March 2008 Archives

The demand for union representation emanates from employees and depends on the expected benefits and costs of union representation. The supply of union representation emanates from the organizing and contract administration activities of union leaders and their staff.

Kill me.

"I think I'm gay."

I'm standing on the balcony at a party I'm not sure I belong at, struggling to get inebriated. I never could figure out lighters. They're very complicated pieces of technology if you ask me. Definitely not on my game. At least I'm dressed pretty well.

On the other hand he is definitely on his game. I try really hard what it was like when I still wasn't entirely comfortable with my sexuality, and how I was always on top of things. Carefully observing everything, waiting for an opportunity. Watching for threats. I imagine he must be the same way.

He looks like he got his outfit right off a mannequin at Urban Outfitters: Baseball cap, jumper, Levi's low enough to see bright underwear, with a bright gold belt that doesn't really hold up his pants. He's one big scarf away from being utterly Queen West.

Earlier in the evening he had reminded me of a night where we spent almost every moment hitting on each other. So you can imagine my shock when I find out the cute little girl sitting next to him is his girlfriend. Didn't help that it was after we had re-enacted a robot playfight in the middle of the living room.

I try to figure out what to say. Something witty, to make the moment lighter. Or something comforting, to let him know it's ok.

Unable to think of anything, I got back to fighting with the lighter. I let me eyes speak for me this time.

06-07-01 Operation Nancy is a Sexypants 005, originally uploaded by Mike Haddad.

And I'm having dinner with her tonight. Suckers.

Someone just sent me this. How does he do that? And why does it turn me on? Especially his Alicia Keys.

Toronto Earth Hour 2008, originally uploaded by denmar.

It was Earth Hour yesterday. Here is a fun picture. I had to find one where you wouldn't be able to see what was very likely MY bedroom light still on as I studying through earth hour.

I have the strangest scratch that appeared on my nose. I have no idea where it came from.

Every once and a while my brain will decide to tease me and throw a memory to the forefront of my mind, without an real reference. While eating reheated leftovers in between studying I suddenly remembered the time I took a friend to see a preview for a movie staring some guy I knew. Admittedly, my experience with the film and television industries up until that point was very limited, but all the experience I had was very professional. So I foolishly wandered into a tacky venue on West Queen West and sat through previews for the most atrocious film I had seen in a long time filled with bad, inexperienced gay boys who fancied themselves as professional actors.

I smiled for a few minutes, relishing how big of an asshole I can be sometimes. I should probably work on that.

The internet is a series of tubes. Unfortunately most of those tubes are useless. My iTunes lags when it plays songs and I've been unable to find out a reason why. It goes away when I restart, but I don't always have the time to restart. I noticed it started happening about two updates ago. If anyone has anywhere they can point me to that would help me fix this, I would appreciate it.

I am not fat. I can't pretend to know what it's like to be fat. There was a really intense argument over the difference between racism and 'sizism'. I'm not going to deny that fat people are discriminated. I'm sure it happens. I know a lot of healthy "bigger" people too. But don't expect me to respect that 300 pound guy I see at McDonald's all the time chowing down on Big Macs.

There are two really good posts up at Spacing Toronto today. One about rebuilding the Bathurst St bridge over the train tracks and the other about property taxes in cities. While I encourage everyone to read both, I especially encourage people to read the one about property taxes. Most people in general have no clue how taxes in general work, and property taxes are at the bottom on the list in order of taxes people do understand.

I should also point out that the TTC recommendation to open up the stations to redesign most of the subway stations passed. Based on what I read, only one member of the public showed up to talk about it and all he did was request more escalators and elevators. It should also be pointed out that Wellesley is a heritage property. Call me a gay conspiracy theorist, but I have an inkling that it's only that way to keep a rainbow inspired redesign out.

I have a cold. I think I might have mixed my medications too. But I still pose this question:

How many posts did it take before I decided the author of Seeking Avalon was a little bit of a nutcase?

2. She's like Jenn but a lot angrier. I'm going to keep reading though. Who knows, there might be some entertainment value.

[edit 11:24pm] There's something that bothers me about her entries. I'm not sure what it is yet. Something other than being so over the top. Not that being over the top isn't bad for her - it's covering up some valid points.

