In all the excitement surrounding Nick's birthday yesterday, we ended up having somewhat of a UW bloggers meet. There was Nick, myself, Brad, Rafi, SPU, Kevo, Matt and Ming. Eight of the seventeen (eighteen now) active ring members. Of course the first six were there to celebrate Nick's big day. The big two-three.
Ancient.
There has been talk for a while about doing an "official" meet, but since certain people aren't following through on their own ideas, nothing has come of it yet. Maybe by the time we graduate? ;)
[ 30.1.02 6:37 PM | germy ]
Every morning in my C&O we have cookie time (yes, welcome to grade 5) about halfway through the class. I'm not really sure why, but we do. As I watched the cookie bag being passed around today, seeing the hands reaching in, feeling for the crumbling biscuits, and listening to the cacophony of coughs, I realized where this vicious vicious litttle cough I have came from.
Germs. Just when you thought it was safe to go to school.
I actually had to read the dictionary to find out how to spell cacophony. *Read* it. That's dedication for you.
[ 29.1.02 3:15 PM | blah ]
You know your cough is bad when ... even Buckley's doesn't make a dent in it.
[ 28.1.02 10:45 PM | Canadopoly ]
The things you can find out when you are bored: You know how some people refer to Canadian money as "Monopoly money" because of the colours? Well, it turns out that Canadian money was actually the inspiration for the Monopoly money!! Back in the 1930s when Monopoly was created, Charles Darrow spent a weekend in Toronto and was so impressed by the multi-coloured money that he used the idea for his boardgame!
Cool, eh? :)
[ 10:18 PM | simon says ]About halfway through tonight's class I finally figured out why I couldn't get into the class: as I listened to him ask his "discussion" questions and the answers they provoked, I realized that his questions are designed less to promote discussion and more to promote regurgitation. I could literally flip over the pages of the article to follow his questions and see where they were coming from and listen as the answers were bounced back, coming straight off the page.
You see, I'm not much of one to raise my hand and spew out facts. It just isn't in my nature. But I do like to hear other people speak about experiences that tie in, or opinions on the issues raised. It stirs my own thoughts and opinions and increases my interest in the class. I read (most of) the assigned articles so I don't really need to have them read to me again in class. We're not five anymore.
Plus, the class doesn't really leave much room for Rafi to heckle. And Rafi can be damn funny when he heckles.
[ 1:36 PM | cookie goodness ]Life as we know it is changing: Girl Guide cookies will never taste the same again.
It seems that Mr Christie is no longer the supplier of the chocolate and vanilla cookies that I sold in my youth, or the mint chocolate cookies that I consumed by the boxful in my adolencence (The article skipped over the peanut butter cookie disaster - some memories are better left repressed.) The job has instead been awarded to Dare cookies - conveniently located here in KW, BTW - starting in 2003. The recipe, however, stays with Christie. Interesting. Very interesting.
All I can say is "Mr. Christie, you make good cookies!", so I hope Dare is up to the challenge. Otherwise I may just be forced to renounce my Girl Guide membership.
On another note, I also discovered from this article that the uniform has changed in the last year. Cool, very cool. No one really wanted to wear the old uniform, although the little people did look cute. The temporary tattoos, however, might be construed as setting a bad example. Do they not remember the tattoo barbie fiasco of a few years ago??
[ 1:29 PM | pron ]Scary moment of the day: your computer science prof walks into class in what looks like a "porn star" t-shirt. Relief as you realize it instead says pro star.
[ 27.1.02 11:29 PM | smile ]
Murphy's Law: your roommate will clean his (obviously very dirty) fishtank the day *after* you go on a cleaning spree, including the bathroom, leaving a thick layer of brown grime in the bottom of the newly white tub, and on the newly cleaned counter.
The cat, surely just wanting to do her part and "help", will leave little brown footprints leading from the edge of the tub, onto the counter and all around the floor. :)
Update: of course he did clean up the grime - I caught him only halfway through the tank cleaning process - but it was still pretty funny.
[ 9:49 PM | misconceptions ]It's weird to think back to when you didn't know someone. Try it now - think of someone you know fairly well, someone you are very comfortable around and then try to think back to when you first met them and how you interacted, how that person seemed to you. It helps of course if you met them fairly recently, since everything beyond a certain time is fuzzy regardless. Sometimes it seems weird to think that you didn't always know them so well.
