Sunday, February 29, 2004
Saturday, February 28, 2004
mmmm. apple-rhubarb crisp with soy ice cream. it's a darn shame you aren't eating this. a darn shame.
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pushups: 25+9
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Friday, February 27, 2004
pushups: 26+12. feels good. note that I slept for a particularly long time last night. I guess sleep = pushups? I'm sure it's not quite that simple.
my UI prof is kind of funny. he's nerdy. in class he makes geek jokes that are usually only sort of funny, and he laughs nerdily afterwards (à la Andrew Elias, for those of you who know him). but he's all right with me because he loves Linux. his assignment descriptions are pretty silly and are littered with mildly funny puns, but sometimes they make me laugh out loud. you can check them out here if you're interested (be sure to read them in order, otherwise you won't know what a "Jinn" is).
my UI prof is kind of funny. he's nerdy. in class he makes geek jokes that are usually only sort of funny, and he laughs nerdily afterwards (à la Andrew Elias, for those of you who know him). but he's all right with me because he loves Linux. his assignment descriptions are pretty silly and are littered with mildly funny puns, but sometimes they make me laugh out loud. you can check them out here if you're interested (be sure to read them in order, otherwise you won't know what a "Jinn" is).
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Thursday, February 26, 2004
damn. The Joy Luck Club is so good. I don't know why, but it was so heart-wrenching for me. I cried so many times during that. I'm not sure whether it's the saddest film ever made, but no other film has made me cry nearly as much. I think since my mom died I've become really, really sensitive to the thought of family members being separated from one another, by death or other means - and this happened over and over again in this film. so sad, but so well done. or maybe I just think it's so good because it touched me so... who knows. aw, man. Jon, Meta, Michi, you all gotta see it. I'd be curious to know how each of you reacts to it.
I'm keeping this one.
I'm keeping this one.
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pushups: 24+11
did the chili-cornbread thing again. boy, is that buttered cornbread ever good. there's nothing like freshly baked cornbread. butter believe it.
watching The Joy Luck Club, based on the book by Amy Tan. I actually watched it before, years ago, with my mom. I remember my mom really loving it, but I'm sure I couldn't appreciate it at the time. soon after, my sister and I bought her The Kitchen God's Wife, also by Amy Tan, from Bookers for her birthday. she loved that, too. now it's sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be read again.
there's something really sweet about Asian girls. they're just so cute. or maybe it's just the ones in this movie...
did the chili-cornbread thing again. boy, is that buttered cornbread ever good. there's nothing like freshly baked cornbread. butter believe it.
watching The Joy Luck Club, based on the book by Amy Tan. I actually watched it before, years ago, with my mom. I remember my mom really loving it, but I'm sure I couldn't appreciate it at the time. soon after, my sister and I bought her The Kitchen God's Wife, also by Amy Tan, from Bookers for her birthday. she loved that, too. now it's sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be read again.
there's something really sweet about Asian girls. they're just so cute. or maybe it's just the ones in this movie...
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something tells me Jon is scheming something.
I mean, I know he's scheming something.
but I think he's also running some sort of experiment.
an experiment on me.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004
pushups: 23+10. also did lots of curls and some crunches.
happy birthday, Evi. thanks for the potato-cabbage soup. it's really good. I miss you.
happy birthday, Evi. thanks for the potato-cabbage soup. it's really good. I miss you.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004
I made some very nice dark, moist and spicy carrot cake with all my leftover carrot pulp. it turned out really well. I was originally just going to make plain carrot cake, but then I decided to add molasses, cloves, and ginger. what a success. now it's your turn.
I watched 21 Grams by the same guy who made Amores Perros. pretty good, I have to say. very similar in style to AP - very non-linear, disconnected stories all related to a central event. pretty cool. if you liked Amores Perros, you'll like 21 Grams.
I actually passed my dumb Programming Languages midterm. in fact, I got 65%. but that's just because the class average was so low (59%) and so he bumped everyone up a few notches. one thing I found kind of strange: apparently the prof knows everyone in the class by name. he was handing back the midterms, and instead of calling out people's names, he just returned them to the correct students himself. this is very odd, because it's a pretty big class and we never gave him our names in class. he must have looked up our faces somewhere and memorized the names associated with them. that seems like a lot of effort to go to just so he can hand back our exams himself. maybe he's stalking us all.
sprouts are delicious sauteed with garlic and celery in olive oil (and I added a touch of salt). great with mashed potatoes. incredibly good, actually. I wasn't expecting that. poor Jon gave all his sprouts away, though, so he's going to miss out. his CPU must have a bug in it.
I watched 21 Grams by the same guy who made Amores Perros. pretty good, I have to say. very similar in style to AP - very non-linear, disconnected stories all related to a central event. pretty cool. if you liked Amores Perros, you'll like 21 Grams.
I actually passed my dumb Programming Languages midterm. in fact, I got 65%. but that's just because the class average was so low (59%) and so he bumped everyone up a few notches. one thing I found kind of strange: apparently the prof knows everyone in the class by name. he was handing back the midterms, and instead of calling out people's names, he just returned them to the correct students himself. this is very odd, because it's a pretty big class and we never gave him our names in class. he must have looked up our faces somewhere and memorized the names associated with them. that seems like a lot of effort to go to just so he can hand back our exams himself. maybe he's stalking us all.
sprouts are delicious sauteed with garlic and celery in olive oil (and I added a touch of salt). great with mashed potatoes. incredibly good, actually. I wasn't expecting that. poor Jon gave all his sprouts away, though, so he's going to miss out. his CPU must have a bug in it.
