Life = Randomity

Checking in...

2010-09-16T00:49:00.003-04:00

Long time no see, mein blog. Yeah, I know I said I was going to complete a blog special some time ago, but I realized that I had already done it... through facebook.

In fact, an interesting problem of sorts arose over the last couple of years. As facebook added more functionality, and because it gave me a direct link to the people who matter to me (my friends), I've found myself blogging less and less. Why would I want to come onto a separate website in order to post interesting things I see or photos I've taken, when I can do that in facebook and have my friends instantly see it?

Unless I have some deep revolving thoughts in my had that required more than 1,500 characters to write, I don't really have the impulse to blog much anymore. This is especially true as I've been busy as hell the last few years, and honestly, even if I were to finally finish school, I just don't see myself having the same amount of time to buttscratch. Certainly, instead of blogging, I could have viewed at least 20 websites for research by now, finished another game of starcraft, placed an order online for eBay/newegg/motorcycle stuff, had sex, had a 1/2 hour workout, planned a vacation, and whatnot. Time just isn't as cheap as it used to be. And I realize that at the ripe old age of 23 (I kid.. sort of), I get this feeling that I have to plan ahead and make as much use of my time while I am still young... because certainly, if/when I have kids, I will NEVER have the same freedom again. Even if the kids left, I'll just be an old guy. With that thought, I'm cramming as much as possible into my sched, so not much time to sit down for an hour or two to just blog.

But... I am not going to eliminate this blog. Even if no one were to read it anymore, it has documented some major ups and downs of my life. I have a couple of ideas for what to do with this blog. It could be an RSS-feed like series of posts where I post all my interesting links here instead of on facebook, and have facebook update automatically to link back to this website. It could be an occasional blog for when I truly do have something to rant about. Or it could be a monument of my 8 years and steep learning curve of life through high school and University.

We'll see.

To the Future!

2010-06-27T20:03:00.002-04:00

Part 2….
So apparently there was a tornado warning earlier today for the Windsor/Leamington area. In a way I sort of hope that this would cancel my midterm for tomorrow, but it’s not happening.

As an aside, the guy sitting beside me on the VIA train has an iPad… except that he had to put it on the table we’re all sitting at and attach a keyboard to it in order to stalk facebook. In which case I wonder- what the hell is the point of having it when a netbook or a laptop would have done the same thing? He pretty much destroyed the only point of having the thing (portability and “grab-ability”) by attaching it to a giant keyboard and sitting it on the table. Now he’s pulling out an iPhone (wtf?).

As a continuation of last post, I’ve also committed a lot of time to a couple of overdue projects, both to my CBR125R and to my CT70.
“Phase 1” of the CT70 project, which involves all engine work, is finally coming to a close. I got the entire top end of the bike off last year, and this year I finally ordered parts and put the engine more or less together again. There was a delay in my plans (I mean, besides school commitment, obviously), as I was missing a couple of bits and pieces that for some reason weren’t in my engine to begin with. I am starting to believe that the previous owner had already torn into the engine for a top-end refresh, but did a shitty job and that is why I am back at square one *shrug*. I did not quite have enough time to complete everything this weekend- all I have left to do is some last minute checks to make sure that everything will fit together without any problems (particularly the gaskets and the dowel pins), that the timing is correct, and to tighten the few remaining bolts. Shouldn’t take too long the next time I’m in town. I’m pretty nervous and excited about kick starting it up for the first time in a long time.

Remember this problem? No more. New cylinder, new piston, refreshed everything else.

My 125R has, up until very recently, been pretty much untouched in terms of modifications- the only allowance to mods I made was a set of frame sliders and HIDs, but that has changed lately with a flurry of mild mods. For one thing, I replaced the front and rear turn signals with smaller LED turn signals, at the same time changing the turn signal relay from an analog to digital device so that they blink properly. On Friday, I received an integrated taillight and Yoshimura rearsets in the mail. On the way is a banjo brake switch and a new set of Yoshimura brake levers. These are all small things (really cheap too), but they make the bike more visible to drivers, easier to ride, and look better.

Integrated Tail-light

Yoshimura rearsets. Waiting on a banjo brake switch before installing.

I have several other things coming down the pipeline. Next on the list is a modification to the rear fender to eliminate the enormous shovel on the back of my bike, and then I’m going to see if I can refine my HID setup so I can have dual hi/lo beams on both lights (the stock lights only light up either the left or right light depending on hi/lo beam). Eventually, I’m going to invest in a big bore kit (about $505), which should make freeway riding easy on this bike with the horsepower gains.

