camping. Everyone else is at the Incubus concert tonight. Gross. So my plans to see a movie tonight feel through, and now need to be rescheduled.

I worked on finishing the pictures. What a waste of time.