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Monday, February 23, 2004
pushups: 23+11
so I had a pretty nice break. it all started when... I arrived at Jon and Evan's house in Toronto and Jon was making bread. the bread turned out so stupendously, I was nothing less than flabbergasted. it was made with whole wheat flour, water, a bit of yeast, molasses, and some salt. it was sooo good - soft and moist and it even had those little slits along the top like you find on loaves in bakeries. Jon's the bread god. I noticed he's very meticulous and careful in his breadmaking. now I'm so ashamed by my lack of breadmaking skills.
I made too many bean sprouts. too many!! they were overflowing my one jar so I put them into two. then they overflowed those, so I ended up having three jars. Jon and I had to eat lots of them. they were good, but not terribly exciting. I wanted to make a stir-fry with them. hopefully I still will with the rest.
Jon and Evan and Meta and I all went to see The Sounds and I Am A Robot perform at the Horseshoe in Toronto. I had an interesting time. I'd never gone to see a band like that perform live. I know now that earplugs would have made all the difference. I'm certain I would have enjoyed it many times more if I'd had those. the loudness just made me mad. it essentially ruined the music (in my opinion), but I guess that's not the reason people go see bands play live. (whenever I go to a live performance of jazz or classical music, I generally go for the music, not to see the performers.) after listening to some songs by I Am A Robot on CD (Meta bought it), I realize that I actually rather like their music. but heard live, the same songs I didn't like much at all. go figure.
so then Jon and I went to Kingston to meet Sean. the weather wasn't good for driving, so Sean ended up coming a day later than planned and we couldn't go snowshoeing. but that's okay. Jon and I ended up having a lot of greasy food instead. unfortunately, Jon had a headache for a long time, and I did too for a bit. but we weren't unhappy. but Jon did decide to leave a day early "because he had to study." so Sean and I watched The Corporation in a theatre in Kingston. it's moving. highly recommended. go watch The Corporation.
and apparently Jon is an android. I don't know why I didn't figure this out before, because it's quite obvious all the android-like qualities he has: the way he's super-sensitive to sounds, smells, tastes, etc.; how he can be so indifferent about things; the way he can so accurately reproduce hundreds of lines from TV shows, films, books, poetry, etc. in the correct voice; how his regular headaches are merely "growing pains" due to his CPU upgrading itself; and the list goes on. congratulations, Jon!
on the way back from Kingston I overheard a charming conversation between two Guelph University students. here are the notes I made as I listened to them.
so I had a pretty nice break. it all started when... I arrived at Jon and Evan's house in Toronto and Jon was making bread. the bread turned out so stupendously, I was nothing less than flabbergasted. it was made with whole wheat flour, water, a bit of yeast, molasses, and some salt. it was sooo good - soft and moist and it even had those little slits along the top like you find on loaves in bakeries. Jon's the bread god. I noticed he's very meticulous and careful in his breadmaking. now I'm so ashamed by my lack of breadmaking skills.
I made too many bean sprouts. too many!! they were overflowing my one jar so I put them into two. then they overflowed those, so I ended up having three jars. Jon and I had to eat lots of them. they were good, but not terribly exciting. I wanted to make a stir-fry with them. hopefully I still will with the rest.
Jon and Evan and Meta and I all went to see The Sounds and I Am A Robot perform at the Horseshoe in Toronto. I had an interesting time. I'd never gone to see a band like that perform live. I know now that earplugs would have made all the difference. I'm certain I would have enjoyed it many times more if I'd had those. the loudness just made me mad. it essentially ruined the music (in my opinion), but I guess that's not the reason people go see bands play live. (whenever I go to a live performance of jazz or classical music, I generally go for the music, not to see the performers.) after listening to some songs by I Am A Robot on CD (Meta bought it), I realize that I actually rather like their music. but heard live, the same songs I didn't like much at all. go figure.
so then Jon and I went to Kingston to meet Sean. the weather wasn't good for driving, so Sean ended up coming a day later than planned and we couldn't go snowshoeing. but that's okay. Jon and I ended up having a lot of greasy food instead. unfortunately, Jon had a headache for a long time, and I did too for a bit. but we weren't unhappy. but Jon did decide to leave a day early "because he had to study." so Sean and I watched The Corporation in a theatre in Kingston. it's moving. highly recommended. go watch The Corporation.
and apparently Jon is an android. I don't know why I didn't figure this out before, because it's quite obvious all the android-like qualities he has: the way he's super-sensitive to sounds, smells, tastes, etc.; how he can be so indifferent about things; the way he can so accurately reproduce hundreds of lines from TV shows, films, books, poetry, etc. in the correct voice; how his regular headaches are merely "growing pains" due to his CPU upgrading itself; and the list goes on. congratulations, Jon!
on the way back from Kingston I overheard a charming conversation between two Guelph University students. here are the notes I made as I listened to them.
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I had a good break. more later. I did 24+8 and 22+10.
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Monday, February 16, 2004
gosh. I studied harder this weekend than I have in a long time. partly because I was actually enjoying what I was learning in my programming languages course (now that it actually makes perfect sense), and partly because so far this term I've been doing poorer in my courses than ever before (and I seriously don't want to fail anything).