Once I finish everything on my 125R… I’m going to enjoy it for a bit, and what happens next will be a matter of chance I guess. On one hand, I could keep riding it indefinitely, at least until I finish school and think about something else. Or, I can move on to another bike. I was looking through Kijiji and while I sure as hell am not getting a Ninja 250R, I was thinking of getting a Suzuki SV650 or a Honda CB-1, something that is inexpensive but has historical greatness. The only issue with those bikes is the insurance. If I can get a decent insurance rate on either of those bikes, it’s likely that I’ll be selling the 125R to my girlfriend (Audrey is about to take her M2 course and will be needing a bike). The Honda CB-1 in particular is really attractive to me because 400ccs stands a great chance of being in a low displacement motorcycle insurance group. The bike itself is a naked-styling bike with no fairings, but the frame is handsome and the engine is an I4 from the CBR400R that fills up the entire space underneath the frame. It looks awesome! With a Givi airstars windscreen and a few mods, I can easily imagine touring with that thing across the country.

The last option is really iffy, and that is that I sell my bike and move to another country. Out of nowhere last week, Audrey told me that she was considering going to vet schools in the US, Scotland and the UK…and asked me whether I would go if she got accepted and had to move to another country. Of course I said yes! When she told me about her plans, I knew in her heart she was afraid of what I was going to say… but the reality is, I was pretty excited! Suddenly, the world seemed to open up.
At this point in my life,I might as well take in as much of the world as I can, while I can. I’m pretty mobile too… all my shit I own I can pretty much fit in 5 boxes. I don’t give a shit about my parents. And my friends have already moved on to their own next great thing. There’s nothing left for me here, except going to grad school and/or finding a job. So why not find a job and do something, somewhere else? Most importantly… I just can’t imagine doing anything without Audrey anymore.
Of course, we’ll have to see. This actually doesn’t throw a wrench in my future plans, but certainly it makes me more considerate of other long term commitments. Regardless of what happens, I am very excited.

~Eastside

2010-06-25T19:04:00.003-04:00

Is anyone still there?

Apologies for not getting back uh… at all to this blog. The excuses are the same, so is the situation: I’ve been busy. I am actually still working on the Shanghai blog- luckily, even though my short term memory has degraded a lot (I swear it’s because I haven’t been playing nearly enough Magic: The Gathering or any brain-game to keep myself sharp), I still have 600 photos to help me remember what I did and what sort of craziness happened. And to think- that 600 photos is what I’ve been left with after culling over 1,800 photos. Anyways, that should be up before next Monday (though clearly my timelines can’t be counted on). I also have a short video mix that I hope won’t bore people to death.

I’ve been afraid that I been once again afflicted with writer’s block, but now that I am actually typing, things are starting to pour out from my head again. However, like my short term memory, my grammar and spelling has gone down the drain so it’s hard for me to describe things at times. Please bear with me.

School is the same always. Busy, studying for midterms, doing labs and assignments, etc. The difference is that I’m finally nearing the end of my journey, and while that means that the actual school work has somewhat come down, I have new commitments. The biggy is the fact that I have joined the Formula SAE team for my capstone project for 4th year. Right now I’m on the B-spec team, that is, we are the usual stereotypical scraggly n00b engineers trying to get our shit together, learn things about and from the current team, and start laying the foundations for designing our own car for 2011. The goal for us isn’t to do a brand new car design from the ground up- we don’t have much time and money for that. Instead, we are going to improve all aspects of the 2010 design.

A bit of past history: The University of Windsor campaigned FSAE cars in the past, 2008 and below. However, there was no 2009 team, and by the time the current 2010 students were working on their cars, they no longer had any help from graduates, etc. and therefore had to build their car from scratch using whatever knowledge they can scrap up. Needless to say, it was a miracle they got their car even put together, especially since a few days before the big competition at FSAE Michigan, they had an engine fire. We of the B-Spec team are much more fortunate, since we have a lot of help at the moment from the current 2010 members.

But because of their lack of experience, the 2010 car, while having some good design elements, had a lot of crappy bits of engineering into it too. For one, the car is really damn heavy, at something like 530 pounds (for reference, Rennteam from University of Stuttgart Germany’s car weighed a paltry 420 lbs, though that was achieved mostly because of the fact that they had a carbon fiber monoque chassis), and some design elements were simply stupidly done. With our current limited budget for the 2011 team (the 2010 team kind of had it worse, since they had to crib money off the SAE Baja team), we can’t really do a clean sheet redesign, but we can improve the current car really significantly. It is possible to shave at least 80 lbs off the weight of the car and centralizing mass by refining each individual component of the car, we can refine the suspension design, the engine mounting points, the chassis design (in addition to losing weight, we need to increase torsional rigidity), the ergonomics, and other bits and pieces. The most important piece of info given to us by the current team is that we need to do lots of testing. This is pretty obvious- you want something to break in testing before the competition, so it doesn’t break during the competition. A well tested but simple car usually wins over a more well designed but untested car (the engine fire days from the competition sort of proved that). Especially because beyond the autocross and acceleration tests, the team has to compete in a big 4 hour endurance race.
The funniest experience from the team came about two weeks before reading week. As the B-Spec team gathered around the current 2010 car to observe and see where we can easily make changes, we noticed the SAE Baja team scrambling. Their car was in pieces, and they had to put everything together and test it to make sure it actually worked. We come back about a week later and learned that the team somehow managed to beat the odds, not only getting the car put together and the bugs worked out, but placing SECOND overall in a fairly major event, only beaten by Cornell University. I don’t even know how that’s possible. Our team leader came in the next day and declared the FSAE B-spec team disbanded and that we were all joining Baja. Not.

