08 February 2002 : 11.51 In other news, I've heard that the americans are now using terrorism fever to fuel the fight against drugs. As in, if you buy drugs, you're paying the terrorists. To this I'd just like to say: bahahahaha. Thank you. Terrorists don't need drug money when they have two even better forms of income: oil and american funds. Now, your basic middle eastern terrorist lives on crude oil sold to other countries (including the US). He gets his weapons by buying them from america. Not just middle eastern, mind you. The IRA gets its bombs and guns from america, too, but that's ok because they only use them on England, right? Blowing up children is ok, as long as they aren't american. So admittedly, using terrorism to fight drugs is a nice, of predictable bit of marketing, but it's totally off the mark. Mind you, lying to the people is something for which the american government has shown both enthusiasm and skill. Perhaps, as mentioned before, the solution to terrorism is to amend the foreign policies so that people stop wanting to hurt you. How about that? But that won't happen as long as america keeps trying to push people around. See, I was talking to Jez (who is an american) one night, and saying that the cause of the problem was that america was intervening in affairs that have nothing to do with them. She said that when america sees someone behaving not nicely, they interfere to make things better. But better according to whom? And who gives them that right? What makes them think that their way is better, just because it's more american? Aside from their massive patriotic fanaticism, that is. What right does america have to force its views and beliefs on the rest of the world? They're the Jehovah's Witnesses of the globe. And you know how everyone feels about the Jehovah's Witnesses, don't you? If you could unleash your hounds upon the Jehovah's Witnesses when they come and hammer on your door on Sunday morning, awakening you from the one day you get to sleep in, I'm sure you would. But they don't see that. They think that they're saving those unfortunate enough to not be americans from the folly of their ways. After all, america is the greatest country in the world, right? Aside from the fact that everyone hates it, and that it still has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world, I mean. "Truth, Justice, and the american Way" Give me a break. The american way means killing each other, robbing and raping each other, and beating up any other country that doesn't kowtow. The american way is about a gun for every man, woman, and child. It's about tons of money because money and violence is all that they care about. Gun control? No! americans have the right to own guns, don't they? They're not linked to violent crimes at all, according to the anti-gun control people. They're right, I'm sure. There's no correlation there at all. But wait, there's more! CNN, known the world over for their completely impartial news reporting... [ahem] ... has said that the crime rate in america has been falling. And it has. But now that Clinton is gone, how long do you think that that will last? Given that his policies were the ones that led to the drop in crime, and that slowly but surely Georgie is overturning them. Because he's all about money, ladies and gentlemen. Let's impeach the guy with the brain, and be led by religious ignorance and greed! That's 'the american way'! morons. 08 February 2002 : 11.02 I'm kinda tired of Jello. I'd like a Big Xtra or something, you know? The all-Jello diet has started to become pretty dull. Enough with the Real Fruit Flavours already. On the good side, Jello is very easy to digest, and very easy on the stomach. And the vanilla pudding is ok. :) 06 February 2002 : 16.14 Ok, officially hungry now. I'm still not really on solid foods, but I can eat sushi. Maybe I should do that. I was going to write a rant for The Guide, but the moment passed before I had a chance. It was a rant about smoking. I don't rant much.. you only have to look at the links to the left to see that. But I do get the feeling that there's so much more that I should say. :) There are people out there who are saying that to have smoking in public buildings banned is a bad idea. Hello? What about the poor people who don't smoke? You want to kill yourself, fine, but don't poison my air. Hmm.. apparently, I happen to have three packets of chicken bouillon in my pocket. I have no idea how they got there. Mmm.. dinner. This liquid diet is killing me. 06 February 2002 : 13.31 Damn, chocolate hedgehogs are good. american chocolate contains large amounts of paraffin, which makes it shiny, and more importantly (because money is all that matters), makes it cheaper to produce. It also makes it incredibly disgusting. It's no wonder they go so googly over Belgian chocolate, and Swiss, and everything else. Oh, those are really, really good, yes, but the first time I tried Swiss chocolate I was expecting to be stunned by the sheer ecstasy of taste, and instead it wasn't really that much better than the finer Canadian stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, I mean, don't get me wrong.. there was no contest. It was definitely better than what we have here, but after all of the hype, I was expecting to need a cigarette afterwards. Then I figured it out. The reputation (and hence my expectations) had come largely from the media, which is filled with american content. And compared to american chocolate, Belgian, Swiss, and the rest really are that good. But mostly because american chocolate is so disgusting, so americans have no idea what real chocolate should taste like, and consequently when they taste something real, they freak out. :) Not that I can blame them. Swiss chocolate liqueur.. mmmm... I didn't realise how nasty american chocolate is. I mean, I didn't know that there was a difference. A Mars bar is a Mars bar, right? Nooooooo. No, a Canadian Mars is different from an american one (thank god) which is different from an English one. But I didn't know that, right? So one night, my wee brother and I, along with a couple of friends, decided to go down over the border, just to see what was there. Gas was cheaper there at that time, too. While we were there, we decided to buy some chocolate. I love chocolate. I like to try different kinds of chocolate. I regretted it that night. Oh, did I regret it. Imagine chewing on a candle. Not one of those nice, scented candles. One that had the merest trace of chocolate-like flavour to it. Just enough to make you sick. I'll stick with the hedgehogs, thank you very much. 06 February 2002 : 13.24 Mmm.. strawberry milk bubble tea. And cheesecake flavoured frozen yoghurt. But not all yummy things are nice. Nooooooo.. my charming co-worker Barbara just came up and chewed on a chocolate hedgehog's head. Morrisey would be so offended. Mmmm... chocolate hedgehog... No! No, I mustn't! That would be wrong! 01 February 2002 : 13.26 Yay! The first February of the new year! Ok, so nothing significant happens in February. Shut up. I just reregistered as a researcher for The Guide. I've never written an article, but I will, when I get around to it. I'm hungry. You care. This whole food-free diet thing is pretty unpleasant. I managed a bit of sushi, though.. there's nothing in it that hurts my stomach. I had to have it without soy or wasabi, though. You'd think that it would be dry, but it was actually pretty good. I have a headache. Tonight, I'm going out with my wee brother. There will be silliness aplenty. After all, he's a freak. 