I was also studying for my user interfaces course, which is interesting but completely different from most CS courses in that it's not really that much about computer science, but rather engineering or psychology or something. I've been skipping that class a lot. in fact, I've never skipped a class more than this one. the reason I've been doing it is that I don't really learn anything in the lectures, and most of what I would learn I can pick up from the prof's messy scribbles of lecture notes posted online--er, well, not really. they're so bad that I only learn a bit from them. but as it turns out, it doesn't matter what I learn. I just had my midterm, and it was a joke. the questions were about
but my programming languages midterm, now that was pretty horrible. I studied so goddamn hard for this course (relatively speaking), and what do I get for it? an exam that's harder and longer than last term's (despite the stupid prof's claims that it was easier; I guess he thought so because it had only 8 questions instead of 10. hey Brad! quantity isn't everything, you know!), and wouldn't really have become easier had I studied longer. the questions were of that stupid tricky kind that advanced math students like, the ones that you can't figure out unless you spend days thinking about them. I don't know what the prof was thinking. well, I don't think he really thinks, otherwise he'd probably be able to teach. I guess he'll get a hint after the TAs have finished marking. whatever.
I was also studying for my user interfaces course, which is interesting but completely different from most CS courses in that it's not really that much about computer science, but rather engineering or psychology or something. I've been skipping that class a lot. in fact, I've never skipped a class more than this one. the reason I've been doing it is that I don't really learn anything in the lectures, and most of what I would learn I can pick up from the prof's messy scribbles of lecture notes posted online--er, well, not really. they're so bad that I only learn a bit from them. but as it turns out, it doesn't matter what I learn. I just had my midterm, and it was a joke. the questions were about
- writing code to paint rectangles and text in a window (ridiculously easy)
- analyzing various aspects of learning to use a mouse
- modifying an event loop so that it could run an animation
- analyzing how a doorknob works from a UI perspective and designing a UI widget based on a doorknob
but my programming languages midterm, now that was pretty horrible. I studied so goddamn hard for this course (relatively speaking), and what do I get for it? an exam that's harder and longer than last term's (despite the stupid prof's claims that it was easier; I guess he thought so because it had only 8 questions instead of 10. hey Brad! quantity isn't everything, you know!), and wouldn't really have become easier had I studied longer. the questions were of that stupid tricky kind that advanced math students like, the ones that you can't figure out unless you spend days thinking about them. I don't know what the prof was thinking. well, I don't think he really thinks, otherwise he'd probably be able to teach. I guess he'll get a hint after the TAs have finished marking. whatever.
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Sunday, February 15, 2004
pushups: 22+11
studying... and watching movies. I can't help it. but now I'm just going to study until my two midterms are over tomorrow.
watched The Princess and the Warrior aka. Der Krieger und die Kaiserin. it's a film by Tom Tykwer, the same guy who did Run Lola Run and Winter Sleepers (the former being awesome and the latter I wasn't too impressed by). this one's not bad, but I don't understand the symbolism yet, same way I didn't understand the symbolism of In the Mood for Love, although I haven't put too much thought into it yet. often I only truly appreciate a film or work of literature once I've understood the meaning behind the symbols (if it's that kind of work). and that can turn what I thought was an otherwise mediocre work into one of the best I've ever seen - not that I thought either P&W or M4L were otherwise mediocre; they were both quite beautiful. so if someone has some insight into the mysteries of either of these movies (like why the guy in P&W always cries and what the guy in M4L does at the temple ruins), I'd be glad to hear it.
studying... and watching movies. I can't help it. but now I'm just going to study until my two midterms are over tomorrow.
watched The Princess and the Warrior aka. Der Krieger und die Kaiserin. it's a film by Tom Tykwer, the same guy who did Run Lola Run and Winter Sleepers (the former being awesome and the latter I wasn't too impressed by). this one's not bad, but I don't understand the symbolism yet, same way I didn't understand the symbolism of In the Mood for Love, although I haven't put too much thought into it yet. often I only truly appreciate a film or work of literature once I've understood the meaning behind the symbols (if it's that kind of work). and that can turn what I thought was an otherwise mediocre work into one of the best I've ever seen - not that I thought either P&W or M4L were otherwise mediocre; they were both quite beautiful. so if someone has some insight into the mysteries of either of these movies (like why the guy in P&W always cries and what the guy in M4L does at the temple ruins), I'd be glad to hear it.
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Friday, February 13, 2004
pushups yesterday: 24+12
pushups today: 23+12
well, I was planning to at least start my second assignment for my programming languages course (mostly about functional programming so far) yesterday because it was due today, but I was too tired to start right away. so instead I decided to go to bed really early and start reading the course notes for that course so I could begin to understand what was supposed to have been taught in the first and all subsequent lectures (silly, young, know-it-all prof doesn't really know how to teach).
so I went to bed at around 7:30pm and started reading. now things are starting to make perfect sense; there's nothing I read in the course notes that I didn't understand (whereas I could understand only about 5% of the lectures). I set my alarm for 3:30am so I could get some progress on the assignment before it was due (11:30am), and fell asleep. I woke up at about 1:30am and decided I was hungry. so I made some surprisingly good curried potatos and celery with brown basmati rice.
then I went to sleep again after setting my alarm for 5:30am. it woke me up, but I decided I didn't feel like getting up, so I turned it off (consciously, I'll have you know). and eventually I woke up again at about 9:00am. I read the course notes for another hour or more and eventually got up, had a shower, etc. by the time I was ready to start the assignment it was about 11:10am. I figured I couldn't make much progress on the assignment in 10 minutes, so I decided to skip it altogether. I have a midterm for this class on Monday. I hardly attempted the first assignment, and didn't attempt the second at all. but at least I'm starting to understand what the course is about. I wonder if I'll be well prepared.