So anyways, I’m obviously hoping that our FSAE team will be able to greatly improve the current car and that we’ll be able to take a pretty high position in the events that we enter. It’s quite a cool capstone project to be taking part in, to be honest.

The crazy 2010 Baja Car

Last year’s Baja Car and our FSAE 2008 car, minus bodywork. Windsor has a proud tradition of excellence in the Baja field, though our FSAE team definitely needs to do better to crack the top 10. I could not get a picture of the 2010 car because it was currently being dyno tuned.

Anyways, besides my trip to Shanghai, I haven’t actually done much outside of, you know… school. This week is my reading week, and between Audrey and I, we’re still hard pressed for quality vacation time… and hence, no overnight trips anywhere this time. But it doesn’t mean we haven’t been doing shit.

When I came home from Windsor on Thursday night, almost the first thing I did was put together a new computer for Audrey, after her laptop died on her. She was able to install a new hard drive and format it all by herself, but we realized that something more robust (and less likely to overheat) was needed because she used her computer heavily, day and night. In other words- she needed a desktop. As for our budget? As with most things nowadays, I approached the whole thing with the mantra: You either go build/buy something cheap, or you go all out and get something expensive. Don't stick in the middle as you're just compromising yourself with something that in the end, isn't really cheap and isn't really a good performer. So I set a tight budget and decided on cheap but better quality stuff.

I looked at a few pre-built systems, but I realized quickly that they were complete crap. Either terrible specs, or else the quality was really iffy. So I decided to build my own. TigerDirect was probably the most obvious choice for parts, and I was actually looking at their barebones kits, but I’ve always either found that they didn’t have the parts I wanted, or else didn’t offer much in the way of a discount. In addition, the desktop needed a WiFi card (for obvious reasons), and a TV tuner and capture card. Finally, I settled on just buying parts separately. I got the following stuff:

AMD ADX440WFK32GI Athlon II X3 440 Triple Core Processor - 3.00GHz, Socket AM3, 1.5MB Cache

Sabrent SBT-TVFM PCI Capture Card - Video Capture, TV Tuner, DVR, FM Radio, Personal DVD/VCD, Remote Control

DiabloTek PSDA400 Power Supply - ATX, Dual 2x 80mm Fan, 24-Pin, SATA Ready

Thermaltake TR2-R1 / AMD Socket AM2/939/754 / Aluminum / 92mm Fan / CPU Cooler

Centon 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory

Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H Motherboard - AMD 785G, ATI Hybrid CrossFireX, PCIe 2.0, USB 2.0, RAID, HDMI, DVI, VGA

Gigabyte GZ-X4 ATX Mid Tower Case - No PSU, MicroATX, 2 x USB 2.0, 7x 3.5 Drive Bays, 4x 5.25 Drive Bays

Linksys WMP54G PCI Wireless Adapter - 54Mbps, 802.11g

The parts in question

I settled on these parts for a couple of reasons. The computer is going to be left on 24/7 (meaning it needs to be robust and power efficient, as well as quiet). Audrey doesn’t do much gaming, but will need to do lots of photo editing and HD video watching. She multitasks with several applications open and running at once. The CPU was important and needed as many cores as possible while being very cheap and power efficient, and the AMD Athlon X3 offered all that (like almost all of AMD’s processors, which makes it hard to recommend any Intel processors unless you REALLY need all that power in the i5 and i7 series). Since Audrey has to upload and process huge Nikon D300 files in Photoshop CS5, the 3 cores help speed up batch processing by quite a bit, as well as being power efficient when idling. It's pretty simple to overclock as well.

I elected to go with a separate case and power supply, because I realized after seeing those combo case/power sets that they were complete crap. The cases were flimsy, and the power supplies tended to blow up. As anybody who has ever had a smoking computer can attest, the power supply especially is critical because if it’s crap, it’ll destroy everything else in your computer. Why connect several hundred dollars worth of components onto one crappy piece? I decided to spend a bit more money and got a pretty good case (without any of the annoying blingy LEDs that can light up your room when you’re trying to sleep), with a reliable 400 watt power supply. It's still cheaper than the crazier high end cases, but the combo offered much better reliability and styling. The case came with a lot of front ports, tons of expansion bays (for future hard drives) and featured a big-ass 120mm fan in the back. I could have went with a bigger power supply but I’m not planning on putting a huge power sucking graphics card in the computer and wanted something efficient and stable.

