les Beaux-Arts de Vie

General Stuff

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:17:38 GMT

Its unusual to be only a voter in an election. This is the first time since pre-2004 that Ive not been a candidate or volunteer. Very odd. This was the debate election, and my friend Steve was elected debate chair. Anyway, the young liberls are having their election, and there are other things goign on like the sus eleciton and the young liberals nearly splitting apart at the seams. That said, Im having an ok time of it.

In the Sub

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 20:07:12 GMT

Im actually downstairs in the SUB right now, and I jsut felt like I should comment on a rather strange occurance. You see, I have just purchased and consumed a chocolate Vagina. If was for the "End Violence Against Women" campaign, and since I don't support violence against women, I felt like I should treat myself to a delicious and erotic confection.

I can only imagine what would happen if the chocolate for the vaginas was exposed as not being fair trade...

A Letter to the Editor re. David Emerson

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:48:16 GMT

Dear Editor,

David Emerson and Stephen Harper are a match made in heaven. Even while both have talked so much about ethics in government and federal accountability, it took less than two weeks to start the backroom dealing. In one fell swoop, they sold out not only the residents of Vancouver Kingsway, but all citizens of Canada. Less than 14 days after the election, we see Stephen Harper and David Emerson for what they are - opportunist and power-hungry, emblems of all that they once claimed to oppose. In my opinion, these two really deserve each other.

Matthew Naylor

It makes me sad to see a man who I looked up to, who I deeply respected, betray us all, even conservatives on such a deep level. There is no comparison to Belinda Stronach; this is far worse. He is the epitome of the opportunist, she crossed for a reason - to save a government and to break with a party she didn't believe in. Emerson clearly believed in the Liberals - he was elected as one just two weeks ago. This was a power grab.

The soothing notes of the Who come to mind here. "We won't get fooled again." He lied to us, we trusted him. Well, Liberals, and others, especially the constituents of Vancouver Kingsway will not be fooled. A Tory will NEVER win there, Emerson or not.

Interviews Gallore

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 19:16:22 GMT

Ok, an update. I’ve dropped to 10th in the recount, but improved my vote count significantly, to 489. And, I’ve applied to be both a RA and a MUG leader for next year, and my interview is later tonight. I have to write a program proposal, and I really like the idea of Oscar Week, where you could watch all the best picture nominees during the week, and then have a fun night relaxing, eating cake and ice cream and watching the Oscars, betting for prizes. Fun for all...

Wish me luck with my Carousel Interview (for RA).

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:24:29 GMT

This is an Open Letter to the Students of UBC

Dear friends;

You have, in a total sense, fucked up.

Jerry Fan Fan has, against all odds and every little scrap of hope in my heart, and the hearts of thousands of others, been elected. You have elected him. This is it folks. This man, the impractical and idiotic, has been elected to the Senate of UBC. The scary, pseudo-fascist(nope, entirely fascist) site has gotten votes. In lieu of competent and experienced other candidates, elected a man WITH A REPEATING SYLLABLE for a name. That's not what I think is bad - it is that THAT is what you chose for your voting criteria. Well done everyone. (www.jerryfanfan.com)

You chose it. This recount has gone through, and Fan Fan has beaten out Helen Cheung for the last spot. This could have been stopped.

Now, however, you have to live with it.

You woke up with Fan Fan. (http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/channel4-election-virals-p1.php?fromrelated=)

Matthew Naylor - Ex-Senatorial Candidate

Electioneering and a Chocolate Vagina

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 17:39:59 GMT

Now, I’ve given some thought to the upcoming elections, and my possible candidacy in them. You know, the SUS elections, club elections, the Liberal Party Leadership. You know, minor stuff. I have decided that I will be announcing these at my volunteer party, and preferably after I get my reimbursement back.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet, other than me frantically trying to catch up on the work that I missed when I was campaigning. This week is intimacy week in Vanier, with such wonderful things as Sexapallooza. I also am preparing for my RA interview, and my MUG interview. And, so on and so forth.

Two final notes:
1. The Oscar Nominations came out the other day. I hope Crash wins.
2. They are selling chocolate vaginas in the SUB. Yep…

More updates, I promise.

A General Summation of Recent Events

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:22:32 GMT

Hi, and sorry I’ve taken so long to write. Things have been reall busy here, but that makes this post all the more interesting, because of all the content. Enclosed for your reading pleasure – University Model Parliament, The Federal Election, The Federal Election’s Aftermath, The UBC Senate Elections, The Musical, Science Week, and, as somewhat of an afterthought, school.

University Model Parliament
UMP is a great time, where university students all go to Victoria and pretend to be the Government of Canada inside the Parliament Buildings in Victoria. It was fun, and I was promoted from a backbencher when I first arrived, to Minister of Agriculture and Minister responsible for the Status of Women, and then shuffled into Minister of Social Development.

