Delusion-Elle

I'm a hopeless case. I've been up since 10AM and I've gotten maybe an hour of studying done. I'm still not done my 221 lab and it's due tomorrow. I haven't felt like studying at all in the past few days, except for last night when it was 2AM. Studying at 2AM is a bad idea, though. Here's hoping that I don't totally fail my midterm tomorrow afternoon!

In other news, I've got more stuff done on my webpage. I've fleshed it out a bit, but most of the accomplishments I've achieved today were behind-the-scenes, coding aspects.

Some articles of interest I've found while getting lost in the blackhole of the internet known as ListVerse (and not studying).

• Top 10 Bizarre Modern Paranormal Phenomena - Not saying that I believe in the paranormal necessarily, but I think it's interesting that people across the world can have the same hallucinations. Unless they're all lying about the strange things they've seen. Regardless, kind of an interesting read if you want to be minorly creeped out.
• Interesting Facts About Canada Video - This one isn't actually an article, but I was curious as to what kinds of things anyone could dig up about Canada that would be considered "interesting".
• Top 7 Urban Love Legends - For the hopeless romantic in you. Essentially this article debunks some of those statistics you hear about marriage and divorce and such.
• Top 10 Bizarre Cryptids - Pair this with the first article I link and you might become kind of disturbed. Or maybe you'll become even more skeptical. I just think that this is great fodder for story writing. Follow it up with this list.
• World's Most Famous Photos - Some of these photos are unsettling to say the least, but I still think that it's a list worth checking out. What a strange world this is.
• 10 Creepy Mysteries You Haven't Heard Of - I'm on a roll with creepy things. Maybe because they mess with my mind and I'm in the mood for epic amounts of all-mind-consuming procrastination.
• 10 Examples of Human Laterality - If you were ever curious about handedness and the likes, then this is worth a read.

I was going to blog yesterday night, but I was far too exhausted. I'm a bit more wakeful now than I was 11PM yesterday, though I'm still not feeling 100%.

Yesterday was kind of nondescript. This guy that I just befriended (er, not quite friends? Be-acquainted? Acquainted myself with?) who plays the flute asked me to join concert band with him (after my year off doing co-op), and I agreed. Though I really would need to get back into the habit of practicing my flute... Which is something I never really did much of anyway. The more I practiced the flute, the worse I played in class so I just stopped practicing after a while. I dunno what it'd be like to play the flute in a university setting. Probably scary. D:

Yesterday, I also went to the music library so now I've got my books on Vivaldi and I just need to kick myself enough to get some reading done for that paper. What paper? Well, my music history one, which is worth like almost 50% of my mark. The topic I chose is "Vivaldi and the concerto in Venice". I'm a little disappointed that I don't get to write about the oh-so-colourful life of Mr. Mozart, but Vivaldi's probably my second favourite composer of the Baroque-Classical periods. Bach is third, with his 20 kids over the course of 2 wives. I don't know why I still know that.

That being said, music history class isn't particularly interesting right now. We're slowly working our way around to the more famous/prominent composers since we went from Monteverdi to Lully to Purcell. When can we get to some Bach?! It probably didn't help that I was dead tired. I doodled on my page to stay awake. Yeah, the fail attempt at the Kamelot band logo went over the margin. Also, I drew a fish. Farther down the page (not visible) I randomly wrote down something that my prof said that I caught out of context: "Haydn goes to London". I am totally going to write a song with that title. And it is not going to sound anything like Haydn or London. Or "goes" or "to" for that matter.

Of relevance to my Canadian readers who dig Canadian music (lolwut), a list of the 2011 Juno Award Nominees is out. Well, the "key" ones, at least. Which pretty much equals Bieber and Drake. *sigh*

In terms of other real life things, it is a mild 1 degree C right now, though things should be warming up by Thursday as rain is forecast for Raincouver. It was cold today, and jeans don't stand up very well against cold winds (I swear, jeans absorb the cold and make you colder) so I'm looking forward to the rain.

And I'm done all my assignments due this week! However, midterm exams begin next week, and then I have to pick a date for a Guitar Hero party and figure out who to invite (I know too many people, and I have no idea how many of them would actually play) and ohhhhhh the stress. :(
For personal reference: CPSC 221 midterm (Feb. 7) & Musc 101 midterm (Feb. 10, in class)

Hey, reading break! Want to get your butt over here right now?
Life is so boring. And the only course that I'm doing well in so far is... music theory. v____v

YAY I GOT NOTHING DONE TODAY! \o/

Today turned out to be a much better day than today, at least in a social sense. And in a homework sense, I'm just as hard-working today as yesterday, which is 'not very'...

But first, some articles and things I found online that I found mildly interesting...

In this article that I found from MSN.ca's homepage discusses how one silly Asian woman, Amy Chua, is purporting that her way of raising her children is superior to the "Western" way. First and foremost, I'd like to say that I understand that they are her kids and she can raise them however she bloody well pleases. That being said, I can very confidently say that I do not agree with her views and her oh-so correct methodology for upbringing children. Her definition of a "superior child"...

Her definition of superior is a child that produces high grades, works hard and is talented on either the violin or the piano. Her definition has nothing to do with kindness, humility, humour and compassion. There is no recognition that EQ (emotional intelligence) contributes to success.

is silly. Now, before anyone can call me out on my track record *cough*, I have to say that although certain aspects of me do align with things listed in the first sentence, that is because I wanted them. My mom always supported me, but she never pushed me to do anything. I took it upon myself to do those things. She only ever offered guidance when I asked for it. And yes, Ms. Chua can do as she likes in terms of her children, but given that she is now living in the "Western" world, I wonder if she realizes that it's a different culture here. Given that I've never lived anywhere other than Vancouver, I can't really comment on the culture Chua grew up in, but as far as North American culture goes, there is so much more to life than good grades and doing  ARCT in piano/violin. And I firmly believe that EQ is a very important intelligence to possess and work on acquiring. I am not all that sure on how one would go about increasing their EQ, but I do know that EQ deals with interactions with and the ability to read people and act accordingly. In nearly every aspect of life, people are involved. I'm pretty sure that getting an A+ in Physics isn't going to help you interact and empathize with people.

Also, here are some of Amy's rules:

Some of the rules her two daughters live by include:

• No playdates
• Not allowed to be less than the number one student in all subjects except gym and drama
• Must study violin or piano, and practice for two to three hours a day
• No sleepovers
• No TV or computers

Wow. I've heard of mothers like this, but they had always seemed like an urban legend, creatures of an obscure mythos. As the old maxim goes: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" ... and no, even I didn't practice piano 2-3 hours a day, except for grade 10 in the weeks leading up to my exam. But then those were the few weeks of 6 hours of practice a day.