The CPU fan had to be cheap, and it had to be quiet. I didn’t have much need for a big-ass fan like the Scythe Katana in my own desktop, since the AMD processor doesn’t really run that hot and we likely aren’t going to do more than mild overclocking.

Finally, for the centrepiece of the whole system, I got the Gigabyte AM2+ motherboard. Because I wasn’t planning on getting a separate graphics card (Audrey isn’t going to be doing heavy gaming…), but wanted something with HDMI output and can play 1080p videos and run windows 7 without any lag, this mobo was great because it was based on a ATI 4200HD chipset. It also featured two PCI slots, which although seemingly insignificant was a major draw because it allowed me to install both the TV Tuner and the WiFi without having to resort to external USB devices (one goal was to integrate as much crap into the desktop as possible for fewer cables and external ugliness). The ability to overclock quite easily if needed, 4 memory slots, 7.1 surround sound, and the numerous ports were all bonuses. And yeah, it looked pretty cool. The only other mobo that came close to the low price of this one was a Biostar motherboard, but that one was significantly lacking, with only one PCI port and limited expansion options.

With shipping and taxes, everything came out to $430. If I could have done it again, I would have bought another stick of memory and a smaller case (to make it slightly easier to travel with). To complete the whole thing, we decided to take apart her current 640gb external hard drive to use as the new hard drive (two partitions, one for OS and the other for files), and used the DVD drive from my own desktop that I never use. I also got Windows 7 Professional from my school website for free. The result was this:

Only thing left is to look for a wireless mouse and keyboard combo.

That's it for now.

~Eastside

Sorry folks...

2010-04-07T16:48:00.002-04:00

I won't have much time to update this blog, at least not for the next few weeks. In addition to having an exam on the 15th, I am also busy trying to get everything done for my remaining projects and to-do's(CT70 phase 1 and a whole lot of minor mods for the CBR125R, doing some stuff for my bicycle, fixing up my girlfriend's Corolla, etc), packing for our Shanghai trip, and appeasing my girlfriend while she's in the midst of exam week =D

About the Shanghai trip: I haven't done a trip documentation for a while, so let's try another one for this, shall we? We'll be bringing along a tiny (and rather crappy) Asus Netbook, and I'll do my best to provide a brief account of day to day activity, as well as photos and crap (culminating in a writeup at the end of it all).

~Eastside

A sad, sad tale...

2010-03-22T00:46:00.002-04:00

Sometime last riding season, a young man bought a CBR125R motorcycle, and all was well in the world. With a squeaky clean smile he rode that motorcycle.

With happiness filling his heart, he proceeded to modify his bike. Adding little bits here and there, customizing it so it more fully represented "him" as a rider. Finally, he was able to stand back a few feet from the bike, look, and say "Wow! What a nice bike!"

He went on the CBR125R.ca forums, where being bold and brash (okay, he might not have been but for the sake of this story...), he ignored advice on being inadequately protected. Namely, he lacked boots and pants, and rode around with jeans and sneakers. Seeing this, one super smart and extremely damn handsome moderator warned him about this especially since he was a new rider, but the moderator was told "I know what I'm doing". His new riding buddies also did the same thing.

Several days later, a horrible accident occurred. The young man hit the front of another car while pulling out of a gas station because he was dumb and didn't look before pulling out. His knees were smashed up, the entire front end of his bike was ruined, and he was shaken. His squeaky clean smile was soon replaced with a scarred helmet.

Going on the forums and recounting his experiences, he brushed off his sheepishness and exclaimed that he was thankful to god that he was still alive. Ironically, a few days after that his friend who also didn't wear proper protection, also fell.

Since that incident, the young man has been trying to pick up the pieces of his motorcycle. Since that incident, he has posted very little on the forums. Alas, even after a winter hibernation, the bike remains wonky and difficult to ride, like it has a scar that never properly healed. Sadly, the young man put the bike up for sale on kijiji, but he hoped he could at least get some of his money back.

He listed for $1,675. That'll sell for sure, since it was much lower than other listed bikes right?

He listed for $1,650. Surely someone will take it now?

He listed it for $1,350. Getting pretty desperate.

And all the while, the poor CBR125R sits there forlornly, damaged and unloved, smiling at the young man with a crooked grin while the young man stares back in sadness and embarrassment. How low can he keep going until the bike is sold? Would the young man have to scrap the bike entirely? Would someone rescue the motorcycle from the clutches of this n00b and restore it and modify it to glorious proportions?

