GAMING GOODNESS
I have a PS2 in my room now.
Mark, one of the post-docs at SJC, is leaving for a conference and family visit back East. Since he’ll be away, he’s generously allowed me to borrow his PS2 for about a week and a half. Nice.
I’ve got NHL 2002 (my own personal copy), Batman : Vengeance, GTA Vice, and a few Bloody Roar titles. I popped in NHL just for old times sake. I’m a bit rusty! Batman is pretty cool. I can’t wait to try Vice.
Well, time spent posting is less time on PS2! See ya!
BRUNCH… AGAIN!
After having posted that I was enjoying brunch, Karen suggested we go for brunch today.
Nic, Karen, and I wound up at this place on 4th Ave called Hell’s Kitchen. It was quite nice. We got to sit on the patio, the weather was pleasant, and it was fun people-watching. The food itself was neither terribly bad nor was it terribly good.
I realized at brunch this was my first summer living in the Kitsilano area, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. With just a few days of good weather behind us, I can already tell it’s going to be a good summer. Living in Kitsilano, the weather makes it great for many, many different reasons.
After we had brunch, we just missed our bus, so we wandered into this store called The Candy Aisle. It sells nothing but candy and the whole store is brightly decorated. Dumb as this sounds, but it made me feel like… a kid in a candy store.
Karen bought some little treats, but I bought a couple packages of pop rocks and this tiny 150 ml can of Coke. I just tried the two of them together now, and not only did I not explode, but I think the pop rocks are more fun with out the Coke.
When we left the store, Nic had to go back to his place by the beach, so Karen and I waited by the bus stop. While we were waiting, some guy in a car either yelled at us or beeped us as he drove by. I looked, and it was Adrian. Adrian used to live at SJC, but he drops by almost daily. Anyways, he pointed down the street, so Karen and I followed. We hopped into his car and he gave us a ride back onto campus, which was real kind of him.
Not long after, I had to go to softball practice with my team. Not that many people showed up, but it was fun still. We were out there for almost two hours in the hot sun. Near the end, people were waning in the heat.
On the way back from the field, someone remarked that we were having cheese and spinach tortellini for dinner. Yuck. I suggested that we go to Swiss Chalet instead. I found agreement from Rhonda and Dana. Dana was nice enough to drive us there. Dinner was fabulous of course, but then again, when isn’t it at the Chalet?
Now, I’m at home doing laundry, writing this post, and eating pop rocks and Coke. Now that I mention it, my hands are all tingly now… I hope that’s not from the pop rocks and Coke. That’s a lot of carbon dioxide. I wonder if that would cause any major.dfgdf #RRG dgd dbf b.btrer
HOT TIME, SUMMER IN THE CITY
Yes, I mentioned how hot it was earlier but seriously dude, around 4pm in my room, it was warm.
I had to go out for the evening and I was hoping that my room would cool down while I was gone. As I returned from the bus stop, I was pleasantly surprised at the gentle breeze that was blowing.
Sadly, I discovered that this gentle breeze had done nothing to cool down my room. I now have my door propped open with a shoe so that the air can travel more freely into my room. It’s a shame I can’t go to sleep with my door propped open… or can I? Hmm… even if I did find a way, the light from the hallway would make it difficult to fall asleep. Still, it’s much cooler with the moving air.
I also need a screen for my windows. Last night, it seemed like every tiny creature with more than two legs had found its way through them.
Having gone through a winter already at SJC, I must admit I’d rather deal with the heat than the cold!
EMPLOYED
It is freaking hot in my room and my window doesn’t even face the sun! We really need A/C in our SJC rooms.
Anyways, I have managed to secure employment for the summer. I am now the Course Development Assistant for Applied Science 201. APSC 201 is a required course for all undergrad engineers at UBC. It teaches students the fundamentals of technical communication. Coincidentally, I took APSC 201 myself the very first semester that it was offered.
It was actually a very quick sequence of events that led me to this job. I had applied for this job weeks ago and heard nothing. Then on Wednesday afternoon, while I was away playing soccer, I received a voicemail from the Director of the Technical Communications Centre. She actually was the person who taught me APSC 201 many years ago. We arranged to meet on Thursday morning. It wasn’t really an interview per se but more like a friendly chat. I signed some papers and I was good to go.
I start June 16th and I’ll be doing some web site maintenance and various other course content related work. It’s on campus, so the commute is virtually non-existant.
I’m quite relieved to have secured a summer job because I think I was going to apply to Blockbuster Video next.
STRAPPING ON A JOCK
You know I originally wrote this long, great post last night, but then blogger took a crap on me while I posting and I lost it. Re-writing a post is one of the most annoying things that you can do on the Internet, so I’m not going to do it. I will however, give a condensed version of it…
.
.
.
In a feat of atheleticism not seen since my days in junior high, I played three different sports in the consecutive days. Tennis on Monday, softball on Tuesday, and soccer on Wednesday.