31 January 2002 : 17.37 Mmmm.. solid food. Well, sort of. Doughnuts. Maple dip Bavarian creme doughnuts. Mmmmm... Though the box says 'donuts', whatever that means. I think it's because the company (Tim Hortons) is just breaking into the american market, and it's just cheaper to make one package and ship it to both countries than to make two, and since the americans can't wrap their minds around the 'ugh' part of doughnut... Honestly, they're made of dough. They're doughnuts. o/~ america america you don't know how to spell o/~ And what's this Boston cream nonsense? Like Three's Company and Fawlty Towers, it's something that the americans saw and tried to assimilate, which is typical, isn't it? And they probably couldn't spell "Bavarian." The americans in Boston even had (have?) a huge argument over whether to make the "Boston cream donut" their official doughnut of Massachusetts. To get an idea of how stupid the whole thing is, read this. Ok, america bashing for the moment is over. No more snow. [sigh] and I was so enjoying it. 31 January 2002 : 12.31 heh heh heh. Somwhere behind me I'm hearing a telephone tech support rep shouting "Look! Sir, there are only supposed to be TWO letters in there, ok?? NO! Look, VC, not TC! VC!" Ah, the joy of technical support. You've got to love it. In other news, there's another coworker talking about going to a chiropractor. You can do some stupid things to yourself, but that's got to be the winner. Check out this forum, and also Quackwatch.com. As I see it, you look at the way we're built. Now, no, we're not supposed to sit in chairs for hours on end, but you can compensate for that by going out and exercising. Hello? I've never been to a chiropractor in my life, and nothing is stiff, nothing is pulled, nothing is sore. And the same goes for my friends who look after themselves. I get migraines, but migraines are caused by a nervous system disorder, and mine are hereditary, so waggling my spine around isn't going to help. Honestly, people will believe anything. I particularly like the disclaimer at chiro.org: Although we at chiro.org do our best to provide you with accurate information of all sorts, we cannot guarantee that any of it is accurate for any purpose whatsoever! In fact, if you use this web site, you may receive nothing but incorrect information. It will be your responsibility to determine if anything here has any value. By clicking the "I Accept" button, you are agreeing to not hold chiro.org or any of its members or friends liable for anything you might find while using this internet site. So, basically, they could be making it all up. And people pay these people to twist their spine around. [shudder] 30 January 2002 : 15.00 I left home this morning, and everywhere was just blanketed in white. I mean, WHITE. It's like someone took a huge tin of that spray snow, and sprayed everything, only it wasn't spray snow it was, like, imitation spray snow, you know? It was like.. ok, stay with me here.. it was like there was all of this water up in the clouds, and almost overnight it had frozen, right? Into tiny clumps, or. flakes. Yeah. And these "flakes" were too heavy to stay in the clouds, ok? So they, like, fell. Only they were so light that they sort of drifted. Yeah, drifted. Ok, so these flake things drifted down from the sky, right? And, like, settle on stuff. Cars, trees, whatever. And they stack up, yeah? So you get these stacks of, like, frozen water on stuff, ok? And it makes everything white, cuz that's what colour frozen flakes of water are. Ok, so then there's more and more of this stuff coming down, drifting, if you will, and landing on things, and it's falling so thickly that the view from my tower is all obscured, so that I can't see more than about two blocks. Wow. Still snowing. That's a whole lot o' snow. I don't wanna drive home. Other drivers scary. 29 January 2002 : 13.35 AND SO HE SAYS, EVIL'S OKAY IN MY BOOK, WHAT ABOUT YOURS? AND I GO YEAH BABY YEAH! YEAH! Still working on the redesign, among other things. Still formatting the Shadow Chronicles. And so he says to me, 'You got legs, baby, you're everywhere. YOU'RE ALL OVER THE PLACE!' Mostly it's a question of finding the time. There's so little of it these days. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten in a couple of days. Food poisoning, you know. It's a bugger because I'm living on soup at the moment, and I don't really like soup. And so he says, 'I don't like the cut of your jib.' And I go I says, IT'S THE ONLY JIB I GOT, BABY! Well, in perspective, I don't like soup compared to sushi, and I can't eat sushi at the moment. Apparently, there's an outbreak of salmonella in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Info can be found here. It looks like I got it from bean sprouts. Gah. You try to eat healthy food and, and and then I says, tell me I'm wrong! and he says, 'I can't, baby, 'CAUSE YOU'RE NOT!' I knew there was a reason I'm mostly carnivorous. If you count fish, of course, which many people don't, for some reason. "Oh, I'm a vegetarian, but I eat fish." BOOM, BABY, BOOM! 27 January 2002 : 00.18 Working on formatting new Violently-Literate stuff before I put it back up. Hmm.. I've got at least three sections of the site currently under construction, and no time to finish any of them. Not to mention the redesign of the original Pit Of Penultimate Darkness part of the site. I had an idea some time ago for a redesign.. maybe I'll try that. 24 January 2002 : 14.57 Added some more hate to the Hatemail section. The third message down is the new one. Back to work, and then after work off to probably eat sushi with my wee brother. but now, we dance. 22 January 2002 : 17.00 Added new Hatemail and McHappy mail to the appropriate sections. Just the ones I liked. :) Got a guestbook. I just have to implement the thing now. In other news, a friend of mine is engaged. I think he's crazy. In 1998 alone, according to StatsCan, 69,088 people were granted divorces. 36% of marriages end in divorce. It's a nasty way to end a marriage. I think I should write a lengthy discourse on the subject. There's too much negative stuff to say to keep it all on this page. But not right now. I'm hard at work, after all. 22 January 2002 : 10.34 It's snowing. It's snowing like a monkey! Took me forever to get to work today. Particularly crossing The Bridge. Yes, the Alex Fraser Bridge. Oh, it's lovely. Big, scary suspension bridge that I use to cross the Fraser River every day on my way to work. That's a picture on the left. This bugger is 930 metres long (3050 ft, whatever that means) and 154 m high (505 ft). What does that mean in a practical sense? If you look at the image (click it to make it bigger) and follow the cables from the tower to the bridge deck, there are big white anchors that you can't even see in the picture, they're so dwarfed by the bridge. My car comes about halfway up one of those. The bridge is large. And today, with the snow happening all over the place, huge amounts of snow are collecting on the cables and the big H shaped towers. It's also fairly windy. So I was driving along over the bridge, and it was a lovely arcade moment. Big blocks of snow were falling on the cars ahead of me.. some people swerved, some braked, some just got smacked, and I wondered how I go about saving my game. I was just about through it, too, when an evil block of snow about half as big as me slammed into my hood on the passenger side. No damage that I can see, but that's a scary experience, let me tell you. 20 January 2002 : 16.54 Finally got Morrisey moved into his new house. He spent a lot of time salivating on himself, so I think he likes it. [shrug]. Finally got him to sit still long enough for me to take a picture, too, so here he is. Recently, the amount of Hatemail and McHappy mail has really increased. I should post some more of it. When I get around to it. It's also been suggested several times that I get a guestbook. Why not? I'll have to look into that. 18 January 2002 : 10.26 I just discovered Britney's Guide To Semiconductor Physics. And it is good. made some changes to my moi page. Nothing important, though. A new picture of my cat, my new budgie, etc. Hey, the day's just started. What do you want from me? 17 January 2002 : 14.49 Switched the order on my New York, New York page. Just 'cuz. Same content, different order. I found this, which speaks volumes. It's part of the american government's War On Terrorism. An art exhibit. I notice that the website for the museum no longer exists. I like this site: The World Socialist Web Site. Of course, socialism amongst a territorial species like humanity isn't going to work. Ever. But aside from that, some of the content is really quite well observed and surprisingly realistic. Yes, some of it is conspiracy theory paranoia, but quite a bit of it is fairly observant. I liked Why the Bush administration wants war. Do enjoy. 