I'm making a batch of yoghurt. I want it to be more sour than the last two times I made it, so I'm following Jon's advice and leaving it to develop for at least 24 hours, maybe longer. for some reason I can't find any yoghurt recipes that suggest leaving it for longer than 12 hours. one recipe even said "Try not to let it set too long or it tends to get sour, but it is still usable even though you may not like it as well." but I want it sour! it tastes better that way. has the world gone mad??
by the way, my crazy cookies are actually all right when you eat them with peanut button spread on top. peanut button.
pushups today: 23+12
well, I was planning to at least start my second assignment for my programming languages course (mostly about functional programming so far) yesterday because it was due today, but I was too tired to start right away. so instead I decided to go to bed really early and start reading the course notes for that course so I could begin to understand what was supposed to have been taught in the first and all subsequent lectures (silly, young, know-it-all prof doesn't really know how to teach).
so I went to bed at around 7:30pm and started reading. now things are starting to make perfect sense; there's nothing I read in the course notes that I didn't understand (whereas I could understand only about 5% of the lectures). I set my alarm for 3:30am so I could get some progress on the assignment before it was due (11:30am), and fell asleep. I woke up at about 1:30am and decided I was hungry. so I made some surprisingly good curried potatos and celery with brown basmati rice.
then I went to sleep again after setting my alarm for 5:30am. it woke me up, but I decided I didn't feel like getting up, so I turned it off (consciously, I'll have you know). and eventually I woke up again at about 9:00am. I read the course notes for another hour or more and eventually got up, had a shower, etc. by the time I was ready to start the assignment it was about 11:10am. I figured I couldn't make much progress on the assignment in 10 minutes, so I decided to skip it altogether. I have a midterm for this class on Monday. I hardly attempted the first assignment, and didn't attempt the second at all. but at least I'm starting to understand what the course is about. I wonder if I'll be well prepared.
I'm making a batch of yoghurt. I want it to be more sour than the last two times I made it, so I'm following Jon's advice and leaving it to develop for at least 24 hours, maybe longer. for some reason I can't find any yoghurt recipes that suggest leaving it for longer than 12 hours. one recipe even said "Try not to let it set too long or it tends to get sour, but it is still usable even though you may not like it as well." but I want it sour! it tastes better that way. has the world gone mad??
by the way, my crazy cookies are actually all right when you eat them with peanut button spread on top. peanut button.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
holy crap... Jon's friend, Victor Glazer, has this long list of movies worth seeing. man. I'm going to have to go through every one of them. on the one hand, I'm glad that I won't be bored for a while. on the other, I'm worried that I'm not going to graduate this term if I spend all my time watching movies instead of... graduating. (or... maybe I could pull a Jon...)
pushups: 23+8
making some really, REALLY strange "cookies," made of carrot pulp, some apple pulp, some flecks of parsley (tried to remove them), oat flour, water, honey, molasses, vanilla and cinammon. yeah. I know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
waited and saw. they taste like sweet, spiced carrot pulp. I'll probably take a little while to finish them. :P
just finished watching Amores Perros. Victor's right, it's a pretty cool movie. recommended.
pushups: 23+8
making some really, REALLY strange "cookies," made of carrot pulp, some apple pulp, some flecks of parsley (tried to remove them), oat flour, water, honey, molasses, vanilla and cinammon. yeah. I know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
waited and saw. they taste like sweet, spiced carrot pulp. I'll probably take a little while to finish them. :P
just finished watching Amores Perros. Victor's right, it's a pretty cool movie. recommended.
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Tuesday, February 10, 2004
pushups: 22+13 (I think I took too long of a break b/w sets)
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino is another great film. you gotta see it if you haven't. next in the queue is... Amores Perros.
booked train tickets to Kingston for Jon and me. we're going there to meet a new friend to go snowshoeing for a couple days. got a hotel booked too. who knows what it's going to be like. we'll be snowshoeing in some park north of Kingston. we've never met this guy in person, only chatted electronically. my parents knew him, though, so I trust we'll get along. you never know - we may all end up spending the rest of our lifes in an ecovillage together... (he thinks about living on a farm all the time. don't we all.)
reading this pretty neat little book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. all in all it's not incredibly groundbreaking (yet), but it's a great read. it's filled with the results of a variety of psychological experiments to demonstrate various arguments he makes throughout the book, which are all related to his thesis on how different messages/behaviours are spread in society. so it's obviously really relevant to my life, since I intend to live past 60. (get it? ha, ha, ha.)
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino is another great film. you gotta see it if you haven't. next in the queue is... Amores Perros.
booked train tickets to Kingston for Jon and me. we're going there to meet a new friend to go snowshoeing for a couple days. got a hotel booked too. who knows what it's going to be like. we'll be snowshoeing in some park north of Kingston. we've never met this guy in person, only chatted electronically. my parents knew him, though, so I trust we'll get along. you never know - we may all end up spending the rest of our lifes in an ecovillage together... (he thinks about living on a farm all the time. don't we all.)
reading this pretty neat little book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. all in all it's not incredibly groundbreaking (yet), but it's a great read. it's filled with the results of a variety of psychological experiments to demonstrate various arguments he makes throughout the book, which are all related to his thesis on how different messages/behaviours are spread in society. so it's obviously really relevant to my life, since I intend to live past 60. (get it? ha, ha, ha.)