As reflection of the international nature of futbal, SJC has three soccer teams and only one softball team.
I’m not officially on the Wednesday soccer team but anyone is welcome to play. I can definitely say that I’m a better softball player than I am a soccer player.
For the most part, I ran around like an idiot on the field, though I did assist on Paula’s goal where my shot rang off the post.
I’m not sure if I’ll continue to play soccer, but I’d like to. I getting a pretty good tan now and if I keep this up, I may actually be fit by the end of the summer.
SPELLBOUND
I was at the corner of Granville and Broadway today at 10am. Early! I had to drop some crap off with a friend and that was the only time she could meet me.
Afterwards, I did a little window shopping at Restoration Hardware, Multimedia Technologies, and Pottery Barn. Gaming software and home furnishing. It’s what Carmack does on his weekends for sure.
I didn’t buy anything at those places, but I did pick up the new Black Hawk Down : Deluxe Edition over at Future Shop. I got home around 1:30pm and resisted the temptation to play tennis with Arash and Mitchell.
Instead, I had to send out some e-mails and I popped in Black Hawk for a quick spin. I just started it and did my e-mailing as I went. I’ve seen the movie before, but I was impressively reminded of why the sound guys on that film won an Oscar. I couldn’t finish the film because I had softball to get ready for.
I’m the team captain for softball, which isn’t a testament to my leadership abilities, but more for the fact I was the sap who decided he would organize the whole team. I send out e-mails, remind people of their games, make sure everybody has all the equipment, and in general rally the troops. We meet at 4pm in our courtyard and I’m relieved to see we have exactly enough people to prevent a default. We head off to the fields and we get one more on the way, so we’re totally in the clear.
At the field, I see our opposition, the Metals and Materials Engineering grad team. It’s like 12 guys throwing around the ball. The bases are all set-up and ready to go. I leave my team to warm-up and I jog over to the MMAT team. I figure out who’s their captain.
I ask, “Where are all your ladies?”
“They’ll be here soon.”
I give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s 4:25pm and game time is supposed to be 4:30pm on the dot. I go back to warm-up with my team. Ten minutes pass and none of their girls show up. I go back to their captain at 4:35pm.
I ask him again where his ladies are. He assures me again that two of them will show up. I tell him we can’t wait forever. He assures me again that he’ll have his ladies. He asks me if his two females show up, can he have eight players in total. I tell him that the rules are 7 players total with only with two girls. Generously, I agree with him that if by 4:50pm if he doesn’t get his girls then his team defaults.
I toss the ball around with my team for the next several minutes. Around 4:48pm one of MMAT’s girls shows up. Time advances to 4:50pm. Our team goes over to the other team.
“So, MMAT what’s up, where’s your other girl?”, I ask.
“The second girl should be on that bus right now, she should be getting off at that stop”, MMAT captain responds.
He points to a bus that’s on the street parallel to the field. He then points to the stop down the road. Everybody is now watching the bus as it whizzes down the road towards the stop.
I tell my team if a girl gets off that bus, we have a game, otherwise we win by default. The bus barrels down the road and shows no sign of stopping and it blows by the stop with emphasis.
MMAT captain turns around and concedes defeat to me. I accept. I suddenly realize that I have just won my first game/match as a member of a St. John’s College sports team. I also realize I don’t give a damn that I won it by a technicality.
Both teams agree to play for fun, and they smoke us. Then again, it wasn’t really fair. And who cares really? We won already.
We return back to SJC for dinner. During dinner Arash and I, convince Patrick to go see Spellbound with us. It’s playing at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas.
I’ve always known it for being an art house theatre where the literati go to see their “arty” films. It’s my first time going. We’re in Cinema 3 and as we sit down, we notice there’s a balcony.
Several seconds later, we’re in the balcony and approve of its sight lines. I’ve never watched a movie in a balcony before. I am excited, possibly visibly so. We’re early, so Patrick, Arash, and I embark on a very interesting conversation, the contents of which do not belong anywhere near a blog.
Spellbound is a documentary about eight contestants in the 1999 American Spelling Bee. It’s a fantastic, entertaining, and candid look into the high-pressure world of spelling bees. When done right, documentaries can be some of the most compelling films. If you’ve been looking to try something new in your movie-watching ways, I strongly suggest Spellbound.
So, now I’m home and at the end of this rambling post, fueled by the cheese nachos I made myself about twenty minutes ago.
HEART ON A SLEEVE
Dear Lord am I tired! I should stop posting before I go to bed. Anyways, here goes… as some of you know, I read a blog written by this girl Devon. In her latest post, she wishes that she “could just post the contents of [her] heart onto [her] blog without knowing that people would judge [her]”.
That’s quite an admirable wish, but also something that will never come true. A blog is a wonderful thing. Just about anyone in the world now can write up any little thought they have and put it on the Internet. It can be read by ten people or ten thousand people. I can wonder if anyone else finds the host of While You Were Out hot. Instead of asking one person at a time that question, I can post it on my blog once and have it read many times over.