The Federal Election and Aftermath
Basically, we won the battle, but lost the war – a little. A Conservative minority isn’t so bad, but I find I funny that the major argument that Stephen Harper made for electing the Conservatives was “Don’t worry, you’ll have protection from the courts.” This is funny majorly because this implies there is something that we would need protection from. As opposed to say, the Liberals. Blair Wilson, however, won his riding, and I have been working my butt off trying to get him elected, but we did, with a margin of only ~950 votes, so our efforts did make a difference. I went up to west Van one morning at 6:30 AM (from UBC mind you, so I got up at 4:30) and was waving signs on the Lions Gate Bridge.
On Federal Election Day itself, I got up at five (yeah, I know, no problem for you) and headed up to Whistler on the Greyhound. I scrutineered there, and once again received conformation of my belief that everyone who works for Elections Canada is an Idiot. Maybe they inject them with something, I don’t know. They almost told us we couldn’t do our jobs, even though it was right in the candidate’s handbook.
That night, we left Whistler after all the votes were counted, and, due to the terrifying driving of Scott Bardsley, made it back to Whistler in one hour, actually beating the Squamish people there. The party was nice, and I made it back in one piece from the central party, even though I was exhausted and rather hungover the next day.

The UBC Senate Elections
During this whole thing, I was also running for UBC Senate, the highest academic body at UBC. And that too was exhausting. On election night, my supporters and I went to the election night party in the Gallery Lounge, and cheered my ninth place finish out of twenty, the best showing by a first year, and only 176 votes out of the 5th place, and final Senate seat. Not to shabby at all. Oh, visit www.naylor4senate.tk to see my election website.

The Musical
Well, I’m in a musical, but due to the prior two events, have been there only to block the scenes (do placement) in my role as Assistant Stage Manager. We are putting on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – its going to be great.

Science Week
Science week was Unremarkable, but fun. The major thing was that we got science jackets, which we used to have 15 years ago, but no longer. Well, they’re back, and look so good.

Erm…School
Well, I’m going, which is frankly an accomplishment in itself at this point, and doing pretty well.

Haste makes waste. Waste makes ... nothing

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 03:18:40 GMT

This weekend could be easily described in two words, similar in the fact that they both commence with the nugatory prefix ‘un’. These words are ‘uneventful’ and ‘unproductive’, thus leading to the catastrophe that will be tonight. I managed to waste away the weekend through gallivanting about downtown, going to war memorials and trivia tournaments, or making calls from the Liberal office. One might event call tonight an ‘ultraviolet catastrophe’. (HAHAHA, Science humor… … I hate you all.) Anyway, last Thursday I was appointed Pop God of SUS, which encompasses fixing the pop machine in the SUS lounge, or finding some capable person to do so. Well, that was random.

Anyway, the Saturday was spent playing trivia games in a horrendous type of competition called ACG, in which the questions are far longer and far harder than any that have ever been seen before. And, event though I was reasonably good at the other types of trivia, there is no type of question that I was able to answer here – they all appeared to be on obscure literature, and other such garbage. On average, I think I managed to get about one or less questions per pack. Quite disastrous, if you ask me, but, admittedly, I was playing with Luka, a god of trivia, one of the triumvirate of excellence (the other two being Zarya and Fred), and was consequentially squeezed out of every question that I conceivably could have gotten. On Saturday night, I proceeded to get drunk with Madison and do laundry after a dinner with my uncle.

Sunday was spent doing callouts for people to go to the LPCBC policy convention, not that anyone I called actually wanted to go. We watched the press conferences for the leaders of the opposition, and were kind of hoping that it would cut out to Paul Martin saying “Fine, have it your way!” and walking up the driveway of Rideau Hall to dissolve parliament, calling the elevation for December 19th. That would have made them laugh; Jack Layton doesn’t even have a bus. Oh, well, its just a matter of time.

Remembrance Day

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:23:22 GMT

Well, it is now ten to one, and I have just returned from a Remembrance Day ceremony that can be summed up most effectively with the word "Moist". Now, that is not to say that I didn't find the service moving, or that I don’t respect the sacrifice that veterans and others made - the fact that I went speaks to that, but it rained so much, as it is wont to do in Vancouver, that "moist" just happens to be the most appropriate word.

I would like to take a moment to remember all those who gave their lives to protect our nation, our freedom and all we hold dear. We remember because we cannot forget. I hope you all will take a moment to acknowledge the sacrifice that so many have given.