This is a reminder:

The internets, a series of tubes, is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Busted - A Present for Everyone, originally uploaded by Mike Haddad.

Today, I wanted to see what my over all highest rated album on iTunes was. Of 13 tracks, I rated 12 songs as 5 stars and 1 song (She Wants to Be Me) as 1 star. So Busted wins. Too bad they broke up, and were resigned to a fate of having the songs butchered with horrible covers by the Jonas Brothers.

Some people have asked me if I feel like a hypocrite for calling Joe Clark out throwing around schoolyard gay and then using it myself. The answer is: no, not really. Not that it would be truly acceptable for me when I am gay, it's even less acceptable from someone who claims to be an important figure in the transit scene. I live under no such delusions about where I stand. I also don't hate Joe Clark. I love/hate him. For everyone 1 point he makes that's good and I agree with (keeping the subway font, the need for good signage, the fact that B-D was in fact designed that way on purpose), he does 4 or 5 outrageous things I completely disagree with.

I like certain things about Museum. I like that it's TTC policy to use the TTC font at stations. I also like that the good in the redesign so far outweighs the bad, and that the TTC can learn from the mistakes. Hopefully.

Finally, UTSC voted no on the U-Pass. I'm happy about this, because after reviewing old UPASS material from WLU and UW, I think the price we were being charged is ridiculous. Yes, the TTC can't offer us a better deal. But we could probably get funding from the province. Maybe the money that Flaherty wants us to use to cut business taxes, despite the fact he has no right to tell our provincial government what to do.

And apparently it starts working

Holy crap. I just realised that after five years, I'm still here. Even if all the archives aren't.

Dear Joe Clark,

I enjoy your website - almost. I agree with you that we should have good signage, and use the TTC font. From your writing, I also feel you are an egotistical prick.

For future reference, it's very unlikely that the Museum redesign was unwanted. Although the fact that you didn't want it can technically qualify it as so, you hardly speak for the people of the City of Toronto. Also, it's tacky to use yourself as a source. Especially when referring to the unwanted redesign.

Furthermore, the signage trial at St. George does in NO WAY qualify as heritage. It was a trial, that in the end failed (as one would label any trial that didn't lead to implementation). Please stop trying to pass it off a heritage, it irks me.

Finally, because I'm an asshole, I sort of hope you cry yourself to sleep at the thought of the future station redesigns. Not because I have anything against you. More because I would enjoy something that ridiculous, and because you think it's cool to throw around schoolyard gay. Schoolyard faggot.

Sincerely,
Mike

Day 85 - Museum Station, originally uploaded by Daifuku Sensei.

I want to nom it, all night long. Because I'm a douche.

see more crazy cat pics

Today is Caturday, I am posting a cat.

My 510 from union crawled, and I mean CRAWLED through the Bay St tunnel. If this is the future of LRT in Toronto no one will want it.

Dear Toronto,

Fix the potholes on Steeles East. Seriously.

Mike

Cancel the call to Roger's tech support. Mel can't get GPS on her pearl, and her Facebook app is super slow.

Ok I take it back. There real way to reinforce Asian stereotypes is to watch people trying to park at pmall on good Friday. Holy frig. But then again, no one can actually drive anymore.

Call me racist, but there's nothing like a trip on 53B Steeles East to reinforce some Asian stereotypes. You have the first year engineering students who aren't doing well, had to drop classes to keep their gpa's up, and are so ashamed of each other and themselves. You have the grade 10 Asians who inly know about cars through Initial D, but spend the whole bus ride staring out the window looking at cars with lime green rims talking about how it must fly. The eccentric Asian girls are sitting in their seats drinking tea and talking about their outfits. And of course the old Asian lady at the front glaring at everyone else. But don't forget, no matter which group it is, they're all allowed to be homophobic, and it's ok because they're a minority.

Remind me to phone Roger's and ask them why I'm having huge data issues, i.e. I can never get satellites for gps and facebook app is never connecting.

If I could take a picture of this guy, I would serve to remind everyone that True Religions without the flap pockets are very unflattering on their ass.

Fran's was just RICROLL'd

I was just reading over some of Laurier's UPASS stuff. That was the opening line; a four month term cost you $40 ($10 a month). One month at U of T is set to cost about $60. We really need to get on some provincial subsidies like the other systems.