17 January 2002 : 11.34 Ok, back in the land of the living after an extended period of leprosy. Or flu. It might have been flu. And no it wasn't "the lord" striking me down for my blasphemous site, thankyouverymuch, so you can drop that nonsense before you even start. If that was the lord, he needs to work out more. Seriously, that was hardly the fire and brimstone of the olden days, was it? god's getting flabby in his old age. :) In other news, it was freaking cold this morning. The kind of cold that gets into your sock drawer. Yes, it was that kind of cold. The sort of cold that lies in wait for you when you're getting out of the shower. This morning my poor car, so neglected these past few sick days, was frozen solid. Solid, I say! Yes, sheets of arctic tundra coated its every surface, Inuit people fished in the radiator, and teams of dogs dashed madly across the.. across.. um, ok, so maybe not arcticly cold. But what I'm saying is that there was some serious ice. I mean, we've had frost this year, so that's nothing new, but this was ice. The really cold kind. We're talking frozen water here. I know. Scary. I had to warm the car up for half an hour just so that I could see through the windows. My wipers were frozen, so I couldn't wipe off the winter grime. My car is now filthy. Oh, I took a picture of Amadeus, my wee BMW. I'll upload it when I get home. I'm not at home now. Ok, I've said enough. I go back to work now. 8 January 2002 : 12.50 In other news, I got home last night and started working on some image files, and my fileserver machine (Sailor Jupiter) hard drive suddenly started producing errors. Looks like a physical problem.. 2 GB of data probably lost. Unfortunately, I don't know what that involves. It might be bad, it might not be important. The biggest thing is that I hadn't got around to backing up that stuff.. more fool me, huh? So I'll be stopping off at Futureshop to pick up a new hard drive on my way home today, I think. I'm also going to put together a new computer with three or four 100GB hard drives, soleley for backup purposes. That way I can back everything up over my network on a nightly basis. 8 January 2002 : 10.56 Yeah, ok, I didn't get back to this when I got home. I had other things to do. So where was I? Oh, right. I'm not a demon any more. :( Still, it was a fabulous closing night. The pyro guy had rigged some firework flare thingies on each side of the stage, so when we finished the final song of the finale, and the bells were chiming and the audience was standing, (yes, a stander on closing night. Woo!) these flare things went off and the audience went oooooh and it was just so lovely. :) Then the show actually ended and everyone broke into tears. It was lovely. I've become chubby. Over the course of this show, what with all of the chocolate, cookies, shortbread, cake, etc etc that found its way into the dressing room, combined with the lack of time for exercise, I've become squishy and rotund. Not that you can tell when I'm dressed, mind you, except that I have a more round face. And no goatee any more. Everyone made fun of me for growing the goatee, so closing night, when I didn't need it any more, out came the straight razor and I went back to normal. And everyone said "hey, the goatee looked good." argh. I can't win. 07 January 2002 : 17.57 Show's over. [sniffle] I already miss it. I mean, ok, I have more time to myself now. Yes, I can get that Burr Theatre website finished, and finally see Lord Of The Rings, and get that headlight on my car replaced, but I'm not a demon any more. :( Oops.. work is over. I'll finish this when I get home. 02 Jan 2002 : 16.13 I just discovered my former supervisor's site. That's him in the picture, and there's a link to his site. I had no idea he's such a freak. Groovy. :) New year's Eve party was truly awesome. It lasted roughly 28 hours, and ended with the survivors going out for sushi. I hadn't intended to stay.. I was going to stop by briefly on my way home, but then I got there, and lost track of time, and then developed a nasty headache that screwed up my vision, but given the environment, I loaded up with drugs (I rarely take anything for my headaches or migraines) and managed to get rid of the pain, but I wasn't about to try to drive home. So I stayed, and at some point the drugs wore off but the headache was gone, so it was ok. I have a show tonight. Only four more after this. :( I'm enjoying my show. Yes, ok, I'm not sleeping much. Or eating. Or having any kind of social life. [sigh]. Ah well, there will be more shows. 31 Dec 2001: 12.24 Apparently, it's going to snow for three days. So they tell us. [peering through the window] Real soon now. Any minute. Just you wait. Any sec. Mind you, the tower is shrouded in fog.. that's kinda cool. Oh yeah, and it's New Year's Eve, too. 28 Dec 2001 : 9.56 Heidi didn't make it. The doctor spent the whole night with her. He said that as her temperature came up in the incubator, she started to have nasty discharges from her lungs. He thinks it was a combination of pneumonia and long-term lung cancer. He also said that he thinks she was quite old, judging by her teeth and her eyes. A few weeks ago, she had a blood clot that caused circulation to her leg to be cut off, so I had to have it amputated, which is an age thing, too, and apparently not uncommon in hedgehogs. I shall have to watch Morrissey carefully as he gets older. I don't know how old Heidi was, since I adopted her. I don't know anything about her, really, before I got her. I know that the guy I got her from loved her a lot, which is why he gave her to me. She was so spoilt it's not even funny, with lots of toys, and a house full of dried leaves, sticks, things to burrow under and dig through. So she was weak as it was, recovering from the operation.. the three days without heat in the house just made it worse. Both hedgehogs went into hibernation, which African hedgehogs aren't supposed to do, and because Heidi was old and already weak, she just never recovered. The pneumonia alone would probably have been ok, but the lung cancer too... I asked the doctor to do everything he could possibly do to save her, no matter the cost, but this morning he called me with the news. So the world has lost one cute, sweet, intelligent, curious hedgehog. Goodbye, little Heidi. 27 Dec 2001 : 14.41 Heidi appears to have pneumonia as a result of that power outage a little while ago. She's at the hospital now, in an incubator. She may not survive the night. 23 Dec 2001 : 18.55 migraine. bed. 21 Dec 2001 : 14.24 Ok, one large strawberry bubble tea later, I'm feeling a bit more awake. I also got a lovely text message from the Lady Jez on my fido. I wish it could be two way, but she hasn't got a fido so I can't text message her in return. Still, it was lovely. :) Unfortunately, the bubble tea is cold against my poor, wounded fingers. Lemme 'splain to you. I got home late last night, and I decided that I was going to have some ramen (noodles) before I went to bed, since I'd been so busy I'd forgotten to eat that day. So I have a pot of boiling water, and a big metal collander, and the counter is cluttered with stuff because the dishwasher is sort of out of commission at the moment, and things are drying all over the place. So the boiling water and the ramen gets poured into the collander, which is resting precariously over the sink because there's nowhere else to put it. The collander overbalances and slips off the counter. Woo hoo! Go go kung fu reflexes! I catch the collander by the bottom so that it doesn't hit the floor. yeah. ouch. So there's freaking hot metal pressed against my hand, with boiling water still straining through from the ramen (and going all over the floor, mind you) and nowhere to put the thing because the counter is covered with drying dishes and cups and things. So I have to hold the thing and let it burn me while I frantically try to clear some space to put it down. You could say that I got a little burned. But only if you were fond of understatement. And tonight I have to coat the area with lovely green makeup with a latex sponge. But it could be worse. A couple of fingers have no feeling at all now, so they won't hurt with the makeup. :) Yes, I'm whining. 