Anyway, in other news, this week has gone decently well, without a huge amount going on. I did manage to get my poli-sci and physics midterms back, and, they went very well, adding to my general feeling of well being. Also, the Flames have won again, making it possible, that if Vancouver looses on Saturday, and we win against Colorado, we will be tied for first in the division, much to the chagrin of many, many people here.

The Vanier Musical has been selected, and has begun to consume my life. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the one with Marilyn Monroe in the movie version, and the one with “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, was chosen. Since I’m the Assistant Stage Manager, I’m doing a variety of things, just generally running parts of the audition process. So far, it’s been a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, I seized control of or house calendar, in order to stop it from being September anymore. It was a bloodless coup, all smotherings. And I reorganized my room, and also Wishbone got here – we’re just waiting on the other DVD before the Wishbone party can begin.

Last night, when the Flames won, Michelle and I just sat downstairs in the second lounge (which is REALLY pink at the moment, by the way) and drank coffee and Bailey’s while watching the game highlights, including Dion Phenuf crashing into a players box. I swear, he’s going to have a blooper reel by the end of the year.

Well, now that I have spent several hours standing in the rain, and another half typing this up, I think that I may go take a nap. POST.

Trivia and Kegstands

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:27:48 GMT

Saturday morning was interesting. I had a trivia tournament in the same building which I jumped off of the night before (see previous entry) and we kicked SFU's ass. Just BRUTALLY. So, yes, that’s about it for the Saturday day, aside from the general skipping of all the debate judging that I was supposed to do. That night my dad stopped into the city, or actually, on Thursday, but I didn't see him until today. It wasn't just to see me, admittedly, but rather for a medical conference, but it was nice to see him, especially since it is the last time I'll see someone from home in a while. He decided that, on Saturday night, he was going to come in to the University on the bus (Mistake 1) and wear what he was wearing at the conference (Mistake 2), after taking directions from the concierge (Mistake 3). He elected to take the 98 B-Line out of downtown, which wasn't a mistake in itself, but a mistake in the fact that he didn't take a cab after he missed the first one (Mistake 4). He, following this, became trapped in a rather unfortunate temporal hell on Burrard Street, as the 98 doesn’t seem to run with the same frequency as the 99. He then got off on Broadway, and eventually made his way to the University, where he proceeded, looking rather like a wet dog, to follow my directions (Mistake 5), because, even though I am good with maps myself, I'm not fantastic with directing. Additionally, we were working on a somewhat different coordinate system, in which my west was his south, even though it was more west than south (Its W by SW). Therefore, when I said to take the second one North, he proceeded (And this doesn’t make any sense at all) to go to (my) south. So, there was a bit of a disaster there. But we went for sushi, and paid my rez fees, and had a generally nice conversation. Following this, he took a cab (which I hitched a ride in) back to downtown, while I got off at Place Vanier to watch the rest of the Flames-Canucks game.

We handily won the game in what was a generally crappy appearing round of hockey. It looked like the Ice was very new, almost like Tampa or San Jose. Players were slipping and falling everywhere. But, this establishes the first 3 game win streak of the season, and paves the way for the Flames to get into the playoffs again, at least I hope. Following this, I went to debate party, where I rubbed the win in a lot of people’s faces, and then did my first keg stand ever. Call me crazy, but there is something about drinking upside-down that seems unwise. Nevertheless, it went well enough, aside from the fact that on the first time they pushed me too far over and I ended up falling off and just having beer poured into my mouth. But I did manage the second time, not that that is anything to be proud of.

At the party we also ended up fighting with crutches, but one has to remember that "If there is no respect, there can be no fighting with crutches." Wise words from a very drunk woman. Then, after achieving the perfect combination of drunk and tired, I went back home and fell asleep.

The day after was uneventful, me deciding to get down and study, and was decently productive, even to the point where I’m beginning to understand chemistry, not that it helps the Midterm, but at least Ill do well on the quiz. Midterms are evil. I wrote my math one recently, and it was like that oh so common feeling when you get to a midterm, thinking you know the stuff, and an alien jumps out and fucks your eye socket. I’m still suffering some neural bleeding. But, I’m studying hard, and starting to get it. I did see my dad today, briefly, where we had dinner and he, rather erroneously gave me a bottle of wine, which I think I will use for the Wishbone party. I do have to note how to store it. Speaking of storage, my fridge conked out because of not being plugged in, and, me not realizing this, bit into a mould pop, formerly a pizza pop. So, yes, it's plugged in once again. In general, things are looking up.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 10:26:38 GMT

I've decided that this is probably goingto be the way things are going to work. As in, two weeks of relitively heavy journal entries, and then some silence, depending on how my life ends up working out, followed by as much of a recap as I really feel is neccecary.

