So Here I Am

So here I am, reporting from my lovely little house on Forglen Drive, in my lovely little room with the wooden wall. Evidently, the internet drought has passed, and I am grateful to be both alive and well. The internet drought wasn't nearly as terrible as I had anticipated. For one thing, it wasn't all that hard to find tasks to do around the house during those first few days, nor was I ever short of small errands to run to the bank or to the library.

The oh so wonderful experience of spending your first three days in a new house is likened to having every single item in your possession misplaced. It took me thirty minutes to find my work clothes, before I could hastily jump into them, stuff bread in my mouth before running out the door to embark on my fifteen minute journey to Metrotown. Finding my way there for the first time went relatively smoothly, as I had unmistakable landmarks in the form of the four or five high-rise towers that surrounded the mall; I was able to reach my destination in under thirty minutes, only about ten minutes longer than the projected amount of time. The return trip, however, did not go quite as smoothly.

You see, if you aren't already aware, I am notoriously bad with directions on foot. I can be walking straight down the street in a slightly unfamiliar neighbourhood, make a simple turn left or right, become engulfed in a sensation of absolute daze, then lose my place in space along with my sense of direction. This was precisely what transpired (multiple times) on my first attempt to navigate home from the mall. Now in my defense, the landmarks that allowed me to arrive at Metrotown with relative ease were not present on the way home. I had no large looming buildings protruding in the skyline to act as my guiding light home; I think it's fair to say that the difficulty level of this journey was thus at least doubled. I also decided to take a different route than the one that I had taken to arrive at the mall, I decided to look for a shorter way that led me straight into the center of the neighbourhood and to my house, rather than circling around the main streets which outlined the small neighbourhood, like I have done that morning. It had to be done eventually. So I courageously stepped into the labyrinth of a neighbourhood, shortly before proceeding to get lost.

Forty minutes later I arrive home. Utterly exhausted and disoriented, I consulted a map. Take one glance at the map and you will understand. -Black outlines the most efficient route, red outlines the route I took before finally arriving home.

I regret to say that since that first day's strenuous adventure home, I have experienced that woozy feeling in my head that proceeded complete disorientation a number of times. I must have taken at least five different and inventive routes home in just eight days here. I've decided to stick with the black outlined route in my future days here to save myself some trouble until further notice.

1 Day Before Moving Day

So my time here is finally up, starting tomorrow I will be sleeping in my new house (I use that term loosely, because the house isn't actually new). Hoorah! I am actually starting to feel the excitement between all the packing, lifting, vacuuming, sneezing, and unloading. Today was also the first time I have seen my new house; it's stone mosaic and darkwood exterior seems to whisper its stories to you; you know, the sort of stories that give a house a personality, like murder stories that took place in the basement, or scandals, or weed dealings. It's really quite the quaint little house; that would have a splendid view of the sunset(sunrise?) if it wasn't for the ugly giant trees in the neighbouring backyard.

I was working away like a busy beaver unloading in the new house with my dad(we cheated and started moving early), when he informed me of the upcoming internet drought. I panicked; oh how will I survive without my beloved internet for an entire four days? I barely survived the last time the internet failed for four whole hours. I simply love my personal internet too much to withstand having it torn away from me for such a length of time, oh the despair! It was in the midst of my grief that a solution presented itself in the form of a light bulb flicking on; I must as quickly as possible binge download and stock my computer with as much manga as possible, to tide me over with for the duration of the drought; in addition I must also reinstall Veoh and binge download movies. As I type this, volumes and volumes of manga are being downloaded into my Sysreset folder, I am also monitoring the download of three movies (12 Monkeys, What the bleep Do We Know, and American Psycho). Drastic times call for drastic measures, but I will be well equipped to survive the impending drought. If my movie downloads cannot be completed before I pass out in front of the computer, I will always have the public library close by my new house for video rentals!

