The Long Road

Archives: January 2007

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

It's happened again, I've went in too deep. Everytime this happens I tell myself "next time, don't go in so far". But inevitably, I do it again and the tip ends up hurting for days on end and there's nothing I can do about it after the fact. I just can't help it, y'know? Part of it is that I want to get it over with. Another part being that I like it to look very nice and trim. Hence my over exuberance. It's just such a chore to do, so I go in as far as possible so that I won't have to do it again anytime soon. But the pain really isn't worth it at all.

You'd think that after twenty-six years, that I'd learn to not cut off too much nail.

Posted by Long @ 12:01 AM EST [Link] [1 Comment]

Thursday, January 25, 2007

So for the first time in months, maybe years, I’ve decided to change my workout (having found the optimal sequence of muscles to work out, it was hard to change). I’m going from a “focus on 1 group per day” 5 day routine to a full body workout 3 days a week routine that I found, of all places, on msn.com.

The MSN routine consists of 1 circuit composed on 3 mini circuits of 3 exercises each that you repeat 3 times. The point being that you’re constantly moving between 3 exercises at any point in time. Never has such a work out tired me out like this. The sweating is close to the same level as a cardio workout, unlike those workouts that don’t make you sweat at all.

Anyways, because the routine needs constant movement between 3 exercises, it means that I need 3 machines/benches/weights to be free so I can not have to rest between sets. You see the problem this represents, there is next to no way of doing this routine properly. Here I am super excited about my new workouts and any time I jump from 1 machine to the next, someone comes in changes all the weight and height adjustments and proceeds to take their time. And with the new year being relatively new, there is an absolute glut of new faces around. Taking space. And because of who they are, TOO MUCH SPACE.

We all know you’re going to quit in a week anyways so why not save me all this trouble and get it over with!!

Posted by Long @ 01:16 AM EST [Link] [7 comments]

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tom Tykwer is the german director most known for Run Lola, Run. For a while, it was the movie to know and name drop to prove you were all hip and with it. His follow up movies eschewed the frantic kineticism of Run Lola, Run for slower paced, methodical, and meditative character studies. These movies were not as popular. The second of those films, Heaven, had some chance. Not only did it have SOME English as opposed to the pure German of the previous films but it starred the highly recognizable Cate Blanchett and Giovani Ribisi. For a movie like this though - bilingual, slow, and focused you have to realize that it’s not going to make $100 000 000. So I have to wonder what the marketers were thinking when they designed the DVD cover. Of all the great imagery in this movie, one of the shots on the back of the Cover is of Cate Blanchett taking off her shirt showing her well toned stomach. This is disappointing for two reasons. One, they're selling this highly intimate movie on sex (catering to the lowest common denominator on a movie not made for it, blah blah blah), and two THIS SCENE ISN’T IN THE FILM! I thought that maybe I was going crazy when by the end of the movie I had yet to see Cate's incredibly defined abdomen. Did I miss it? Was it in a deleted scene? No and no. It's just not on the disc at all.

All things considered though, it's not that bad. Certainly there have been worse offenders. Take, for example, the cover to Infernal Affairs. Probably the most famous and successful of modern Hong Kong movies. The cover has the two principal characters as faces in the background looking at some random chick in a tight blue, ugly outfit. The movie is pretty much strictly about the 2 male characters; none of the supporting actresses get anywhere close to being as femme fatale-ish as the cover would indicate. In fact, I don’t think she’s in the movie at all.

Posted by Long @ 12:39 AM EST [Link] [13 comments]

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Okay, you internet people, this is where I enlist you to do some analysis for me. The set up is as follows:

L: "Hi K, I'll be visiting E this weekend, maybe we can find some time to get together?"
K: "Sure! Here's my phone number, call me when you're here."

E and L are having dinner with F. K calls E.
E: "K says she'll be at The Tulip with some friends around 10 and that we can join her or maybe she'll join us if we want to do something else"
L: "This is strangely outgoing of her."

2 hours later.
L: "K, what are you up to?"
K: "We're playing cards at home still, we'll be heading out at 10. Have you guys decided what you'll be doing yet?"
L: "Not yet. We'll probably meet you at Tulip though."

11 pm.
E: "Where you at?"
K: "Still playing cards, heading out soon though."
E: "okay, well we're at 3 Brasseurs, meet us there if you want."
K: "okay, if I don't see you tonight, we'll hang out tomorrow."
E: "okay."

Tomorrow
E: "Should we call K?"
L: "probably not"

So, why did she contact us to make plans and then not make any effort to follow through? I'm not sure if I've conveilled that properly, but it's completely how it came off as to E and I. I have my own opinion, but we'll get to that later.

Posted by Long @ 09:56 PM EST [Link] [37 comments]

Monday, January 15, 2007

There was an interesting show on CBC Radio 1 the other day. I only caught the first 5 minutes of it, seeing as I didn’t want to sit in my car doing nothing, but it was about books, why we hold onto them, how many of them is too many, how we decide which to keep, and where do we put them all? The guests were reviewer and editor types so they had lots of books and counted them in terms of bookshelves instead of individual units.

I don’t quite have books numbering in the thousands yet, but space is becoming more of an issue. My collection of graphic novels was first a simple corner of my closet but is now threatening to overcrowd 2 bookshelves.

Why do I keep all of my books though? I have never reread any of my novels and I doubt I will with 99.9% of them. It is because I like having something to show for all the books I’ve read and because I’m a pack rat in general (books being just one of the many things I keep). I don’t even like to take books from the library since I won’t be able to look back and say “hey, I’ve read that!”

Along these lines, when asked what a good number of books to have around is, the best answer given was “more than none” - implying that you don’t want your guests to think that you’re unworldly. This particular answer spoke to me; I enjoy pretending to be well read.

Posted by Long @ 02:39 PM EST [Link] [13 comments]

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Rogers: "Hi, we think you should switch to Rogers."
Me: "okay, what'cha got?"
"75$ including tax for a phone line, taxes included. I guarantee it'll be at least 15% less than what you pay bell"
"sounds pretty good, but do you want to call me back on tuesday after I've looked at my numbers?"
"Why not sign up now? we'll take care of everything for you. I guarantee it's cheaper"
"If you're right, you have nothing to worry about, call me back on tuesday"
"okay, I'll speak to you on tuesday"
Me: checks bell, and sees 60$ bill
Rogers: never calls back.

Posted by Long @ 05:45 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]

Monday, January 8, 2007

Pictures of my one night stand.

Posted by Long @ 06:14 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]

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