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Monday, February 09, 2004
pushups: 22+10
I just gotta say that I do really like one of my German profs: Michael Böhringer. he's very friendly and very funny and seems really aware of the students - aware of what they don't understand, what's obvious to them, what they enjoy and what they don't. he's also really knowledgeable of German language and culture. (he's German, of course.) he's quite witty, a bit like a comedian. he can make any mildly funny story or situation sound hilarious just by the way he tells it and the side-remarks he makes. but he's also really honest and sincere. he makes a big deal when a student corrects him about some grammatical error he made, for example, and points him out to the rest of the class and thanks him and excuses himself for making such a stupid mistake. apparently his first career was a baker (his father was a baker). but he says he found it very boring (maybe something I should keep in mind). so he took up teaching, which he seems to love. still don't understand why he prefers Waterloo over Germany... that's something I have trouble understanding with all my German profs, who all seem to be otherwise sane and intelligent people.
so. I thought about my mom again. well, I think about her all the time. but when I consciously do, I usually find that I end up playing back in my head part of the last few days I spent with her, when she was really sick. and it's always really sad to think about that time, because that's the saddest time in my life that I ever spent with her. I tend not to replay the times I had with her before then, the happy times, probably because they're not clear enough in my memory. they didn't seem important at the time. I wonder if a hypnotist could help bring back those memories. that would be fun to try someday.
I keep destroying my bike. I just snapped one of my gearshifts because a hinge somewhere on the other end of my bike was stiff. this is only a couple weeks after I got the whole thing tuned up at the bike shop (which cost me over $100). so I took it there again and they replaced the gearshift and oiled things a bit. that cost me another $40. Jonsus Chrispitone. I guess I need to oil it more often during the winter.
but you know what? I don't care how much it costs me to maintain my bike (although I'll do my best to keep it to a minimum). even if it's cheaper for me to buy a new one that's better than this one, I won't do it. I justify it by thinking about how much fossil fuel would be consumed to produce a new bike and to recycle my old one, and that fuel's gonna run out pretty damn soon. plus it pollutes the air and melts the north pole. so I'm going to keep this bike until it's literally falling apart, which I hope will be never. damn you, ancient sunlight.
I just gotta say that I do really like one of my German profs: Michael Böhringer. he's very friendly and very funny and seems really aware of the students - aware of what they don't understand, what's obvious to them, what they enjoy and what they don't. he's also really knowledgeable of German language and culture. (he's German, of course.) he's quite witty, a bit like a comedian. he can make any mildly funny story or situation sound hilarious just by the way he tells it and the side-remarks he makes. but he's also really honest and sincere. he makes a big deal when a student corrects him about some grammatical error he made, for example, and points him out to the rest of the class and thanks him and excuses himself for making such a stupid mistake. apparently his first career was a baker (his father was a baker). but he says he found it very boring (maybe something I should keep in mind). so he took up teaching, which he seems to love. still don't understand why he prefers Waterloo over Germany... that's something I have trouble understanding with all my German profs, who all seem to be otherwise sane and intelligent people.
so. I thought about my mom again. well, I think about her all the time. but when I consciously do, I usually find that I end up playing back in my head part of the last few days I spent with her, when she was really sick. and it's always really sad to think about that time, because that's the saddest time in my life that I ever spent with her. I tend not to replay the times I had with her before then, the happy times, probably because they're not clear enough in my memory. they didn't seem important at the time. I wonder if a hypnotist could help bring back those memories. that would be fun to try someday.
I keep destroying my bike. I just snapped one of my gearshifts because a hinge somewhere on the other end of my bike was stiff. this is only a couple weeks after I got the whole thing tuned up at the bike shop (which cost me over $100). so I took it there again and they replaced the gearshift and oiled things a bit. that cost me another $40. Jonsus Chrispitone. I guess I need to oil it more often during the winter.
but you know what? I don't care how much it costs me to maintain my bike (although I'll do my best to keep it to a minimum). even if it's cheaper for me to buy a new one that's better than this one, I won't do it. I justify it by thinking about how much fossil fuel would be consumed to produce a new bike and to recycle my old one, and that fuel's gonna run out pretty damn soon. plus it pollutes the air and melts the north pole. so I'm going to keep this bike until it's literally falling apart, which I hope will be never. damn you, ancient sunlight.
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Saturday, February 07, 2004
pushups: 21+11
I'm feeling altogether tired these days. but I've been sleeping a lot. more than I should be (I end up skipping too many classes). but it feels good. I think in the last few days I haven't been eating quite as much as usual, which might explain my lack of pushup progress, as well as the my lack of motivation to do other exercises. or maybe because I'm getting so much more sleep. it's strange. I end up feeling exhausted when I get too little sleep as well as when I get a lot of sleep. I'm sure Jongod knows why.
