Nautical Disaster

Good ol' Bosco really threw me a curveball. One day he's lively and vibrant, and the next he's dead as can be.



Since he didn't even last 10 days in my care, I'm starting to think that the bowl I've been using for these Bettas is either cursed or highly contaminated with disease. Either way, I'll be taking him back to the store this evening, so hopefully they've got some pointers that'll help end my deadly reign of terror.

Currently: Huddled for warmpth under several blankets - cold enough out there for ya!?

How's About This Weather?

What can I say; it was absolutely beautiful outside today. Though I didn't actually check a thermometer, I'm fairly confident we were nearing the high teens. It's the kind of weather which awakens certain primitive cravings in a man.

First and foremost, when the weather is this amazing, the "clean your car" survival instinct kicks in. I'm not sure why, but on that first day of nice weather it's almost impossible not to break out the pressure washer and Shop-Vac.

Secondly, it's also of the utmost importance that you go out and hunt down some brewed goodness. The coming of Spring is also the coming of the "fridge must be stocked with beer at all times" period. This continues roughly until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs...which neatly runs right back into Spring.

Thirdly, it is virtually impossible to avoid migrating to the nearest patio. As sure as Canadian geese migrate south, Canadian hu-mans migrate to patios as soon as the mercury enters double digits. It's also nice to still see the sun after 4:30pm.

Currently: Contemplating a quiet book read on my own patio before bed...

Highliner Draft Dodger

Seeing as how most of our indoor plants have stabilized and don't appear to have immediate plans to expire, I decided it was time to try and inject even more life into the ol' living room.

Fish are cheap, so...



Catholics have a new man in a fancy hat, and now this apartment has Bosco, the latest in the storied line of Skinner bettas. Blinky beget Blinky 2.0 beget "fish that died before being named" beget Bosco. Like counting the months on the hills and valleys of your knuckles, he's destined to live for quite some time, like his predecessor Blinky 2.0.

The original Blinky and fish #3 didn't fare quite so well, despite being aqua-matons that "are hardy enough to survive almost anywhere."

Currently: So very, very tired. Damn you, hill training!

Crack-Caffeine Junkie?

Just could it be possible that these unfortunate (re: absolutely fucking relentless) symptoms I've been experiencing are due to caffeine withdrawal? Though it's often misleading to try and do your own medical research - as invariably you start to think you're sick or dying from anything you read about enough - it's remarkable how many of these general symptoms I'm experiencing.

I fiddled around with this online test and easily checked off more than half of the symptoms as yes. Obviously, to "wake up feeling tired" or experience "periods of fatigue during the day" are not insightful indicators of any one thing, if anything at all, but I guess it's the cumulative number of the withdrawal symptoms which counts.

But if any of this is true, I can certainly sympathize with my poor body for the rounds I put it through prior to not feeling the greatest. For a good chunk of March I was up at all hours of the night working on assignments by maintaining an irregular sleeping pattern and worshiping caffeine. Sure, with school and work and my woeful student finances I was also stressed out, but I wouldn't really say any more so than usual.

I suppose it's reasonable to expect that sleep deprivation and stimulants could start to pound me into submission.

I've purposely avoided caffeine for the past few weeks, and haven't felt all that great the entire time. This morning, however, I pounded back a cup of joe, and for the most part, felt great all day. I guess I'm still undecided if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

Currently: Trying to tear myself away from watching hours upon hours of Six Feet Under.

Totally Orwellian

So, it only took months upon months, but I finally finished reading George Orwell's Burmese Days. I really enjoyed Animal Farm. I absolutely loved Nineteen Eighty-Four. This book, on the other hand, was an absolute bore. In case you've ever been tempted to give it a read, the main character blows his brains out. Shoots his dog too. There. I've ruined the ending for you, and spared you the trouble of slogging through its loathsome pages.

As well, Nicole and I have been reduced to the level of mere commoners - those unwashed masses - ever since our free satellite hookup was disconnected. To be more accurate, Bell "upgraded their system" rendering our pirate card useless. With no signal, we've resorted to watching DVD boxsets of television shows. Two seasons of Futurama and some of Six Feet Under are what we've already downed. We've also got some Curb Your Enthusiasm waiting on deck.

You'll probably have noticed that my updates have been rather sparse over the past few weeks, and that's because I haven't really been feeling all that well. I'm not sure if I'm sick, malnourished, or my body/mind is simply turning on me, but it hasn't been a real treat. For hours of the day I'm absolutely exhausted, with tension enveloping my temples, neck, jaw, and shoulders. On top of that, my mouth and throat are soooo dry...no matter how much or how little I drink. Cold sweats. Loss of appetite. Yet no fever or vomiting. To be completely honest, this has been going on for over 3 weeks now, and I'm really starting to loathe it. I'm usually a big baby when it comes to being sick, so I can't imagine this has been a picnic for those around me either.

Glad I could paint that lovely picture for you! Bah!

Currently: Putting the final touches on my first commercial website layout.

Wooo!

I'm Awesome
My oh my, look who's sitting at .500 with an impressive GAA below 8.0!

With two decisive ball hockey victories over the weekend, I believe it's now fair to say that I "bring that shit" when it comes time to play. Sure, some may argue that the guys playing in front of me were the real contributors to the victories, but I'm gonna milk this for all it's worth.

The only downside to the entire outing was discovering that the mounds of fertilizer Russel used last time to melt the remaining ice had soaked into all my equipment and was breaking it down. Bring out the duct-tape!

I'm Retarded
I must be cracking up. I dragged my post-Wrestlemania butt out of bed to make it to my 8am class, but things did not seem quite right. I arrived about 10 minutes early and was surprised to see that I was the first person there. Usually there's a few early-birds, especially on days when we've got readings to finish for a class discussion.