Summarily, the past several - ie. 3.5ish. - have been relitively uneventful. I came back to UBC, not a huge amount happened. I did'nt get elected, unfortunatly, but did manage to fandangle my way onto the Whistler trip anyway, where fun times were had by all. I also ended up dressing up as Maya, for the MTV Music Awards presentation for Lady Marmalade. Jenn (the actual first year rep) was the pimp... or something. Anyway, much fun, much booze, soe relative embarrasment, but I dont really feel like going into that. Oh, and I also learned, in passing, about a committee of SUS that dosen't exist... but not much more than that.

The following week was comprised of tests, and other such garbage, but I did get a spot on the production board of the Vanier musical as Assistant Stage Manager, which is fairly important. There was also a chariot race in there somewhere, against the Engineers, and someone apparently spray painted "Science Rocks" on the enginnering chariot, so it had to be repainted the next morning.

Additionally, I went home, back to Calgary for Halloween. Actually, it was *for* debate, but I just really wanted to see friends. Apparently they got some people no line no cover at Cowboys, but instead of going and partying with the Debate Team (does that seem oxymoronic to you - its better to party with SUS, I mean, President Patricia, Lemons and Tequila shots, though not neccecarily all combined), Leslie and I ended up driving around for a while.

The weekend after, I'm recovering from tiring midterms, and, in order to cheer myself up, decided to go with ... someone... to tour campus... above and underground. There is a network of steam tunnels and rooftops that dot UBC, so I went with a group of about 12 to an engineering building (which I took the Leap of Faith off of... ie. jumping), a practical engineering building with a soundless room - it's really wierd, steam tunnels around Chem, including a small, creepy and leaky one, the roof of Chem, the tunnels under Woodward, and, as a gift really, the roof of Buchanan tower, which offers, undisputetly, the best view on campus.

During the Leap, I managed to break my keycard, but the nice lady at the desk gave me a new one, and then I came home, washed off my Flames cap (It was dirtied, as was I, in the crawling and the falling and whatnot) and typed a livejournal. If anyone would like to hear anything more specific, I would be happy to indulge them - just comment. Actually, comment in general - comments are good.

Quiz MADDNESS

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:47:02 GMT

azimuth10000 took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Wants to make a favorable impression and be reward..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

azimuth10000 took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Wants to make a favorable impression and be recogn..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

I took this quiz - when I was supposed to be in chem. But the results are freakishly accurate. Oh, and the results are lightly different, but both very accurate.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 20:20:04 GMT

Make a reply and I'll try to...

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what composer/piece you remind me of.
3. I'll pick an espresso drink that you remind me of.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what instrument you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you should post this on your journal.

Home for the Holidays, and Belated Thanks

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 18:00:12 GMT

Currently, I am filled with glee. And its not just because I have a connection now that is bittorrenting my TV shows at a rate that has not been seen since the beginning of September (though that’s a big part of it). I’m at home now, and it’s been really nice to see my family again. Over the next several days, I will be seeing my friends who I left here, and dealing wih the other things that I need to have when I go back to Vancouver (Fabric Softener, how I’ve missed you). Ive also been doing a fair amount of homework, including the Mastering physics. But that is all leading up to the grand thanksgiving dinner of … Saturday?

There is an easy enough explanation for this. For one, dinner on Monday is precluded by the fact that I have to return home that night. That is not to say that I will not be having a Thanksgiving dinner of sorts, at my uncle’s house in Vancouver. However, this will, again, not be the typical meal – can you say Tofurkey? I really want to know what its like , so if anyone has tried it, then please inform me. Sunday night is Crossing Jordan night, so *duh* we couldn’t have it then. Besides, Saturday was my other uncle’s birthday, so we decided to have the big family dinner then – with all seven types of vegetables. We also had chicken, as one side of the family cannot eat turkey (me being among them). This of course leads to a rather comical evening, with this exchange being rather typical…

Person One - Is this turkey?
Person Two - No, that’s the chicken.
Person One - Then where’s the turkey?
Person Two - Over on the table.
Person Three - THAT’S the turkey??? Crap! Does anyone want this?

And so on and so forth. I actually ended up having to wash all my potatoes down the sink because I accidentally used turkey gravy instead of chicken gravy. So, whoopee for me.

In other news, there is some excitement brewing in the back of my brain, because … wait for it … THE CBC’s BACK!!! Hooray! Sheila and Mary Lou, I’ve missed you! All together now…. Do do doooo… do do do do do do doooo….

Anyway, they’re back on Tuesday. Who will be listening to As it Happens, and watching the National? I know I will.

EDIT - Sorry, a bit of bad form, spam posting. Hence, I am moving the other post from this morning into this one.

Oh, I was just reading over my old journal entries, and realized I'd never thanked Leslie for the Christmas gift... which came in June.

Anyway, thank you for "Latin for the Illiterati". I'll treasure it always.