I cut my finger yesterday. left index finger. same finger I cut the time before. with a kitchen knife. it's fine, like last time, but it was dripping blood, like last time. did it with a bread knife this time, missing the last place I cut it by just a centimetre or so. the reason was because I was cutting something that was very difficult to cut: the remaining chunk of that first loaf of rye bread I made. that bread's very dense, and particularly tough now. the reason I cut myself last time was the same, but it was frozen tomatoes that time. so the lesson is: be very, very careful when you are trying to cut something difficult with a sharp knife - or don't try it at all.
watched Jackie Brown. good movie. I do like Tarantino. I didn't really get the whole point of the money exchange; I figure the cops were just trying to catch him with some evidence? but why go to all that trouble with the mall and everything? why was the black guy playing along? what was Jackie's real motive? did it ever change? I think I really missed several key things there. well, it didn't help much that in the scene in the mall where she started calling "Ray, Ray!" my video cut out because it was corrupted. still, I think I had trouble following a lot of the dialogue. maybe I was chatting with Jongod too much.
by the way, is there such thing as "pulp non-fiction?" I don't see why there shouldn't be. well, I guess it would have to first exist and then they'd have to coin the term, right? but it doesn't have to be that way. let the term by coined anyway.
I'm feeling altogether tired these days. but I've been sleeping a lot. more than I should be (I end up skipping too many classes). but it feels good. I think in the last few days I haven't been eating quite as much as usual, which might explain my lack of pushup progress, as well as the my lack of motivation to do other exercises. or maybe because I'm getting so much more sleep. it's strange. I end up feeling exhausted when I get too little sleep as well as when I get a lot of sleep. I'm sure Jongod knows why.
I cut my finger yesterday. left index finger. same finger I cut the time before. with a kitchen knife. it's fine, like last time, but it was dripping blood, like last time. did it with a bread knife this time, missing the last place I cut it by just a centimetre or so. the reason was because I was cutting something that was very difficult to cut: the remaining chunk of that first loaf of rye bread I made. that bread's very dense, and particularly tough now. the reason I cut myself last time was the same, but it was frozen tomatoes that time. so the lesson is: be very, very careful when you are trying to cut something difficult with a sharp knife - or don't try it at all.
watched Jackie Brown. good movie. I do like Tarantino. I didn't really get the whole point of the money exchange; I figure the cops were just trying to catch him with some evidence? but why go to all that trouble with the mall and everything? why was the black guy playing along? what was Jackie's real motive? did it ever change? I think I really missed several key things there. well, it didn't help much that in the scene in the mall where she started calling "Ray, Ray!" my video cut out because it was corrupted. still, I think I had trouble following a lot of the dialogue. maybe I was chatting with Jongod too much.
by the way, is there such thing as "pulp non-fiction?" I don't see why there shouldn't be. well, I guess it would have to first exist and then they'd have to coin the term, right? but it doesn't have to be that way. let the term by coined anyway.
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Friday, February 06, 2004
pushups: 20+11
making a carrot-squash-split pea soup using up some of the carrot pulp. it's hard to get it to be tasty. I keep adding more dill to no avail (maybe it's really old dill). I've also been adding salt and honey and red wine vinegar, and that hardly seems to edit the flavour either. I guess I'm still bad at soups. I don't understand how those soup cubes can have so much flavour packed in them (I didn't use any this time). it's so cheating. but I'm sure it will taste fine, if somewhat boring.
by the way, that second rye loaf I made actually turned out much better than my previous loaf, despite its unsatisfactory rising. it actually does have air pockets inside it, not unlike the Dimpflmeier sourdough rye. it's also rather moist, which makes a big difference. next time I do it I'm going to leave the dough even stickier, and when I let it rise I'll cover it with a plate or something so that the moisture doesn't escape. then we'll see who's boss.
I ordered another organic produce basket from Pfenning's. this time a fruit basket. how exciting. I like limiting my bike rides to Eating Well during the winter; it can be a bit of a pain. also, I think it's cheaper getting these baskets, although I haven't made a formal comparison.
making a carrot-squash-split pea soup using up some of the carrot pulp. it's hard to get it to be tasty. I keep adding more dill to no avail (maybe it's really old dill). I've also been adding salt and honey and red wine vinegar, and that hardly seems to edit the flavour either. I guess I'm still bad at soups. I don't understand how those soup cubes can have so much flavour packed in them (I didn't use any this time). it's so cheating. but I'm sure it will taste fine, if somewhat boring.
by the way, that second rye loaf I made actually turned out much better than my previous loaf, despite its unsatisfactory rising. it actually does have air pockets inside it, not unlike the Dimpflmeier sourdough rye. it's also rather moist, which makes a big difference. next time I do it I'm going to leave the dough even stickier, and when I let it rise I'll cover it with a plate or something so that the moisture doesn't escape. then we'll see who's boss.
I ordered another organic produce basket from Pfenning's. this time a fruit basket. how exciting. I like limiting my bike rides to Eating Well during the winter; it can be a bit of a pain. also, I think it's cheaper getting these baskets, although I haven't made a formal comparison.