It's a strange phenomenon, but the basement suite almost seems smaller now with all the furniture as well as kitchen-living room partition gone. I guess the partitioning and furniture gave the space a sense of depth that is non-existent in the now vacant lot; my room is reduced to an empty box with a dinky little table, and a pillow for a seat in front of the computer. I will be here for the next couple of hours tending to my downloads with snacking anchovies for company. They really are overrated, this is probably thanks to Futurama giving me unrealistic expectations for the small salty snack fish. This morning I had quite the satisfying breakfast however,

doesn't my last meal in this house look delicious? The new big kitchen in the new house hopefully will inspire a bountiful amount of bread, pastry, and cookie baking. On my sister's part of course, not mine, I don't cook.

But ladies and gentlemen, I really must be taking a break. I over exerted myself today and wounded up getting jabbed in the ribs by a doorknob. It's exceedingly unpleasant, and I should lie down and nurse my aching back and ribs before I resume my download surveillance. Man I feel old.

2 Days Until Moving Day

After clocking out today, I leisurely did my errands then caught the bus to head home. I dozed for nearly the entire duration of the trip before getting off the bus. Then like usual, I stopped at the corner house to look for Molly under the car; like usual, she's there. I meow at her and called her name, she rose and briskly sauntered towards me with her bell jingling to rub her head against my hand. While I sat there on the sidewalk playing with Molly, I realized that today might be the last time I'll ever see her again.

I had to get some pictures of her before I leave, so I went home to grab my camera quickly to give Molly a photo session. Like the last time I tried to take pictures of her, Molly proved to be a most difficult subject; sometimes I really think she's doing it on purpose. I would zoom in and focus my camera, crop a perfect image, then once I hit the shutter release Molly would move in a split second to give me a blurry image. It's not a coincidence if it happened for ten pictures in a row! So finally, twenty or so minutes and about thirty shots later, here I am with four acceptable pictures.

I will miss you Molly, you are my favourite cat in the world, and even if I make cuter, prettier, friendlier cat friends, I will always remember and think of you.

P.S. Click image to enlarge for better quality!

3 Days Until Moving Day

This morning I woke up with a crocodile in my bed and it pricked me in the toe. This unpleasant awakening inspired me to have a super productive day in packing, art and exercise!

My Indonesian crocodile woke me up earlier than expected, so I decided to finally head to school and return my textbooks in exchange for my report card. I have only one thing to say: Ms. Lehtonen is an absolute douche; she never changed my term one grade that she promised she would change, even after she marked my alternate assignment and gave me a 94% for the term. She never went to change my mark. But I've decide, I'm not going to bother with her anymore. I hated photo 12, and my grade in photo will not interfere with my UBC admission, I'm never going to see Ms. Lehtonen again, so I'm just going to let it rest and move on.

After arriving home from school, and spending a generous amount of time napping, I've had a pretty productive day packing, if I do say so myself. My closet is completely cleaned and 90% of my clothes are packed; I also packed all my books, papers, bags and miscellaneous items. Everything except for my beloved computer must be packed by Saturday. As productive as I had been this day, it took me nearly the entire day to accomplish said packed items, I decided to call it a day at about six(?) pm to head out and play some badminton. It's terrific that I've been getting all this exercise for the past week, but my eating habits have suffered horribly to compliment my increase in physical activity. You see, my mom has already packed away more than half of our kitchen appliances, utensils and dry foods, leaving us little to eat save for instant noodles, a sack of flour, milk, frozen pizza, and whatever else is in the fridge. All kitchenware required for cooking is gone and no more food will be cooked until Sunday; I've more or less been living off ice cream, green tea, sardines in a tin, leftover rice, and instant noodles. At least the microwave is still in service.

So while packing the day away, I've adopted the habit of blaring music while I clean and pack for enjoyment as well as to distract myself from the heat; and since a couple of days ago, I've had a craving for some Nirvana music. (I think it was from the tone deaf man by Granville Station who plays and sings off key Nirvana cover songs.) I dug up my old Nirvana music and gave it a good listen, somehow later I found myself looking for Modest Mouse music on Dailymotion. I think if I was to buy a CD, I'd definitely get "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" by Modest Mouse, that or "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness", "Saltbreakers" by Laura Veirs, or maybe a Sufjan Stevens album. To start purchasing CD's, however, would simply add to my spendings, so I decided against it. Perhaps I might receive any of them on my birthday, or Christmas (hint hint). Heh. If not, I'd give a shot CD hunting in Taiwan. I may come across an obscure music store that sells indie music for bargain prices behind some 7-11, or a Buddhist temple. Speaking of Taiwan I still need to call my uncle to inform him that I am coming and make living arrangements.

