35 Seconds to Live

Have you ever wondered how long you would survive if you were chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor? I know I have. 35 seconds for me. Comment on how you did, if you want. I suspect most will be quite a bit longer than mine.

http://www.bunkbeds.net/velociraptor/index.php

It's Not Sane

(No Rain, Blind Melon)

It's been a while, huh? I'm not good at blogs. Obviously.

I just wanted to mention that I think Americans are absolutely insane.

That is all.

HOLY FUCK MY DASHBOARD!

Oh wait... No. It's the same. Whew. Got scared there for a minute. What with all the really unpleasant changes happening to all of my favourite websites lately... You know how it is.

Anyway... I had an adventure in bat-wrangling today. Bryan was too busy playing video games to be the man of the house, so I had to drag the thing angrily out from under the dryer and make it get out of the room before it decided it was warmer inside and flew back in. Then I just threw a towel on it, picked it up and carried it outside. It was epic. (I think that Faith expected me to dodge around like an idiot, but I was more competent than you would expect.)

...And that was my adventure. That is all.

...Sont Les Mots Qui Vont Très Bien Ensemble...

(Michelle, the Beatles)

Man am I ever tired of doing french homework. Like... Holy shit boredom. They tell me it's good for me. I guess they're right... If I ever work out this bilingualism thing, I'll be in good shape. I don't see that happening in the near future, though. We'll see.

Anyway! On with life!

I had a good solid three hours of sitting and chatting with a friend that I don't talk to a lot last night. We sat in the Timmy's that I used to work at and just talked and drank coffee (or hot chocolate) until 2 AM. We've decided that we are going to do an open mic night at Wilf's in September. It will be lots of fun. I will need to actually learn some songs, then. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I never get to perform anymore, so it will be good. Or maybe it will serve to remind me why I don't perform anymore. :P

I have recently had it brought to my attention that I am not very smart. I used to sort of think I was bright. I guess I'm just average, at best. Maybe even kind of slow. I think this might be a rant for a day when I don't have a french assignment to finish in a few hours. I will hopefully remember to touch on this later, because I've started it now. Later, though.

A la prochaine.

It's Great To Be A Nerd

(It's Great To Be A Nerd, The Arrogant Worms)

I have been greviously neglecting this blog lately. (What else is new?) I have no excuse, just a general lack of dedication. Story of my life. You know how it is.

Anywho... (I actually really hate that word.) So solid state drives are wicked awesome for battery life! Solid state should become the new standard. Oh wait... They actually aren't. They're really worse. Wait wait wait... Nope, they're okay. Is anyone else not sure what to believe on this? As much as it's a really minimal difference, (around 20 minutes,) there's been a pretty big hubbub about it in the last couple weeks. ...If you don't know what I'm talking about, then don't worry about it. I'm just being nerdy.

Speaking of being nerdy, helping the boyfriend build his new gaming rig this week made me want to get back into being a computer nerd. I stopped taking the computer science courses at school because I couldn't handle the course load, but I have started wishing that I hadn't. I want to build myself a wicked, stupidly expensive gaming rig now. Instead I get to borrow his old one indefinitely. (Score!)

Also... the entire world should sign up for twitter. Because I am currently the only one I know who has it. That is all.

Do You Want To Be Wildly Entertained?

(Enter the Circus, Christina Aguilera)

So I want to recommend an album. Even if this doesn't seem like your type of music, you should give it a listen at least once. Actually, I guess it's only half an album. I personally have no use for the entire first CD, but the second one is definitely worth some time.

Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics. That's right. I, one of the bigger musical snobs that I know, (Actually that's not true. I am one of the least musically snobbish people I know, but I don't like pop.) am recommending that everyone listen to half of a Christina Aguilera album. I think what happened with Back to Basics is that she realized that she could do whatever she wants and people will still buy her CD, so she decided to actually do something different and interesting.