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Thursday, February 05, 2004
pushups: 22+11
I seem to be starting to juice regularly now. three days ago and yesterday I had carrot+apple juice and today I had carrot+potato+parsley juice. it's actually more convenient to do than I thought - more convenient than cooking some other lunch from scratch (and probably more nutritious). I'm saving all the pulp, but not too sure yet what to do with it. I can't keep making carrot cakes. I'm still finishing the last one I made. maybe some kind of soup... yes, that's what I'll do.
did my presentation for German linguistics class today. man, I was stuttering and pausing for long periods, trying to come up with the right words. my grammar was so bad that where I meant to say, "when you attach the morpheme to the lexeme here, you call it a prefix," it came out like, "when you atta- the endings with the lexeme -ches at the here, you it names prefixes." my mouth was perfectly dry by the end of it. I was quite definitely the worst one in the class. I actually feel sorry for the prof; she's probably trying really hard to find anything good to say about my performance on the marking sheet, being the kind marker that she is.
the stir fry wasn't bad, but the parsnips were, in my opinion, slightly too flavourful for it. they might be best cooked alone as a side dish with some butter and honey.
made another rye loaf. it rose about half an inch higher than the last one - definitely not to my satisfaction. I need it to rise about four inches more. this time I left the dough a bit more moist, and I let it rise overnight in the oven at a good summery temperature. still don't understand why it stays so compact. I put half as much salt in, too. it seems like a heavy dough; maybe if I make the loaf smaller, it won't have as much weight to push vertically and rise higher? somehow that doesn't convince me.
so weird... I just started listening to one of Thom Hartmann's archived radio shows. I never ever imagined him as a radio personality, just as an author. but he has this daily radio show called the "Thom Hartmann Radio Program," and it seems to be all about politics. he just has a normal American accent; for some reason I thought he'd have a German accent, since his name is German and his mentor is German. anyway, I should start listening to this when I'm bored.
I seem to be starting to juice regularly now. three days ago and yesterday I had carrot+apple juice and today I had carrot+potato+parsley juice. it's actually more convenient to do than I thought - more convenient than cooking some other lunch from scratch (and probably more nutritious). I'm saving all the pulp, but not too sure yet what to do with it. I can't keep making carrot cakes. I'm still finishing the last one I made. maybe some kind of soup... yes, that's what I'll do.
did my presentation for German linguistics class today. man, I was stuttering and pausing for long periods, trying to come up with the right words. my grammar was so bad that where I meant to say, "when you attach the morpheme to the lexeme here, you call it a prefix," it came out like, "when you atta- the endings with the lexeme -ches at the here, you it names prefixes." my mouth was perfectly dry by the end of it. I was quite definitely the worst one in the class. I actually feel sorry for the prof; she's probably trying really hard to find anything good to say about my performance on the marking sheet, being the kind marker that she is.
the stir fry wasn't bad, but the parsnips were, in my opinion, slightly too flavourful for it. they might be best cooked alone as a side dish with some butter and honey.
made another rye loaf. it rose about half an inch higher than the last one - definitely not to my satisfaction. I need it to rise about four inches more. this time I left the dough a bit more moist, and I let it rise overnight in the oven at a good summery temperature. still don't understand why it stays so compact. I put half as much salt in, too. it seems like a heavy dough; maybe if I make the loaf smaller, it won't have as much weight to push vertically and rise higher? somehow that doesn't convince me.
so weird... I just started listening to one of Thom Hartmann's archived radio shows. I never ever imagined him as a radio personality, just as an author. but he has this daily radio show called the "Thom Hartmann Radio Program," and it seems to be all about politics. he just has a normal American accent; for some reason I thought he'd have a German accent, since his name is German and his mentor is German. anyway, I should start listening to this when I'm bored.
| [ 2 comments ] |
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
pushups: 20+10 (again; maybe I'm wearing myself out)
got the organic produce basket: a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, a bag of apples (red delicious :-/), a box of alfalfa sprouts (haven't had those in a while), three parsnips, two garlic bulbs, half a cabbage, a squash (looks like an oversize, ridged acorn - what's the name?), and three shitake mushrooms. it's a "local" basket, so most of it is from Ontario. pretty nice. wintery vegetables! there's something very cool about eating vegetables of the season, especially if they're local.
for some reason my family never cooked parsnips, so I didn't even know what those carrot-like roots were when I got them. I thought they might be turnips, but seeing as we never had turnips either, I had to rely on my video game knowledge: I knew turnips were fat with cute little faces, whereas these were skinny and faceless. so they had to be parsnips. I'm going to make a stir-fry tonight: carrot-parsnip-cabbage-mushroom-onion-garlic. too bad I don't have any sesame oil. I do have sesame seeds... maybe I can press the oil out of them somehow.
watched the first half of Alien 4 last night. nothing particularly interesting about it: just cheap thrills and special effects, like about every other sci-fi flick made these days. which makes me wonder how it could have been directed by the same guy who did Amelie and City of Lost Children. it's funny how he uses the same actors in many of his movies. the jealous guy in the cafe in Amelie (I thought he was really good) was also in City of Lost Children and Alien 4. not only that, but one of the stars of City of Lost Children is also in Alien 4. and seeing as they're both French actors, one wonders how they were able to sound so American in Alien 4. methinks they did the best job they could saying the lines and then some American guys overdubbed their voices with a proper accent; their voices are not the same as I remember them.
had another weird dream last night. another because I had a pretty weird and very detailed dream a week and a half ago, about applying for a job at a pharmacy in California for a lesbian. but the dream I had last night was very sci-fi. I'm pretty sure it came as a result of watching the first have of Alien 4. I was on some ship with some of my friends... I think Derek was there. we had some mission with some agency that we were supposed to complete, like we had to destroy some government or something. and we were flying around in this vast black universe, and our mission was in a "sub-universe" that was being contained by a space station orbiting in some solar system. so we found the space station and simply flew into this sub-universe that was suspended by it, and suddenly the universe was replaced by this sub-universe. I guess it was like another dimension or something. and we found the planet that was controlled by this government. I remember getting there and conversing with some Ferengi on a video screen, and that made me feel at home. then I don't really remember what happened... we were flying around in a jet along freeways and through tunnels, trying to shoot the police or something, and I think we escaped. not sure whether we completed the mission.
