Blogging from Melbourne, Australia.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
today was probably one of the worst days i've had in a long while. it may even beat the day i had my surgery. i don't think i've ever been so upset before.
however, it's been a pretty good day because of it, in a roundabout sort of way. terrible crises make for realisations of which people around you are good people. and they'll suddenly make you a little bit closer to people you hardly knew at all before then.
on saturday, inspired by a silly worksheet that we used, i asked one of my tutees to write a love story. today i got to read it. afterwards he admitted that he stole the story from a korean bestseller, but i must say, it was the best love story i'd read in awhile, even after any fun grammatical errors. a boy and girl meet on the train. years later, they're at the same university, she's 3 years ahead. he loves her, but nothing happens, and after she graduates, he spends the next 7 years loving her even though she's not there. by then, he's a radio dj and she's a novelist. somehow they cross paths and fall and love. her family says, "don't do it! you're rich and he's poor!" but they marry anyways. and she becomes pregnant. and then she gets cancer. but she doesn't have an abortion because that won't cure her disease. so she dies. but the baby lives. the end.
it made me happy to read it. i like my tutees.
written with flair at 4:11:00 PM | link |
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
my day as a government official at the election is over. got to work at a booth with julie and we had fun. so, cool things that happened:
- mrs perry, the noon-hour supervisor from my elementary school came to my poll-booth and (pretended to) recognise me when i told her my name! it's funny how you remember the noon-hour supervisor with such rose-coloured glasses. but i liked her.
- there was a really really tall guy who came. i was just astonished by the fact that his knees were almost as high off the ground as the tabletop was. julie didn't seem as impressed.
- The Big Guy Who Carries His Tiny Dogs To Parkland School Fields On A Regular Basis worked another poll booth. he's big and round and has a big white beard. he works as santa claus around christmas. so whenever i was sarcastic or (accidentally) shot elastic bands his way he marked another point by my name. fortunately i succeeded in the string trick three times in a row, so he took me off the naughty list again.
- the liberal scrutineer was a nice woman. when it was starting to get boring, i had started to pretend that i knew how to play cat's cradle, and she showed me a cut-the-finger string trick. took me an hour or so to figure out but now i can do it like a pro.
- karl voted. at my pollbooth. which is fun to no one other than meself, really. i'm curious to know who he picked.
- the grand result of my Query Of The Day, whether tic-tac-toe sucked or not, was a resounding "yes, it does." this was determined by asked a full 1 other person, outside of me and julie. therefore, it is true.
- got an sms from finland halfway through the day. yay sanni!
- the phrase "paul forseth" is quick probably going to haunt my dreams tonight. when we counted ballots, he won in our particular box, and his name was becoming hypnotic whenever it was read out.
- carli, the green party candidate, got a decent number of votes in all the boxes (from what i could hear). nothing staggering, but a decent proportion, which is cool mostly because she's actually quite young, but people are voting for her, regardless. nice to see that ageism isn't quite as rampant as you might expect. (actually, according to the cbc website right now, she's got 6% of the vote in all of the riding. in comparison, the green candidate in burnaby-douglas is at 3.6%... {g} though there's still a lot of polls to count in each.)
- julie and i were so awesome that we closed up everything for our poll first, even faster than the veteran pollbooth people. we're so cool.
- one of the NDP scrutineers told us that she'd been working at elections in some way for 50 years now. she was nice, even if she was a little annoying, trying to get information when she wanted it, rather than when it was convenient. but oh well.
long long days like that, when they're staggered, are a lot of fun. at least, that's what i think. i kinda miss the auctions because they were just like that: looooooooooong days, waves of business, fun banter.
written with flair at 2:28:00 PM | link |
Monday, June 28, 2004
MONSTER POST WHEEEEE!
natasha is secretly one of my heros. because she's cool. because she's got things under control. because she has one cat who's a bitch and another cat who's going blind and a complete freak. because she talks as bluntly and loudly and (sometimes) obnoxiously as is humanly possible and manages to befriend everyone she's around. because she's got a bizarre job. because she's russian. because she's got great stories. because she's got a greater way of telling them.
today i went to her place for the sole purpose of getting her a car battery. i even missed the second half of the football game to do it. we managed to get the battery, even though the place was closed. too bad we didn't have the cords to attach it properly in the end to make sure that it works. and then we hung out with a stray dog until the SPCA came to pick it up. and told stories and ate cold things.
i'm getting more and more worried about the pain in my side. i have an appointment to see a kidney-ologist, but that for september 13th or something stupid like that. which doesn't help me right now. if it weren't messing with my moods and making me dead tired half the time, i wouldn't mind so much. but as it is, i'd rather be in a good mood so that i can at least figure everything else out in my life right now.