Writing to a blog can be a very cathartic experience. Much like talking about something will make you feel better, writing about it can do the same thing.
The one thing that bloggers must realize though, is that a blog is not a diary. You may treat it as such, but that’s like making every thought and feeling you put in your diary available to anyone with Internet access.
I can understand how some people would want to write so-and-so did this and it made me feel bad, or I am so in love with so-and-so, but there’s a time and a place for that. I’m not so sure a blog is a good place for that though. At least not for Devon. The problem I see is that her blog is very popular and is read by lots of people. I believe beyond a certain number of people, a blog reaches a critical mass. You just can’t be posting every personal detail of your life after that.
I remember when I first started, no one and I mean no one gave a rat’s ass about my blog. I could have written anything and only my good friend Joanna would have had the chance to read it. Now though, I have people regularly reading this and I have no clue who the hell they are, where they’re from, and how they found me in the first place.
I don’t put every little thought or worry I have in my blog. First, it’d be boring and second, some things just aren’t made for going into a blog. A blog is not a diary.
In many ways, I treat my blog like a sit-com. What are the most entertaining moments or thoughts in my life? That’s what goes into my blog. I may stray here or there once in a while, but for the most part, I’m writing to entertain. I keep some semblance of privacy, but I still get to post a few of my thoughts.
If Devon wants to post about all of her feelings and thoughts, she certainly can, but there’s no way that’s going to happen without repercussions. It’s akin to letting anyone on the Internet read your mind!
I must admit though, I like the candid nature of her posts. If I got pierced “down there”, would I have the cojones to tell the world? I wonder…
Will Devon continue to be as candid? I guess we’ll have to keep on reading.
SHUFFLEBOARD
Shuffleboard. When you read that, what do you think of? Old people. Cruise ships. A slow game for people with a slower pace of life. Yeah, that’s what I used to think that too.
Well, about two weeks ago, I was at Koerner’s Pub with Nic, Arash, and Bryan. I’ve been going this pub for over eight months now. A few times I’ve noticed this really long table over in one corner of the pub. I had no idea what it was for, but I didn’t make any effort to find out.
That night, Nic went over to the table and said, “Let’s play”. I asked him what exactly. “Shuffleboard,” he replied. I was at first a bit skeptical. Shuffleboard? The game for seniors?
What the hell I thought. As I went over to the table, I noticed that it was covered in this Parmesan cheese-like substance. I think Arash dared me to eat some of it. Weird. Nic came back from the bar with a bucket of these metal discs. They looked like small curling rocks.
I think Nic had played before so he kinda explained how to play. We didn’t have any hard and fast rules, so we just went at it. The teams were divided as such: Arash and Erwin vs. Nic and Bryan. Little did we know that this would a critical set of pairings.
Anyways, the game is pretty simple: you try to slide the discs into these scoring zones without overshooting the end of the table. You can see one of the table here. Like curling, you can knock out other discs and go for elaborate take outs. After the shots are all done, you count up how many points have been scored.
It was non-standard, but we played to 21 points. The first two games were pretty uneventful. Arash and I sucked. We had a lot of trouble finding our range. Either our shots sailed off the end or they barely made it over the mid-line. Arash also had this annoying habit of going for take-outs and then knocking out every one of our discs in sight. Maddening! Arash and I weren’t offering each other encouragement and there was barely any talking between teams.
After the second game, we changed the rules a bit. We implemented a hammer (last shot) rule and refined the scoring a bit. This is where it got wild (well, relatively wild).
I’m not sure what it was, but Arash and I got rolling in the third game. We smoked Nic and Bryan 21-10 or something. Arash and I started high-fiving, yelling, and jumping up and down. The trash talking started too. After the third game ended, it was on.
Whereas the first two games were played in relaxed conditions, the fourth game had the tensions of a seventh game in the Cup finals. Every shot was agonized over. Each teammate offered encouragement. Strategies were developed. Things were shouted. Despite our stunning victory in game three, Arash and I found ourselves down 15-2 or something. It was looking grim.
Maybe it was because we started drinking water, but whatever it was, Arash and I found some deep shuffleboard reserve from which to draw upon. We started to make some awesome shots. Most ends finish with one team scoring one point, we started to score 3-plus points after each end. After stunning back-to-back 4 point ends, we found ourselves tied.
There would be no looking back. In the final end, we convincingly scored multiple points to take the whole game. After it was over, Arash ran over to hug me.
On the walk back to SJC, Arash and I congratulated each other on our great shots. Nic and Bryan muttered something about us getting a room. Tee-hee.
Shuffleboard. A fun game. No really!
If you want to learn more about shuffleboard, take a look at this great site. You can see what the tables look like and what the rules are. You’ll even see what type of people play shuffleboard.
We’ve played several times now, and it’s been more fun each time. Arash and I even talked about getting a set of our own discs and wax shaker cans!