MISH MASH

I’ve been working hard (at least for me) for the last couple of days. I think if I put in a good day tomorrow, I’ll be where I need to be. If I were to describe it as a commercial airline flight, I’m just finishing my climb towards cruising altitude. I’ll need to put some work to keep the bird in the air, but not as much work as I needed to take-off.

I could have worked until 4am, but around 2am I said, screw it. I’m tired of working until I had to absolutely go to sleep. It leaves me with a disatisfied feeling before I fall asleep. Like the whole day was put towards work, with patches of procrastination here and there, but never really having time for me.

So, for the last hour or so, I’ve been working on my site. Before I show you the fruits of my labour, let me tell you about my weekend thus far.

On Friday, I had a chance run-in with my good friend Marcia, or now more correctly, the new Mrs. Marcia George-Clarke. Anyways, she was in the middle of errands, so she asked me to walk with her while we talked.

Her first errand? To get her U-Pass. Um, ok. I follow her down to the base of Koerner Library. I’m wondering if Murdoch’s sister is still down there. I walk into the U-Pass room and there are shouts from behind workstations.

“Hey, it’s that guy!”

“Oh my God, it’s erwintang.com”

Marcia turns to me with a confused look. Murdoch’s sister is indeed still working. Except it appears she has told all of her co-workers about me and my site. The guy next to her has a laptop computer. He turns it around to show me what’s on his screen. It’s my site. For some reason, I’m feeling quite shy at that moment.

Some other U-Pass girl comes up to me and says hi. “Hey, that intro to your site? Nice… I like the part about you not having a girlfriend.”

“Um, thanks.”

Meanwhile, Marcia is getting her U-Pass processed, and I’m kinda hiding behind her while all the U-Pass workers look at me.

Unfazed, Murdoch’s sister is explaining to some other people what they can do with their U-Pass, she ends her spiel with, “and don’t forget to visit erwintang.com”.

Marcia grabs her U-Pass and starts to leave. I say goodbye and nice to meet you to all my new friends in the basement of the library.

Outside, Marcia makes me sit down on a curb.

“Ok, you need to explain to me what the hell that was all about.”

I tell her the whole the story. She seemed somewhat amused.

Later in the evening I went to my parents’ place to pick up some stuff. I spent the night there. I totally forgot it was their anniversary last week, so I took them out to dinner on Saturday night. I’m such a good child.

So, that brings us to here; and the work I’ve done on my site.

First off, I’ve put up another interview here at erwintang.com. I may or may not have re-used a previous set of questions in the interests of saving time. Also, the idea of re-using questions may or may not have come from the interview subject Carolyn. In any case, you can read the new interview here.

Lastly, I feel really bad that I have three sets of digital photos on my HD and they’ve not seen the light of day on the Internet. These sets cover my trip to New Orleans, the 2003 SJC Welcome Dinner, and Nic and Marcia’s wedding. I will eventually put these photos up, but here’s a sample of things to come.

That’s enough work for one night, I’m going to play a game, watch TV, or clean my fridge before I go to sleep.

ALMOST THERE

I’ve been working hard the last couple of nights, reading from text books and such, in an effort to catch up. I still can’t believe how fast my classes have been out of the gate. It was out of my control really, but had I been on the ball from week one, I’d be laughing right now. As it stands, I gotta go hard-core until probably Sunday before I’m where I need to be.

Until then, the rest of my life is somewhat on hold. My room is a mess and I need to vacuum. I want to go shopping for new dinner plates. There’s a recipe I want to try from a cookbook. Jedi Academy is now out. My fridge is empty. The list goes on…

3am in the morning… I need to get some beauty sleep.

NOTORIETY

Wow, who knew slacking off the first two weeks of school would cost me so much in terms of work now. The odd thing is that I don’t even have any assignments to work on. I’m just doing reading.

Actually, it’s all the damn marking I’m doing that’s costing me. There are over sixty students in my tutorial and I haven’t been given answer keys to their assignments. I have to make up the keys before I even mark a single question. I’ve talked to a few of my fellow grad students here at SJC and according to them, this is not normal nor fair to me. I learn a little bit more each time I teach and each time I mark, but I still have lots to learn. The good thing is that I’m pretty sure I’ll be a kick-ass TA for this course next term. I just hope I can get through this term first.

So today, I had two odd run-ins with total (almost) strangers on campus. I decided today was the day I would get my U-Pass. All of this stuff is done at Koerner Library, which I like to avoid since it’s so busy with undergrads. On the way there, I’m minding my own business when out of the blue someone says my name.

“Erwin!”

I stop and look and it’s this young lady going by me the other way. I have no clue who it is. I gamble and make a split-second decision to bluff my way out of it.

“Oh hey, hi”

I guess I had a really bad poker face on because she saved me from further embarrassment.