Looking for something..., originally uploaded by Splintar.

I've had a really long day. Here's another picture of Main St in Houston. It's what Queen could be if we took the time and energy to do it properly.

I didn't even go to Laurier when they voted on their U-pass proposal. For a school that was so small, it was a bitter fight - catty even. Things were said that I wouldn't say to the fag who just spilled his drink all over my new shirt at Crews. I sort of understood the people who weren't supporting it too, even though my relationship at the time made supporting it a necessity. GRT is more that a little useless. Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge aren't made for taking transit from point A to point B. It is kilometre after kilometre of suburban nothing. Usually you have a friend who can drive you to the mall (not that either of them were very good). You can walk to the bars - unless you're gay, but then there was always someone who could drive to Ren. People didn't want to pay for something they weren't really going to use.

Fast forward to now. The referendum has long since passed and Laurier got their U-pass. It even spurred UW to get one of their own. My friends who are still at UW love it. They say it costs them $50-$60 a term, and they use it to go everywhere. U of T on the other hand is in the earliest stages of considering one.

The offer is $480 for the school year, which breaks down to $60 a month. That's about half of what the Adult Metropass costs now and amounts to a total of 11 round trips - anywhere. I can understand people not being so keen on it. Luckily it seems most of the people who aren't keen on it are also the kind of douchebags who throw around terms like "theft" and "communism". Nothing like being over the top to get some attention.

Being a U of T student means you're not going to get the best deal for your U-Pass. The TTC is one of the most expensive transit systems in the world, thanks to years of underfunding and low subsidization. My economics schooling aside (it leads to a lot of criticisms of how the TTC is run), and doing my best to keep my personal bias to myself, the U-pass proposal is still a good deal for the majority of U of T students. Unfortunately for the ones it isn't for government at all levels from Student up to Federal in Canada are broken, so it doesn't matter if they're getting hurt. That's why I think it's going to pass.

The reasons why I think the U-pass SHOULD pass are numerous, but I'm too exhausted after my midterm to go into them all. Dealing with my personal bias, I make far more than 11 round trips a month. Second I know tons more people who WOULD make 11 round trips or more. A person who's taken more than first year economics will realise how utility suddenly rotates to a position where transit is the most desirable option when it's offered at what amounts to a 50% discount.

The problem with this is that (aside from the poor writing) the people who should read it won't. The ones that do read it will just get bitter and angry, and fume about the fact that I'm such an obnoxious socialist (despite the fact that the know better) because of what I've said. It probably didn't help I called them cunts. Whoops.

I was introduced to Stuff White People Like yesterday. I love it. This morning this happened:

Big news was the 15 year old girl who was arrested in China for stealing a $300 pair of sunglasses, and sent to jail. Now here's my issue with this. Not that a Canadian was arrested for breaking the law, but her father's thoughts:

"It was a bone-headed play in the wrong country," the father said. "If it had happened at Wal-Mart in Oshawa, no one would have cared but life is full of learning experiences."

I'm sorry. What? First of all, Wal-Mart doesn't sell $300 sunglasses. So there's the first flaw. The second flaw is that any place that DID sell $300 sunglasses would have totally called the cops. Whether or not she would be sent to jail is another story; it would have depended on whether or not there was someone who she could be released to.

It is 8:38. I am still not done this last chapter. I haven't even looked at review questions. I can't take this anymore. I have no free time; I'm scheduled to work far more than I'd like. But I'm also broke. I'm losing all around.

I would love to have something witty to say right now. Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to command my wit whenever I please. It just shows up, and if I'm lucky, it's timed properly.

I've spent most of the day studying. I stopped just before 5 to reheat leftover's from Zelda's last night. I was originally going to post about Zelda's and how it is one of my least favourite restaurants ever. I decided that there was no point. Since everyone who works there is gay, and gay people know everyone by the third degree (and have slept with everyone by the fourth or fifth), I would just end up offending everyone. It's not the server's fault the menu sucks, but they take the shit for it from gay people who are usually more self entitled than even me, meaning they are somewhat justifiably cunty, leading to a common knowledge that they are cunty. This of course causes everyone to treat them like shit because they are cunty. It's really a vicious cycle. But the fajitas were at least decent upon reheating. Better than anything I would have cooked.