Inside a Tube

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 06:06:55 GMT

If my title seems a little obtuse, its unintentional. I actually was, as the title implies, inside a tube, and not in one of those crappy "Arts" figurative senses, in an actual "Science" actual sense. (I know I put actual twice.) Anyway, the story behind this is that, about a week ago, I contacted a woman who worked at the hospital about having a brain scan, as she put it. She could have said MRI, but she thought the people reading it were dumb. Or maybe it was one of the special "Arts" posters. I spoke with her, and I ended up going to her office today to sign consent forms and all that crap. Anyway, after me and the friend (the same friend who I almost killed with a frat party, Madison) who I had brought with me, and who also wanted to participate in the study for the money, left, and subsequently arrive back at the house, I received a call that asked me to come back and have the MRI done immediately. So, after burning a MRI mix disk, entitled Magnetic Waves, in the style of my other iTunes playlists, I took off for the hospital again, from Place Vanier, and spent an hour listening to music inside a tube. The annoying part was the fact that you couldn’t move. It really want that bad – comfortable enough, I suppose, but annoying nonetheless, just because there was very little room min front of your face. I’m thinking that next time, as in one year from now, I will be taking some Gravol before I go, so that I can sleep through the entire experience.

There were, of course, other things that happened within the past two days. I have a math midterm tomorrow, which I have been not studying for – not that there seems to be a need for that. (It’s really easy and I got 100% on both my last quiz and assignment.) I started the MegaCampaign yesterday, passing out my little pamphlets. I really want this position, and it would piss me off if someone who only wanted it for the trip got it, and not someone who wanted it for the job. Yesterday was also Trivia Club, at which I had a mediocre run, and the inaugural meeting of the YOUNG LIBERALS! I met a couple o people, including one I think I had met before. It has been interesting seeing how people view Alberta Liberals from outside the province. We had another meeting today, which I missed most of because I was “in a tube”.

There were not so fun things I had to do today – my bio midterm being first and foremost among them. I am glad I drank cider last night – because I felt chipper all today. Zuperfantaztik, even. I wrote the midterm, missed supper, and am now cooking the pizza that I never thought would get eaten. But here we are – and Im glad for it.

Soon I will be flying home. Just for the weekend, to see my family. It really seems weird to be going home already – things have been going so fast here it seems as if I just cam out a week ago. The other thing that would imply is the absence of midterms, which would also be nice. Anyway, my pizza is done, so I’m going to wrap up. I have to admit though; it’ll be really nice to see my family and friends again.

Oh, yeah… comment please. And if you like my journal, refer others to it. I like the comments, whether good or bad. It’s gratifying, frankly.

Quarter-Life Crisis

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:46:52 GMT

Well, this was dumb. I replaced my student card yesterday, as those who read my journal (all five of you) know, but the old one turned up in my mailbox this morning. Furhtermore, I have realized an assortment of things, but these realizations have only served to create more questions, and not bring conclusion to any of the real burdening questions that I am facing right now, the most all encompassing being "What do I want to do with my life?"

The reason I am even asking myself this question is really Leslie. It is because of her that I am dealing wiht evil forces of doubt and ... doubt, questioning the plan I've had for so long. I really like science, and medicine is so interesting. I know I can do it, although thats another discussion. I just don't know if I really want to do science, and medicine, or if I'm just doing it because its expected of me. I really dont know. On the otherhand, with polisci, I am really interested. I just dont know if I want to be a laywer or something like that. I definetly want a professional degree, I just dont know if its politics I want to go into right away.

I feel I need to buckle down and do some work. I never really had to before, but now I'm finding myself more unprepared. I realize that this is probably just a bit of a false start, but I resolve to do more from now on. After all, it's on me.

Also, I realize I cant handwrite anymore. It takes too long to do it neatly, and I cant deal with getting bad marks because I write quick. I didn't apprecitate at all getting back an assignment with "I can't understand this." written on it, and losing a good 25% because of it. Thats my fault, but because I can't invest that much time, I'm typing from now on.

Please comment - Any input would be helpful right now.

EDIT

In addition, I spent a crap-load of time doing this logothing for our house. It consumed a day, but go Hamber.

Not asleep, not good.

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 06:35:35 GMT

Now, the fact that I am writing this begs the question... Why? Am I tired? Yes. Do I have an eight o'clock class tomorrow? Again the answer is yes. And yet the procrastination continues. I dont think its as if it really matters. Its not as if I possibly could have gotten enough sleep anyway.