21 Dec 2001 : 11.36 tiiiiiired.. I fell asleep at work yesterday. That's not a good thing. I didn't mean to.. it was one of those yawns where your eyes close and sort of don't open again. I'm getting about three hours of sleep per night at the moment, which is bad because if I fall asleep in the dressing room, maybe I miss my cue. Or if I fall asleep driving.. that would be bad. I'm too sleepy to make sense. 19 Dec 2001 : 14.52 Ok, got my power back after three days. The morning of the fourth day.. ah, sweet bliss. Electicity, how I missed thee! The hum of the processor fans! The purr of the furnace. One of my fish died. A black red-tailed shark who'd been with me for over five years. He couldn't handle the cold. My hedgehogs went into hibernation, poor little buggers. I had to take the birds around to my grandmother's place. The bigger mammals (cats, dog) didn't seem to notice, but then most of them are stupid anyway. And speaking of cat, I had Burger King food for lunch. What on earth was I thinking? Ghastly stuff, but Chez Ronald was so far away. gods I'm bored. And tired. Work work work. And then off to the show to make a fool of myself onstage. I'm good at that bit. 16 Dec 2001 : 11.24 Day three with no power. The saga continues. 15 Dec 2001 : 11.42 Still no power at home. I can't check my email or anything. :( 14 Dec 2001 : 13.54 It's going to be one of those days. I woke up to the strange emptiness of my computers not humming. That's a bad sign. According to the news, at a very conservative estimate there are more than 150 000 people without power today due to windstorms of more than 120 km/hour. All I had was candle light, so I had to try to get the last persistent bits of my makeup from the show off in the dark, mostly. And speaking of the show (damn, that was a smooth segue) we had our first audience on Wednesday. And they did cheer the good guys and boo the hell out of me. And they did stand to applaud and cheer at the end, and it was good. 10 Dec 2001 : 13.09 Eep. Robin Hood opens in a couple of days. I haven't been on stage in two years.. I'm not particularly nervous, though. It's more sort of anxious anticip... ...pation. Actually, I'm quite looking forward to it. After all, how often does one have a chance to be the Demon King? You've got to like that. Of course, the costume and makeup in the picture there aren't complete, and that's the dressing room behind us, rather than the set (that's the Fairy Queen. The one in the white), and there are various other touches that need to be added, but overall, it's a laugh. After all, it's Pantomime. :) In other news, I'm hungry. I'm in the mood for.. hmm.. let's see now. How about.. oh, I don't know.. sushi? 07 Dec 2001 : 14.30 Big, evil, nasty headache. It's not a migraine though. Not yet, anyway. It's just a matter of time. 06 Dec 2001 : 13.50 This is truly awesome. (not the sale, the Samurai 3000 collection) Hardly traditional, but oooh I like. I'm going to have to get all three. Yes, I admit it. I'm a sword freak. It's not a macho guy gratuitous violence thing. It's more about the history.. if you look at the part that the sword has played throughout the development of just about every culture on our little planet, it's hard not to be fascinated by it. Not to mention the variations.. there are so many different styles of sword, and those reflect the culture in which they were created. And even today, when it's died out of common use, the sword still holds a certain mystique... that's why the Arthurian legends are so interesting, and the lightsaber from Star Wars.. that's why Highlander was so popular. Today there's no place for a sword, but it still fascinates us. Some more than others, mind you. :) 06 Dec 2001 : 11.24 This is officially cool. 04 Dec 2001 : 14.49 It's snowing. A lot. I haven't driven my Tiburon in the snow before. Well, not exactly, anyway. I gave someone a ride home last night and it had been snowing, but it really wasn't bad. It's the other drivers that are potentially the problem. And I'm in Burnaby. Land of the hills. Yes, exotic Burnaby! The sweeping hills, the rolling hills, the majestic.. hills. ok, so Burnaby hasn't a lot going for it other than that I might die on the way home. 30 Nov 2001 : 13.24 Wow.. December already. I should probably go xmas shopping, among other things. Of course, the closer we get to xmas, the more insane the people in the malls get. Seriously. It's like a feeding frenzy. god help the person who accidentally gets in the way of the Tickle-Me-Elmo (or whatever) rush. Trampled by the cattle that are the general public in their stampede. 23 Nov 2001 : 11.34 Finally changed the image on my me page. Now it's a random image from an image archive. The old picture was pretty lame. The new ones are far more current, taken with my little Logitech Quickcam. Not that anyone actually cares. :) If you're going to look at the picture, look through a mirror or you'll turn to stone. 22 Nov 2001 : 20.52 Finally got a digital camera. The lovely and talented Kodak DC3400 ZOOOOooooom. It's fabulous.. gorgeous images, fast transfers, lots of special features.. I love it. As a direct result, I've added images to the pets section of my me page, so if you want to see what this camera can do.. keep in mind that the images are reduced by about 50%. The real thing is even better. 18 Nov 2001 : 13.24 Got a part in a traditional British pantomime. It's Robin Hood, at the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre. I'd link to the site, but it's really really lame. (I'm working to correct that) I have to have a goatee, though, since I'm the Demon King. That'll change my appearance quite a bit. 11 Nov 2001 : 22.27 Ok, can we stop with the freaking Gordon Sinclair thing please? Yes, he was one guy who got tired of hearing people saying nasty things about america and wrote his angry little letter. In 1973. Doesn't it tell you something that the one nice thing you've found that anyone has said about america was back in 1973, and that he got all of his facts wrong? And isn't it telling that people were saying such negative things about america anyway? If america is so great everyone would love it. And nobody loves it. 07 Nov 2001 : 18.16 This is one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Forget the World Trade Centre.. how many innocent lives have been lost to religion? I went out for sushi with a christian friend and her friends once. One of her friends got all offended when I made passing reference to the sushi gods. Like really offended. Now how stupid is that? No one really believes in the sushi gods. It's a good thing I didn't bring up Offler the Crocodile god. :) One of my atheist friends (who was also there) said something along the lines of "There should be four tuna rolls! Not three! Four god damn it!" in mock anger without thinking, and one of the christians got all offended and said "Please do not damn my god." ... Now, "god damn it." Let's think about this. Damn is a verb. God is the dude preceding the verb. So god is the one doing the action. So Bob runs. God damns. Therefore god damn it means "may it be damned by god." You'd think a christian would be familiar with a religious expression as old as that one. Besides, god is the big kahuna, supposedly. He's the guy who has the power to damn