Sometimes I read blogs when I need a break and wind up incredibly jealous of the writing. None of these people were professionally trained (well, except one). Most of them are at least moderately intelligent. They all have interesting stories. Stories about work, or kids, or things that happen to them because they're good looking, or about how they cope with disorders (this should not be interpreted as me coveting a disorder of any type, allergies are enough for me thank you very much).

I do realise that these people are also several years older than I am, and have come a lot farther in life than I have. I realise that I still have a ways to go. But that doesn't stop me from being bitter. Nothing like spending a chunk of days inside studying to make you feel like life is passing you by. I like to think (hope/pretend) that if I still had a camera I might do something more interesting instead of staring out my window watching the 501 go by. At the very least, I would have pictures of the 501 to post.

Houston Metro, originally uploaded by j-a-x.

501 Queen has been listed as one of the top 10 trolley rides in the world. It's an incredibly long route starting from the Beaches in the east end crossing all of Queen St, onto a ROW on the Queensway and then south onto Lakeshore all the way to Long Branch GO Station.

It's also been targeted for improvement. The TTC is looking at using the Queensway ROW and additional Lakeshore ROW for the Transit City Waterfront West LRT line (with I assume passing tracks to allow the LRTs to bypass the local 501, or possibly 507, service). I've always been curious about how they would help Queen St. It's not as wide as Spadina, and therefore would not allow for a ROW plus two lanes of traffic in each direction.

Houston, which I would take as a very transit unfriendly city with terrible drivers (see: Metro's Greatest Hits) seems to have done just this.

Earlier, in Main Street Houston I posted picture of how nice the LRT has actually been for the street environment. If there's any street in Toronto that deserves this, it's Queen. I wish it was something the TTC would look into.

Ok so here's the deal. I've been really, really busy. I will remain really, really busy until about Wednesday (which is tomorrow, thankfully). I promise I will try to be interesting after that.

I've pretty much had one midterm every week/two weeks since January. My last one is Wednesday. Which gives me about a month until Finals. I just want one weekend to do nothing. Is that too much to ask?

To qualify for tax exempt status as churches do, you cannot get involved with politics.

Leave it to Barack Obama's campaign to break the rules. But don't forget: it's ok, because he's black.

I took some extra time before class today to check out the progress at museum station to see if I could find what Joe Clark found so bad that he needed to use the term "desecrate".

The walls look almost done on the platform letter. It also looks to me like the name uses the original TTC font, which I will admit to prefer over the altervatives. On the top band there are sighs posted in what I will assume is Helvetica (presumably because the original didn't have a lowercase). In mixed case, white-on-black it tells me the platform is southbound to union, next station being Queen's Park. The Yellow Y-U-S band is on the top.

More important for me was the reaction of all the people in the station. It's march break so I guess they were all at the ROM enjoying the (lovely) Crystal. They all loved it. Wasn't that the point?

Winners I agreed with:

• Best Canadian Weblog: Attack of the Redneck Mommy
• Best American Weblog: Dooce
• Best Photography of a Weblog: I Can Has Cheezburger?
• Best Food Weblog: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
• Best Topical Weblog: I Can Has Cheezburger?
• Best-Designed Weblog: Dooce
• Lifetime Achievement: Heather B. Armstrong
• Weblog of the Year: Dooce

Winners I disagreed with:

• Best African Weblog: Dotty Rhino
• Best GLBT Weblog: PerezHilton.com
• Best Writing of a Weblog Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

As for my disagree list: Dotty Rhino is a poorly designed, rarely updated site about a FUCKING RHINO. West Africa Wins Always is actually about life in Africa, is updated regularly, and is an enjoyable read. I just think Dooce is better written than Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (I read both regularly). And as for Perez? Well I hate him and everything he stands for. I still hope he gets AIDS and then is hit by a bus.

Browsing Google News I stumbled across this interesting article about Transat A.T., based out of Montreal and how it dropped to a $10 million loss in the first quarter. What's interesting about this is maybe two weeks ago Transat was the cover story for the Globe & Mail Business Magazine, showering the company with great words about how it began it's final step in vertical integration and is a great Canadian company. Irony?