A relative of mine tweeted this short article/photo gallery today. Yes, the house prices in Vancouver are incredibly high. And apparently, yes, it's true that you can get multiple houses elsewhere in Canada for the price of one home in Metro Vancouver.
Something along the lines of 1 in Vancouver = 2 in Toronto = 4 in Montreal = 34 in Newfoundland.
Wait... 34?! I have to say that of those 34 houses, I probably wouldn't want to live in at least half of them. Granted, I'm sure with some TLC a lot of them would look tons better. I'm just not all that keen on living in Newfoundland and acquiring that ridiculous Newfie accent.

To switch gears here, I actually managed to socialize with people today without emotional meltdown or failure. I even talked to the guy in my Music courses & CPSC class today because I think we have this silent agreement about where we sit in Theory class. Okay, so all I said to him was "Hey, you forgot your coffee!" which he had put on the floor between us. If it hadn't been in such a fancy dancy silver thermos I probably wouldn't have said anything. We didn't say a thing to each other during the entire lecture, though he was late and didn't pick up the notes from the front of the class and I KNOW that he was looking over at my copy. When two anti-social people collide! (In a figurative sense.)

Also, at my Co-op workshop today, one of the snippy girls from my lab yesterday sat next to me and when our coordinator told us to socialize (and make her realize that CPSC students aren't all totally anti-social), I actually talked to her. She seems okay, though she was still in no way as open with me as she was with the other girls in lab yesterday. Having overheard her introduce herself yesterday, I knew her name, but now I'm confused because today she pronounced it in a very anglicized way despite her name being French. She herself is French (she introduced herself on the discussion boards online), but even non-Frenchies with her name have it pronounced in a very French fashion. Je suis troublée.

Now that I've bored you all with my opinion and review of the day, here's an article on the difference between a "possum" and an "opossum".

Also, America is taking over Canada. :( What about my parents' Club Z cards?! They already got The Bay, what more do they want?!

Yes, I have problems refraining from sharing the things I find online. Malheureusement, tout est si intéressant.

Despite waking up at 6:55AM today, strangely I am feeling more wakeful now than ... well, every earlier moment of today. I really should be in bed now, but I'm guaranteed to feel tired tomorrow no matter how early I go to bed. Waking up at 6:30AM tomorrow will render any sort of contented wakefulness impossible to achieve.

My morning commute was rather nondescript. I felt awake for the first 15 minutes, and then my eyes began to ache. Luckily I had Homer's The Iliad on me to try and keep me awake for the entire bus ride. My first class of the day was music theory. All in all, I think that this course will be fine except for a few small points: 1) my prof insists on calling on people to answer questions and I am not lucid enough at 8:30AM to be put on the spot like that, 2) possible group assignments. I have been especially aloof in my music courses, I admit, and now that might turn around and bite me. Though this may force me to speak to that guy who was also in my CPSC courses last year since he also seems to be rather anti-social.

The second class I had was music history. The course outline looks absolutely lovely -- Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart. Yes! Mozart! The only downside regarding this course is that I won't have a midterm or final exam so my mark will rely heavily on quizzes (uh-oh) and the term paper (awww yeah), though the paper is due the day after reading break. Oh goody. I also actually said hi to my cousin's cousin who was in the course last term as well. He didn't remember me ("How did you know that I'm his cousin?!"), but oh well. I just didn't want it going through the grapevine that I was rude. And to family, too! (If you consider a cousin's cousin on the other side "family".)

Next was my epically long 4.5-hour long break during which I sold my Psyc textbook! Yay! I'm quite glad to be rid of that since it was a "no return" text. It was also nice seeing a lot of high school classmates again, though the size of the group was too big in a way. I'm going to guess around 20 people.

The last class of the day was CPSC 213. My prof is unfortunately a bit soft-spoken, but thankfully he seemed a bit more animated when he was talking about actual course subjects as opposed to the obligatory housekeeping items characteristic of the first day of class. It was snowing at this point and my bangs actually caught most of the snow from hitting my face, but they were all stringy and wet and I just wanted to go home at that point.

It's a bit unsettling knowing that going to school, it was before sunrise, and leaving school was after sunset. Actually, that's kind of upsetting, never mind unsettling.

I came across this quote the other day:

The tragedy of Canada is that they had the perfect opportunity to enjoy French cuisine, British culture and American technology, and instead they ended up with British cuisine, American culture and French technology.

Is there any truth to that statement? Mmmm, maybe, actually. The American culture part is quite sad but largely true, I have to admit.

In my procrastinatory escapades I also came across this article on Wikipedia which compares the IQs of nations around the world. Sadly, Canada places just below America by one IQ point. Though, this makes me wonder, since North America is a land of varied ethnicities, languages, and cultures, were language barriers and cultural differences taken into account? I remember reading in one of my Psychology textbooks that IQ tests and other tests of that sort were not necessarily accurate when used in different contexts and such. For example, would someone in Mozambique have come into contact with a work such as Animal Farm? I'm not saying that an IQ test would most definitely ask about Orwellian works, but there are some pretty big societal and cultural differences across the world. Admittedly, in the article the IQs were determined based on "published reports", but what exactly does that mean?

Ah, it's bedtime for me and I'm obsessing now.
8AM class tomorrow!

I'm more than halfway through finals season, for me at least, as others finish at later dates. I'm glad that I'll be cooped up in my room feeling guilty about procrastinating for just 5 more days!! Excellent!

Also, in the throes of procrastinatory agony (yay it's 1AM and I am full-on nonsensical) I played this game that a shoutbox buddy posted a video about a week ago. This game is called QWOP, and in it you control an athletic runner. The goal is to run 100 metres. "100 metres," you say. "That doesn't sound too bad!" Oh, but it is. It is. I only got 13.5 metres, if that makes you feel any better. :P Also, the original video I watched featuring this stupid game can be found here. Even if you are in a sour mood and don't feel like playing the game, I'd say watch the video, because I was laughing quite heartily without even being aware of it.

In less chipper news, I think that I'm coming down with something. I'm not sure if it's a full-blown cold since the symptoms are extremely mild so far, but that isn't to say that isn't actually a cold. On the bright side, since I'll be fighting the sickness during my exams (woo!), I will probably be relatively healthy during the rest of winter break. Hurray! Can I blame this one on Math 200? I mean, when else was I in such close, cold, wet (it was raining like crazy) quarters with so many people?

And for those of you living in the Lower Mainland who are starting to feel the franticness of the Christmas shopping season, maybe think about checking this place out. I've plugged this place before in regards to my Miga plushie (which sits on my headboard next to Pippi Longstocking -- they gossip about MukMuk and how much weight he's put on), but I'll plug it again. Unfortunately 8410 Ontario Street is a little bit hard to get to as it's in that industrial area by the Fraser, but the prices are excellent, and every weekend they give out free Olympic swag. Alas, free stuff also means a fairly long line-up on Friday afternoons, but it's mostly due to the proprietors wanting to regulate the crowds inside. Honestly, they have some really good deals!

... Okay I blame my tiredness for that last paragraph. That paragraph right there should get me a BCOM degree in Marketing. :P I kid, I kid. I couldn't market something to save my life.