At 5 minutes to, I was still the only person there.

At the buzzer, I was the only person there.

Apparently the tours of the Edmonton Max were today (Monday) and this upcoming Friday, not Wednesday and Friday like I'd imagined. I can't believe I was the only student in the whole class who managed to mix those dates up. Thank God my tour group is the one going on Friday!

I'm Net-savvy
I've managed to con Nicole's brother-in-law into thinking that I know a thing or two about computers and website design. He's asked me to be the webmaster for his chiropractic clinic's website, and we're finally on the verge of launching.

I anticipate many caffeine fueled evenings.

Currently: Baking a delicious chocolate chip snack cake.

The 17.5% Error

I received my marked research paper this morning, and it ended up being a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, this behemoth of a paper that's worth 40% of my final mark, the paper which I fretted over, uncharacteristically, for over a week, received the highest mark in the class. Unfortunately, I only got 30/40 on it...that's right, 75%.

When I handed in my paper proposal, the professor commented that it was the best synopsis in the class, but that I forgot to mention the articles contained in our textbook. It seems that when it came time to write the actual paper, I over-compensated for that previous deficiency. I scored nearly perfectly in the "theory comprehension" section, but scored 0/7 for the requirement of integrating the class material! Essentially, that 17.5% I squandered could have landed me with a 92.5% on the paper. Though I certainly had the class notes in mind while I was articulating my theses, I suppose I didn't adequately delineate where I was throwing it in.

It's frustrating, to be sure, that I could have made such a mistake. I guess I can take some small comfort in the fact that Dr. Martel has requested a copy of my paper to post on her personal website, as a "stunning" example of a quality 400-level paper.

Currently: Chowing down on some baked pyrogies

Substantial!

Now this idea of mine, I believe, is quite ingenious.

For those of you who have ever had to live away from home, or more precisely, for those of you who have ever had to live away from your own clothes washer and dryer, you'll know that keeping your clothes clean is a real pain in the ass. Not only do apartment/laundromat machines tend to handle small loads, but the cost is actually quite exorbitant. Over here at our place, it's $1.75 to wash, and another $1.75 to dry. That $3.50 could get me a pint during Happy Hour.

Gathering the necessary combination of quarters and loonies for such an operation as a designated "laundry day" is often fraught with logistical complications. First of all, and perhaps most importantly, I usually don't tend to have any money, and when I do, I rely heavily on direct debit. It's pretty hard to amass coins when you're handling virtual dollars. Anyways, every machine needs 1 loonie and 3 quarters over here. Suspiciously short of both, I tore apart the apartment, searching pants pockets, jackets, under cushions to gather all the shrapnel I could. With a tub of nickels and dimes in hand, the light bulb upstairs turned on.

I went down to the lobby and pumped nearly $10 worth of change into the vending machine, bought myself a Kit-Kat, and the change dispensed was all quarters! Bwahahahhahaa!

Currently: Doing 3 loads of laundry on 3 different floors of the building.

Ritualistic Competition

Make no mistake about it, a simple dinner party is not as innocent as it might seem. I contend that it's an ancient tribal ritual, sanctioned by the Gods to test the mettle and perseverance of even the most confident of young couples.

The Masters (Nicole's sister, her husband, and their food-scarfing munchkin) will be coming over for an evening of dining tomorrow, and we've already made certain preparations to foil their attempted social aggression - in our own territory, yet! How very brazen of them. When thrust into such a situation, the formula for success is to:

• Remember all those times that they invited you over to their place and placated your culinary sovereignty with tasty feasts and...
• ...make damn well sure that when you finally reciprocate, you've concocted the most tantalizing assortment of grilled goods possible.
• It also helps to administer copious amounts of alcohol (re: booze) to smooth over any deficiencies in "hosting" performance or food quality.

Yes, that's right, it's a form of peer-to-peer Cold War, and the only path to victory is more...more of everything than what they have. They serve you pepperoni pizza at their place, you invite them over to yours for pepperoni and bacon pizza. There's a cold calculation/tabulation behind any "couple visiting couple" scenario, and oh!, Lord knows what other ulterior motives. In fact, I'm 75% sure of it. Insidious, indeed.

Currently: Marinating what will soon become the most succulent, most flavourful, most tender of shish kebobs assembled thus far in all of human existence.

Riddle Me This, Kaler?

My afternoon "Population and Social Policy" class was witness to one of those rare moments in human experience, where an intangible, perhaps psychic bond united us students.

Every week we have group discussion, and if you can recall from previous posts, I do not like the group discussion format. By and large I find it ineffective. Typically no new thought is generated beyond that necessary to read the 3-page hand-in discussion notes which we've all prepared. Apparently I am not alone in my dislike for this redundant and ineffective exercise.

With less than 30 minutes in the class, it looked like the professor was wrapping up her lecture, and with a sensible hint of mass panic (perhaps despair?) we all realized that we'd soon be broken up arbitrarily into groups and forced to "discuss." Then it happened...

One by one, we students started asking the professor questions about her lecture. Most student/professor dialogue in this particular class consists of one talkative guy and one talkative girl throwing out random queries to the professor - sometimes these vocalizations aren't even questions, but vague references of "I read this article that..." or "In my other SOC class I learned...". Anyways, these participation mark Showboaters took a back seat as we bombarded the front of the room with questions.

Obviously taken aback by this sudden outburst of interaction, the professor embraced the moment, somewhat reminiscent of a lonely puppy getting a belly-rub from dozens of gawkers. So, one by one, we submitted queries until barely 5 minutes remained, at which point the whole process ended abruptly.

End of class! Students: 1, Teacher: 0.

Currently: Searching online job postings. The PRL limits me to 15 hrs/wk, and that just won't cut it financially.