For those of you who don't know, Transat A.T. owns Air Transat, a number of Travel Agencies, and is now taking a large stake in a hotel chain. So if you've taken an all inclusive vacation to the Caribbean lately, odds are you made them money.

museumssssssssss...., originally uploaded by katierin*.

For anyone who hasn't read about it yet, the TTC has been planning a station revitalization involving a redesign of Kipling, Islington, Pape and Victoria Park. This is separate from the redesign of Museum, St. Patrick, and Osgoode, that I wrote about here, and not to be confused with the Union Rail Station Redevelopment. I am very excited about both of these things.

This is despite what Joe Clark has to say about the matter. But then again, why would I take anyone seriously when they throw about terms like "sodomized" when referencing the ROM Crystal expansion. I know nothing about the subject, but I would be willing to wager that Joe Clark just can't deal with change well. I would also wager that he never used any of the three stations in the first redesign (Museum, St. Patrick, Osgoode). Those stations are dingy, ugly, and unpleasant. The new Museum design, which I originally feared would be incredibly tacky was coming along really nicely the last time I saw it.

Riding the subway home (after biting the bullet and cancelling my MBNA) a thought popped into my head that I didn't really expect.

There was someone a knew in what feels like another life who claimed to love the TTC as much as I do. Whether or not he was telling the truth doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that he took away a lot of the subway's shine for me.

I don't think it'll ever come back completely. But that's to be expected when you use it everyday. The grass is greener ans what have you. As for the guy, last I heard he had dropped out of school and was pursuing the promising career of merchandising. Up until the very end of our communication he lied - about everything. I wonder if he'll grow out of it the way I grew out of my love for the subway. My thing with the TTC matured into something better. Maybe he did the same.

Dear University of Toronto Students for Life,

My disagreement with your beliefs aside, I find it incredibly obnoxious that you have no qualms breaking Toronto and TTC bylaws and posting your posters on the glass off ttc shelters.

Sincerely,
Mike Haddad

Sometimes there are moments where I wonder how certain people can hold together relationships when I can't. This is one of those moments.

I got a message today regarding someone I used to care about a lot. It's put me in a bit of a funk. I'm considering saying something to him about what I've heard and to let him know I'm worried. Maybe my disappointment will have some effect - wouldn't be the first time.

The problem is I'm not sure where we even stand anymore. We haven't spoken in a months. The last time we did it looked like we had made serious inroads and were on a path to a close relationship again. Then poof. He up and disappeared. I'm pretty sure his boyfriends after me loathe my existence too. Just an added like bit of fun.

I saw the funniest advirtisement over a urinal at LM today before my ECO239Y lecture for the website succeedsooner.ca, promoting business in Edmonton. I hope Toronto has ads like these in other cities.

I have an MBNA Mastercard I got through u of t that isn't activated. I've refrained from activating it due to a nagging fear I have that as soon as I activate it I will max it out. I have a really bad tendency to do that.

Early this month I got a phone call from a confused grandmother, whose house I use as a billing address from back when I didn't trust mail being delivered. There was a charge for just under three dollars on it that she didn't understand.

When I picked up the bill and read it I discovered it was an insurance charge. I had foolishly agreed to the insurance when I lost my wallet in December and now realised that without a credit card to use I had no need for the insurance. The man on the phone didn't see impressed I was ruining his numbers by canceling but he can suck it.

So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I noticed 1800 numbers calling me. I knew right away it was MBNA. They're the only assholes I deal with who think its ok to harass me to sign up for more shit I don't need to they can increase profits. Whenever I'm busy and they call I give them two hello's before getting frustrated and hanging up so it wasn't until today that I actually spoke to someone.

I didn't even let her start. When she asked me how I was today I jumped in and asked her if it was about the insurance. "Yes.".

I tried my best not to be rude. I know its not her fault. She works for a company full of tools. I kindly explained she should tell her supervisor that I had just canceled my insurance in this very billing period and I had obviously done it for a reason. I also told her she should tell them to keep better track of these things so she doesn't waste her time or mine.

I might just cancel the whole card.

I seem to have caught a cold. This makes doing my assignment due at 6:10pm very, very hard.

I compiled a list in my head today of people who used to blog, and whose blogs I read regularly.