Only time can tell. But in the meantime, the young man's dreams are haunted by the words of the forum moderator:

"I told you so".

(click on picture to view full ad).

Okay, so I actually didn't SAY IT OUT LOUD, but the facepalm-level sadness of this whole thing is a bit much. There's nothing to really learn from this story, except that I'm right (barely) most of the time =D

But seriously, anyone want a project/track bike?

~Eastside

Dreamland

2010-03-03T22:05:00.006-05:00

A mother sets the dinner table
Son crashes to the pavement, yeah
A father workin' just to make ends
We spend our lives to try and make sense, of it.

But I, I feel the love, I feel the power
It comes to me in the darkest hour
And I, I wanna feel it again...

In this dreamland the kids are alright,
And the sky is blue.
We all got wings,
And know how to fly
I'm headed to the moon...

The sun on my face,
My head in the clouds,
Time on my side,
My feet off the ground...
I'm not comin' down. Not comin' down.

The summer ends, the ocean dries up
A stranger dies and no one gives a fuck
I take a look over my shoulder
All my friends have gotten older, oh yeah, oh yeah

But I, I feel the love, I feel the power
It comes to me in the darkest hour
And I, I wanna feel it again...

In this dreamland the kids are alright,
And the sky is blue.
We all got wings,
And know how to fly
I'm headed to the moon...

The sun on my face,
My head in the clouds,
Time on my side,
My feet off the ground...

I'm not gonna
Change just to change,
Break just to break,
Blame just to blame...

My head in the clouds,
Feet off the ground,
I'm not comin' down...

In this dreamland the kids are alright
And the sky is blue.
We all got wings,
And know how to fly
I'm headed to the moon...

The sun on my face,
My head in the clouds,
Time on my side,
My feet off the ground...
I'm not comin' down.
I'm not comin' down.
I'm not comin' down.
I'm not comin' down.

Our Lady Peace

Money, and What it Means to be Car Enthusiastic

2010-03-01T12:24:00.012-05:00

Money is weird.

Think about it: When we were still primitive, we traded things with each other. An animal pelt for a knife, for example. This actually makes sense to me, since you are actually giving away something of value for something in return. It's the conservation laws of the universe at work, right, give something to get something?

Today, we have the concept of pieces of metal and sheets of thin fabric-paper that define "value". What we are giving up in return for these pieces of paper are things that we do at work, our productiveness. And it's our productiveness that generates these shiny tokens and pieces of paper that we can use to exchange for things of value. So how come people get different amounts of these things? You cannot be telling me that a businessman who spends the whole day ordering people around and going home early deserves more money than teachers and engineers who work overtime doing difficult tasks, yet it happens. Looking at these pieces of metal and paper themselves, they aren't worth anything by themselves. These things only have value because people, someone somewhere SAYS they have value, not because they are themselves valuable. It's fairly obvious, but the point was driven home to me when I was watching Zombieland and Tallahassee wiped his eyes with a wad of bills when he talked about his dead son- Everybody was dead, what use is money except for use as toilet paper? The same points were brought up in the (absolutely amazing) childhood story The Little Prince, where the Prince met this businessman on a small planet. Prince thought it was ludicrous that you have somebody keeping track of a certain amount of something (stars in the sky, in this case), writing it on a piece of paper (money) and then putting it into a drawer (the bank); those stars being of value only because the guy on the planet said so. Since the man lived on a mini-planet all by himself, of what use is the concept of money?

But okay, I can at least understand that. At some point it becomes clear that you can't carry around a few hundred beaver pelts to trade in for a new Corvette, so everyone needs to keep their stuff of value in one place (the bank). The place can evaluate how much your stuff is "worth", quantify it in numbers, and then give you a sheet of paper or some tokens with the numerical value of your stuff (money). You then trade these numbers around, and when you trade it in at the place, the place will give you stuff equal to the amount you traded in. While wonky, it makes sense right?

But because this is the 21st century, it's become even more complex and a bit absurd, because the use of paper and tokens is starting to disappear as well. No, nowadays all we have are plastic cards and numbers displayed on a computer monitor, literally figments of our imagination because we cannot grasp or hold it. We do transactions online, transferring those pretty numbers from one area to another. It rises and falls on a regular basis. Are you saying that I am doing all this work, this labour, giving up so much so I can receive in return... some numbers on the computer screen? It reminds me of the ending of Fight Club as well. If we are dependent on storing our life savings, our entire life's work's "value", onto a couple of magnetic disks, if they are wiped out, then what exactly have we done all that work for? Where do all the fur pelts go? Everything would be worthless. People would start from zero all over again. It's just, again, a figment of our imagination; even if the blood, sweat and tears are real.