Today was one that generally was unexceptional. I skipped chemistry today to study for the physics midterm. I actually think I did decently well, aside from the fact taht i spent at least 10 minuites doing the wrong calculations, and thus skimped out on the answers for the last several questions. Polisci was fun, but unexceptional. God, I hope we start learning about the executive soon. (I don't know if im joking or not.) I also went to a SNCA (Scandanavian and Nordic Cultural Association, for those of you not in the know.) meeting, where we recounted stories of the beer mile (what fun this sounds like) and started planning for the beer garden. As far as i can tell, we will have mead and Akavite and Finlandia. This will save on the cost of the event, as rental will only have to be two hours long, as, after that point, everyone will be passed out on the floor.

I also replaced my Student Card today, haveing lost the first one in my room. At least it was only 10 dollars. Its not like it was a room key (90) or a U Pass (20).

Finally, there was trivia. And it was fun. Apparntly there is going to be an all rookie tournament at some point, which I am itching to take part in. OH, Leslie raped my mind today. She told me she was quitting classes (This was kinda true, but a gross exageertion). And this statement, in the words of a Ecuadorian hotel sign, me MOLESTAR. Leslie, why dont you listen. POR FAVOR NO MOLESTAR!

Anyway, pretty boring day. Whatever. Tomorrow will be the same. As will Wednesday.

Quizward

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 04:50:42 GMT

I took a quiz upon the net.
The outside of my window's wet.
The answers do not make much sense.
And the Layout is better this way.

Super September

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 23:34:41 GMT

Wowee, what a month. This September was one of the most exciting of my entire life. I didn't even think that any one person could do so much in a three week period. I mean, two weekends ago, I was just starting work at London Drugs. That did not go so well. I mean, my store in Calgary was a very slow store where people like to get to know you before they buy a product. The Kerrisdale store was, in a manner of speaking, different from Royal Oak. It was REALLY busy, for one thing, and people liked to get in and out of the store like that *snaps fingers for emphasis*. Its just riciculous. Anyway, I quit, leaving after one more weekend.

Now, I've had a math quiz, and I did rather well on it. Not so much for chem. We won't go into that. It wasn't horrendous, but not fantastic, by any stretch of the imagination.

Two weekend ago was the Vanier Olympics, where we got up after drnking too much the night before, and participated in an assortment of events, whilst painted yellow. It inclded such events as clothesline (taking off your clothes and tying them together in a really long line), and the tug-of-war. Hamber house, my house, was undefeated. (You're not welcome on our ship!)

A week later, I was downat Jericho beach doing things for Longboat. This also neccecitiated me being late for work, so I told them I would be a little late for personal reasons. I didn't think that I could just tell them that I was paddelling my war canoe. The week following that, as in Today, was Day of the Longboat, an over 3000 person event and the biggest in Canada. Our team did poorly, coming in second last, because we couldn't get it together. (Gracie Lou, what about you?) We did however come ahead of one team, who capsized on the beach, not that we weren't beating them anyway (actually).

The Saga of the Fraternaties is over, for the moment. I didn't get in to Kappa Sigma, which I don't really mind, as I really didnt fit in there. I went revenge drinking at Sigma Chi, but my personality meshed well wiht theirs as a group, and so they invited me back to the formal invitational rush. I think I impressed people, but didn't get enough people to know me to get in. I don't mind that either, as I had'nt really been at the events at all. However, they asked me to try again in the spring, which dosn't seem so bad to me. I mean, these are really nice guys, who were good enough to drive me home and to invite me back even when I'd spent an hour and a half throwing up Cesears in their bathroom. (Cesears are a very dangerous drink to drink - even though they come from Calgary. They kept pouring double vodkas in mine, and they were free, so I had at least six, in addition to the three beers I had before, bringing the expulsion total for the night to be about 14 drinks.) Madison, the other person who went to the party with me, and who was equally trashed, though not to the point of throwing up, took a bus, and ended up downtown. He got lost until some paramedics asked him if he knew where he was. He said he was trying to get to UBC, so they gave him a lift, because apparently they were going to a call near here. He arrived just as the frat guys were helping me upp the stairs. Poor Madison. At least his hangover wasn't as bad. Mine lasted all the next day, and I just felt like shit. Oh well, at least I apparently made a good impression.

So, in conclusion, we suck at longboat, Frats are on break from me right now, and I have some friends I am learning to trust. Anyway, Miss you all back home. See you next week.

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:06:48 GMT

Well, it's only been six days, and it already feels like a lifetime. So many decisions have been made, plans have been changed, chemistry lectures misuunderstood. In general, the week that has just elapsed was generally pleasent, but I do have to mention the black scars that mark its timescape like metaphorical landmines.

Gliding through life like it was a brick wall.

