Archives: April 2004
Thursday, April 29, 2004
1 Pitcher + 15 shots = 15 shots too many || 94 $
1 liver transplant = some stupid amount of money
Rayne more drunk than he has ever been before = priceless (until the credit card bill comes in). too bad no one's around to have fun with this.
Posted by Rayne @ 02:37 AM EST [Link] [5 comments]
Monday, April 26, 2004
by dAN
Finally, I have broken free from the grips of the Raven's talon to flee its nest...
Four years. Four insufferable years at Carleton University (i.e. the "Raven's nest"). They're finally over! I recall envying students that were in 4th year back when I was in 1st or 2nd. I would think, "My, its still so far away till graduation. I wish I were in their shoes." Personally, I never wished for high school to end. If it were possible, I'd trap myself in a bubble and spend eternity reliving grades 12 and 13. University was clearly not the same. I didn't like it, and it clearly didn't like me.
I had a positive attitude entering university. I was a fool to think that my social life would improve. I guess I got what I paid for, an education, nothing else. No bonuses here. Even the few "friendships" I've managed to establish are bound to crumble, as I've seen stronger ones fall at high school's end. To add to my misery, I even had to take several courses during the summer. Yes, even the innocent looking Raven would do this to me...all because I switched programs from Software Engineering to Biochemistry.
Oh my, the Engineering faculty was HELL in itself. Originally when I applied, Aerospace Engineering was my second option. However, I realized programming wasn't my thing. I knew I needed a change. Normally, one would expect to fall back onto their second option. But after being around those prof's, TA's, and those "people", I decided to run. I ran till my legs pumped lactic acid. And then I ran some more, never to look back. In contrast to Engineering, Biochemistry was a pleasant change. At least in this faculty, the students acted "normal" and the girls, well, they looked like girls.
But Biochemistry was not easier in any respect. It was another beast in itself. Although it appeared furry and cuddly on the outside, it had a nasty appetite. It would tear away my flesh with its incisors at the first sign of weakness. It had no remorse. Haunting me through many sleepless nights, with assignments piled upon assignments and a multitude of exams. Then there were the labs. It wouldn't be that bad if I only had classes to attend, but along with scheduling work shifts, I also had to squeeze in an array of 3, 4, 5, and even 6 hour labs. In one term, they decided to weed us out by scheduling four lab periods a week.
Looking back, nothing was as bad as my last month of studies. Throughout the month I was either working at the pool or completing assignments. There was no time for anything else. I'm surprised I made it. Nevertheless, I would not have it any other way. It reminded me of all the challenging times and has allowed me to truly savour my free time. To savour my victory. That said, I do not look forward to my graduation. I consider this to be the end. I need not be part of some puppetry to tell me so. To join in some charade that will serve no purpose, but to trigger negative memories. Yet, at the insistence of my parents, it seems I have no other choice but to accept my diploma in person. After all, to them, this day will be adorned with positive memories.
It all comes down to one thing that I will truly miss. This single entity, which could make returning to Carleton University for another round possibly worth it. Those darn good four months of summer.
Posted by Rayne @ 11:20 AM EST [Link] [5 comments]
Friday, April 23, 2004
Est-ce que c'est possible d'appellez quelqu'un un ami si on n'a pas de contact electronique avec eux? Ca me tante de dire oui, mais en meme temps avoir l'autre personne dans ma liste de contacte est comme un affirmation d'amitier. Quelqu'un a qui on parle seulement par telephone ou en personne me semble comme juste une connaissance plustot qu'un ami, ils ne font pas parti de la vit quotidienne. On peut se parle de temps en temps mais if faut que nos itineraire soit compatible, mais avec des messages instantanee on peut avoir une discussion a travers plusieurs journes en laissant des messages qui peut etre repondu a notre loisir.
Le telephone est devenu un outil pour faire des arrangements et pas pour des vrai conversations. Je me trouve meme inconfortable de donner quelqu'un un coup de fils pour partagez un remarque stupide ou une idee idiote; avec un message instantanee c'est beaucoup plus naturel. Et quelqu'un n'est pas vraiment un ami temp et aussi longtemps qu'on ne peut pas partagez des remarques stupides et des idees idiotes avec eu, non?
Posted by Rayne @ 05:28 PM EST [Link] [4 comments]
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
There are two rules I try to live by when dealing with my friends.