The concept of lending money and borrowing money that technically isn't yours, is also rather strange. How can you give away fur pelts that you do not have? Isn't it the same as writing an IOU for pelts that you owe? And why can't you just disappear, or whistle and look away and feign innocence when you reply "What pelts"? I guess that's why the financiapocalypse of 2009 occurred, because people used money that they didn't have.

It's the only system we have for assigning "value" for the things we do, and since there's so many of us, perhaps the most organized/easiest. But it's very wonky, a bit absurd yes, and definitely not perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so a conversation between a friend and I turned over to cars. And it wasn't until then that I realize that people's idea of what it means to be a car enthusiast is different depending on who you ask. Should be obvious, but I never thought about it. My friend assumed that because I was a car enthusiast, that I am the type of person to buy a brand new car and then modify it.

No. Well, I'm not that kind of car enthusiast at least. There are obviously several types, and while I don't think that there is necessary a "right" kind of car enthusiast, I am not the type of person to oggle after supercars, and I am not the kind of person to buy a new car, like what my friend, and indeed most people, would assume.

What sort of car enthusiast am I? I'm the type that enjoys this:

To me, a S30 Datsun 240Z that has a rusted hood, mismatched fender, extremely poorly cut fenders (you can still see the burn marks), fender-flare kits held together by salvaged bolts, and with giant deep-dish wheels with visible camber, is the kind of car that I like.

But what the fuck, right? Why the hell do I like a car like this? It's somewhat hard to explain, but let me try: The 240Z is one of my favourite cars because it came from an era where automotive design ruled. It was a pretty decent rear-wheel drive performer (along with stablemate Datsun 510, the "poor man's BMW"), and it was just drop-dead gorgeous. Because it is rusted, it means that the car has been places, it has seen things, it has many stories to tell. Just like how I love my Jimmy (which has been with me through the end of high school until now), this 240Z has stories galore. Because of the flare-kits and insane wheels, this owner didn't give a fuck to modern cars and wanted to drive something that HE loved, something that oozed style and something that nobody has really done before. Something that he bought under a budget that he could afford, something that he put together and learned from. The owner of the car came up from a 4th generation Civic hatchback, and while it's a great performer, he said that it does not elicite the same type of passionate response that a car like the Datsun 240Z does. It's a car that blends rat-rods, Japanese vintage classics and America's weird obsession with large tires and low stances together, something that has a cultural impact, as well as a nostalgia for a time when the Toyota Prius wasn't even an inkling. It is precisely because of this blend of "What the fuck?" and "Oh my god it's so damn cool" that makes me a car enthusiast.

Granted, I wasn't always like this. I admit I had a bit of a ricer complex when I first started off in cars. After all, I got into cars mainly because I thought my Subaru Impreza WRX STi (GC8) in the Initial D arcade game was damn cool (and really, the GC8 is). I too oggled supercars for a while, and I read stupid websites like Autoblog and Consumer Reports and Motor Trend on a daily basis, where I realized I started to not give a fuck about the Bugatti Veyron's top speed or which old white guy was going to take over as CEO of GM. Fun to know, I guess, but is it really relevant to how one feels about cars? It wasn't until I found a website like Jalopnik, where the witty, crass-humoured and unbelievably cool and old school machinery turned me into a fan of cars that I never thought was there. I think that's where it all really started. Jalopnik turned me into a person who just likes cars and the way they look, into a person who not only likes cars, but appreciates the engineering and work behind them, the people who drive them, and the history that surrounds them. I liked it... everything from Saab's "born from jets" roots to the fact that the Wankel-Rotary looks like somebody got drunk and then found a spirograph set before wondering "Well fuck, how can I make this into an engine?". I looked more into cars than just the manufacturer-posted specs (which is why I started hating the Nissan GTR, when it became apparent it was poorly engineered and designed and with a draconian warranty). I found people just like me who enjoys wrenching on things (though in my case, it's two very simple motorcycles, my CBR125R and CT70). I started looking at the horrendous mods done to poor Japanese and German cars that never deserved them and pitied them. I completely dislikethe Porsche Cayenne, BMW X6, aforementioned Nissan GTR, and most CUVs. I began to appreciate cars that includes tons of carrying space, great durability, driving dynamics and a high revving small displacement engine. I became a graduate, a person who not only liked cars, but car culture.