got the organic produce basket: a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, a bag of apples (red delicious :-/), a box of alfalfa sprouts (haven't had those in a while), three parsnips, two garlic bulbs, half a cabbage, a squash (looks like an oversize, ridged acorn - what's the name?), and three shitake mushrooms. it's a "local" basket, so most of it is from Ontario. pretty nice. wintery vegetables! there's something very cool about eating vegetables of the season, especially if they're local.
for some reason my family never cooked parsnips, so I didn't even know what those carrot-like roots were when I got them. I thought they might be turnips, but seeing as we never had turnips either, I had to rely on my video game knowledge: I knew turnips were fat with cute little faces, whereas these were skinny and faceless. so they had to be parsnips. I'm going to make a stir-fry tonight: carrot-parsnip-cabbage-mushroom-onion-garlic. too bad I don't have any sesame oil. I do have sesame seeds... maybe I can press the oil out of them somehow.
watched the first half of Alien 4 last night. nothing particularly interesting about it: just cheap thrills and special effects, like about every other sci-fi flick made these days. which makes me wonder how it could have been directed by the same guy who did Amelie and City of Lost Children. it's funny how he uses the same actors in many of his movies. the jealous guy in the cafe in Amelie (I thought he was really good) was also in City of Lost Children and Alien 4. not only that, but one of the stars of City of Lost Children is also in Alien 4. and seeing as they're both French actors, one wonders how they were able to sound so American in Alien 4. methinks they did the best job they could saying the lines and then some American guys overdubbed their voices with a proper accent; their voices are not the same as I remember them.
had another weird dream last night. another because I had a pretty weird and very detailed dream a week and a half ago, about applying for a job at a pharmacy in California for a lesbian. but the dream I had last night was very sci-fi. I'm pretty sure it came as a result of watching the first have of Alien 4. I was on some ship with some of my friends... I think Derek was there. we had some mission with some agency that we were supposed to complete, like we had to destroy some government or something. and we were flying around in this vast black universe, and our mission was in a "sub-universe" that was being contained by a space station orbiting in some solar system. so we found the space station and simply flew into this sub-universe that was suspended by it, and suddenly the universe was replaced by this sub-universe. I guess it was like another dimension or something. and we found the planet that was controlled by this government. I remember getting there and conversing with some Ferengi on a video screen, and that made me feel at home. then I don't really remember what happened... we were flying around in a jet along freeways and through tunnels, trying to shoot the police or something, and I think we escaped. not sure whether we completed the mission.
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Tuesday, February 03, 2004
my first blog. I wonder if I'll ever keep it going.
well, first off, here is my pushup count for today: 20+10
what a day. I was up most of the night preparing my presentation for my German linguistics class. I got it done, but only got about two and a half hours of sleep. I felt so bad waking up. the bed was magnetic. the thought of sleeping longer felt sooo good. but I knew what I had to do: go to class and present this thing. so I went to class and they didn't have time for me. how silly. I'm glad I'm prepared now, though. so I slept for about six hours during the day. only saw a bit of daylight in the morning, and now it's nighttime again.
I can't seem to do schoolwork before the last minute these days, if ever. I wonder why. I don't think I actually hate doing the work - certainly no more than I did in first year when I was able to finish assignments a week before they were due. so something's changed. I guess I've just gradually been able to get away with putting things off more and more that it actually starts to seem normal to start something only a day before it's due. a silly human am I.
tomorrow I'm going to get up early, though - like 7am. I have to receive a basket of local produce that I'm getting delivered to me by Pfenning's Organic in St. Agatha, and they're coming at 7:45am. it's too far for me to ride my bike there (well, when it's cold), but they have a website where you can order produce baskets to be delivered to you if you're in the area, and delivery is free. how convenient. I don't know why I didn't try it before. it might become a regular thing for me.
well, first off, here is my pushup count for today: 20+10
what a day. I was up most of the night preparing my presentation for my German linguistics class. I got it done, but only got about two and a half hours of sleep. I felt so bad waking up. the bed was magnetic. the thought of sleeping longer felt sooo good. but I knew what I had to do: go to class and present this thing. so I went to class and they didn't have time for me. how silly. I'm glad I'm prepared now, though. so I slept for about six hours during the day. only saw a bit of daylight in the morning, and now it's nighttime again.
I can't seem to do schoolwork before the last minute these days, if ever. I wonder why. I don't think I actually hate doing the work - certainly no more than I did in first year when I was able to finish assignments a week before they were due. so something's changed. I guess I've just gradually been able to get away with putting things off more and more that it actually starts to seem normal to start something only a day before it's due. a silly human am I.
tomorrow I'm going to get up early, though - like 7am. I have to receive a basket of local produce that I'm getting delivered to me by Pfenning's Organic in St. Agatha, and they're coming at 7:45am. it's too far for me to ride my bike there (well, when it's cold), but they have a website where you can order produce baskets to be delivered to you if you're in the area, and delivery is free. how convenient. I don't know why I didn't try it before. it might become a regular thing for me.
| [ 2 comments ] |
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