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 00:48:03 GMT

I have just crashed through several days. Its like my life is a fantastically fun disaster area. But what a disaster it is. I don't really remember how, but I managed to waste most of Sunday. Part of that was the sleeping in, but I just seem to have lost a large area between 11 and 2 o'clock... Curiouser and curiouser. I did spend a semi-productive day at the beach, playing Ultimate Frisbee (I’m horrendously bad at it) and reading my poli-sci book. Down there was a guy who was kind of crazy (tarot cards and ranting crazy) but apparently had a degree of economics. And, I actually believe that he did - he knew some mightily obscure definitions out of Layne's commerce text almost word for word. Nevertheless, he was still pretty hooped - he was talking about how his favorite books was Das Kapital by Karl Marx and ranting about how he didn’t need his tarot cards to tell him his economic predictions would be right. This, of course, left me, in my own special way, wondering how he felt about The Wealth of Nations.

After my sojourn at the beach, where I had a rather interesting conversation with a person who I hadn’t seen in almost a year (Morgan), I kind of randomly met up with some people with whom I had shined with the previous day, and the guys we played Ultimate against, and went for sushi. Following this, I just kind of went to “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” with Morgan. This turned out to be a terrible mistake, not because the movie or the company was particularly unpleasant, but because I realized that I couldn’t access a large amount of things for my physics lab that was due the next day, and I hadn’t done the reading. Silly, silly me…

Things did eventually turn out alright for physics, aside from the fact that I didn’t really know that I would need a Lab Book for the course. That was a bit of a disaster – I had to write on scraps left over from last year. Ironically, the same thing happened the next day, inasmuch as I had no cash to buy a Lab Book for Bio 140 in class, so I just didn’t get one. Part of that was me being indisposed that morning from the previous night.

I have been seriously thinking about joining a frat, primarily because of the Liberals, but I actually think that the people I met last night were really cool, and weren’t the jackasses they’d been made out to be. I went out to Earl’s with them for Margarita Mondays, and really had a good time. I made the mistake of drinking right before I left, so even though I had been at a nice state all evening, I managed to be unpleasantly inebriated by the time I got home – not really drunk, bun not sober.

I had a nice enough day today thought – going to a bio lab which is apparently going to deal largely with marine ecosystems (Eat your heart out Alex), and then watching an interesting movie in bio, and finally checking into my chem.-lab, where I met another person who is doing first year science courses, but actually has a major in violin performance. She decided she didn’t really like that though, and came back to school before it was too late. Now, however, in a vailent effort to keep on top of schoolwork, I’m going to go have dinner, followed by Math. Goodnight.

SHINERAMA!!!

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 06:19:27 GMT

Just for those of you he aren't SUPERCOOL, Shinerama is this thing where universities accross Canada don threadbare logoclad t-shirts and decend on their respective cities, begging people to give them money, offering to shine their shoes, and busking in general, all for the fantastic cause of helping Cystic Fibrosis research. Today was the day that UBC, and the colleges and universities in the general Vancouver area descended on the downtown districts.

Now, in the morining, everyone who wished to participate was supposed to arrive at the main lounge at quarter to nine. The word of particular importance in the preceding sentance was "supposed". What happened however, was a knock on my door that came at nine. I, helped along by the massive amounts of alcholol consumed the night before, managed to sleep through three alarms (one being my own, and two being those of my neighbours that went off for several hours straight), but not before waking up at 4:45 AM in my pajamas, but with my shoes still on. I don't really want to even know. Anyway, my friend who woke me up (he also overslept, but due to different reasons) and I raced to the SUB, where the Shine Groups took off from.

Our Shine Group, consisiting of people from our house, Hamber, initially were assigned to Granville Island, but, because we didnt have any permit, and the lady who ran Granville was a bitch who didnt care that we were raising money for cystic fibrosis, we were relocated to Davie Street. It was cool, begging people to donate, selling the plsh lizard Telus gave us, and generally having a good time. Also, the BBQ afterwards was well appreciated.

I then took a nap.

Following this, i decided to skip out on the Toga party, and head to my Uncle's for his girlfriend's, and practically my aunts, birthday party. I managed to break olives, and enjoy myself, even though Veganaise was on the menu. There was wine, cheese, martinis, beer, and generally good conversation. I also have to note that it was good to drink to ease the tension without getting drunk. All was well and good, arriving home just as the Toga party ended.

Tomorrow may be a scavanger hunt, but im not sure. What vaugeries.

EDIT

I also thought I'd Share with you the HAMBER HOUSE CHEER.

H-A-M-B-E-R
Give Us money and you'll go far.
Cystic Fibrosis Really Sucks.
So You should give us 50 Bucks.

Good night.

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:56:50 GMT

Well, tese have been two fun days of classes. I love polisci. I know this sounds geeky, but ive been reading the textbook to a far greater extent than expected.

There are other things i could tell you about, but the lack of coherance im exprericancing is extencive. So later dagys.