My mom just came home from another outing with another set of friends tonight. Honestly, she's gone out more in the past two days than I have in... months. And she comes back telling me about her friend's nephew who is also in UBC Science, second year. I realized that I am damn good at avoiding the majority of people in Science at school, since I have yet to come across all these people I know ABOUT, but don't actually know. Small World syndrome strikes once again, however, as my mom's friend's niece is friends with the CPSC co-op coordinator, who I've spoken with. This was a whopping 4 degrees of separation this time! Maybe next time we'll go the full mile with 6, but will inevitably fall short and end up at around 3!

Ever had one of those days at work? If you don't work a job where you have to deal with cranky customers in stupidly long lines, then maybe not. But if you have, then this music video is for you:

God knows I've wished that those handheld scanning laser guns thing actually shot real lasers. Pew pew.

Ah, my mother knows me too well. Before she left for her friend's Christmas party tonight, she told me to go "do whatever [I] want" and "pretend to study Math" by the time she's home. o___o Damn. She's good.

Today was my MUSC 120 exam. The format was exactly as my prof had told us it'd be: 15 general multiple choice questions, 15 multiple choice questions about identifying pieces, and an essay. The two essay topics I had to choose from were also ones he had mentioned in class so I was actually well-prepared for the one I ended up going with (as I didn't prepare for the other topic since I figured that he wouldn't seriously offer a topic that he'd already given as an example). It was a 2-hour long exam, which was just a little too short for me. Apparently my essay-writing skills are horribly rusty, but I still managed to finish in the nick of time.

... I don't want to study Math! Albeit, it's a different kind of math this time around, but stillllllll. I'm in the mood for something slightly more creative. And I think I should practice writing just to try and get ideas out. My writing skillz have degraded a lot, it seems.

My exam ended at 5:30PM and I managed to get home in time to catch the end of the Habs game (for real, they lost to the Leafs?!) and see good ol' Nazzy's jersey being retired. I think all in all, it went well! I think the only thing I would've changed was how annoying the crowd was, not even letting the man speak. But I digress; I'm probably just a bit cranky after churning out a 6-page essay in 1.5 hours. And it was nice seeing those old players again (I can't believe I forgot Morrison in my last entry, him being part of the West Coast Express line and all -- I blame those unnaturally thin eyebrows of his), though, whaaaaaaaaaa? Dan Cloutier? Really, dude? Really? Mr. "I couldn't stop a beach ball if it was coming at me at a speed of 30cm/hour".
Anyway, to all the people who don't think that Naslund's number should be retired, I think Iain Macyntire got it right: "more than numbers, Naslund contributed stability and credibility — even hope — to a franchise that was nearly run into the ground in the late 1990s."
I'm generally a fairly neutral hockey fan -- I don't root specifically for a team. Frankly, I don't have the time to keep up with watching all the games and catching all the scores. But I remember back when the Canucks were sporting the orca, I had hoped that this city would finally get a Stanley Cup, and I think it's quite sad that Naslund never got to win one, despite all of his other achievements. The fact that he considers Vancouver "home" just proves how much he gave to the city. And hearing mention of "Nazzy's Suite 19" definitely took me back some years. The phone bit Mike Gillis said was rather humourous, too.

Other randomness that I feel like reporting is that I dreamt that Otep had a new EP out (a total lie; damn you, subconscious), and then this song a few nights later:



And some information for all the geeks I gamed with in high school and university:
So MapleStory's been totally changed with the new patch. Here's a list of what was updated, including the insane changes in levels of a lot of monsters. Also:

Everyone gets a free total SP reset.

Which will be good since they added new skills and changed what the existing ones max out at to accommodate those changes. Unfortunately you only have until the 15th to get it. D:
And there are new job classes: wild hunter (where you ride a jaguar), battle mage, and mechanic (you ride a robot. Yes, a robot.). ... I haven't started playing again. Yet... v____v


Okay, I'm going to bury my head in some sand until the shame goes away.

Today's blog entry will be a very random one as I added stuff to be added throughout the day while I was trying to study (and failing at it). I think I only started studying really at 7PM. D:

Today I found out that Carey Price has been trying to score a goal! I knew it! All those times where he shot the puck down the rink when it was an empty net. Dayum. Though, my suspicions should have been confirmed when my dad started shouting "SHOOT THE PUCK! GET A GOAL, DAMMIT!". And I thought that maybe my dad was joking. I always find it super amusing when goalies manage to score goals. :)

I had almost completely forgotten about this until just a few hours ago I wandered downstairs where my dad was watching hockey highlights and they were showing some old footage of Naslund, but tomorrow they're raising his jersey to the rafters! And hopefully I'll be home from my exam in time to see it on TV. Nazzy's been a trending topic on Twitter (in Canada) since yesterday. To be totally honest, since they retired Linden's 16, I was starting to wonder when 19 would go up and join it. :) Man, I remember those days when it was Linden, Naslund, and Bertuzzi. Damn, seems like so long ago. I'm getting old.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. My music history course next term covers 1600-1800?! Awesome. That means we cover the Common Practice era: the Baroque (and the Rococo, I suppose) and Classical periods. Too bad we don't reach the Romantic period, but oh well. Things went downhill after the Romantic period, as far as I'm concerned, anyway.

So today my dad fed my cat some canned tuna (for human consumption) because apparently my cat turns his (albeit smushed in) nose up at regular canned cat food. After doling out a portion to my cat, my dad gave the rest to me to eat in a sandwich. This is my conversation with my mom when she got home from work:
Me: Did dad tell you that he fed Smoosh tuna?
Mom: Yup.
Me: Did you know that he then offered the rest of what was in the can to me for lunch? I mean, yeah, it's not like I ate exactly what the cat ate, but still it seemed kind of... I dunno.
Mom: Oh, so you got the king's leftovers?
Me: What?
Mom: Well, if you had eaten some first and THEN Smoosh had some, you know, you'd have been the king's food taster!
Me: ...
Mom: See, your dad loves you allllllllllmost as much as he loves the cat. Almost. That's why you got his leftovers!

...What the hell, mom?

13.5 hours until my exam!

My next exam isn't until Saturday so I have a few days off where I can alternate between slacking off and actually trying to study. This means that I sit here and try to think of TV shows I can stream online. So far I've come up with like... nothing. I can't think of anything for me to do on the internet, yet there's nothing (I deem) worth watching. Blah.