“I’m Molly’s younger sister, we met last Thursday.”

Yes, in fact, we did meet. Molly was one of the bridesmaids from the wedding I went to on Friday. Molly drove me home from the rehearsal dinner, but she stopped off at her parents’ home before that and I met her family.

Her sister was able to recognize me again from a five-minute meeting and this time in daylight instead of night. Weird. We talked a bit about the wedding, but it got progressively weirder. I made some mention about my U-Pass and left.

Once in the library I was met with some bureaucratic red tape, but luckily that resolved itself quite quickly. To get your U-Pass you have to hand your student card to any number of student workers manning workstations. Out of the many workstations, my turn in line directed me towards one where a young lady took my student card. Not five seconds after I handed her my card, she asked me a question which was most surprising.

“Hey, did you work at EA?”

I was surprised enough at her question that I didn’t answer right away. I eventually did though.

“Now, why would you ask me a question like that?”

“My brother is Alex Murdoch, you played softball against him this summer. I was there too.”

Too weird. Two separate run-ins. Both with sisters of people I know. Murdoch and I worked at EA togther. During the summer softball league, Murdoch played as a ringer for another team. I didn’t know he had a sister, nor that she was on his team when I played him.

Since there was no one else lined up behind me, I decided to chat with Murdoch’s sister. It turns out she’s finished her degree at UBC in Theatre. She told me Alex is engaged. Of course, if you’re an EA employee, you might already know this. After a few minutes of small talk I decided I to take my leave. I thanked her for my U-Pass and went on my way.

It’s amazing how many people you can run into on campus on any given day.

Ok, sleep time!

SEA-MONKEYS

Over the weekend, I was in Pacific Centre when I passed by one of those carts they have in the mall level. They were selling Sea-Monkey starter kits. I picked up the cheapest one they had.

It looks identical to the one I had as a kid, right down to the location of the magnifying bubbles on the plastic tank. I remember my Mom helped me clip an order form from the back of a comic book. We sent the form away and a few weeks later the kit came in the mail.

Even as a kid, I knew the elaborate illustrations of Sea-Monkeys in clothes and doing activities as a family were a bunch of crap. They’re a special kind of brine shrimp. How special? Well, a few weeks after I had my kit up and running, as a typical kid is prone to do, I knocked the tank over. The whole thing emptied onto the carpet, much to the chagrin of my parents.

For some reason, I didn’t clean out the tank and just left it to dry out. Weeks later, I put more water into the tank and pretty soon I had new Sea-Monkeys. That batch lasted much longer and they got to be quite large in size and complexity. In the end, I had to flush them down the toilet, because I swear my little Sea-Monkey society was mere days away from acquiring the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

So, I have a new tank now. I’m not allowed to have a cat or a dog and fish are too time consuming for me, so these brine shrimp should do the trick. I only need to feed them once a week, so that’s something I can do. When they get bigger, I’m thinking about putting them on my webcam.

If all of this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because you might have seen RALLAN do something like this. I figure we’re even because I’ve visited his damn “new” web site for months now and it stills says it’s “mere days” before it launches.

Well, it’s getting really late and I’ve done squat all weekend. I’m going to get my ass kicked by school work this week. Have a good one everybody!

KICKSTART

I am glad the week has ended. I’ve been really stressed all week. Actually, I’ve been stressed since school started. Not only did I have to deal with school, I also had duties as one of the ushers for the wedding of two of my close friends, Nic and Marcia.

Their wedding was on Friday evening. My ride to the wedding was late and I nearly caused the whole production to be late as well. I spent most of the way to the wedding fretting in the back of a mini-van. If it weren’t for the re-assurances from my friend Rhonda, I probably would have been much more nervous.

I arrived five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the wedding. What made it even more important for me to be on time was that the History Channel was on hand to tape the wedding ceremony. A relative of Marcia’s was the last Canadian to win the Victory Cross.

About five minutes after I got there, I realized I hadn’t caused that much strife and that things were going to be ok. It was a wonderful and quick ceremony. I’ve never been in a wedding party before and I didn’t realize the importance and honour of such a position until I was actually at the wedding. It’s a hell of a lot of work, but it can be worth it in the end.

With the wedding over, I thought today would be the day where I could get caught up with the rest of my life, namely concentrating on school again. I got off to a late start by waking up at 11am. I had to return my tux, but I dicked around to 3pm before leaving. I partly blame that on Arash, and you can ask him about that if you see him.

After returning from downtown, I had sushi for dinner at the Village. Blah, blah, blah… next thing I know it’s 9pm and I still haven’t done any work. By then I figure I’ll start easy by marking an assignment for the tutorial I’m teaching.

Three hours later and I still haven’t finished marking it. I realize I’m new to TAing, but I’m being really careful about marking, getting it right, and making helpful comments. I need to speed up my marking or else I’ll be spending more time on it than I’m paid.