saw jazz last night, and it was good. still can't hear out of one ear, but what do you expect from a 10-piece band. opening group was awesome for the faces they made while playing. and for doing jazz versions of pixies and black sabbath and whatnot - things you wouldn't expect to hear done in jazz. and because they had a song that took place in my birthyear, which somewhat makes up for the travesty that smashing pumpkins wrote. 1979 is cooler again. ironically, rachel and i had been discussing birthyear songs just before the show began. and jaga jazzist was as i expected them to be. good, not necessarily so much of a stage show, but the drummer really wants to be a rock star, making the faces, telling the audience he loved us, throwing his sticks into the crowd. vast contrast to the other guy in the front who seemed to pointedly ignore the fact that there was anyone else other than the band in the room. good show, though. hope some pictures turned out.
before the show rachel and i ended up walking from commercial drive to the commodore. took us maybe 35, 40 minutes, so it wasn't that bad. walked down hastings, though, which was interesting going from a not-so-grand-but-alright part of hastings down through the worst part and out again. got a random compliment on my shoes as we'd just passed main street. for the first time i felt genuinely disturbed, probably because i went through the transition that way. not like feeling disturbed because i was worried for my safety or worried because i felt like i was being watched or anything, but disturbed because of the fact that our society allows (and possibly depends) on situations like that existing in the first place. ended up in an interesting debate with rachel about all of it, though, but then again, it's rachel. she's always good for interesting conversations.
found a key i thought i'd lost months ago. which means a free $10 for me when i go return it on tuesday.
doh. there's a wasp in the room. gotta turn off all lights and computer screens til it flies back out again.
written with flair at 3:00:00 PM | link |
the BBC football announcers are so very poetic.
"the captain of the czech team with his fair, sun-bleached hair..."
"merlin-esque, with his capabilities to drive the czech team on..."
"bathed in sunshine, the sky a washed-out blue, the river winding away, it's abeautiful day... as nedved pushes through to kolar."
i'm really becoming a football fan, and it's all my own doing. so who wants to watch the semi-finals or the final game with me?
written with flair at 5:32:00 AM | link |
Saturday, June 26, 2004
my body's falling apart today. my knee's been worse because of the weather changes, my ex-broken arm's acting up a little as well, my abdomen's a little achy, but i'm getting used to that (yay, specialist appt...in september???), my right index finger's hurting like the dickens (i think it's a sprain that will never ever go away, it keeps persisting no matter what i do), and i think i broke my toe yesterday tripping over a plastic bag in my hurry to send a mocking message to brit friends when portugal won. that last one was karma, i think, and that's fair enough. it's still hurting a day later, though, so now i'm a little concerned.
what an unfortunate day to be feeling energetic.
today's radio show (3-4pm PST) will probably be groovy. or at least silly. something. so GET COOL NOW!!
written with flair at 2:09:00 AM | link |
Friday, June 25, 2004
who scored? who scored? PORTUGAAAAL!!! {g}
i'm rooting for not-England. i know too many brits. i need to taunt them. go go portugaaal!
written with flair at 6:26:00 AM | link |
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
my tutees were fun today. the younger one's finally getting a good enough grasp of english to try more creative things, so i've been dictating words to him every day and he writes sentences. but they're not always good ones. and he knows when i'm going to tell him it's not good enough, too. but at this point i think he does it because he knows it'll make me laugh first. for example:
EVERYTHING: I love everything.
SUGAR: I eat sugar.
just imaging him sitting there in the middle of the room, shovelling sugar into his mouth, spoonful by spoonful. EES FUNNY.
i like my kids. i just wish they lived a titch closer. but i'm starting to really enjoy going through maple ridge, too. it's nice, as long as you're not stuck there.
written with flair at 1:41:00 PM | link |
i found out late last night that i had to vote today, or not at all. contrary to what i was told before, i can't vote the day of the election, even if i'm working the polls in my own riding. oh well.
frustrating as hell, because i had to choose whether to vote in terms of which local representative i like, or how i want things to be in a more nationalistic sense. because the two don't cross over. and then there's the automatic "root for the underdog" sensibility that pokes up as well...
it really is stupid, though, that i can't really vote how i'd like to. with all the talk of proposed changes for the future (granted, for now it's only BC, but if that works, maybe more will too), i really hope something works out.
had elections training today. was reminded once again how much i hate any sort of training, but more just because of the propaganda-style that things are done. didn't help when the fellow in charge came and started preaching to us how important it was to have youth voting.... as though he was trying to sell voting to us, when really, we're the wrong audience. i spent the time biting my tongue rather than arguing with him and pointing out that low voting rates might not mean high voter apathy.