The same applies to places as well. I remember coming up to Waterloo to look for a place to live after being told two weeks before frosh week began that I would not be coming off the waiting list even though I had been told earlier that being only sixth on the waiting list, I was *sure* to get into residence. We drove around and around and around looking for a place and I got completely disoriented. The same thing happened actually when I came up to look at the school when making my decision; in the end, we had to phone my friend's friend and describe the place we were at because we didn't even know the name of the street we were on. Now I look at the places I got lost and I wonder how I could have gotten so mixed up because they all seem so familiar now. But at the time I had absolutely no clue where I was. Guess that's what happens when streets mysteriously change direction on you (case in point, King and Weber cross each other *three* times in KW).
[ 24.1.02 6:06 PM | hanging the towel rack ]
I remember a time - many many moons ago - a time when people took pride in their away/N/A/etc messages on icq. A time where a person could right-click on a name in the list and read a goofy message to make you laugh. Or at least tell you how far away from the computer the person was (i.e. are they actually in the house and therefore you can call them? or are they watching x-files and they'll hang up the phone on you anyway?) Now I am greeted with the generic "User is currently (N/A)(away) You can leave him/her a message" except on rare occasions, like today, when I came across "death by genetics".
Do you not realize what a valuable time waster that was when I was trying to avoid doing work?? I know that I too have been guilty of allowing the default message to be displayed a little too often sometimes, but really, I've been making an effort recently.
The same applies to answering machine messages, although now that we are in the position of getting calls from potential employers, I understand the need to present a more "mature" face to the world through your answering machine message. I still remember the time in the crackhouse when we let a friend answer the phone, knowing that he was as likely to just say "hello" as to be the next person on the moon. I don't think our roommate ever really forgave him or us for greeting her new employer with a healthy "Max's love shack, how can we please you?" or something similar. We thought it was funny.
It's all about the amusement people. All about the amusement.
[ 22.1.02 11:44 AM | just a coincidence? ]
I can't figure out if Coincidence Designs is a real site or just another of those joke sites lying around on the web. It's just an odd concept: paying money to have them set up a "coincidental" meeting with the woman of your dreams. And all this for the total sum of only $78,000 US.
Fast factoids: their location is listed as Illinois, but their whois information lists Texas. And it's probably just a funny coincidence that Jason Bourne, the name in the whois info, is a character in Robert Ludlum's spy books.
I guess I never shall know. Not that I'm looking for my dream woman anyway.
[ 11:11 AM | a gummi bear perhaps? ]I'm not quite sure why this amuses me, but it does.
I deposited a cheque from my roommate that was x dollars and ten cents. It was returned and he has to write me a new one, no big deal. The funny thing is, just the x dollars was returned. So essentially I am "up" ten cents.
I told you I didn't know why it amuses me. It's not like I can buy much with ten cents. But still, that ten cents, if left in there to earn interest, could in time grow all the way to ... twelve cents :)
[ 2:52 AM | Shadow Players ]I was wrong. There were twenty-eight unfinished writings in my Handspring. Well, twenty-seven now that Shadow Players is out in the world.
The name came from the idea of not seeing the person you are talking to. The idea behind the story was inspired partly by the first poem in the story, which I found written on the desk in my econ class, and partly by an incident that happened at the end of the summer involving the passing of a note between the seats on the Greyhound bus home which triggered the memory of high school when a friend of mine started a conversation on the desk in our Chemistry class. Mesh that all together and what do you get? A tracy who needs sleep. :) And a tracy who has fulfilled her tuesday requirements only a few hours into the day.
[ 12:57 AM | almost done ]Coming soon to a website near you - a new story! Woohoo!
[ 21.1.02 12:03 AM | cotm ]
As you wish. :)
[ 20.1.02 10:23 AM | shoulda gone to class ]
Nothing better than opening an assignment to work on it only to find out that, for some reason, all the numbers are missing from the file you downloaded. Makes computation just a *little* hard. :)
Not to worry though, that's what friends are for. Of course, since Rafi skipped the same days I skipped, we'll have to go one step further and ask *his* friend for the assignment.
[ 9:52 AM | last night ]Funny that on "Girls Night Out" at the casino, the only guy in the group walked away with $250+ while the girls walked away with nothing.
Even without any winnings, my first trip to the casino was fun - all those flashing lights and ringing bells. Unfortunately, the place was pretty packed so we all ended up at different machines, leaving me to fend for myself on a machine I didn't know how to play, which turned out to be not so hard after all. I managed to do pretty well, and was even up almost fifty bucks at one point before squandering it all. It takes some of the fun away from winning though if you can't share it with the person beside you. When we left, it seemed strange to walk into the relative silence of the lobby after all the commotion inside. The 60-something security guard hitting on our friend was an amusing highlight of the night.