4 Days Until Moving Day

It is unbelievably hot today. I respond absolutely terrible to heat, and it's making packing difficult. It is so incredibly hot that I can't think straight and therefore cannot write a decent post, so instead I will post a picture; this photo by Michael Wolf sums up how I'm feeling right now.

5 Days Until Moving Day

It is now five days until moving day and I had just spent the entire day doing everything but packing. I've made about $35 dollars today, but I also spent about $90; not to mention the money for paint and work pants yesterday, I am seriously digging a giant hole in my bank account; I have also grossly overestimated my will power and self-restraint, as well as utterly underestimated my capacity for justifying frivolous spendings. The shopping monster that I thought I had gotten rid of over a year ago has caught up with me again, and it's making its ruthless comeback to devour my wallet. I really need to cut back on flaky unplanned spendings.

At least I'm saving money on movies.

6 Days Until Moving Day

For anyone who might someday ponder this notion, I will warn you beforehand: tissue paper boxes do NOT make good shoes; in fact, they make terrible shoes. They are far too boxy, stiff, and constrictive to support feet. Besides, they'd only be available in one size, and they hurt!

Now in retrospect, this finding seems like something I should have been able to predict prior to stuffing my feet inside empty square boxes, but it really seemed like a good idea at the moment. But for other hands-on learners, here's a piece of free information that might save yourself some discomfort in the future.

But enough about tissue boxes. Since my last post, I've done some feeble packing, shopping, and movie viewing. I am happy to say that I am finally able to add 2001: A Space Odyssey to my Seen movie list. It is everything that it's hyped up to be, and maybe even more; stunning cinematography(especially for 1968), grand soundtrack, space travel, bright hypnotic light display, spaceships and astronauts, a homocidal computer, what more can you ask for? One aspect I particularly enjoy about viewing old films is the retrospective recognition of pop culture references that I haven't been able to catch previously. I've probably seen parodies to 2001: A Space Odyssey on at least four different notable instances(Simpsons, Recess, iPhone, and Lego) and failed to acknowledged their sources until now, the same goes for Citizen Kane. There will definitely be more future trips to the public library. I am going to have to schedule a library trip somewhere between work, packing, and attempting to pack, over the next week; otherwise my videos will be overdue and I will have to pay late fees again! The library must've ripped a small fortune off of me in my lifetime through late fees.

Now, I regret to say that I've had a super unproductive day today, strolling around Granville Island, then downtown to purchase paint and funny looking black pants. But I've decided, I am going to get that turquoise dress. It was an executive decision made about an hour ago. The dress is just too pretty to give up, and I must have it before someone else snatches it. Since I'm already a couple hundred dollars into my savings for the summer, what's another $85? I'll just have to resolve to save 90% of my first paycheck to make up for it.

On another note, I've finally made some progress packing today; I put all my more sporadically worn shoes in boxes and all my art supplies (with my new paint!) is now packed away. I guess I should start clothes and books tomorrow.

7 Days Until Moving Day

There is exactly one week left until moving day.
Before then, we must tear this house from its sturdy Canadian housing foundation, give it a good sound shaking before picking out our various belongings from the piles of debris, wood, gravel, burst water pipes, angry landlords and their furniture that would result. Unfortunately, I've become quite settled into this cramped little basement suite that I've called home for the last two years, and far too languid to start preparing.

Packing basics say that you should start with what you use and need the least, and work your way up towards those items of daily use. But I am genuinely convinced that everything in my room is equally vital to my daily life; from the boxes of shoes occupying the bottom of my closet, to the four or five used sketchbooks living under my bed. This notion of packing undone, is hovering like an ugly mustard coloured bird with an eternally obscene humming noise that bites your ear if packing slips my mind for even a minute. So packing hasn't left my mind for a minute, though that's not stopping me from procrastinating. I will definitely regret my idleness later, but later hasn't come yet. In the mean time, there are tons of things I can do with my time besides packing.