First, if someone asks me if I want to do something with them, I will say yes unless I've got either a good excuse or something else already planned. I am pretty much always up for anything, even if it's something that I don't particularly enjoy, as long as the company is good. I cannot stand it when I try to make plans with people and all I get is "hmm..we'll see, I'll tell you in a couple of days" with no further explanation. Which to me is "I'll commit if I don't get a better offer by then", they're basically waiting for someone higher up on their ladder to suggest something or waiting for something more "fun", and that is frankly quite insulting. You generally need a few people to commit for some others to and all this "hmmm"-ing and "aaaah"-ing leads to a ridiculous circle of indecision. I realize that friends depend on each other's commitments for plans work out, that's why I always try to give solid yesses or nos, and nos come with good reasons.
Secondly, if I commit to doing something with someone, I go through with it. I hate it when plans fall through so I try very hard to not be the cause of anyone else's plans not working out. Even if something more fun and more interesting comes up later on, I wouldn't back out of something I've committed to. Of course, if Keira were to appear at my front step, consider yourselves ditched.
Posted by Rayne @ 01:15 PM EST [Link] [18 comments]
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Don't worry, no spoilers of any sort here, for real. In Kill Bill 2, in a Kevin Smith on drugs kinda way, one of the characters goes on a long monologue about superheroes and secret identities. The thrust of it being that all Superheroe identities are alter egos and the person under the mask is the real personality. All except for Superman who was always Superman while Clark Kent is the one who's made up, the flawed, shy human through which Superman relates to us.
But that's wrong! From my 10 or so years of reading, Superman doesn't see himself as the all powerful, first amongst superheroes; when he looks in the mirror he sees himself as mild-mannered, farm boy, reporter Clark Kent. The self-assured Superman is the mask, the personality and the costume are a necessity for the job he does. If Clark could go around saving lives without the costume I think he would, and if there were no crimes to fight and there was no need for Superman, Clark would gladly hang up his tights and live a happy, normal life with Lois.
Batman, on the other hand, is Batman. Bruce Wayne is just an act, a front for all the money and resources that Batman needs to operate effectively. If Batman didn't need his "human side" to do his work, he'd drop the Bruce Wayne personality and fight crime full time. Batman sees himself as the cold, calculating, Dark Knight Detective, and is utterly uncomfortable being a billionaire playboy. And if crime were to stop forever, Batman wouldn't be able to relax, he'd be driven insane by his boredom. His whole life and fortune has been spent in training to fight crime, he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he weren't doing that.
Posted by Rayne @ 05:36 PM EST [Link] [14 comments]
Monday, April 19, 2004
It isn't something I require, or even expect, out of relationships, I treat it more like a "bonus" (if it's there good, if not, I can live without it), or a good way of solidifying a blossomed romance, and also good exercise.
Rightly or wrongly, I've come to just assume that anyone my age who's either dated a lot or has had some long term relationships has had sex. The only exceptions are people who are very religious or close to their mothers (I am not making this up). However, I do know quite a few people my age who've never done it, but it is usually more circumstantial than by choice.
But honestly folks, there isn't a good reason to abstain. STDs and Pregnancies are pretty much avoidable if you're smart about it.
And as for that whole emotional side of things; sex always seems like it's a big deal but I think that's only true to those who've never experienced it, it's just something pleasureable to share with someone you care about (sometimes not even that), like tennis. Seriously, the 19th time's just as special as the first and usually a lot better.
But that may be more of a male view since we've got nothing to actually "lose". Then again, once it's gone you're free to keep playing!
Posted by Rayne @ 06:08 PM EST [Link] [22 comments]
Friday, April 16, 2004
Why is it that when Hollywood adapts a superhero movie, they always make the villain the cause of the hero's birth? I understand that there's a sort of "delicious irony" to it but it also happens to be completely overused now. Batman's parents were shot by a random street thug, not he-who-would-become-the-joker; Daredevil's father wasn't executed by the Kingpin so that Daredevil could take the Kingpin down; The Punisher's family was accidentally picnicking where a gang war broke out, they weren't specifically targetted; and Peter Parker was bitten by a Spider in some random lab instead of his arch-nemesis' facilities.
I personally thinks it works much better when coincidence is the cause of moral outrage instead of this personal vendetta that hollywood writers have been plugging away at. It's like they're trying to channel Shakespearean irony.
Another wonderful anecdote!
Erin and I were on her couch. I was stroking her cat, Sunday. The cat really enjoys it, begins rubbing herself against the couch.
"what's your cat doing?"
"getting off."
"can we switch seats?"
Posted by Rayne @ 04:20 PM EST [Link] [6 comments]
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
I'm currently obsessed with it, but it also seems to be mostly psychological. How much I like what I see is directly proportional to the amount of exercise I've just done. For example, after an easter weekend full of food and empty of exercise, I felt like a total slob that hadn't really done anything all term; but after running for 8k last night I felt completely statue-worthy. It's all in my head of course, an hour of exercise doesn't give any kind of immediate visible difference.