....look at your hands, play with your pen, twiddle your thumbs, anything but look at him and counter his arguments....
hungry. need food. maybe ice cream. so hot right now... s'lovely.
written with flair at 7:10:00 AM | link |
Monday, June 21, 2004
"hey, everybody! let's commmence line-dancing!"
today rebecca, daniel and i went for breakfast with my dad at IHOP, as it's father's day and all. grandma, his mom, came too. i swallowed the fact that i've never been too keen on eating out for breakfast, as well as the fact that i tend not to like pancakes much at all and was actually feeling rather ill for the sake of the event. go me!
everyone except my grandma ordered the same meal. except that dad and daniel went for fried eggs, rather than scrambled. and daniel had to be different getting apple instead of strawberry. daniel and rebecca built creamer towers. when they ran out of creamer my grandma passed more to help out. grandma laughed at me when i flicked tea on meself playing with straws.
there's someone working there who i remember seeing there the last time we went to IHOP. which was with both parents. and all four kids. and i dressed up for it. which means that it was a LONG time ago. which means that said person's been there a long time. strange to see a face you recognise from years back at a restaurant like that.
i opted out of dancing in order to maybe get to talk to rebecca a bit before she went back to victoria, and to go with my dad to fix up the bike. and because i still wasn't feeling too well.
exciting times.
i do wonder what my grandma thinks about my parents' divorce and all. i have no idea what she thinks about it.
written with flair at 2:47:00 PM | link |
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
up and down and up and down and up and down
wheeeee rollercoasters.
written with flair at 4:34:00 PM | link |
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Day Of Awesomeness
or maybe not all of it. but its high points have been nice and tall. and any not-high points really weren't that low either.
had thai noodle salad and grilled cheese that was nice and tasty. sometimes you just have the desire to taste the taste of food-not-prepared-by-you.
swimming and jumping off the diving board and pretending to be a synchronised swimmer and being super secret spies trying to avoid all the evil agents in the other swimming lanes. (so we like to just play around in the pool rather than swimming laps. don't scoff. the lifeguards know that - they opened up the diving board just for us. see? we're cool.)
got the new beastie boys cd. and it's disappointing. but it's just getting preview copies in the mail.
found a replacement adapter that's got everything exactly the same as the old one. andrew not-wang-but-yang is my hero.
had an ice cream party in the offices down the hallway. laughed at silly things. watched titus gregory skipping on his way somewhere. it's happy-inducing.
took some photos of prettiness and used up a roll of film - and i forget what's on the first half, making it all the more exciting to develop this weekend.
hung out and chatted awhile longer because i wasn't in the mood to leave, though i was in the mood to be home and do the work i've got here. but not to go through the act of leaving yet.
biked down the hill, took the 143 route up the big hill as a last-minute decision, ended up biking the entire way home. which didn't take so long in the end, and wasn't near as bad as i expected - not after the first hill. except for the stupid people who drove pass me in their cars and gave me dirty looks for being on their road. and except for the highschool guys (read: assholes) who drove past super-close and yell at me which was enough to shock me a little (don't think they said anything, just wanted to scare/surprise me). and except for the people who zoomed past me in order to turn right before i reached the corner, causing ME to have to slow down quickly to not hit them. and except for the earache from the cold, but i've stuck a bandana in my bag for next time, just forgotten to do so for the past couple weeks. but i've accomplished half the goal of "biking to and from school at least once"! maybe next week i try going up the big hill.
came home to find a cheque from tutoring. for lots of money. and a bit more than i expected to boot. exciting. my bank account will be happy.
and now, gonna scan a bunch more before bed. fun fun fun!
yes. good, good day.
written with flair at 3:25:00 PM | link |
Monday, June 14, 2004
yaaaay ImageShack hosting.
for some reason the scanner makes images darker and fuzzier than they actually are. so the original of this looks much better. also strange how it fades out towards the right side (at least, it does on a PC), but that's to do with my coding, i know that. but that's not gonna stop me from posting it right now.
it's one of the kids we befriended last may in praha.
written with flair at 5:52:00 PM | link |
i'm likely gonna be sent to a kidney specialist soon, but the dr wanted to do one more ultrasound to be sure that the problem's not another organ. i'm pretty sure it isn't, as my kidney area's been achier every day. but the ultrasound appointment's set for wednesday, so i'm figuring i can bear it for a few more days. even though i think it'll prove useless. but i'm not gonna suddenly keel over and die in the next week if this has been a problem for awhile, i'd assume.