people, no? So what difference would it make if the expression does mean that? It's not like anyone but god could make it happen. And if they could, then god isn't such a big noise after all, is he? Hardly worthy of worship if anyone can damn him, is he? If Joe Schmoe can come up and knock Tyson flat on his back, or beat up Bruce Lee (well, when he was alive) or dethrone any of the popular heros, then that hero isn't actually all that impressive, is (s)he? 02 Nov 2001 : 22.00 I've been talking to Hyundai.. see, I want to make these exciting changes to my car.. Euro-style tail lights, clear corners, and so on, but I don't want to hurt my warranty. (That's why I bought a new car in the first place) But they're saying that changing the tail lights and various other bits from Shark Racing will be a problem. And I appreciate that. Miserable buggers. I've been looking at the new Tiburon.. the 2002 model, I think it is. 2002 or 2003. I seem to be the only one who doesn't care for it. Everyone else says it's either niiiice, or it looks like a mustang. Well, the mustang thing is hideous. Why on earth would you voluntarily make your car look like one of those? And the nice thing, well it's got lots of sharp lines and things, which I think doesn't look as nice as the current Tiburon. The current one has sweeping curves and looks very very nice, while the new one is sort of.. boxy. Mind you, I'm the only one who thinks this. :) Everyone says "Oh, you should have waited and got one of those" but I'm really glad I didn't. Mind you, I could have saved some serious money on mine when the new one came out, but so what? I wouldn't have been able to play with it all this time. I'm also really lucky.. there's only one car that I like as much as the 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, and that's the 2000 Hyundai Tiburon. (They're identical.) :) 01 Nov 2001 : 02.05 Wow, this page is getting long. I really should do something about it.. break it into two pages or something. Well, when I get around to it, which means never. Got some picures up on the photo layout page. It's not much.. a few pictures of my wee brother. It's here. I'll add more as I get around to it. If you want something specific, let me know. wildsong@presidentbushviolently-happy.net 31 Oct 2001 : 18.32 Working on a picture section. Basically a place to stick pictures that take my fancy, photos of my friends and things, link banners (by request), etc. It's going to be at http://www.violently-happy.net/visual but there's no index file there yet. The banner section us up at http://www.violently-happy.net/visual/banners.html. There are only three there now, and they are dull, but I'll put more up as I get around to it. Next, I should really get a camera. 25 Oct 2001 : 18.40 Just.. stuff. The sound of the people working around me.. the guy across from me chattering away in French.. the lingering smell of McDonald's (dinner) intertwined with the subtle perfume of the girl sitting next to me. A cup of green tea, long cold now, lurking almost forgotten on my desk. Bach concertos playing softly from the headphones that I've dropped somewhere behind my computer and keep meaning to retrieve. Just... stuff. There's lots of noise, but everything seems so quiet, so distant, as if it were happening outside my window. Lady Jez is trying to break free of the curse of the nicotine, and my thoughts keep turning to her, wondering how she's doing. 21 Oct 2001 : 17.15 Cool. I'm sitting in my tower here (at work) and every wall is just a huge expanse of window. But it's raining today, not hard, and the clouds are hanging low in the sky. So my tower is shrouded in white and grey, wearing the clouds like a veil or a cloak, and the bottom of the clouds sort of trails off to fog on the streets below. I can make out the lights of the city around me, but other than that the world is just white. It's a very cool sight. I wish I had a camera. I found a hedgehog food specialist in my town, from hedgehog breeders. My hedgemonsters are getting chubby. :) 20 Oct 2001 : 17.32 I've been looking at toys for my car. Some lovely things out there. Side markers, tail light assemblies, etc etc. I'm not a car person by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like my little mo-mo to look nifty. :) I've even found a fluid that I can add to my fuel system to make my car's emissions smell like vanilla. How cool is that? wubble. 15 Oct 2001 : 01.11 Sitting here singing Fly Me To The Moon with Miss Ella and Sarah Vaughan. Well, sort of. They're singing and I'm yowling a bit. And I have 80's (Madness, mostly), various sorts of dance and trance, some Sinatra (to my shame), anime, game mixes (woo!), the compulsory Knight Rider technomix (and the gangsta bhangra version, too), and lots of other nifty stuff on my playlist, and it's on shuffle. My playlist is like a box of chocolates. I'm also working on a site for my mother's theatre, The Burr Centre For The Performing Arts. It's A Very Nice Place.. uh.. it's a very nice place, but the thing that they have up at the moment is ghastly, so I'm not about to put up a link until I've replaced it with something decent. 14 Oct 2001 : 17.58 False alarm at work. First the fire system said "Ahem, excuse the interruption, but you're all going to burn to death. You're on a high floor in a high tower and the elevators are down, so enjoy your last fifteen minutes or so. Have a nice day." Then the building superintendent came on and said "Sorry, it's all been a total cockup." Or words to that effect. And here I was with my marshmallows all ready to go, too. Nothing exciting other than that. A charming young lady told me that I'm insane, but that's to be expected, really. Nothing unusal there. Actually, no, I tell a lie. What she said was that I'm INSANE. 12 Oct 2001 : 21.16 Listening to Portishead. Delightfully morbid. It's been suggested that I put a counter on here. Just to keep track of the number of visitors. But really, why? I mean, the hatemail is a good barometer of the popularity of the site. :) And anyway, I don't care how many people come here. It's up for my benefit. If other people love it or hate it, that's their problem. [grin] And people do both, so that's all the better. 07 Oct 2001 : 18.26 Stormy outside, and even though I'm in a completely climate controlled building that stays the same temperature all year long, it feels all cold. Let's hear it for psychosomatic air conditioning! God I'm bored. Bored as plywood. [sigh]. Hard at work, though. Hmm.. I should rephrase that. I don't like my job that much. :) 05 Oct 2001 : 22.00 Listening to New Order's Confusion very loudly. It needs to be mixed with some Enya, I think. I've been sooo busy at work lately. I just thought I'd mention that. Ever notice that the instrumental bit at the end of Clapton's Layla sounds like it really wants to turn into the theme from the A-Team? Is that just me? 29 Sep 2001 : 15.52 On my way in to work today I passed a number of people standing on the sidewalk waving signs at the oncoming traffic. Signs like "abortion kills children" and "abortion hurts women" and "abortion is wrong". Who do these people think they are? I mean, have your beliefs.. that's fine. And if you don't want to have an abortion, fine. Don't have one. But don't tell me that I can't. Um.. figuratively speaking, of course. I mean, what makes their beliefs right and mine wrong? And what right have they to push their beliefs on people out in public. They had children at this demonstration thing.. little girls and boys standing out in the cold holding signs that they probably couldn't even read. And we're supposed to believe that they care about children? 28 Sep 2001 : 22.01 Muhahaha! The power! I made quadruple strong coffee for my dear co-workers. Look at 'em run! Muhahahahaha! Yes, well, the nasty transparent stuff that they make is really sad. It's a wonder it has any taste. Seriously, it's like warm water. Ghastly. This stuff is thick enough to make snowballs with. Hey, there's a thought... 