Unfortunately, I’ve done nothing for my own classes and I need to do that soon or else I’ll be really behind.

Well, I gotta go and get some sleep for tomorrow.

NIFTY!

Blogger has just included a whole slew of new features to their free blog customers. Posting is now even more fun.

I have been very busy the last few days with preparing for a wedding I’m going to, plus all the school-related stuff.

Last night was SJC’s Welcome Dinner. It was fun!

Well, I have to go. I will be back later tonight for some more posting goodness.

I’M YOUR WINGMAN

Until tonight, I did not know the Thunderbar (upstairs at the UBC Winter Sports Centre) sold wings at $0.25 a piece after 11pm. You know, at the time, it seemed like a good idea for Bryan and myself to consume over 25 wings each, but now, I’m not so sure.

LIL’ BASTARDS

At dinner I see Adrian. He tells me that he’s thinking about going for a quick coffee with Akiko at 10:30pm. He also tells me he can’t stay out too late.

At 10:30pm, Patrick, Akiko, and I are wondering where the hell Adrian is. We page him. He finally shows up around 11:10pm. By the time we hop in the car, it’s nearly 11:30pm. The plan is to go to Calhoun’s. As we approach Calhoun’s, Adrian pipes up.

“Hey, Akiko, have you ever been to The Naam?”

“No.”

“Ok, let’s go there.”

We continue driving and arrive at The Naam. I’m kinda excited because I’ve always wanted to try their Thai noodles. We sit down and not a minute after we get our menus, Adrian says, “Hey, let’s go to Denny’s instead!”

I’ve never seen him so indecisive. Patrick wants to go to Denny’s too. I ask if we’re just going to leave. Adrian says no, we’ll just order drinks. When the waiter comes around, I order a blueberry milkshake. Everyone else gets coffee, but Adrian also gets a plate of nachos. My Thai noodles will have to wait, though I’m thinking maybe I should order it anyways.

Our drinks come. My shake is one of the best I’ve had, approaching the quality of White Spot shakes. There is no metal cup though, which I like. The nachos take forever to come.

They finally get to us, and I have a little bit. Everyone else gobbles it up. Then we get the bill.

“Oooohhhh… I’m kinda full now.”

“Yeah, me too…”

The boys are expressing their fullness. I say, “Hey, I bailed on my Thai noodles because I thought we were going to Denny’s!”

Everyone agrees we’re going to Denny’s again, especially since Akiko lives near there now. On the way, Patrick speaks of these little hamburgers. I have no clue what’s he talking about.

We arrive at Denny’s and get a table. We take a look at the menu. Patrick points out the mini-burgers. It’s six tiny little burgers with a side of onion rings. I’m going through a chicken wing phase, so I decide to get buffalo wings. Patrick isn’t sure if he can finish six mini-burgers by himself. Adrian expresses his desire to help.

“Alright, we’ll get those lil’ bastards, and Akiko and I will help you eat them.”

Our food comes and I eat nearly 10 wings by myself. The others consume these tiny little burgers and onion rings. Afterwards, I feel a little gross.

We drive Akiko home, then it’s back on campus. Now, I’m tired… really tired, like I’ve been to two restaurants in less than an hour.

DAY ONE – VANCOUVER / NEW ORLEANS CONTINUED

So I’m sitting in this shuttle van and it’s quite apparent I’m not in Vancouver anymore. The weather is stiffling hot. Not only is the mercury at 34 degrees Celsius, the humidity is also kicking my ass. It’s just oppressive weather.

The van is nearly full and I’m looking around for the driver to come. He finally gets in and starts reading out destinations. I hear mine, which is a good thing. Two people are going to Tulane University.

The van starts up and so does the A/C. I’m in heaven. We pull away from the curb and begin to exit the airport. The driver informs us it should be a 20 minute drive to downtown New Orleans. I immediately take note of the condition of the roads, the traffic density, and type of cars. We pull onto a multi-lane interstate. It must be at least four or five lanes wide in either direction. Coming from Vancouver, this is always a treat for me to see. Even though I think most Americans drive way too fast and recklessly, I don’t get that feeling watching the traffic around me. I see several large billboards featuring seductive women enticing me to go to “gentlemen’s clubs” in the French Quarter. The names I see are “Rick’s” and “Hustler”. Nice.

Pretty soon we’re approaching the city proper and I spot the “world-famous” Superdome. It’s been the site of several Superbowls. It’s like a big concrete upside-down bowl. It’s ugly. Built during the days when concrete was all the rage, it is beginning to contrast greatly with the newer open-air stadiums. We get closer to it and actually take an off-ramp that goes right near the base of the concrete behemoth. The driver also points out the arena next to it, which is the home to the Hornets of the NBA.