During this last week or so, instead of packing, I've been amusing myself with shopping, reading, film viewing, mocha consuming, portrait drawing, art show attending, midnight underwear running, paper hat making, and contemplating the various ways to enjoy green tea.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off to see if whether empty tissue paper boxes will make adequate shoes. I shall report my findings in my next post.

Because We Could All Use a Bit More Nerdiness in Our Breakfast

Sandie takes a break from studying, procrastination and family dramas to
post an update:

Behold!

The keyboard shaped waffle iron! It makes keyboard shaped waffles! Does breakfast get any better than this? No it does not.
"My dog ate my keyboard so I couldn't write my psychology essay!"

Ctrl-Alt-Delicious!

On Cats and Sleep

The coming of summer has disrupted my sleep cycle at record speed this year; any pattern that I had grown accustomed to in the past months has now ceased to exist and have been thrown into utter chaos. I am now living more or less like a cat, and I love it.

If I were a cat, I feel that I would be a grey kitty with golden eyes, just like Molly; (Chief differences being that I would have much shorter hair, and I would be less of a flirt and more of a sleepy cow. )
I would start off my days in the afternoon, rolling onto my back and growl until I am fed. With my new kitty lifestyle, I would very quickly develop a sort of narcolepsy, as I would be so immobile for some halves of days that I would simply fall asleep in the middle of a meal. These narcoleptic episodes would be followed with manic-esque states due to replenishment of sleep, where I paint pictures with my paws while trying not to shred the canvas for hours before lapsing into deep sleep again. Sometimes instead of painting pictures I would wander into neighbours' and friends' backyards and attend barbecues; I would always be welcome because everyone loves cute grey kitties.

It's 8:30pm and I'm going to take a 3 hour nap.

Joke

There are 10 types of people in the world; ones who understand binary, and ones who don't!

How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

"Hello?... Uh... Hello D- uh hello Dmitri? Listen uh uh I can't hear too well. Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little?... Oh-ho, that's much better... yeah... huh... yes... Fine, I can hear you now, Dmitri... Clear and plain and coming through fine... I'm coming through fine, too, eh?... Good, then... well, then, as you say, we're both coming through fine... Good... Well, it's good that you're fine and... and I'm fine... I agree with you, it's great to be fine... a-ha-ha-ha-ha... Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb... The *Bomb*, Dmitri... The *hydrogen* bomb!... Well now, what happened is... ahm... one of our base commanders, he had a sort of... well, he went a little funny in the head... you know... just a little... funny. And, ah... he went and did a silly thing... Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes... to attack your country... Ah... Well, let me finish, Dmitri... Let me finish, Dmitri... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?... Can you *imagine* how I feel about it, Dmitri?... Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello?... *Of course* I like to speak to you!... *Of course* I like to say hello!... Not now, but anytime, Dmitri. I'm just calling up to tell you something terrible has happened... It's a *friendly* call. Of course it's a friendly call... Listen, if it wasn't friendly... you probably wouldn't have even got it... They will *not* reach their targets for at least another hour... I am... I am positive, Dmitri... Listen, I've been all over this with your ambassador. It is not a trick... Well, I'll tell you. We'd like to give your air staff a complete run-down on the targets, the flight plans, and the defensive systems of the planes... Yes! I mean i-i-i-if we're unable to recall the planes, then... I'd say that, ah... well, ah... we're just gonna have to help you destroy them, Dmitri... I know they're our boys... All right, well listen now. Who should we call?... *Who* should we call, Dmitri? The... wha-whe, the People... you, sorry, you faded away there... The People's Central Air Defense Headquarters... Where is that, Dmitri?... In Omsk... Right... Yes... Oh, you'll call them first, will you?... Uh-huh... Listen, do you happen to have the phone number on you, Dmitri?... Whe-ah, what? I see, just ask for Omsk information... Ah-ah-eh-uhm-hm... I'm sorry, too, Dmitri... I'm very sorry... *All right*, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well... I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are... So we're both sorry, all right?... All right."