24 Sep 2001 : 18.53 Going out for sushi with friends tonight. I do that a lot. :) Yet another thought about the american thing. It's hard to not think of it when it's being talked about on all of the news stations and everything. Anyway, american president Bush's approval rating was remarkably low, and the country was in an economic downturn. War is economically very good, and american presidents' approval ratings always go way way up during a war as bloodthirsty and/or patriotic people rally behind their leader. George Bush senior proved that. So this war is remarkably well timed, isn't it? Well, I say war.. it's not a war yet, though the american government does seem to be pushing very hard to make it into one, don't they? Still, it's just a thought. Along the same lines, I was wondering why, if the analysts are right and these terrorists were trained pilots, there would be a flight manual (in Arabic, conveniently) still at the airport when the planes had already crashed. Particularly given that no one is claiming responsibility. I mean, why manuals at all? Either they could fly the thing or they couldn't. What, were they cramming on the way to the airport? A Canadian analyst, whose name eludes me for the moment, suggests that the terrorists hijacked the plane and demanded to be flown to New York, and the pilots agreed because they thought it was a normal hijacking. When the towers were within sight, the terrorists removed the pilots and took the controls. That being the case, it's just a question of pointing the plane at the tower. Anyone who can drive a car could do it, the analyst (a retired commercial pilot) said. That theory, to me, makes the most sense. So, again, why the manual? And why at the airport where it could be found? 24 Sep 2001 : 01.31 Listening to the Matthew Good Band version of All Along The Watchtower. Not bad, not bad. :) Heh, this is a parody of The Rant. There are a few of them, but this one's about me, I suppose: I Am A British Columbian. This was done by a friend of mine for a local radio station. "Nick The Guy" he's called. :) 23 Sep 2001 : 17.38 There's been a lot of flag waving on television lately, with stars and stripes and propaganda going all over the place. It's inevitable that this should come up. Hey I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader. I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada although I'm certain they're really really nice.. I have a Prime Minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not 'American' And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'. I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack I believe in peace keeping, not policing, diversity, not assimilation, and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed'! Canada is the second largest land mass! The first nation of hockey! and the best part of North America! My name is Joe! and I Am Canadian! thank you. 21 Sep 2001 : 17.46 I've received a lot of mail recently saying that Bush is the best president that america has had in a long time, and that he's a great leader, etc ad nauseum. To you I say go here and then show me your great leader. Personally, I liked Clinton. You guys didn't know what you had there. The guy had a sense of humour, and a brain, and he actually cared about his people, not just about guns or money. OK, so he slipped... who hasn't? And I don't mean with Monica. Most guys would have done that, and he's only human, you know. I mean in trying to cover it up. But he was probably scared. More of Hillary than anything else. He slipped. Get over it. He was a fine leader and now you've got a chimpanzee instead. As someone posting to bushorchimp said, god bless america but god help the environment. 16 Sep 2001 : 16.39 Blues Traveler again today, but Straight On 'Til Morning this time. I'm actually listening to Felicia just at the moment, but I keep hearing Poledra rather than Felicia. Come on and dance with me Felicia And show me how to do that step I never thought I could You always move so gracefully And I was never any good But maybe if you'll dance with me I'd feel as nimble as a cheetah Felicia The momentary soaring of an eagle would be me Come on Felicia set me free And when you start to close your eyes You know you move so beautifully I want to dance with you come on and dance with me Felicia 15 Sep 2001 : 23.00 Listening to OLP. I poured myself a cup of coffee tonight.. I don't drink that much coffee at work these days. I mostly drink water. Anyway, I poured this cup of coffee, from the pot that I made, I might add because some pillock had finished the last and not made more. So I'm pouring this coffee, making sure it's nice and strong because weak coffee is one of those travesties that just shouldn't happen.. they used to torture heretics during the Spanish Inquisition by giving them nothing but weak coffee to drink. So anyway, this coffee, right? I'm pouring it, with my shiny black cup poised.. well, I say poised. It was more sort of... inanimate. Anyway, I pour the coffee into the shiny black cup, which is ribbed for my pleasure thankyou very much, since I'm the one who has to clean the thing when I've finished with the coffee. Honestly, I don't know who designs this sort of drink container. Or who buys it, come to that. But, see, coffee isn't enough because I have to add sugar to it. No, just because coffee should be strong doesn't mean it should be bitter. And this stuff was, too, let me tell you. Bitter as a 45 year old man left at the alter. And once I've added the sugar, I grab the tin of milk. Yes, tin. At work taste isn't really as important as longevity. You can tell by the decor. And as I pour the thin milk-like stuff- evaporated, I think they call it, though from what I can tell only the flavour has evaporated. As I'm pouring this stuff, I think to myself that it should stay in the fridge. This might not seem like much of a revelation, but that's only because you haven't met the things that live in the kitchen at work. Honestly, Cthulu himself would run in fear of the things that lurk unspeakably in the dark recesses of that place. Still, it's handy to have someone to hand you what you're looking for when you open the fridge. So I plonk the pseudomilk into the fridge, and stand gazing into my cup. Since I haven't stirred it, there are clouds of white roiling in the deep pool of darkness, reflected from the shiny sides of the cup, like little nebulae in the ironically cold blackness of the hot coffee. And as I'm watching the dance as the clouds of pure white move, rising and falling, swirling and spinning in sharp contrast to the actual coffee that supports their movements, I think to myself.. christ I'm bored. 15 Sep 2001 : 20.18 Listening to Blues Traveler. It's kind of melancholy. Work, work, work. It does get tedious after a while, you know. Seeing my friend Clue on Monday. Yay! Haven't seen her in far too long. Working on the music page.. it's sort of up. It's there but I haven't linked to it since I don't have all of the bands up yet.. just Dave's True Story. :) It's here if anyone wants to have a look. 14 Sep 2001 : 16.25 Ok, this is hilarious. I can't link straight to the bit I like, but go to Games at the top, and Silly Stuff, and Bush Aerobics. But the whole site is fabulous. My american friend neural just found out how much I dislike america. Ah well, I've never made a secret of it. I'm not american so I won't like them.. that's pretty much a given. 13 Sep 2001 : 18.26 If one more person sends me the Nostradamus prophecy about Tuesday I think I'll cry. How can people be so gullible? Honestly, the prophecy was supposed to have been written in 1654. That Nostradamus was one hell of an amazing guy, given that he lived from 1503 to 1566. Before you pass on that stupid prophecy, go here and read about it first. Mmm.. full of sushi. :) I put up the New York page. 12 Sep 2001 : 23.32 Ah yes, I am now suddenly made aware of http://www.bushorchimp.com. (it's down at the moment.. I hope they bring it back up.) So I'm not the only one who noticed. Good, good. :) It's funny how two people who both look so chimpanzee-like can be so radically different. One of them is a dumb animal, and the other is stuck in a zoo. 12 Sep 2001 : 23.13 Anyone else notice that Bush looks like a chimpanzee? It's the ears that do it, and the forehead. The guy's living evidence of evolution, in a missing link kind of way. "Americans are not proud of their president, and never invite him 'round to dinner." 