Of course we came home to a bunch of testosterone-pumped guys back from "Guys Night Out" at the rippers. Nothin' says love like having your friends yell out prices for you to strip.
[ 17.1.02 8:19 PM | takin' a chill pill ]
I keep thinking I should get "It'll all work out in the end" tattooed somewhere on my body. Not really, of course, but it would save me having to remind myself all the time. That and "Just be yourself". 'Cause no matter how hard I try, I worry. About everything. Perhaps it's just one of those things that makes me interesting.
(Yes Tracy, you just go on believing that. :))
[ 16.1.02 2:35 PM | bad tracy ]
Fairly good reason to skip a class: lunch out to celebrate a coworker's birthday.
Bad reason to skip a class: there aren't two seats together.
[ 8:11 AM | i'm just full of questions today ]I've had credits cards for .. maybe about five years. So why is it that I only learn now that I can spend almost twice my limit? Really though, what is the point of a limit if you can easily blow by it?
And who would let a 9 year old get a credit card?
[ 7:34 AM | three mondays a week ]There is a slight downside to having Tuesdays and Thursdays off: every other day feels like a Monday. Ugh.
[ 15.1.02 10:37 AM | survival of the fittest ]
When a job position is listed as "Outstanding Talent", there is just no way you cannot follow the link to find out exactly what it entails.
I was a little disappointed to find the company descriptions were the usual fluff and hoopla used to draw you in - "innovative comapny", "fast-paced environment", "energy and creativity", "elite team", blah, blah, blah. Then, something more unusual caught my eye: "If you're the right individual we'll put you through training which will include trial by fire and the roller coaster ride of your life. If you survive the first 18 months ..."
*If* I survive?? Trial by fire? Trial by fire I can handle, but I don't know that I want to work for a company that puts my "survival" in doubt before I've even stepped through the door. Perhaps it is their subtle way of weeding out people. I must say, it has me intrigued.They skipped over any sort of job description; it turns out they are using one posting to recruit a variety of people, hence the "Outstanding Talent" title that hooked me in the first place. Seeing as my resume is not up to date anyway, it'll take me a few days before I am even at a position where I could apply to the job. A few days to think about my "survival" instincts. (And a few days to think about whether I really want to work and live in Toronto.)
[ 14.1.02 9:31 PM | weighing in ]
Raccoons are cute with their BIG tubby bodies and tiny stubby legs.
But when one crosses the path you are walking on only a few feet from you, you stop and let them go peacefully, 'cuz I'm pretty sure they also have sharp bite-y teeth and nasty little tempers ...
My PSA of the day.
[ 8:32 AM | freedom ]This seems almost too good to be true. A website that allows you to opt out of many of those annoying pop-up ads? And they even *thank* you for opting out of their services.
We'll find out soon ...
[found through bwg]
[ 8:15 AM | or me ]I don't really understand men.
Or women actually.
Or cats for that matter.
Like, why does my cat climb to the top of my shelving when she knows she cannot get down? And why does she consistantly do this sometime around 3:30 in the morning, making me crawl out of bed to get her down? And again five minutes later. And five minutes after that. And so on and so forth.
(The hedgie I have all figured out - eat, sleep, run in wheel. Rinse and repeat.)
[ 12.1.02 1:48 AM | stupid ]
Tonight is the first time *ever* that I have been escorted to the the front door of a club. The stupid thing is that I was leaving anyway, had only consumed three drinks over the course of the night, could walk perfectly fine, and was heading for the coatcheck and they knew that. Needless to say, that club is now on the blacklist.
[ 10.1.02 7:03 PM | car go vrooom ]
I remembered today how much I really like driving. And yet I am always so willing to give up the driver's seat to anyone else. I think it stems partly from my dislike of driving other people's cars. I'm always afraid something bad will happen while I am behind the wheel and then I will be that person, you know the one who hurt the borrowed car. Doesn't matter if it is your fault or not, you are still that person.
I'm thinking now that I may have to fit a car into my schedule earlier than I originally planned. Sure, I need a job and a place to live first ...
[ 2:01 PM | faceplant ]A few questions to ponder on this Thursday afternoon ...
Question 1: Why have double doors going into a building if you are going to perpetually keep one locked?