• Mel
• Heat
• Jess
• Heather
• Eugene

I'm having a lot of trouble making MT's comment form validate. I already removed [ name="comments_form" ] from the base form and hoped that it didn't screw up the Javascript method that used it (I changed the call to the id for the same form and it seemed to work - I hate Javascript).

The rest of the errors can be seen here for example:
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.themikehaddadshow.com%2Fepisodes%2F2008%2F02%2Fmovie-quotes.php

I have no idea what those things are for, and I'm afraid to screw with them. Input is greatly appreciated.

My cousin was in town the other week, and among randomness I showed her a System map for the TTC my friend had made based on the current transit expansion plans in Toronto: Yonge extension, University extension, Transit City LRT system, Streetcar priority, etc. She asked if they were subways, and I replied that they were mixed grade LRT like in Edmonton. This confused her because Edmontonians tend to think that their LRT is a subway since it goes underground.

Last year I was out doing who knows what with my now roommate and a friend of ours. My roommate said something that sticks out in my mind to this day "I would have no problem taking the subway to work, but I would never take a streetcar." Which is totally fair, because streetcar service in Toronto won't even be close to at par for at least another 5 years. Come on LRVs, I crave you.

I find it really frustrating trying to explain to people why LRT is a good thing, and why Transit City is a good thing. More importantly I hate trying to explain what LRT (and hence Transit City) is a capable of to people. It doesn't help that the CLRVs and ALRVs in Toronto are nearing the end of their 30 year runs.

While LRTs and a traditional streetcar system both use LRVs, and LRT system (should, and ours hopefully will) employs some sort of grade separation from the rest of traffic. If done properly, it should work just like a subway: excellent headways, little cause for delay, separate stations that act as set stops. This is not like the ROWs on Queen's Quay (soon to be Fleet), Spadina, and St. Clair which still have closely spaced stops, poor traffic priority and stop on demand. The whole Transit City system costs about the same as the University extension into Vaughan, and completes tons more coverage. It also leaves the possibility for an upgrade (u-p-g-r-a-y-e-d-d) to full blown heavy rail subway if ridership demands it.

This is what Toronto, and the GTA needs right now.

We didn't end up going last night. We're of age. We saw the line and realised we didn't need to be sitting there for hours to hang out with a bunch of sixteen years olds. I can see Miss C anywhere.

Tonight the Homohop is back. I am going with friends to relive our youth. I am more than a little frightened. I'll let you know how it goes.

I took this from Matt's livejournal. He said that the person who made the list must have stopped listening to music after 1982. I am forced to agree.

I'm bolding songs I have, and italicizing songs I've heard and would get

50. Elton John and George Michael "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
49. Dead or Alive "You Spin Me (Like A Record)"
48. Pet Shop Boys "New York City Boy"
47. Diana Ross "Chain Reaction"
46. Deborah Harry "I Want That Man"
45. Cher "Strong Enough"
44. RuPaul "Supermodel (You Better Work)"
43. KD Lang "Constant Craving"
42. Culture Club "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"
41. Chaka Kham "I'm Every Woman"
40. Wham "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
39. Paul Lekakis "Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)
38. Kym Mazelle "Young Hearts Run Free"
37. George Michael "Outside"
36. Donna Summer "I Feel Love"
35. Dannii Minogue "This Is It"
34. Belinda Carlisle "Summer Rain"
33. Peter Allen "I Go To Rio"
32. Sylvester "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real"
31. Heather Small "Proud"
30. CeCe Peniston "Finally"
29. Madonna "Express Yourself" (I've never listened to it)
28. Cyndi Lauper "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
27. Charlene "I've Never Been To Me"
26. Tim Curry "Sweet Transvestite"
25. Barry Manilow "Copacabana"
24. Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer "No More Tears"
23. Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
22. Sister Sledge "We Are Family"
21. Queen "I Want To Break Free
20. Dolly Parton "9 to 5"
19. Coming Out Crew "Free, Gay And Happy"
18.Village People "In The Navy"
17.Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax"
16. Village People "Macho Man"
15. Judy Garland "Over The Rainbow"
14.Bronski Beat "Smalltown Boy"
13. Diana Ross "I'm Coming Out"
12. Cher "Believe"
11. Gloria Gaynor "I Am What I Am"
10.Alicia Bridges "I Love The Nightlife"
9. Madonna "Vogue"
8. Olivia Newton John "Xanadu"
7. Kylie Minogue "Better The Devil You Know"
6. Pet Shop Boys "Go West"
5. Kylie Minogue "Your Disco Needs You"
4. The Weathergirls "It's Raining Men" (I have Geri's version)
3. Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive"
2. Village People "YMCA"
1. ABBA "Dancing Queen"

Turns out that there was a broken down streetcar just east of Jarvis. 501 seemed to be diverting north (Dundas?) presumably to come back down at Parliament. My guess is southbound cars were 508s. Of course, I found nothing about it anywhere online. I feel bad for anyone standing in the cold waiting for a car that never came.