I begin to notice the architecture around the city. Some of it looks very recent and modern. Other areas are very old and run down. I guess that could be said about most cities. I try to see if I can recognize some streets from the map I was looking at on the plane. It’s not until we’re very near the French Quarter that I do see some familiar names. We drop a few people off at the Sheraton. I’m informed that I’m next.

Some of the streets are very narrow and go only one way. We’re on one of those type of streets when we stop at a corner. The driver gets out and so do I. I’m handed my single piece of luggage. I give the dude a dollar ’cause I’m a high-roller. The van drives away and I’m left in front of the Royal St. Charles Hotel. I quickly step into the lobby to escape the heat. It looks exactly as it did on the web site. I make my way to the front desk where the concierge is waiting for me. She doesn’t smile at me the entire time I check in. She gives me a spiel about the fitness room and the continental breakfast. It sounds so rehearsed and tired. The rest of the hotel looks great, but this woman looks so out of place.

I’m on the third floor. I grab my keys and head into the first available elevator. Exiting the elevator, I examine the decor of the hallway. It’s simple but elegant. In a strange way, it looks like the decor from 30’s. I like it. I arrive in front of my hotel room door. This is the part of the trip I always enjoy. The moment right before you see your hotel room for the first time. I slide the card key through the lock. The warm green glow of the LED signals me to enter. I turn the door handle and swing open the door to reveal…. darkness. The lights are off and the curtains are closed. I enter and fumble around for a light switch. I flick on a light. The room is small, but nicely appointed. My room at SJC is probably larger than what they gave me. The bathroom is the highlight. It’s smartly decorated with a sorta fake marble theme. It’s also clean which I like in a bathroom. I have a queen-sized bed. In the dresser is the 28″ TV. I also have a mini-bar where if it strikes my fancy, I can have a $8 US bag of peanuts. And yes, if you’re wondering, the Bible is in one of my nightstand drawers. I throw open the curtains to see I have a view of the Marriott Hotel across the street. Oh well.

I’ve been in worse places. I unpack all my clothes and hang them up or put them in drawers. My next goal is to get something to eat. I’m starving and I’m ready to try out the local cuisine. I’m also eager to get back to my hotel room in a reasonable amount time because I was told not to walk around alone at night. I would later on find out and be told this warning was unnecessary.

Anyways, consulting my travel guide, I head off to the nearest recommended restaurant. It’s less than a block away from my hotel, located in another hotel. The place is dead and I’m the third person in there. I order up some oysters and some crab cakes. It’s good but expensive. My waitress tells me that I’ve come at the slowest time of year for the city. The locals have gone to escape the heat and most tourists won’t come because of the weather too. It’s a good news and bad news type of thing.

I pay my bill and leave. I get back to my hotel room at around 9:30pm. I’m really not that tired and it’s early. To hell with the warning I think. I’m a block away from the French Quarter and Bourbon St., I might as well see it now. I make my way down to the street and it’s still hot as hell. I walk across Canal St. which is one of the widest streets I’ve been on. I hit the beginning of Bourbon St. and begin to take in the sights and sounds.

I’ve seen Bourbon St. many times on TV, and like always, it’s a little different in your own eyes. For one, it seems a lot smaller and narrower. TV doesn’t prepare you for the stench that emanates from certain areas of the street. The heat makes any garbage can on the street stink like a landfill.

There are any number of bars on either side of the street. Some are jazz clubs, some are topless (and bottomless) clubs, and some are just places where they have a dozen margarita machines inside where you can take it go. Drinking in public with non-glass containers is legal in New Orleans, so you see lots of people with alcohol in hand outside. Even though it’s not even Mardi Gras, almost everyone has a string of beads around their neck. Strangely, no exchange of beads and brief nudity is going on anywhere.

I make my way along Bourbon quite a ways, almost to the end. After a while, it becomes almost uniform in appearance. It’s neon everywhere, it’s loud, there’s music, people enticing you to go inside, and there’s a thin layer of seediness over everything. I decide to go back to my hotel after about half an hour of exploring.

I’m tempted to grab a margarita to go in a plastic cup, much like a 7-11 Slurpee, but I decided I need to be fresh for the next day.

I arrive safely at my hotel. I notice they have a WebTV-like service in every room. It’s $9.95 US for Internet access until noon the next day. I go for it and spend the next hour reading my mail. I feel sorry for anyone using WebTV because it sucks crap. The resolution of the browser on the TV is like 120 x 80. I have this wireless keyboard which is nice, but it’s difficult without a mouse. I answer a few mails and then attempt to blog. It won’t work with the sucky browser.

I give up and think Letterman is on. I am wrong. I keep forgetting I’m in Central time and he’s on at 10pm. I watch a bit of Conan instead and then turn in for the night.

The next day, I wake up at…

TO BE CONTINUED…