Random thoughts of the day:

• Website design: I want to make a new website and exercise my Photoshop and HTML skills a little. Something to dedicate my winter break time to.
• Anyone want to jam? For some reason today I remembered that my brother had a little jam session with a friend or two of his a few months ago and I realized that with the talented group of musicians I hang out with (none of whom are in Music, sadly) potentially we could have a jam session. If need be, I'm sure I could recruit my brother to play drums or at least teach someone to play (2-minute rock beat!). I've got a keyboard, drums, and electric guitar all amped up so I'm sure we could work something out. I've also got my acoustic guitar and flute. And there are arrangements going through my mind right now, but it'd be hard to find something everyone can play. If everyone was game for improvisation, that'd be sweet, but would mean knowing your instrument fairly well. ... ANYWAY, it's just something to think about.
• I need to start planning a video game party. Guitar Hero + misc. Wii games. And moar people have to sing this time. :( It can't just be me on all the guy songs and A.N. on the girl songs (yes, that's something I noticed last time we played). Maybe I should move the coffee table closer to the TV. Someone remind me.
• Flavors.me looks really interesting, in terms of having a personal website again. It would be like a central hub with all the feeds and streams. However, it doesn't look like it supports multiple pages or a file manager/editor. I would love love love to have a website with feeds like that, but I don't like how Flavors.me boxes it up so much. I like customization on a code level. Note to self: Look into learning to code IFrames.
• Does this make Canada the geekiest country around or what?
  

  Canadian ratings

  The Big Bang Theory started off quietly in Canada, but managed to garner major success later on in further seasons. The season 4 premiere garnered an estimated 3.1 million viewers across Canada (representing roughly 31 million American viewers in comparison). This is the largest audience for a sitcom since the series finale of Friends. The Big Bang Theory has pulled ahead and has now become the most watched show in Canada.

  (From Wikipedia) I guess all those ads on the sides of buses paid off.
  

And just a song that I like. :) The female vocals are kind of suck and very wannabe-Kylie Minogue-esque, but the male vocals are just pure yay. And this cover totally kicks the original's butt. Seriously, Nick Cave is monotone. And tone deaf.

In retrospect, I should've spent more time studying Math 200 stuffs than CPSC stuffs. My CPSC final today was pretty alright. There was nothing that I hadn't seen before, and the bits of code that I had to write didn't seem all that difficult... I mean, for Pete's sake, the prof of the other section (who was invigilating) said that we could write pseudocode if we couldn't remember syntax exactly. Pseudocode. For realz. Why more people don't go into Computer Science, I will never know. Or rather, I think I *do* know, but the reasons are asinine. I am such an example, or actually, a counterexample (which then disproves things and is a valid way to solve a proof, yaddi-yaddi-yadda). I don't know what I'm saying. Too tired from staring at Greek symbols all day. @_____@

Something off of Overheard @ UBC:

In MUSC 120, on the subject of castrati:
Student: "So like... um... how do you get like... chosen?"
Dr. Fisher: "You mean, how do you get chosen to be castrated?"
Student: "I'm not interested or anything. It doesn't sound too awesome to me!"
Class bursts out laughing.

Yup, I was there. And I know the guy who said it.
Note to cousin: you know him, too! xD

And I found this article on how music is a good remedy for pain. I also found this article on Cracked (while I was harsh procrastinating yesterday) about some other good things music can do for you, in a more physical sense.

While I was getting caught up with all the new discussion posts on UBC Vista last night pre-exam, I came across this...

What the--? O_______O A Google search tells me that this Eason (insert Chinese characters) Chan is indeed a real Hong Kong-based pop star who will be performing at Rogers Arena on Dec. 14, but srsly. Is he taking CPSC 211?! Somehow I doubt it. I have a feeling that it's just a snarky student impersonating Eason Chan, but how on earth did the kid change their name on Vista to "Eason (insert Chinese characters) Chan"?! None of the other Asian kids taking this course have special characters in their names. It's a mystery~~~
And then someone replied saying something along the lines of "Nah, your ticket prices are too steep. And I thought you were studying Architecture!!". It's very hard to discern much of anything on the internet, I find.

Another thing. My Musc 120 prof just sent this e-mail out stating that "due to street paving and arborist work, University Boulevard will be closed to all traffic on Sat, Dec 11 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.   Buses will be re-routed.   Other access routes to campus are not affected." I can't for the life of me remember which road University Boulevard is. If I don't remember by Friday night (and if no one gives me hints *hint hint*) then I guess I'll look it up Friday night.

I am so dead for Math tomorrow. T____T

I'm distracted from studying so I figured that I'd may as well blog.

Studying progress: I've gone through CPSC notes once and the Math 200 textbook once. Working on CPSC practice problems now. Going to try and read the CPSC textbook tonight just before bed. Yes, all of it. Mostly on track, just a bit behind, I think?

I am starting to just be confused by that MacLean's "Too Asian" article now. I don't want to go back and read the now edited version of it, and frankly, I think that the message they were trying to get across just kind of gets lost in everything else. Even the controversy gets a little lost. I just found this article on how our province's capital is condemning MacLean's. To be honest, I'm not sure what that means. Are they banning the magazine now? No, it doesn't look like it. And even if they did... that'd be censorship, quite the opposite of the "freedom of speech" aspect of Canada. Anywho, to me, this little "resolution" just seems out of place and random. And to be totally frank, Victoria was a very "white" city the last time I visited it. I'm surprised to see them all up in arms about this kind of thing.

More musings under the cut which probably make me seem very ignorant or something.

As my brother calls them.
Technically I should be working on my music theory assignment due Wednesday (why, Dr. Bob, whyyyyyyy?), but I will do something else music-related and blog about the concert I went to last night.
In short: It was spectacular.
In long: ... Well, check under the cut.

Had a small instance of "small world" syndrome again. No biggie. Just kind of... weird. You'd think that I'd have gotten over the weirdness of this happening to me by now, but I haven't.

My studying... is going off-track. And I'm not even spending my procrastination time watching hockey. However, I did catch the last bit of the Habs game and the beginning of the Canucks game before resigning myself to my room to try and study. Before I continue with my blog post for the day, I have to say that I'm impressed by how Price has upped his game this season. I had pretty much written off the Habs this season, especially since Halak was sent to St. Louis, but Price is doing tons better than I'd anticipated. Oh, and the Flames are just slow and old and pathetic now. I was laughing at how easily they were being scored on for the part of the game I caught today. Weirdly, I knew that it was time to go study when I started doing hockey (jersey) math: Luongo + Perrault = H Sedin, etc.

Alright. Time for some letters to society. Because if I don't write these, I will blow up at someone in real life and it will result in... nothing good.
Ahem...
(Personal blathering and whinings after the cut. Save yourself the annoyance and stop reading now.)

---

Dear girl who was in front of me in line at the bus loop today,

You are a great friend. You really are. Oh no, I know that you aren't my friend, but perhaps one day, we could be friends. I mean, the fact that you saved your spot in line for three other friends is just the most heart-warming act I witnessed today. And it sounded like you were all so happy! So happy to make it onto the bus and not be one of the four people left behind! Oh, those poor saps. Those four obviously don't have friends as good as you, dear girl who was just ahead of me in line.