"Reunion on the Island Naboombu"

The book talk assignment, as it occurred to me earlier today, will probably be the last assignment in our lives where it is called upon us to draw half-assed artwork for credit. That being said, perhaps I should dedicate more heart and effort into the last art-outside-of-art-class assignment of my life, to bequeath it the sentiment that it deserves.

Instead, all the precious motivation that was able to muster went to sketchbooking for three hours.

Updates

Today, the procrastination God has brought you all the first post in over two months. Hoorah!

Here's a brief account of the passings these last weeks:

>AP Studio Art Show:
was a huge success. The one week I dedicated to completing my portfolio pieces, and preparing for the show was well worth the consequential psychology AP cramming that resulted. Unfortunately, I did not encounter any wealthy rich art lovers to offer me money for my artwork. Nevertheless, I did receive a couple of encouraging anonymous comments in the guest book.

On a side note: I am now about 90% confident about my abilities to get acceptance into Emily Carr. However, I've made up my mind; at this stage in my life I wish to go to UBC. If by the time I graduate, my passion for art has proven true and has not dissipated, I will then consider pursuing a place in art school.

School:
is nearly done. The graduation ceremony has come and gone, yet school is yet to be finished. I write you this as I procrastinate my last-week-of-school-test-project-rush work. I am just one electrochemistry test, three photography projects, one psychology presentation, one English book talk project, one french test, two historical movie reviews, one portrait, and four provincial exams away from being done with highschool. I hardly have time to be excited, especially with post-secondary options on my mind.

Post-Secondary:
choices are mind boggling. It seems that my plans of taking the first term off is not going to fly, seeing as I need six english credits for first-year university, and studying for only one term in first year just won't suffice. There are a few other options available, including summer sessions, or simply taking one lone english course in term one. But overall, this seems to be an all-or-nothing deal. If I'm serious about wanting time off, it will have to be an entire year, or nothing at all.

Books:
are being read at a rate that I haven't been able to achieve since my grade school days where the days offered nothing to do but long hours to be filled with reading. More than six books in the last two months, hoorah! I never imagined that I would ever pick up a Harry Potter book when I have or could see its movie rendition, let alone pick up three. I've finished the last three books of the Harry Potter series, and await the release of the final book this coming summer. Having completed the latest books in the sequence, I have little desire to read the first three. Especially after discovering what an obnoxious and unlikeable character Harry Potter actually is.

Movie Viewing:
has slowed to a crawl to make way for book reading progress. However I've recently discovered the movie goldmine that is the public library. You would be amazed at how many great classics (Frida, Hotaru no Hakka, Taxi Driver, The Shining, Jean de Florette! etc. ) that you can find between the dull grey shelves. All of which are free of charge to boot. I'll be having a movie marathon of Chinatown, Dr. Strangelove, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show this Friday to make the due date which is Saturday.

Drawing Phases:
have gone from fusion hybrid animals, to rabbits, to poodle llamas, to the still prevailing face-figure drawings, and now I have arrived at the owls.

I now leave you with a wonderful video from Yenshui Taiwan. I have to go to this someday.

Everyone in the World

Happy Pi Day!

Like Saint Patrick's Day, Canada Day, or National Pancake Day is celebrated by normal people, Pi day is a very special day in the hearts of many nerds.
"Nerds around the world will gather and join hands in the shape whose ratio of its circumference to its diameter is the most revered mathematical constant in the known universe."

Geeks and nerds everywhere will spread joy and good cheer by indulging in Pi related foods. A punny nerd will eat Pizza, pineapple, and drink pina coladas while dressed as a Pirate. If you happen to hate puns, you can also enjoy the holiday with cookies or cheese shaped like pi. Whatever your fancy, Pi day is simply incomplete without the consumption of Pie!

Happy Pi Day everyone!

Naps and Peeps

I overslepped my alloted nap time today, (what can I say? The Simpsons put me to sleep) and the sleep fairies have left me with a powerful and dire craving for chololate and Peeps; must have something to do with the contents of my dream. Although I remain a bit sluggish at the present, I fear that all my sleepiness will disappear fifteen minutes before I get into bed, like it has so often done for the last week. 