12 Sep 2001 : 21.19 Grooving to Moist. Good stuff, this. Working on the music page.. it'll be up when it's up. 11 Sep 2001 : 18.01 Disaster in america. We're taking their flights, and offering shelter to american refugees in Canada. [sigh] We send them our lumber, our water, and our energy, and now we even donate our very life blood to them, and yet still they don't even know who we are. Astonishingly arrogant even in their time of crisis. I mean, wouldn't you think that president Bush could have taken a moment out of his presidential address, just a brief break from spewing propaganda to say thankyou to all of the nations (especially Canada) for helping, donating blood, and so on? He thanked the leaders, but what about the people? The leaders aren't the ones lining up to donate blood to be shipped to america, or offering their homes to the americans who are stranded. How about just "thank you Canada, not just for this, but for everything else that you do for us and we take for granted." But he's so busy trying to make america look tough that he can't acknowledge that either he or his country needs anyone. Typical. god bless america. 09 Sep 2001 : 18.00 I just discovered candy cables. An evil co-worker introduced me to them. Flavoured candy tubes (strawberry, apple, orange, blueberry) filled with whipped sugar. They're far too sweet, and now that I've finished them I feel rather ill, but I'd kill for another one. :) Actually, I'm pretty sure another one would kill me. I shudder to think what they'd have done to me if I weren't already full of sushi. 08 Sep 2001 : 18.03 Oh my god. I found the best present for my brother's birthday. Check this action out. (good thing he never visits my site. [grin]) 08 Sep 2001 : 17.31 Toast for lunch. Maybe I should go and get an actual sandwich. TOASTER: Would you like some toast? LISTER: Uh-Uhm. TOASTER: Some nice hot crisp brown buttered toast? LISTER: Uh-Uhm. TOASTER: You don't want any toast then? LISTER: No. TOASTER: What about a muffin? LISTER: Nothing! TOASTER: You know the last time you had toast? 18 days ago. 11:36, Tuesday the 3rd. Two rounds. LISTER: Ssshhh! TOASTER: I mean, what's the point of buying a toaster with artificial intelligence if you don't like toast? LISTER: I *do* like toast! TOASTER: I mean, this is my job! This is cruel! Just cruel! LISTER: Look, I'm busy! TOASTER: Oh, you're not busy eating toast, are you? LISTER: I don't want any!! TOASTER: I mean, the whole purpose of my existence is to serve you with hot, buttered, scrummy toast. If you don't want any, then my existence is meaningless. LISTER: Good. TOASTER: I toast, therefore I am. LISTER: Will you shut up?! 07 Sep 2001 : 22.38 Oh my! I just found the Doctor Who Wav Archive. I lost track of this site in 95, as I recall. It's even older than this place, though it's moved around more. :) 07 Sep 2001 : 19.12 I was reading today that Mother Teresa was exorcised when she was in hospital for heart problems. It strikes me that it was a bit late then. She could have avoided the heart problems altogether if she'd exorcised more often in the first place. what? As it happens, we have a cinnamon bun chain here called Saint Cinnamon. Ma Teresa was up for promotion to sainthood. And then... the bun. Coincidence? 07 Sep 2001 : 18.13 Updated the Tyne Daly rant a bit. Listening to Spin Doctors: Jimmy Olsen's Blues. 06 Sept 2001 : 22.19 Mmm.. McDonald's triple-thick strawberry milkshakes gooood. 05 Sept 2001 : 03.12 McHappy Mail page is up. 04 Sep 2001 : 18.52 Gah! Today's fine culinary tip: Coffee and curry do not mix. Do not try this at home. Or at work. Or at a restaurant, public pool, diplomatic embassy, squash court, police station, golf club, the ballet, Letterman... 04 Sep 2001 : 10.12 First thing in the morning, before the daily battle with the hairbrush begins. Heh, if you look at the wall behind me in the picture, you can see how the redecorating is coming along in my basement. The freak who had this place before me glued planks to the wall. I ask you. Anyway, I've got to sand the wall and things now. Fun fun! I'm working on a friends page. I know, I know, how cliche. But I have such odd friends, I wanna show off. :) I'm on a Clapton kick at the moment. Well, Clapton and the Commitments. Never really cared for that sort of music before about two days ago, I must admit, but that's been happening recently. I was on a Sinatra/Rat Pack binge for a while, too. It also occurred to me that I should put up some nice email, too, to sort of share the love. So I'll try to get to that, too. I've already been getting lovely responses to Infinity. 03 Sep 2001 : 03.41 Fiddling with the site. I'm trying to come up with a redesign for Inside Voices. 02 Sep 2001 : 20.57 I just found the most beautiful wolfdog. She's exactly the breed I'm looking for, for when I manage to make a place in my life for my wolf. Roughly 20% dog, 80% wolf. Arctic wolf, in this case, I believe. Isn't she beautiful? 02 Sep 2001 : 15.22 Arizona plates today. I was behind some guy in a mustang getting ready to pass him (he was crawling along), and I had had my signal on for a good 40 seconds. Just as I started to change lanes, he swerved into the other lane (where I was going) and then, when I went back into my lane, he swerved back in front of me and slammed on his brakes. And then swore at me and made various sorts of gestures. Ah, the american mind in all its splendor. 01 Sep 2001 : 22.49 Got a new graphic for my 3390 from me43.com. A wolf, of course. :) 01 Sep 2001 : 19.44 Well, the Vancouver Indy races are on. And people, being people, are complaining. I'm not a sports person myself, so I really don't follow it, but I'm wondering what they're complaining about. Do they not like the millions and millions of dollars that the Indy brings to Vancouver in industrial, sponsorship, and tourist money? Have they got a problem with yet another thing making Vancouver a place on the map? Or, more likely, are they just looking for some excuse to complain. Because people, I've found, are most happy when they have something about which to righteously grouch. 01 Sep 2001 : 18.11 Listening to a mix of Portishead and BOA at work. Good stuff.. a little melancholy. I almost got run off the road today. Fun fun. Zipping happily along in my car when the Echo in the next lane decided that he wanted to be where I was, and changed lanes into me. Washington plates, of course. Good thing my car has good brakes, that's all I have to say. Mmm.. Tori's Somewhere Over The Rainbow just came on. Wow. :) 01 Sep 2001 : 15.24 Wolves are predominantly carnivorous. Dogs are descended from wolves. Dogs, therefore, are predominantly carnivorous. So why does mine love bananas so much? I had a banana this morning, and he was right there, mooching, (he's good at that) as if I had a steak or something. And that's not all.. he loves popcorn (without butter) and corn (with butter) and peanuts and oranges ('specially mandarins) and crumpets and marmite. Some carnivore. Mind you, my parrot is no better. He's a hell of a grouch before he gets his morning coffee. Yeah, you think I'm joking don't you? 31 Aug 2001 : 03.03 Hate mail section is back up in tune with the new look. Listening to Lisa Loeb while I redecorate this place. 30 Aug 2001 : 21.44 Just when you think that culture has reached an all time low, along comes Tales For The L33T. It's a touching retelling of that classic tale, Romeo And Juliet. 