I don't see the reasoning behind having two doors if only one works as a door, the other acting more as a window or wall than as a door. Why not just put in a window or a wall and save yourself the hassle? Plus, then people will not be caught unawares by grabbing onto a door and making that jolting discovery when it doesn't budge under the pressure applied. Which brings about ...
Question 2: If you are going to lock one of the doors, why always lock the right-hand door?
It is estimated that only 10-15% of the population is left-handed, and yet by leaving the left-hand door unlocked, you are forcing people to reach out to the door with their right hand and open the door awkwardly across their bodies rather than in a fluid motion alongside their bodies as they would if they were opening the right-side door. (Try it out, you'll see what I mean) Although at least you are being consistant, so I'll give you points for that.
It's a little thing, but a nice thing.
[ 9.1.02 4:43 PM | apologies to James Brown ]
I feel good ... nahnahnahnahnahnahnah .. I knew that I would ... nahnahnahnahnahnahnah
Today has been a productive day, yessireebob. I sold a book, went food shopping and, most importantly, finally confirmed with our landlord that he was buying back my rent for the summer (so he can split my room into two before September rolls around). My room is the most expensive of all the rooms in our apartment, so it's a weight off my shoulders to know that we only have to sublet one room now. Our current place is a little far from the job I'm hoping to get, and this puts me closer to my ultimate goal of getting a place of my own. After five years of roommates, I'm looking forward to having my own space and living out of more than just a room. I even picked up the Renter's News to scope out potential locations.
Now I just have to work on landing that job. It's all about positive thinking.
[ 8.1.02 7:15 PM | smonte ]
And Steve got a better picture (look under jan8) of their new pet than I *ever* could of monte. Looks just like 'im too. I dub him smonte.
[ 7:08 PM | the walking dead ]Rafi stole a good conversation of the moment right from under my nose. I gotta be quicker on those things.
[ 7.1.02 10:16 PM | i don't snore ]
The sound of the air conditioning in my business class tonight sounded remarkably like the ocean washing in and out on a beach somewhere. If only that were true. Half an hour into the class I was falling asleep, partly from the lulling sound and partly due to the sloooow pace of the class.
There's always that one class that drags on forever each term. I thought that it was going to be C&O this term but tonight's class takes the cake - C&O never even had a chance.
[ 4.1.02 5:37 PM | caught in the act ]
If they ever did come out with a pocket-sized version of this lie-detecting camera I think some people could be in a bit of trouble. I wonder if it can differentiate between those little white lies and more extensive lies. Maybe that's why it was only effective 75% of the time - the other 25% didn't have a particular attachment to a hunk of plastic.
[ 12:55 AM | tiny windows ]Had I known that Brad was going to leave the bar so shortly after me, I wouldn't have bothered to break into our house by squeezing through his tiny window since I so conveniently forgot to take my keys with me when we left for the night. Now I'm wet and dirty and not in a good way.
[ 2.1.02 11:54 PM | An ordinary day in the 'burbs ]
An ordinary day in the 'burbs came from an incident when I was home visiting my mother and came across clothes lying all over one of the more major roads. One minute the road is clear, the next I was dodging somebody's laundry.
[ 3:23 PM | you know how it is ]I've been hearing phantom kitten noises, which could mean that a) the people in the other half of the house have gotten a soft furry of their own, or b) the guilt of leaving my poor defenseless five and a half month old sweetest pie in the arms of a knife-wielding vet this morning is causing me to hear things. Personally, I'm leaning towards the latter. I know it's for her own good and it will certainly stop that spine-tingling cry she makes when she's in heat, which is for my own good, but I can still see that look on her face when I handed her over this morning, the one that said why are you leaving without me? Do you not love me anymore?
I'm trying my hardest to keep myself from phoning the vet to check up on her. I'm sure she's fine, but .. you know how it is.
[ 12:06 AM | Big Easy ]Since I'm only taking four courses for my final term, I decided that I should put aside time to work on writing. It was either that or take a writing course, and since the writing course I wanted to take was inexplicably restricted to English majors only ... well, tuesdays is now my writing day. It was pretty much a write-off anyway because of Buffy and Angel.
And even though the term has not officially started yet, it seems that my tuesday writing schedule has commenced. The first story of 2002 is Big Easy, a tale set in the wonderful city of New Orleans. Someday I will make it there for Mardi Gras.
[ 1.1.02 6:07 AM | happy 2002 ]
Yeah, baby. Happy New Year!!
I think it is now time for me to go to bed.