I should probably try to get some work done for tonight, though I'm not certain whether I have the capacity for reading Othello, Skeptics, or Chemistry: tasks that involve higher  mentalprocessing in my current sluggy state, so I reckon I should start off with some simple tasks such as checking my email, reading blogs, listening to some M. Ward, and reading the latest manga updates. 

*Note*: For thoes of you who don't know, Peeps are the lovely friendly, brightly coloured marshmallow chicks that you can find in the supermarket around Easter time. Also, the gift of Peeps is the greatest gift of all, for someone who has experienced a loss of Peeps. So buy me some Peeps!

Merry Christmas

It feels like Christmas again. Maybe it's the snow we've been getting for the past few days, bringing back the holiday spirits. Or perhaps it is the sweet aroma of rising bread from the oven, the presence of Lindt Lindor chocolate that is so often consumed during the holiday season, or maybe it's the incessant jingle of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that's been plaguing the house with undesired Christmas cheer for the past five hours.

Everyone loves novelty Holiday cards. One such variety is the "happy singing card", you know, thoes ones that chirp out a cute little melody of your favourite holiday jingle when you open the card, then cease once the card is closed.

I guess it was my fault really. I am being taught a valuable lesson. I just couldn't resist the temptation of indulging myself in a bit of Christmas nostaligia. 
 
"No Christmas spirit outside of Christmas time!" says the God of Life Lessons, while wagging a single accusatory finger.

I sought the sweet melody of a joyous Christmas jingle, and I am recieving punishment for my foolishness. I will suffer the sound of the singing card until I have atoned for my mistake. Never again will I engage myself in anything Christmasy until the end of the year. Who wants Christmas anyway, when you have Easter, and Peeps!

Well now, I shouldn't dawdle my time here, I must look for an appropriate place to hide the singing card until the battery runs itself out so I can go to sleep; perhaps in the refridgerator?

You have encountered Toddler at a Keyboard which lunges at you with 34q0fhsda0!

 

Today was one of thoes miserable days where the weather went back and fourth between mildly temperate (when I was inside) and blustering cold(whenever I was outside). I would venture out of shelter and think to myself that I could have a nice walk to my destination, wherever that may be, and two minutes later I would be buffetted with gusts of typhoon worthy freezing wind. Might as well have been monsooning too.

So it was a day where by all accounts I should have been in a bitter mood growling at Ms. Lehtonen whenever she walked by in the hallways, and the lady in front of me at the Safeway with 16 items in the 15 item express lane. (Two bars of soap counts as two seperate items damnit).

But I'm sitting here actually feeling pretty good, for a couple of reasons:

I've got myself two thirds of a box of Cap'n Crunch cereal to munch on for the remainder of the week! Along with my 1/4 box of Reese's Puffs cereal, that's plenty of sustainance to keep me alive for the rest of the dreadful school week, and it will more than fill my deviliciously-sweet-breakfast-cereal-tooth. That's right, it's devilicious.

A wonderful deed was performed today that set me back $6.27 and took me through freezing stormy weather to achieve; the delivery of delicious Frosted Flakes cereal to the sick and needy. A warm reception, some warm tea and bread was plenty to make the expedition seem worth it. : )

It's been the most exercise I've had in a day since walking down Davie Street to have cereal at English Bay. I've trekked plenty, and did a bit of running after a nonchalant but brisk walk away from my desk towards the classroom door. Yes! This is my sorry excuse for real exercise!

On my way home, upon stepping out into the freezing cold, I felt a cold but not unwelcomed drop fall onto my cheek. I looked up towards the dark but bright night sky and saw dozens of white specks fall towards me. Now I may be one to stress the overratedness of snow, but I do appreciate catching a nice fleeting fall of snow, certainly during an uneventful walk home. In today's case, the brief snowfall was more than welcomed.

Last but not least, this evening, it seems that I might actually for once, be up for some light early homework. By the time I'm finished with it, the night will still provide me with quality time with the ordinateur.

Hopefully, now equipped with plenty of cereal goodness, I can now face the rest of the week in high spirit, and minimal dread.