And another point I must applaud you for, dear girl: you and your cohorts are most observant, aren't you? I mean, I don't know how the other passengers on the bus could ever survive without your whispering and giggling when anyone nods off near you. Those silly sleepy people and how ridiculous they look! Oi, if you hadn't whispered so loudly about the drool at the corner of that guy's mouth, I don't think anyone would have known! And what a tragedy that would be.

Alas, there exists only one more instance during which I will be graced with your presence on the 2PM public transportation vehicle leaving stop number 59275. Hopefully you will continue to delight me next term with your shrill laughter and loud gossip.
Sincerely,
Me.

P.S. If you continue to have problems solving the 24 Hours crossword, perhaps you can proclaim your futility a little more loudly and I can offer some assistance. Though I'm sure you don't need it. You're just pretending, right?

---

Dear creepy guys,

Oh you have no idea how long I have waited to write to you! No, don't be ashamed of what you're doing. It's who you are. Don't change a thing. Of course it's natural to want to assert your masculinity and skills -- whether those skills are of the romantic or sexual variety -- and I certainly cannot blame you for wanting to exhibit your macho-ness in the presence of perfectly normal, uninterested, innocent girls.

I understand that life has probably been tough for you, at least to a certain extent. You probably wanted to impress a girl or two and undoubtedly, there was one or two who shut you down faster than a theme park shuts down during a thunderstorm. But then you learned. Those girls were the wrong type. No, of course. It was so clear that you should go for someone out of your league. Someone who possesses average to above average and possibly pretty looks. Someone who works hard on schoolwork. Someone who will actually respond to you when you tell her that she is "hawt" (even if it is after a good five minutes). Someone who doesn't straight up reject you in a mean fashion when you suggest hanging out outside of school. Ah yes. These are the "nice" girls. The ones that enjoy perverted compliments. Or at least pretend to accept them.

Right. So keep doing what you're doing, creepy bastards. No, of course you aren't disenchanting girls in terms of what they think guys are like. And you are definitely not creating any sort of hostility in these girls towards men. I mean, with all your awesomeness that you've shown, how can any girl be turned off?

Hoping that future encounters are brief for fear that I drop dead from all the awesomeness and sexiness emanating from you,
Me.

---

So volunteering is cancelled today (I think) and I should be studying.

Random things of interest to me...

There's this reindeer bus that's supposed to be in service now, and I'd like to see it. I mean, seriously.

And apparently it's all decorated inside with tinsel and other things. Which, given our weather, sounds like it could get pretty gross, but I think it'd still be pretty neat to see and ride in on a fairly dry day.
In other transit news...

49 Metrotown Stn./Dunbar Loop/UBC
Mon. – Fri. 10-min evening rush service extended until 8 p.m.

Awesome! Though I still think that 10 minutes is too long especially from 3 to 6pm. But then I just don't like crowded buses.

A few days ago I was back on The Oatmeal and came upon something called the 'interrobang'. Maybe it's the super geek in me, but I found its Wikipedia article fascinating. And then I got distracted by all the other cool typographic symbols in the sidebar. Like this: ☞ That is the internet pointing at me, wagging its finger, because I am being a horrible procrastinator.

Okay, I just wasted a good 2.5 hours at home now doing nothing. I think I should really study. Or at least study and procrastinate at the same time. Then I only feel half as guilty. :)

... I *think* that volunteering is cancelled today... I got an e-mail from the coordinator about the gym being closed all this week... And the gym is like the headquarters for my volunteering coordinators and it's where all the kiddies eat their snacks and leave their backpacks and jackets. And they even do activities in there. Ergo. No volunteering this week? :S

EPICA IN 3 DAYS! HOLY HELL, I'M EXCITED. MUST GET A GOOD AMOUNT OF STUDYING DONE BEFOREHAND. Though I'm not thrilled about presenting/demo-ing my CPSC project to my TA in the morning of that day. Urrrrrrgh.

Just a few more days of classes... I can hang in there... And maybe then I will eat my words regarding finals and how much I'm looking forward to them.

I am unsurprised that #NHLprinters is trending in Canada (on Twitter) and nowhere else. A lot of these are hiiiiiiiiighly amusing. :D And since moar and moar are being tweeted, my time is being moar and moar wasted.

Until procrastination distracts me again~

Right. So I'm embarking on my epic quest for knowledge.
In other words, I'm starting to study for finals. And I'm procrastinating from studying right now, of course.

I just came back from visiting my grandma, which always results in mixed feelings. It pains me to think that she's probably going to be living out the rest of her days in that hospital, but what can I do? All I can do is visit her whenever I can. Dammit, school, go away.

I'm also streaming the Epica concert in Milwaukee right now, though in just 5 days I'll be seeing them live. :) I love how their vocalist is dressed so stylishly tonight. Well, she's always dressed trendy, but compared to her bandmates in their tanktops/tees, it seems like something to be noted. I hope she doesn't collapse from wearing a leather jacket under the bright lights and in a venue full of people. /random

I gave the new MCR album a listen yesterday. Granted, I'd already heard everything on YouTube in their "listening party" video, but it's nice just getting the songs without the trippy rainbow visuals and the DJ commentary in-between. And I know that I should be out of my MCR phase (me circa 2006-7), but just listening to Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys made me smile. Also, the album title is so goddamn ridiculous that it cracks me up. I don't think I quite like this album as much as their previous work, but it has a certain charm with its energy. Or, as I like to think of it: MCR in colour. Not that their old songs were colourless, but the colours were more muted and focused on a certain part of the spectrum. Regardless, MCR is still a fun band. They kind of grew up some with this release, but they still know how to have fun. And I keep mishearing this one line in S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W (yeah yeah, laugh all you want) as: "Everybody hide your money from scarecrow" -___- That being said, anyone want to catch MCR with me in Vancouver on April 2nd? xP I'm not really expecting to say yes, and it's not like MCR is a band I'd kill to see live, but I think it'd be fun. And it'd bring back some nostalgia from adolescence. Oh wait. On second thought...

I think I actually wanted to blog about something non-music related today. Oh well. That's totally going to hell.

I'm kind of torn this week between listening to the new MCR album, my favourite Kamelot album, and some Epica in preparation for their concert. Ahhhh so many decisions.

I'm super glad to be done my CPSC project. Like, you wouldn't believe how glad. I am not looking forward to demo-ing the final project to my TA though. In many a way I hope that it isn't this specific TA of mine, but if it IS him who marks me, then I may get a better mark? Argh!

Bit of randomness about yesterday: My project partner stayed at my place until midnight so we could finish up the project and after having only gotten 6 hours of sleep the night before, I felt doner than dinner at like 10PM already. So I dozed in the car while my dad gave her a ride back to her dorm. On the trip back, I put on my favourite Kamelot CD and passed out. The roads were extremely empty, but about 4 songs into the album, my dad says, "Hey want to drive home? The roads are empty right now!" which made me freak the hell out. @____@ Luckily, after giving a very frantic and emphatic "NO!", I passed out again so even if he offered again, I was out like a light.