My goal is to get a 6-pack; I'm somewhat close to it but at the same time also really far from. I've been trying the only tried and true method of "eat less, exercise more" but it is a damn slow process. After having lost 1 lb a week for the last 2 months, I THINK I can see some differences but it's hard to be objective about changes especially if you see it everyday. It's also pretty much impossible to tell your body where exactly to burn off mass, I'm probably losing some in places I'd rather not while the veil holding the toned stomach back gets pulled away at a snail's pace.
As a lark, I looked up the cost of liposuction. It's somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3000$ for a small operation. I wasn't quite expecting that high of a cost, but I guess if it were cheaper everyone'd be doing it. I'd never seriously consider unncessary surgery but if it cost maybe 300$ to remove these handles, I think I would be tempted into a quick fix.
Posted by Rayne @ 03:47 PM EST [Link] [10 comments]
Monday, April 12, 2004
(Even though you don't celebrate it)
I don't know what it is about other people pointing out cultural and racial differences but it really annoys me. Not to the point of anger but more like mild irritation (sometimes bordering on wild irritation). No, Easter (and X-Mas) has no spiritual importance in my household; I don't get offended if you wish me Happy Easter but I do get offended if you make some kind of assumption (right or wrong) based on my being Chinese.
I'm lucky enough to have never had any racism thrown my way (well, just once...SORT OF) but I do find everyday cultural ignorance to be just as exasperating. It can be very small things that someone says or does, and especially the tone in which they do it, that sometimes makes me think "wait, IS this weird?".
If anyone watched the Joan Rivers pre-oscar show they would have seen her ask Ken Watanabe if he spoke any english, followed by "how much?". If I were asked that, I would label the asker as an idiot and walk away. It was once assumed loudly that I "probably" wouldn't be able to play a game based on particulars of the English language and while I've long learnt to dismiss "ignorant white people", it is surprising to hear it from people I'd never expect to say such a thing.
It's often the case that these types of comments come from people that I know or am close enough to, to colour things a bit. It isn't always the person saying things that angers me, after all, the first rule always applies (people are stupid), but the fact that it makes me question if I should change what I'm doing to avoid the moronic statements, even if it's just for a split second.
So we drink a lot of tea at home, it's a Chinese thing, do you have to tell everyone you meet how weird that is? Don't be stupid, the answer's no.
Posted by Rayne @ 03:46 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]
Thursday, April 8, 2004
I usually hate these "first in a franchise" movies for the fact that they spend countless minutes on detailing the origins of the main characters, explaining their relationships, conflicts, etc. Hellboy is guilty of this through some flashbacks as well as the much overly used "New Character Being Brought Into The Fold" cliche. Unlike all other comics based movies, I had a bit more patience for this kind of thing with this movie since I've never read any Hellboy. However, Hellboy feels like doesn't spend enough time explaining how the material world relates to the supernatural one. We're basically told "it's there, it exists" and the fact that Hellboy is told that he has this great destiny seems to be downplayed a bit too much as well. What the hell? Who cares about his romance with that psycho pyromaniac anyways?
I think my favorite aspect of the movie is its visuals. Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Kroenen (a mechanical-zombie-nazi-assassin!) all look unbelievably cool. The post-apocalyptic visions as well as the various tenticle monsters look like they came straight out of an anime (this is a good thing).
In the end this movie didn't really make me crave the further adventures of Hellboy (announced today) but it did make me more interested in picking up some Hellboy comics for more background info on the universe in which he exists. The DVD will apparently have a 20 minutes longer Director's Cut, that would probably be worth pickin up.
Posted by Rayne @ 04:02 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
So on Monday I must have played WC3 with some of the dumbest people ever. The game began pretty reasonably, my partner and I each rushed 1 opponent. The rush was pretty good, but my partner got the dumb opponent so he was doing a lot better. As my partner's hero unit was attacking the opponent's Orc Burrows, it never occured to the guy to burrow his peons so that they could fight back. The guy I was fighting was putting up a much better fight so I went to help out my teamate. We basically razed all the guy's buildings without breaking a sweat. This is usually the point in the game where everyone says "gg" (good game) because 1 guy cannot take out 2. But of course, this didn't happen. We left the Orc player with a couple of workers and some defence towers, not having the man power to take out the towers.
We then began massing our troops in front of the second guy's base. At this point my partner was not doing ANYTHING with his base. He wasn't building or upgrading, deciding instead to play with the few units he had. I asked him to give me some money, since he wasn't doing anything with his, he countered by asking me to give him control of my units. This wasn't something I was bound to do with someone who wasn't even building up his base. So once we're ready to attack the last opponent, the guy says "gogogo" and I move in to attack but yet his Archers don't move at all! Sure enough the enemy has air units which I'm totally helpless against so I retreat my army to my partner's archers so that they attack the air units on their own. I do this back and forth a few times, and my partner still does nothing. He must have been busy with something else because he then quit! With full control of his units I was actually able then to take the enemy base. But the game doesn't end here. Nor does the guy who just died quit.