30 Aug 2001 : 18.02 I listened to Slipknot on the way home last night.. XFM felt like playing it, and it's touted as being the hottest band in America at the moment. The experience was indescribable, but let me see if I can find the words... ... utter crap. Yes, I think that about covers it. Honestly, all the talentless screaming. I'm sure it was a bet between two music execs. "You know, the kids today will buy anything. Loud noise and a silly macho name is all it takes to sell CDs." "Oh yeah? Prove it." 27 Aug 2001 : 02.39 Violently-Literate is finally up. And there was much rejoicing. (yay.) 26 Aug 2001 : 22.59 Now Cadbury's new Caramilk Yogurt, on the other hand... Click here for the other Caramilk Secret theory. (different from the image link) 26 Aug 2001 : 18.26 And today's fine culinary tip is: when you've just eaten a freaking hot pepper, try to avoid Cadbury's Orange Crush Crunchie. Blech.. possibly the most vile thing I've ever tasted in my life. And that's even up against Pot Noodles. No, I think that's just the Orange Crush Crunchie. Normal Crunchie=good, Crush Crunchie!=good. 26 Aug 2001 : 02.55 Yeah, no more Callahans. So many people there are so busy being Different, posing, and looking for arguments so that they can be all righteous that I find it impossible to have any fun there any more. They're all so busy Caring (and making that people see them Caring) that they don't really care, and people get hurt, and that's not what it's supposed to be about. And there's the painful two-facedness.. saying one thing to one person and something else to another. So many people are just so self-serving, trying to manipulate others for their own selfish desires under the guise of caring. It had always been there, but recent incidents really made it unavoidably clear to me (particularly during the whole Jez thing). The whole thing is just so.. fake. And awfully tedious. And that being the case, why bother? Patrons say that the place is what the people make it, but as a result, the place must be a reflection of those people, and look at it.. with due respect to those people who still think that it's something special, they're seeing the place through a rose coloured monitor. The people there are no different from the people everywhere else. So no more of that nonsense. Pity, really, because there are some people there that I'm really quite fond of. The rest of them are welcome to each other. Rather glad I didn't make it to any realspaces, now. 25 Aug 2001 : 23.44 I wonder whether I should dye my hair black. Haven't done that for a while now. Of course, when I say black what I actually mean is African-American. "Black" is so politically incorrect. "How do you like your coffee?" "Oh, African-American, please." 25 Aug 2001 19.42 Grooving to BOA and Chinese music at work while I'm answering email. Just got a voicemail message from my brother, angry because I won't talk to him. Really angry.. he even brought up my ex, and that's just mean. He really doesn't seem to get the picture. Honestly, how is it so easy to lose touch with the people you care about, but when you want someone out of your life they're a bugger to get rid of? Ignoring him really doesn't seem to be working. Maybe I should have my fido number changed. Maybe I can report him to immigration. ^_^ now i want chocolate... jerk. phone goes off for the rest of the day. 24 Aug 2001 : 22.55 Listening to very cool Korean music at work, which makes me think that I should probably learn Korean. I don't know about that, though.. there's something nice about listening to someone sing in a language that I don't understand. That way I can just enjoy the sound of her voice, like I am with this singer (she's got a lovely voice). No idea who this is.. I went searching for BOA on Morpheus (I'd only heard one of their songs, and I wanted to make sure I'd like the rest before I bought the CD), and there they were. Here they are.. if you know who this is, please give me a shout.. I want more. :) 24 Aug 2001 : 20.50 mental note: stop making mental notes. 24 Aug 2001 : 20.42 mental note: actually remember and do something about those mental notes. ? 24 Aug 2001 : 20.20 Oh my.. I just heard from a friend I haven't talked to for literally years. [bounce] I'm delighted to hear from her after such a long time.. would that it hadn't been so long, but what can you do? She left a message on my voicemail. Hmm.. mental note, change the grouchy-sounding voicemail message. I recorded that some time ago when I was upset over something. She used to be called Clue, which I thought suited her delightfully, but she's not called that now. Ah well, things change I suppose, and the years slip past. Careful.. if you blink, you'll miss them. And there's an awful lot to miss. 23 Aug 2001 : 20.06 I don't know who makes the coffee in this place, but it's always ghastly. Real coffee should probably have some colour to it, I think. I mean, this stuff wouldn't give a hamster a caffeine high. And I'm certainly no hamster. Mind you, I've been drinking coffee since I was six, so it takes some seriously strong stuff to affect me. But that's not the point.. real coffee, proper coffee when it's properly brewed to perfection... proper coffee should be chewy. It should be strong enough that it doesn't require a cup.. that you can just hold it in your hand and bite off the bits you want. Yes, coffee thick enough and rich enough to eat with a knife and fork. I mean, not to go overboard or anything, but I can't help but think that milk should be a condiment rather than a mix. :) 23 Aug 2001 : 02.05 I tried listening to rap on my way home this morning. I feel so unclean. 22 Aug 2001 : 22.18 I got sushi. :) I just caught sight of myself in the mirror.. gah. Dark blue jeans and a baggy, violently-orange t-shirt. I'm so ashamed. But, see, this was the scheme.. the dress code at work demands that we don't wear jeans, but I happen to like jeans. (It has nothing to do with me forgetting to do laundry.) So I thought that the intense orange shirt might distract those who would seek to relieve me of my jeans, kinda like the way old WWI and WWII fighters used to attack out of the sun. And it worked beautifully.. yes, Wildsong: dress code tactician. 22 Aug 2001 : 16.30 I'm hungry. I feel like sushi. I don't look like sushi, I know, but it's what I'm in the mood for. (big surprise) Or dried squid.. that's yummy too. Of course, I'll probably end up going to McDonald's. Fine gourmet dining it is too, la cuisine du Chez Ronald. 21 Aug 2001 : 19.30 Site renovations are coming along. It's about time, too. I've been meaning to overhaul this whole site since 1996, and I've just never had the time. Making progress, though. Next comes Violently-Literate. :) The idea behind which will be as a place to store my various fanfics and original s/f work, hopefully so that I can generate some feedback on what I have so far. Huge rainstorm outside. I love the sound of the rain.. my house is surrounded by trees, so it sounds like I'm in a rain forest. Which, technically, I am, but that's not the point. 21 Aug 2001 : 16.03 [sigh] There goes Chapters.ca.. assimilated into the Indigo site. I mean, I know that it's keeping Chapters alive, but it's still a shame that they're slowly but surely losing the image that makes them my favourite book store. I suppose that it's better than having them simply dissolve, but it's still disappointing. Yes, ok, it's just a book store, but there's really no such thing as just a book store to someone who reads fanatically like I do. :) 18 Aug 2001 : 11.39 Just somewhere to stick things as they occur to me. I know, I know, it's trendy these days, but I've been meaning to do this for ages anyway, and since I'm redesigning (slowly but surely)... I'll refine the design as needed while I play with this. Resolution, graphics, etc etc. The picture is just whatever happens to occur to me at the time, too. Quickcam grabs of my mood are easiest, but I'll stick other things in here too, or maybe nothing at all if I'm writing in here from work. (no cam there)

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