The end of term is in sight! Stay tuned for whiny blog posts about my slowly deteriorating mental state as I study for finals.

If only UBC was actually as fun this makes it seem:

Also, those Engineering jackets are just a ruse. Apparently those guys are Commerce students. Figures. Those party animals. :P

EDIT: It is bloody useful being able to eat with my left hand while doing homework with my right. FINALLY some usefulness that's come of semi-ambidexterity. :)

... Because Saturday night means Hockey Night in Canada is on! In the meantime, I'm watching men's figure skating on CBC. Gotta love how pretty the guys look and how the announcers/commentators throw in some correctly pronounced French.

So my CPSC project's due date has been extended, which is such a blessing really. I think they totally gave us enough time for the project even without the extension, but my partner and I were busy studying for midterms for the entire first week after it was assigned. :( Regardless, today will be a day dedicated to working on my project and GETTING IT DONE TONIGHT. I probably should be working on it right now, but I don't feel like it. .___."

Are Canadians really that obsessed with the weather? As much as I scoffed at that article when I first read it, I kind of realized that it's probably true for me, anyway. =____= I can't help that we went over the water cycle at least three times over the course of my elementary school education. I also can't help that we made awesometastic barometers using a jar, part of a balloon, and a straw back in grade 5. That thing was a kajillion times moar accurate than any weather reporters I've seen on the news.
But srsly. The weather is an interesting phenomenon. Weather in Vancouver at least all stays within the range of normal, though within that range, it's rather random. If you look outside your window today, you would never have guessed that we were absolutely suffocating in snow just a few days ago. And as nice of a change as the snow was, it's good to be back to just being soggy with clouds and sunshine. :)
EDIT: On the topic of how soggy Vancouver is, I can't get over this shirt and its truthiness. x)

Every once in a while, I go back to this album and listen to it nonstop because it is perfection. Screw human beings, this is the one thing I need in life. And I guess something to play it on and speakers or whatever to hear the spectacularness. BUT. Ooooh Jesus, I cannot even begin to describe what it does for me. ... Maybe it's like my soul is getting a crushing hug or something? But like a bazillion times better and moar fulfilling-feeling and IDK. It's great and amazing and perfect. /fangirl

My studying schedule says that I should start studying today, but I don't foresee that happening. I don't see anything getting done tomorrow either. IRL, expect to not ever see me again. Until after exams. Maybe. I *will* be blogging, though. I tend to blog more often (as a distraction that doesn't make me feel as guilty as going out, etc.) during periods of concentrated studying so at least I won't be totally gone. Also, studying for finals = no MSN. THAT IS A RULE.

I think I may have to instigate that rule a little early since my TA is srsly starting to weird me out. Maybe I'm being a prude or something, but... WHAT KIND OF A PERSON DOES HE THINK I AM? I'm not going to share what is probably the strangest MSN conversation ever on this blog because I care about my readers and I don't want them being scarred for life. That being said, SORRY! to the friend I relayed bits of the conversation to. ;( I should've spared you, that was horribly inconsiderate of me.

AND IF I FINISH MY PROJECT TONIGHT, THEN I CAN BE A TRUE CANADIAN TEENAGE BOY AND WATCH THE GREY CUP FINAL TOMORROW. Hell yeah. Nowhere nearly as exciting as the Stanley Cup final, but oh well.

With all these free stuffed Olympic mascot plushies that we've amassed, I could totally do an Olympic-themed "On the __ day of Christmas, my true love gave me to me" video. =____=

Maybe I'll blog again after I'm done my project~

---

So my friend linked me to this test that tells you which circle of Hell (à la Dante's Divine Comedy) you're going to be living in. No surprises here, really. xP

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Does it count as microblogging if I'm just going to post random tidbit-y thoughts? Meh. Screw thinking about terminology (for once). I have to get back to studying. :(

Thoughts from this week:

• I will never be able to pronounce 'Isaac' like a normal English-speaker ever again. My music history prof was talking about this German composer Isaac and, of course, pronounced it the "German way": "Ee-sawk". IN MY HEAD THAT'S HOW I PRONOUNCE IT NAO. D: Ta-ta, "Eye-zick".
• Speaking of music history, it is slowly teaching me bits and pieces of Italian and German (and old school French) because the English didn't compose any music worth studying, apparently. Per gli occhi miei, this is a good thing?
• 2 MATH MIDTERMS TOMORROW ASDFASFDJKL; *is doomeder than doomed*
• Finished my paper for good today. 7 pages, just barely within the page-length-limit, though I'm a good 1000 words under the word limit so that doesn't translate, obviously. o___o I don't use particularly long words, I don't think... And it looks so slick in its little report cover thing. All 7 pages of essay + 2 pages of works cited + 11 pages of musical scores of it. I DON'T WANT TO HAND IT IN TO GET ALL RED-MARK'D ALL OVER THE PLACE. T_____T
• Had an epic battle with plastic packaging yesterday. I fought with my exacto knife and a pair of scissors. In the end, I won. But I am not unscathed. :(
• Was home alone so I played some piano today!!! :D Hoshit, I can still play my Grade 10 RCM pieces relatively well. Hrm. Maybe not "well", but say "6 months before the exam" quality. Not bad after not touching them for > 2 years now. Totally nailed the extended arpeggio thing on my first go today in that Chopin waltz. >w<
• AHHHHH JUST A FEW MOAR WEEKS UNTIL I SEE EPICA LIVE! W00T!
• ... I've got idioglossia going with at least two people, I realize. (Thank you, Dictionary.com's "Word of the Day". Love that shit. /geek)
• I finished my sight chord drill a whole minute early on Monday in tutorial. :D Firstly: HOLY CRAP I FINISHED IT. Secondly: A WHOLE MINUTE TO SPARE? Hellllll yesssssss. 10 minutes of practice every day really does help! Thanks for the tip, Dr. Bob! :)
• It snowed today!! None of it stuck in Vancouver, I thiiiink. Too bad. I could use a little change in scenery.
• Mmmm and in anticipation of the Secret Santa thing I think my group is doing this year (any confirmation, guys?), I put up a "Things to Buy" page. No, it's not a "LIST OF PRESENTS TO BUY ME" page since I'd rather no one buy me anything, but yeah. This should give people an idea should we be doing a gift exchange thing this year. Just please not like last year. My wallet is still trying to recover. D: And if we aren't, it will give my occasional spending (oh alright, my NON-EXISTENT spending) a direction or two. Or five.
• I think the back of my swivelly chair is broken because I put like 5 hoodies on it and I guess it can't handle how bloody heavy/thick they are. Oh noes. D: I foresee back pains. I fixed it!! And I dug around for some hangers so my hoodies are in my closet now. However, in the process of fixing the back of my chair... I totally ripped the knob off that tightens it. >______> I guess it's broken in a different way now... Ffffuuuuuuuu--
• For those of you who know what I look like: Do I look like a 'Jessica'?! o___o

Alas, tout le monde, ich muss dich lassen~  I have to pass my midterms tomorrow and stop procrastinating right nao. N-A-O. ;______;

The weekend is over. D: I swear, the worst part of going to school is having to wake up early because on those days (Monday to Friday), I cannot function due to lack of sleep. I do stupid things, give stupid people my stupid e-mail address, and say stupid impromptu things that warrant weird looks. Which, I assure you, I do receive.

