It's 9.8 straight down. I can't stop my knees

It's hard to believe it's been half a summer out here already. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. And it flies faster when you're boozed up 4 nights a week...

For a few years now I've been itching to head out West to have some time away from the everyday humdrum crap back home. And after 5 years of university, the world had honestly fallen into two dimensions. And what spells 3D like a shitload of mountains?


And so far it's worked pretty well. I'm honestly having the time of my life out here, with only a few negatives being outweighed heavily by all of the fun and wicked memories. My boss is awesome, he has the coolest dog in the world. My job starts early, but we get off at two so the day is never killed by work, even if we have to a nap. And I've met a ton of new people, with more showing up all the time. And the golf is amazing, even though I haven't been out in a couple of weeks.

One of the big negatives of my time out here has been the fact that I got evicted from staff residence along with three other guys. The story is absolutely ridiculous, and basically comes down to the fact that a girl cried and a sexist bitch had the authority to overreact to an innocent misunderstanding and kick us out.


But like I said, my boss is awesome. So three of us have been living with him in his garage. It's actually not as bad as it sounds, and once Bryan leaves this weekend Danny Boy and I will have more space. But it absolutely sucks being distant from all of our friends, not to mention the fact that we have hardly any fridge space and limited privacy. I hope we can find a place to rent soon though, cuz I'm getting pretty tired of living out of a suitcase and sleeping next to snoring fools.

This weekend we're heading to the Stampede, which should be amazing. Especially since we'll be meeting up with some old friends to party and check out all the hillbilly events going on.

Anyway, there's far too many stories to write about, and I'm far too tired to tell em at the moment. So here are a few pics worth a few thousand words.

A lifetime in an instant

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy."

- Albert Camus

Tonight I returned home from Toronto, after spending the day at the funeral for an old friend. Apparently he answered Camus' question. Just not the way we wish he would've...

And right now I'm kinda left with a blank feeling. Obviously it's sad as hell, that was abundantly clear with all the sorrow in the funeral home today, but besides that I just feel a sort of void about the whole thing.

I can only imagine what his father and brothers must be feeling right now. That had to be the hardest part of the whole thing - seeing his dad. The loss of his wife less than a year ago, and now this... it's aged the man so much. And I know he was always close with Mike, which probably makes it that much worse.

And though Mike had a harder time in life than most people, I'll always remember how he always wore that fuck you smile, giving the world a big middle finger even when he was down. He always had enough fire to stand back up, but I guess something happened last week that made him make the choice not to stand up anymore.

It's just so strange, this was the kid that led the school soccer team with me when nooone else had the stones or know-how to do it. Not even the bloody coach.

This was the kid that taught me the value of a lunch that consisted of a jumbo bag of skittles and a box of chocolate milk.

This was the kid who showed me the fine art of foosball, back in the days when games were more important to us than the future or responsibility.


And though we had drifted apart in the past few years, I always had the feeling that we would connect later in life, somewhere and somehow. And I don't think it's even sunk in yet that that's never going to happen...

I just hope that now he's resting more peacefully than he ever could've in life.
But at the same time, I can't help but feel that he would've made a different choice if only he'd known how much he was loved and how much he'll be missed.

hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over

Yesterday on the bus ride home from campus it finally set in that I'd never have another class or write another undergrad paper ever again.

I had just pulled an all-nighter (the first one ever in my 5 years at university) finishing two big lab reports. Let me tell ya it was a rough night. Probably wrote up close to 35 pages in the final 24 hrs before the deadline. Handed in my 29-pager with 2 minutes to spare. Talk about down to the wire. Then I just had to drop off the second report and it was all gravy.

I grabbed a disgusting "souvlaki" (I can't believe they can call it that) from the Pita Pit just before getting home, and promptly fell asleep for 18 consecutive hours. And I woke up feeling tired as hell... weird.

The birds living in my wall are doing their best woodpecker impersonations lately. I tried ramming some pop cans into their access hole below my window, but they got around my blockade. At this point there's no point in even trying to get our slum landlord to fix the damn thing. It would take them months to get around to it.

Anyway, it's time to study up for exams.
translation - slack off for a few days and then cram like hell.

Some things never do change with time or experience...

Like a fucking sailor...

Came across this little gadget over at Grouchy Old Cripple.

For the record, I only read that blog for the sheer comedy.
Plus the saturday boobage, but that's a different thing altogether.

Maybe I oughtta tone it down a little...



Nah, fuck it.