I'm not the buy a new car and then mod it, then cry about it when somebody scratches it type of person. I am the buy a historical and awesome used and well-loved car, improve (not modify) it with my own hands, and then drive it the way it's meant to be driven. One of my ambitions (I would not say dream, because it's not the only thing I want) is a 1992+ Acura NSX with my own modifications. One of my "other" ambition is a Nissan S30 for my girlfriend, complete in British racing green, a partial roll cage, a 4-point racing harness and suspension modifications, as well as minor engine and transmission work. Through my life I hope to cycle throughout several cars, and the ultimate project would be for me to build my own car, a Kit '65 Daytona Coupe from Factory Five Racing (or similar). Oh, and a collection of vintage Japanese and British motorcycles in the garage to top it off. While doing all this, I'd probably end up saving a lot more money than those people who somehow love to buy expensive german cars only for them to lose $20-$30K per year from depreciation (poor SOBs, shoulda got a BMW E30 3-series).

And that's the kind of car enthusiast that I am, having arrived here after nearly 8 years of car fandom.

Believe it or not though, as much as cars interest me, they are not the be-all end-all of my life as I have become a geek about all things in general. And not even the latte-sipping, iPhone surfing while walking into people on the street because I'm not paying attention, sort of geek. Because of my financial situation I have been forced to tinker extensively with things I own and make everything better. I've become the tear-things-apart and DIY type of geek now. My impending degree in mechanical engineering and work experience isn't helping matters. And yeah, it's been both a blessing and a curse, as my girlfriend will attest =D

~Eastside

READING WEEK!

2010-02-13T04:05:00.004-05:00

Okay, it doesn't really mean much since I've only been taking one course. Still, it's going to be a pretty busy reading week.

Valentine's, Chinese New Year, Auto Show, Snowboarding, and on top of that I'm fiddling with the EOS 20D and I have to clean up the CT70 and my general garage workspace before even thinking about working on the engine. I also have a HID kit sitting in the corner of my room that I got off an eBay seller for $40... those are going into my CBR125R. And come to think of it, there's a lot of minor little things I gotta do for that bike too.

Oh yeah. I have to start taking my course seriously too. Maybe do a bit of studying for once =D

~eastside

Of Toyota's blunder and Eminem

2010-02-07T13:27:00.013-05:00

[Note: Facebookers reading this RSS feed should click on "view original post" in order to get all pictures and video content]
I'm pretty sure that everybody and their grandma knows by now about the recent Toyota recall/fiasco thing by now. And since it's like... a totally cool thing to whip on Toyota, the media is drawn like flies to horsecrap to the whole ordeal.

If you know me, of course, the first thing I did was make fun of Toyota. However, as more and more reports surfaced and this whole thing dragged on, I started to get a bit annoyed, and then downright sick of the whole thing.

It's not because of the actual facts surrounding the case. Simply, it's because of how such news draws people and their opinions. I mean, take a look at this article. Mr. Van Alphen somehow managed to confuse "technician" with "engineer". And then you read the comments, and if you are me, you start to get a headache after maybe the first five. Because Toyota is a Japanese company, you have Farmer Bob over there telling Canadians that we should not be buying foreign cars. And because we have Toyota loyalists, we have Joe telling us about how he will buy another Toyota and stands behind them. But it goes beyond that.

You see, if this was any other automaker, normally I would not facepalm when people say that they will buy another vehicle from the company in question. What makes Toyota different, however, is that the people who are "Toyota enthusiasts" are for the most part, people who hate cars and use them as appliances (i.e. the average North American). You know, the kind of people who get confused when they see a third pedal on the floor and a knob with numbers on it instead of Park, Reverse, Neutral, etc. I actually don't have a problem with "non-car people"... you don't have to like cars or know anything about them. That's completely cool. What's not cool is when you don't like or know much about cars, but you start talking about them like you know something about them, which is exactly what a lot of Toyota "enthusiasts" are. You kind of have a feeling deep inside that these folks, as well intentioned as they are, are victims of the Toyota PR machine when they say they stand behind Toyota, and really don't know any better than what they heard from their neighbour's proclamations that the Corolla is a "really really good car".
It gets much worse (again, this being Toyota). When Steve Wozniak, one of the dudes who co-founded Apple, talked about a "glitch" in the cruise control system of his Prius, you can't help but be cynical and think that A) he doesn't understand how cruise control works and B) like other high-profile people, he is getting more attention than he should on a matter he doesn't really understand.