The Orc player whom we unwisely decided to leave a few peons to had meanwhile rebuilt his base and expanded to a second gold mine. But instead of spending his money wisely on units and probably winning the game he spends it all on more defence towers! This is where I begin to get stupid as well. My mine collapses, so I no longer have any income coming in and am flat broke after building 2 seige weapons. Again, the stupidity was contagious, instead of getting money from another mine I just figure I'll play it out with no more income. The siege VS towers battle became this ridiculous back and forth as I was very reluctant to commit the last of my troups to the battle. So then I started using my partner's resources and had to climb up his tech tree to get to some elven siege units. I built a good dozen of them and attacked the other entrance to the Orc base.
Usually, siege weapons have a bit more range than towers so I figured that with a dozen of them I would have no problem destroying all those towers. But of course this was not meant to be. The guy's defenses were on an uphill which evened the ranges of his towers. I lost all the siege weapons destroying his towers. But that made the opening needed for my troops to go in and along with newly acquired elven Chimeras the rest of the game was fairly straightforward.
I think those guys could have definately won had the orc guy not wasted his money on towers since my partner was completely useless. It also seems they were trying to hold on to the bitter end hoping for a connection drop from me or something.
Check out the utterly ridiculous replay of this game here. You should be able to tell which player I am.
Posted by Rayne @ 02:05 PM EST [Link] [4 comments]
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
I thought I had seen you a couple of times recently. I was mistaken, but you're here now. I know we've met before; we're old hat, well tread territory, but yet you always manage to surprise me and be completely different and exciting each and every time. I had forgotten how fun your youth could be; sometimes I wish it could go on forever. Sure your life will have more drama, action, and excitement as you get older, but young age has more than its fair share of moments. You've got the little discoveries, the stolen glances, the emerging dynamics, the shy probing contacts, the growing intimacy, the mole hills that look like mountains, the word play, the joy of reciprocation, the small advances that seem like huge milestones, the adrenalyne from both uncertainty and expectation.
Welcome back, I've missed you.
Posted by Rayne @ 02:10 PM EST [Link] [11 comments]
Monday, April 5, 2004
Everyone should follow Dennis' and I's lead. That way serenity lies. Interracial dating should be the norm, or if I ruled the Earth, the only acceptable option. The ultimate goal would be to so thoroughly mix the gene pool that there would no longer be any racial identity (maybe not even cultural identity?). There'd be no more racism, nor bigotry, nor moking of other cultures. Would you seriously mock a culture that you had a bit of in you? (well, maybe)
And as we all know, mixed kids are generally much better looking than others. I'm looking at YOU Jeremy!
Another benefit is that because China contains 1/6th of the world population, the Chinese race would spread the fastest! After a few generations everyone on Earth will be partiallly Chinese. If the parents do their jobs properly of spreading Chinese culture and values to their children then the world basically ends up Chinese. Muahahaha!
Posted by Rayne @ 12:19 PM EST [Link] [18 comments]
Friday, April 2, 2004
I had a car. Public transit takes much too long. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to work everyday; if I had a car, it would be a 10 minute drive. Then there's also the fact that I'm always missing the bus by a minute or two, which translates into coming in to work a half hour later. Then there's the attrocity of going from work to the dojo, no direct bus and never at the right times, so another 40 min walk. And then from dojo to north campus takes me 40 something minutes since the 7 by Columbia doesn't run past 7pm. I spend far too much time busing, waiting, walking. I wouldn't really mind it so much if I was actually travelling long distances but the places I go aren't really THAT far from each other; they're just highly inconvenient to get to aparently.
I really miss OC Transpo sometimes. In Ottawa, it is often much more convenient to use public transportation than to drive somewhere. That's never true in K/W. We used to live close by to all the major routes 97, 85, 2, 95. Five minutes walking was all it took to get to the bus stop and from there you could get to anywhere you wanted in the city very quickly. Not to mention that the buses came by something like twelve times an hour. The new place isn't as great, to get to the major bus stations I have to take a local bus, the dreaded 84, which takes 20 minutes to get there because it goes in big circles. That's when it's really nice to have a car since I can drive over to the park-n-ride and...erm...park and ride.
Waiting for the GRT bus DOES have some benefits though.
Posted by Rayne @ 12:31 PM EST [Link] [14 comments]