So for the past... hour... I've been just sitting here. I wasn't even blogging or in the process of writing a blog entry. No, I was just sitting here, letting my thoughts implode. Ever had one of those moments where you realize just how much you have to do in the span of a few days and you can't decide what you're going to tackle first and in your mess of indecision, you sit there for an hour doing nothing? Yeah. That's me. That's exactly me. ;____;

I had a really trippy dream last night. Something about being at Playland on a really sunny day and running into family members and having that goddamn pirate ship ride bash into me just before sitting at a picnic table and having tea with random strangers, one of which told me that she was the Majestic One. She then went on a diatribe about these little blue pixelated (I shit you not) creatures that are being sent down from the heavens and blah blah blah Chosen One blah blah blah. Maybe I should lay off the grape-flavoured lip gloss before sleeping. I'm not overly fond of grape-flavoured things -- far too reminiscent of cough syrup yuck yuck yuck! -- but I have so much lip gloss that I figured I should use up the stuff I have before buying any new, yummier ones. And I could go on to talk about all the yumtastic flavours I already own (and the really really really awesome flavour that I'm saving because I just want... to... eat.... it v____v), but I'll spare you.

Let's see... other exciting things that happened today... Oh! I planned out my studying schedule for finals! Yay! I'm going to start on the 27th, and study like crazy until my last exam on December 18th. At least it makes me less jittery now, seeing the days listed out one by one like how I have it on my schedule. One day at a time, just one day at a freaking time.

That being said, I'm totally phucking dead this week. I'll be fine for finals, but right now, I can't even describe how dead I am. @______@ I'm pretty sure I'll be either crying or just on the verge of it Thursday night.

Okay. I've got a word count of 1127 out of a minimum 1600 for my paper now. CAN I FINISH IT TONIGHT? ... Probably not. BUT WE SHALL TRY. *resists urge to work on something in Mixcraft* T__T

Oh Smooshy cat, you really don't want to go to school. Trust me on this one.

It's 10PM now, but I was feeling absolutely dead tired at 8PM. This is not a fun way to be. =_____=

I only have like 4 Math questions to do today... And I haven't done any of them. Gosh, this is stupid. Procrastination has a stranglehold on me, and it refuses to let go. T_____T Maybe a little blogging will ease whichever pre-occupations that are keeping me from being even remotely productive...

OH YES. For all those people who have been finding my blog through Google for little words of wisdom concerning the CPSC co-op interview questions, I have indeed been enlightened. I don't know all of the questions, but basically they're a bunch of normal interview questions (one for sure is "Tell me about yourself" -- oh lovely) with a few technical ones thrown into the mix. It seems to be guaranteed that there will be a question about how one would describe how to use a smartphone/Blackberry to their grandmother, and possibly one or two other ones concerning Java and any related schoolwork. So there. Your silly queries through Google have not all been in vain, fellow students. Though I'm sure that most people have already had their interviews. Oh well~

A little anecdote from volunteering yesterday: So I was helping my two little students figure out where the notes are on the piano and one of them noticed the rings that I wear. I don't know how familiar/unfamiliar people are with my rings, but on my right middle finger I wear this slightly gaudy gold ring which looks a bit Tolkien-esque. People have asked me before if it was "the One Ring". No, it isn't. I actually do have one of those from the movie promotions, but I don't wear it. I like LOTR, but not to THAT extent. On my left middle finger, I wear two rings. One is a plain gold band, the other is a diamond ring. I think that they're all from my mom. IDK I've had them for so long now, I don't remember. So after one of my students tried to tug my right-hand ring off (really, kid, really?), she saw the rings on my left hand and immediately jumped to the conclusion that I'm married, refusing to believe otherwise. -______- Alright, I do have to say that in the past, people have told me that to wear a ring (or two?) on your left middle finger does mean that you're married (in Asian/Chinese culture or something?). However, my mom wears both her engagement and wedding rings (they're in a set, I think?) on her left ring finger and so do all the other married females that I know of. I didn't really think that it was strange or wrong or "Western" to wear marital status rings on the left ring finger. Huh. I wonder if it's different in any other cultures...

Another thing that came up while I was teaching those kiddies was Harry Potter. I'm not sure what triggered it, but they started talking about how they want to go watch the new movie. And I, being the HP fan that I am, joined in with their fanravings. At least, until I realized that they know nothing about Harry Potter. I guess I can understand how the little one (she's in grade two or so) hasn't read the books, but the older one (twelve going on thirteen) hasn't read the books either. They both have only ever watched the movies. That just... it breaks my heart. ;_________; I suppose that anyone has the right to talk about Harry Potter and like the series/franchise/whatever based on whatever medium they like, but the series started with the books. I personally just can't understand those people who claim to be such ginormous fans when they haven't even tried to crack open one of the books. The books are where all the magic started. And we all know that movie versions of books can't and don't measure up. That's practically a fact of life now. Or maybe I'm just a bookworm elitist. Yeah, that's probably it.

Having happy dreams just make waking up to reality even worse, I've realized.

And I'm pretty sure all kinds of lines and/or boundaries were crossed today THAT WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE CROSSED. All I will say on the matter here: Super Mario World... playdate?!, No you cannot add me on Facebook, LAWL I THINK YOU MUST'VE TYPO'D MY E-MAIL ADDRESS WHEN YOU ADDED ME ON MSN since I haven't received any sort of notifications that I've been added to anyone's contact list, and just because you have a "metalhead" friend doesn't mean that said friend will know/listen to any of the bands I listen to. The guy likes Motörhead ffs. *headdesks times a million billion kazillion* -__________- ... If you want moar details, harass me on MSN. I'd rather not say so much about it here after my friend said (jokingly?!) that she thought she saw someone on my blog in class. @_____@

And B4BYme posted this article on Twitter about how there are schools that are "Too Asian". Interesting read, though it seems like the article is gone from MacLean's (hence I linked to an old cached version). [EDIT: thanks to an anonymous reader/commenter, it seems that the article is back up. Thanks, anonymous!] o____o Having skimmed through the article earlier, I admit that I'm kind of appalled and disgusted by the fact that American schools actually care about your ethnicity and religious background. The meritocracy system makes sense. And really, asian kids can party just as hard as caucasians. If you really think otherwise, you are an ignorant douche who has no idea how the party culture has infected everyone (well, not EVERYONE everyone, but nearly everyone =____=), no matter his or her race. And I have to say that I'm kind of disappointed in MacLean's and their little anonymous source that they kicked the article off with. I'm going to be dead honest: I deffffffffinitely didn't choose to go to UBC because of its "Asianness". If you know me, then you know. Oh, you KNOW. It's just the closest university that offers the kinds of courses that I want, hence giving me the best price. Yeah, there are plenty of colleges nearby that will offer similar things, but srsly. MUSIC MINOR. I don't think that there are any schools closer than UBC that would offer the kinds of courses that cover getting a job AND keep my soul content and relatively sane. And closer means cheaper, and cheaper means moar money for me to spend on other things~~~

So yeah, I think I'm ready to do some homework now.