They're not yelling "boo" they're yelling "boo-ush"

What a difference a few years, a few thousand dead Americans, and a few billion dollars can make...

I'm the stocks on the day of the crash

Woke up this morning feeling pretty good.
Just came off a solid ten hour sleep, and a big 18-0 victory in waterpolo last night in our first playoff game. It was a huge upset considering we had 1 sub and they had an army. Plus they did this big hardcore chant thing before the game, so we thought we were toast. I punched a girl's fingers pretty hard, kinda felt bad about it. Overall our preconceptions were way off, and they were brutal players.

Anyway, just before heading to campus I got a call from my mom informing me that a letter had arrived back home to tell me that I wasn't accepted into the micro/immu masters program for next year.
To be honest I'm not entirely surprised, since my marks are just below the cutoff. But I am surprised that I heard back so soon. The deadline for applications isn't until June, and if there are spots available at that time they contact the people who were just below the cutoff line. So to hear in March seems kinda odd...
I'm still going to look into the details of applying to different faculties though, since the micro guys might just be pricks.

Once I got to campus and had something to eat, I instantly started feeling like a bag of shit. I had to leave class early, and I still feel terrible. Gut and sinuses. Hopefully it's just gonna last for today.

Details are still coming in for the summer out west, but by the looks of it I'll have to look into a job or an internship come the fall. I'd like to stay in my field, and maybe in a few years I'll come back to do the masters thing. As for now I've gotta buckle down like crazy to get some decent marks this semester. The next month is gonna be brutal, so I'm gonna get at it early for once to hopefully lessen the burden.

Support the troops...

Nobody remembers the runner-up

I've got a fair bit to report on lately, but I've been so damn busy I haven't had time to even sit down and think about things for awhile.

First off, I'm ecstatic that the Patriots lost the Superbowl. If they had won, everyone would rave about how amazing and how epic their season was. Undefeated/perfect/never see that again blah blah blah...
It's not perfection when you cheat. It's not perfection when you get favourable call after favourable call, just because the refs don't want to see the Pats lose. And it sure as shit ain't perfection when your quarterback saves his worst performance of the season for the only game that matters.

Go fuck a dozen models and leave em once they're pregnant you arrogant bastard. See if Mintvis cares.


If the Giants had lost the game after that amazing play where Manning miraculously escaped the crowd of defenders just to throw a Hail Mary of a ball to be caught in highlight rel fashion, I woulda been some pissed. Those are the plays that are supposed to win Superbowls, and I'm glad it turned out that way.

Next up, our trip to Montreal last weekend.
Eight of us in total headed up to frenchfry land for some good old boozing and hockey. We arrived in a brutal hail/snow storm, but the weekend turned out pretty well. The Habs beat the Isles, we got wasted two nights in a row, and had first class tickets on the train for the whole trip.
It was too bad that we didn't get to see much of the city though, since the hockey game was in the 2-5 pm slot, which essentially killed the only daylight that we had on the whole trip up there.


And I was supposed to be heading back to Montreal in a few weeks, but plans fell through for that. I can't say I'm heartbroken, considering I'll be going to Ottawa next weekend for the Family Day long weekend, and I've got no damn money to spend on an extra trip anyway.
It is too bad that I won't get to see my good buddy from TO, but I'll probably just head down to see him sometime in reading week anyway.

As for school, I've been swamped to the Nth degree lately. Lab reports, assignments, online quizzes, exams, and plain old lab work is starting to kill me. Add my actual job to the mix and I don't have much time for anything.

I did get my Masters application in last week, and I'm hoping to hear back from that soon. I'm kinda borderline with my marks, and I doubt this semester is going to raise them any, so I'm not too sure about my chances. But I guess if that fails I'd just try to find a job in my field around these parts.

As for a summer job, I just found out last night that I got the job out in Panorama, BC, working at a golf course with a bunch of buddies. So far Bender Stevo and Eddy are 100% hired, and we're waiting on 4 or 5 others to get their asses in gear and find out.


So as of May I'll have a nice change of scenery for a few months. Thew wife isn't too pleased with the whole idea, but she's been supportive of my choice, which is awesome. I just feel like I've gotta get away from Ontario for awhile, especially if I'm gonna be in school for an extra two years down here. And if I don't do it now, I doubt I'll ever get the chance again.

Anyway, it's time to hit the ice so I'd better be off.

If you don't know me by now...

There are few commercials that make me want to try their product. This is one of em.