The second CD of Back to Basics starts out with a circus theme, which is just generally neat. During the whole album she samples from different styles and sort of modernizes them. She takes the styles of the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald and others. Honestly, if you don't know those styles, look them up, give a few songs a listen, and then put on Aguilera's album. It's very neat. The music samples from the 20's, 30's, 40's, and a couple of them actually sound like they are genuinely recorded in the time period. They used vintage mics for a couple of them.

So anyway... I got off on a rant about how neat it is. The long and short of it is listen to it.

They Are Calling From Across A Distant Shore

(Into The West, Annie Lennox)

The other day in education got me thinking... Dr. Gerard Yun came in and spoke about world music, and demonstrated a few instruments that he had painstakingly learned by immersing himself in the culture of its origin and learning from a master. And so... I'm on my kick where I just want to run away from everything again. Just go away from everything I have here and do something new and exciting that I can envelope myself in. I would love to do something like what Dr. Yun did and just go somewhere for the sole purpose of learning about how things are there. I don't even know that I would focus on something as specific as an instrument... As amazing as that would be. I just want to leave and immerse myself in something completely different and learn everything I can about it... The kind of things that you can't learn by looking up internet articles. But that seems like me being bored with life combined with the fact that I always want to learn things.

But I can over-think my life on my own time, I guess.

On another note, I found it really hard to lose the stereotypes that I have apparently had in my brain without me even noticing. It was really hard not to let the image of the wizened old chief with a pipe drift into my head when Dr. Yun was playing the flute whose name I forget... I find it very depressing that I am so susceptible to images and things that I am subjected too. I guess everyone is, unless they make a concerted effort to learn the truth of things and not be affected by it. I guess that can be done, if you try... It's hard to learn enough to push out the stereotypes, though.

I'm Movin' Out

(Anthony's Song, Billy Joel)

Holy crap, 2008. I will write the date wrong for at least a month. I had a pretty awesome new years. I hung out with my family, Bryan and a couple of family friends. It was really quiet, and I liked it, being the antisocial troll that I am. I just like quiet things over loud drunken parties.

I still can't figure out what I want to do about living arrangements for next year. I have three options:

1. Stay where I am. I like my house, I like my roommates, I like my room in the basement where no one bothers me and I can sneak in and out when I like. I like the fact that people mostly ignore me. Sometimes it's depressing, but usually it's just nice. I like having the privacy, and basically having my own bathroom. Next year, if we stay, it looks like Esther will be moving into Nick's room, which would be nice. I know that Mufasa (the new cat) can stay there as well.
2. Move to a new place. - I could just go out and do my own thing, either by myself or find a new crowd, or whatever, but either way this strikes me as the least appealing option. I don't want to house hunt if I don't have to, and I don't really want to live on my own, as much as I just ranted about how much I like quiet and privacy. I like to be able to talk to people, if I feel like it. I also don't want to get saddled with a new group of strangers. Not a fan of that. Tried that once, it didn't work out really well.
3. Move in with Bryan. - This one both appeals to me and terrifies me. Fiscally, it is the smartest option. Bryan and I basically live together now, we just pay two different rent bills, and alternate between houses. My house is effectively just a place to store my stuff, and not be bothered by house mates. If we do that, however, there is a whole new set of issues that gets opened up. The fact that my family will pretty much see us as married, and then stop giving me money for anything is a serious problem. I don't know how well I would be able to function without that bit of help they give me. I also wouldn't have a car... But I guess Bryan's car would be available, if I really needed one sometimes. There's also the fact that Bryan needs to get started on a life and getting a real job. If he finds something fantastic in Toronto, who's to say that he would still want to stay in Waterloo with me? There is always the possibility of us breaking up. Where I stand right now I can't see it happening, but who's to say? If we do, I feel like we could still get along and live in the same house for a year until our lease runs out. We are both pretty reasonable people like that.

I would love to live with Bryan, but I am scared of it. I think I am just really afraid of breaking off those last ties with my family and being a person unto myself. It's a scary thing, life. I don't know what to do. My hesitation makes me wonder if I'm really ready for where the relationship is going. Then again, knowing me, if I were to wait until I had no hesitation before I did something, it would never ever get done. Silly paranoia.