UBC Begins

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 14:51:39 GMT

Well, that was a bit of a break. Its not as if anything significant happened in there, just three trips east, a trip to Europe, graduation, diploma exams, two of my friends coming down with mono, and other such wonderful things. There are going to be more journal updated in the future, I hope.

Anyway,, as of last week, I have moved from Calgary to Vancouver, where i currently reside in room 303 of Place Vanier. Its a small room, but apporximately the size of the room i mved into for the duration of my stay at home after returing from Europe. It does kind of annoy me that this week has truly been about spending money, in really copious amounts. I mean, aside form givens like tuition and books, i have had to biy a laundery card, a subscription to the newspaper, and other such annoyances. Its like when you reach univeristy, your wallet is stabbed, and you just hemmorage money out of it for at leat a little while.

My primary concern at the moment is the conservation of mealplan points. But, as i am eating ony about halv my meals in the dining hall (which is really nice by the way - far nicer than the one at Totem Park) I am not too terribly concerned.

Imagine UBC was nice and inspiring. I liked the cheers that the different faculties put on for the pep rally. And i was pleased that the Science faculty beat arts for once, in terms of loudness, even though they me up nearly half the crowd. Yesterday was also fun, making up the first day of classes, not that we really did anything. I really liked my polisci class though - the prof is cool and cis going ot share many anecdotes, apparently. I am reserving judgement on everyone else, but my impressions were favourable. The other thing that happpened yessterday was a party a Wreck Beach (the clothing optional beach) where the university students, me included, were clothed, but the crazy hippies were generally not. There was also an incoherant man dressed as a pirate who kept yelling at us. But, such is Wreck Beach. The night ended with me stumbelleing back and forth from my room to the pool party, whihc i didnt really feel like going to, and then falling asleep.

Science
"We're skilled,
We're smart,
We're Science UBC"

Arts
"We're Big, We're loud
We take up half the crowd.
Because Bigger is Better:
Arts Kick ass!"

Science Anti Cheer for Arts
"Were Brighter, were Bolder,
At least we pass"."

Science Anti Cheer for Business
"You're in business, thats OK,
you're gonna' sell your soul one day"

Business Anti Cheer for Science, Arts and Engineering
"You've got the brains, but we've got the money"
"Unemployed"
"Sausage" (Engineering is very male dominated)

Engineering
"WHO ARE WE!"
"We are, we are we are the engineers.
We can, we can demolish 40 beers.
Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum and follow us.
Because we dont give a damn about any old man
Who dont give a damn for us"

The Liberal Policy Convention

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 01:18:11 GMT

Hello everyone. I had a great weekend. I went to the Liberal policy convention at the Hyatt Regency downtown. I was instrumental in killing a resolution on party constitution amendments, and voted towards the Five Policy Resolutions. I'm a delegate to party conventions in Alberta and on the board of Calgary Nose Hill Liberal Constituency Association.

I liked it. This was the convention to send policy resolutions to Ottawa for the biennial convention. There were a series of workshops on different topics, like governance, justice, health and education. In those, there were four or five resolutions to be debated upon, and the one that got the most affirmative votes went on to the plenary session on Sunday.

In the workshops, there was debate on different resolutions, like a liberal think tank and abortion. After the resolutions were passed on Saturday, the young liberals went for a policy and commission meeting in the "hospitality suite" where Stephan Dion and David Swann spoke. Also, pretty much everyone got trashed. Free beer was provided. You really haven't lived until your standing, sober, in front of the completely drunk head of the Alberta Young Liberals, who is talking, semi-coherently, to the Minster of the Environment.

I also had the opportunity to speak with Anne McLellan, our deputy PM, who spoke at our lunch and the future Minister of the Environment for Alberta, David Swann.

The next day at plenary, there was debate on the five resolutions that would be sent to Ottawa. There was also a small debate on the possible amendments to the party constitution. I spoke on several of the different resolutions, including one on legalizing Marijuana (Pro), Creating stricter voting regulations for party elections (Con), and one other that I can't remember.

You should have heard my speeches; they kicked ass. I was super, and for someone who has never been very good at improvisation, they rocked. I mean “Legalizing marijuana is bad for Marijuana but good for Canada.” It's great.

Well, finally, I, along with the rest of the delegates, prioritized the resolutions, and sent the following five to Ottawa.
1. The Non-Commodification of Water (Priority)
2. Same Sex Marriage
3. Security and Sovereignty for Canadian Agriculture
4. Legalization of Marijuana
5. Preserving Public Health Care

Then I left and the party executive decided on specific constitutional amendments, one of which, I hope, included the Calgary Nose Hill resolution to pre-elect candidates for elections.

And then I went to a movie. Sideways. It was OK.