... But if I'm going to be honest, then I was... kind of productive. If you're going to click that link, then a little explaining is in order. That's a 50-second sample of something I'm working on + the ridiculously loud whirring of my laptop's dusty dusty fan. I started it this summer between shouting in the Kamelot shoutbox, playing Animal Crossing, doing French homework, and rereading Harry Potter. It's alllllmost done and clocks in at around 3:50, though I'm contemplating expanding it and giving it more direction, though it's kind of *supposed* to be directionless. Still have to fix up this guitar solo thing which is going nowhere. Blah. I remember some girl telling me that the stuff I write is "scary" sounding. Well. That's just how I roll. Though my stalker requested an upbeat, chipper song set to the words "You fucked up~~~" and I *do* intend on delivering on that request someday~ Maybe she was joking since we were both extremely tired and a little punchy BUT SOMETIMES THE BESTEST IDEAS HAPPEN IN THOSE INSTANCES.

No, I'm not going to blog about the old wooden rollercoaster at work. The reason for the title of this blog post will come up at the end. Feel free to skip there now~

... A thought just occurred to me. Are TA's allowed to make physical contact with their students? o___o I'm pretty sure that teachers/profs aren't (not while there is that teacher-student relationship) supposed to. And I mean, yeah, TA's are also students, but... Nah, I don't want to get into it. I just don't. There's more weird stuff that I forgot to tell people but remembered now that I'd just rather not blow out of proportions. =___=

Anywho, my day in a nutshell:

I was amused today by this article about where Americans should move when their government goes to Hell. Oh America, you bunch of silly goofs. I stand by "grade nine" being just as legit as "ninth grade".

Ah, my brother and his failtastic attempts at doing his French homework. Today he had a worksheet on passé composé and imparfait and one of the sentences was (where the word in parentheses is the one you must decide the tense of):
"Quand Elisabeth était jeune, elle (aller) chez son dentiste régulièrement."
My brother's translation: "When Elisabeth was young, she went to the house of her dentist regularly."
I admit that I get a good chuckle out of his sad attempts at translating French.
Mmm, that wasn't really that funny, but it was at the time.

Volunteering today was relatively uneventful, though I did run around in the rain from elementary school to elementary school to elementary school. And during all this running I found out that my fellow volunteer, aka the girl I was running with, is actually not a volunteer but an HKIN co-op student from UBC using this after school program as one of her placements. Also, I had forgotten how nice it can be to run around in the rain. It was also nice knowing that I can indeed keep up with a relatively fit HKIN student. I'm assuming that she's "relatively fit" since she does cheerleading competitively. o____o I probably shouldn't assume though, since assuming makes an ass out of u AND me. Man, I haven't used that line a while.

Oh God I really slacked off today and did nothing but watch TV with my family. And unfortunately I realized that watching TV just reminds me of how much I hate real life. Or maybe I don't really hate it, but I dislike how TV shows portray life a certain way and I go "Hmmmmm... NOTHING LIKE MY LIFE!" and that makes me think that maybe I've been living life all wrong...? Or perhaps I am just not meant to experience all the things that normal humans usually do?

Every day feels like a rollercoaster; I get moments of real happy (got 100% on my music history quiz!), and then I think about strange things (stupid life) and it just fizzles out. I'm sick of being taken for a ride. And the worst part is that I'm the one forcing myself on. I can't blame anyone but myself.

I think I'll go work on my paper now, or work on things in Mixcraft. Yes, Mixcraft is back in my life. =_____= Game over, guys, game overrrrrr. I found some projects I started in the summer and ffffuuuuuu I want to continue working on it since it's currently 3:36 and the ending sounds as perfect as I could accidentally make it.

"Stop! In the name of love,
Before you break my heart,
Think it over"
- Diana Ross, "Stop! In the Name of Love"

Today has been a boringtastic day at home. I have been mildly productive, though I mostly just daydream about things, I find. =_____=

Oh, funny thing I've realized is that if I connect to the UBC network thing from home using Cisco's VPN thinger to access all those not-so-free-to-non-students articles via UBC library, I get a new IP address. :O I'm not sure what the implications are for this, but when I connect/disconnect from VPN it also signs me out of MSN. Does that mean that if I used that VPN thing out of country, I could still play North American MapleStory?!?! ... not that I want to play MapleStory ever again, but... y'know. The implications. I'm thinking about them.
Note to self: Do not try to do research for my paper while holding conversations on MSN.

Though with the way things are going, that won't be happening anytime soon BECAUSE I WON'T LET MYSELF GO ON MSN AND GET DISTRACTED. D: Not when I'm trying to work hardcore on my paper, anyway.

I think I've written 2 sentences today of my paper and 1 footnote. Awesome. I can't believe that I got my paper done last year in like a week after just 15 minutes of focused writing every day. @_____@
EDIT: I've written the first paragraph, minus the thesis because, frankly, I'm still trying to pinpoint my thesis exactly. Oi vey.

Things to note (akin to WizardGoggles' Not To Be Confused With):
- eminent =/= imminent:

• eminent: high in station, rank, or repute; prominent; distinguished, noteworthy  
• imminent: likely to occur at any moment; impending: Her death is imminent.

- discreet =/= discrete:

• discreet: modestly unobtrusive; unostentatious
• discrete: consisting of or characterized by distinct or individual parts; discontinuous.

"Ahhh," you say.
Really, these aren't so much mistakes that I see people make as they are things that I tend to forget or confuse. Silly me.

And I saw this on Facebook (don't ask whose account I was on~). It made me roll my eyes so much that I thought they'd roll right out of my sockets. And then he mentioned arpeggios and I was like "... okay, he's got a point there." D: Arpeggios are incredibly sexy. They are like the best of the stupid technique stuffs. For srs.

In other news, it is just minutes past 9PM and I'm about ready to pass out from fatigue. Why so fail? ;_____;

AND I JUST HAD THE MOST BRILLIANT IDEA TO PUT A NIGHT LIGHT IN MY WASHROOM. Because it is way too damn dark in the morning (though it should be better now that DST is over) and I don't want to turn on the blindingly bright lights. So. I will just revel in the fantastic blueness of my mini lava lamp (don't ask -____-) night light.

Okay, back to trying to do math problems revolving around LaGrange multipliers. The name may be French, but it is nowhere near the level of fun that my brother's French homework (yes, I did his French homework for him like an hour ago =_______________=) was.