I just witnessed what is the most bizarre streetcar behaviour in my life. There must be some sort of accident screwing up the Queen St. Route. That or everyone is being short turned to go home (in the middle of rush hour).

I live in an apartment overlooking the Church & Queen Intersection. In the past 15 or so minutes I've see two ALRVs and a CLRV come up north on Church and turn onto Richmond. I've seen Two ALRVs come east on queen, turn south at Church and then turn west again at Richmond, followed by a third ALRV that turned south and kept going south. A CLRV followed later, while an ALRV followed by a CLRV followed by (I think) another ALRV turned north at Church. Somewhere in between there was another CLRV that came up north on Church and turned west at Richmond. Finally two more ALRVs turned south onto Church from Queen (the first went West on Richmond, the second continued south). I'm no where near close enough to see the car numbers to know if any of those were duplicates (I suspect the one ALRV I've seen continue south on Church was a north Church to east Richmond turn. I also feel like I lose a southbound CLRV in there somewhere.

But the point is, there's been no eastbound service coming from east of Queen since I started watching just before 9am. And there hasn't been one streetcar continue east past Queen, along Queen, either. That can't be right. There's no news story on google news yet that would suggest a disruption, and nothing on spacing. I would check the TTC site but I can never find what I want past the first page (and they never update anyway).

I kind of wish I had taken pictures.

This test tomorrow is going to destroy me. I'm having such a bad day as a result. My pizza is also not here yet, so I can't even comfort food it away.

Here is a list of problems I had with the JCR today:

The obnoxious interview that was going on at the table beside me. Lady, get yourself some Unfake for your personality.

The tragic music Diabolo's was playing. I understand that taste in music is completely subjective. Unfortunately for you GOOD music is objective. That was not good music.

The really loud homosexual on the couch behind me. Diaf.

The fact that I'm going to bomb this test tomorrow. That's probably the biggest contributing factor.

Today is one of those days that I dislike U of T. Probably because I'm meeting a friend in the JCR to go over our material for the term test we have tomorrow in ECO230Y. Sigh. Hippies. Bonus points to the Asian guy playing an MMO with one of the voice programs.

A blog I read had an post about what she looks like when she blogs and her interest in others. I provide you with this (and I promise it's not for the free plug):

When I blog, my brain is usually scattered in a hundred places and I am surrounded by distractions. Right now for instance I am sitting trying to towel dry my hair (it never works), while my roommate is blasting tunes in his bathroom showering. I have really embarrassing old school tunes blasting, and I'm trying to explain to Miguel what source code is.

I'm trying to plan the rest of my day, and then week. Like, who knew it would be so hard to schedule my life? I sure didn't. All of a sudden I wound up with a jam-packed week. Today includes: finish assignment, and all related tasks minus printing (done), meet Anna to study for tomorrow's term test, go to class to hand in previously mentioned assignment, more studying for tomorrow's term test. Tomorrow and Thursday are relatively free, but I have to go to a Sleep Clinic for a Sleep Study right after my term test and that eats of almost 24 hours. Cue brain melt (and my hair isn't even close to dry).

I'd show you a picture of how frazzled I look right now, despite the fact I've been up (and caffeinated) for hours, but I'm embarrassed by my hair, my forehead, the fact I never made my bed, and the probably damp spots on my shoulders from deciding to let the towel hang there. But never fear, I hope to address these all soon enough. So maybe I'll take a picture. I just need a camera.

I would just like to let you all know Chestnut Semi was a huge success. I'm going to compile the pictures as soon as I can for your viewing pleasure.

img 090, originally uploaded by scott_loudoun.

Today is Caturday. I am posting a cat.