Beyond that (because it IS Toyota), inevitably you DO see enthusiast input, from people like me. The remarks are usually quite disparaging, and I fit the stereotype in saying that Toyotas are "super boring" and "soulless refrigerators for the masses who don't know any better, in order to get from point A to point B". Never mind Toyota's actually quite glorious past (the AE-86, Celica, Hilux, MR-2, Supra, 3000GT, Crown, etc. are all examples of Toyotas with soul... and none of them are still really made the same today), modern Toyotas are about as exciting as white bread with mayonnaise. And because I am a Honda enthusiast (Honda and Toyota being mortal enemies), you would imagine that I would feel extra glee at Toyota's recent troubles.
But I don't. In fact, BECAUSE of the rash of Honda fans coming out and acting like children when reports of these recalls surfaced, I facepalm once again. Let's get this straight: Toyota is not run by idiots. They are not Chrysler. They will fix this problem, they will recover (even if their sales further suffer for a little while), and they will move on. As the world's largest automaker, problems that hit Toyota also casts a black eye on the rest of the automotive industry, which is already in a precarious position thanks to the hippie movement redux. More than that, a recall of this size could hit any automaker. One day, it can even hit Honda. And what then? As much as I like to crack some jokes at Toyota's expense, I half expect that Honda fans, and most car enthusiasts for that matter, would hold back some of the childish vitriol I've been hearing. So when I hear "Toyota is going down ~~" by some 16 year old asian kid with spiked hair who owns a clapped out Civic with a big spoiler and fartcan at the back and poorly aimed HIDs and "carbon-look" hood at the front, I actually do feel quite a bit of shame, even if cars don't entirely consume my life like they used to.

As I said, what makes the Toyota recall unique is because it draws out the worse kind of people in all parties. Sort of a mish-mash of fail, if you will.

So from now on, I'm sticking mostly with the facts and commentary in regards to Toyota's recalls. If any new developments come up, I post them up on fb and maybe comment on what this means for you. But I'm going to try as hard as possible to stay away from any stupid "TOYOTA SUX" type deals.

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Eminem is back. I know I'm probably pretty late in saying this, but I listened to the Relapse album some time ago and to be honest, I'm shocked.

Well, any album that talks about serial killers and graphic depictions of how people are murdered would shock you. At first I thought that perhaps Eminem has really gone nuts and developed an unhealthy obsession with Silence of the Lambs. But looking past that, the rhymes and utter intensity in which Eminem spat reminds me a lot of his earlier works, like the Marshall Mathers LP. It was not just shock at the subject matter, but in the delivery. Something that was clearly missing since perhaps Encore was the enthusiast, intense lyrical prowess that made Eminem famous in the first place. In Encore, Eminem sounded lazy. And after the release of Curtain Call, you kind of get the feeling that Eminem just really wanted to retire.

Shortly after that, I read in the media about how Proof, Em's best friend, was shot and killed at a nightclub. Then the most I heard over the next few years after that was sporadic reports about how Eminem's marriage failed a second time, his addiction to sleeping pills, and how he got "incredibly fat". You KNEW the man must be going through one of the most difficult parts of his already tumultuous life. To be honest, I thought he was done, and I sort of moved onto other records (and almost left rap entirely until I started listening to Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West). So when Relapse came out, I didn't really know what to expect.

As intense as the album was (and frankly, I do not recommend listening to it if you are in the least bit squeamish/easily disturbed), it wasn't until I hit "Beautiful" when I felt that connection to Eminem that made me a fan of his to begin with.

Apparently written while he was in detox at the addiction clinic, it was a thoughtful (and honest) look into his life at the time. His depression, his realization that he might be done with rap, his struggles coping with fame, and his reaching out to his fans to understand what he's going through. After listening to this and the rest of the album, it's pretty clear that Eminem is inspired and enjoying rap again.

Of course, it wasn't so easy to hear how good he is again until you looked at Drake's "Forever" collab involving Kanye, Lil' Wayne, Drake and Eminem.

Frankly, Eminem killed them (and why does Lil' Wayne always look like he's coked up?).

I'm looking forward to Relapse 2, and what's coming next. And if Eminem does decide to finally hang it up, I hope that we get to hear a real retirement album.

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Turkoglu on how he felt wearing a mask in Toronto's win over Sac-town:
"Ball"

~Eastside

A sense of Entitlement

2010-02-02T09:00:00.003-05:00

So...

I'm sitting here in this classroom at U of T, where the overhead projector is making all sorts of squeaky noises, and because my prof isn't doing anything useful (I don't know why they even bother deriving equations in class, since people can never understand what's going on), I went on facebook... of course.

Looking over people's reactions to last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory, I couldn't help but notice the one gentlemen who said he was "disappointed" because it wasn't as good as it can be (and suddenly, this writer's block sort of disappeared under an avalanche of "people are so fucking stupid, I need to blog about how fucking stupid they are").

I've never understood this mentality. How can anybody be "disappointed" about any show they've been watching? If you are a fan of Heroes, HIMYM, TBBT, Top Gear or whatever, then I don't see how you can be "disappointed".

It's simple: You either watch it or don't. Why watch the show expecting something and then be disappointed if you didn't get it? Doesn't that sort of negate any sort of creativity on the producer/writer/cast's part in doing the show, doing something that you "expect" and won't disappoint you? For sure you'll sometimes find the odd episode or two that is sort of boring or isn't anything new, but that's the way with all shows. The question becomes whether or not you would rather sit and twiddle your thumbs, or watch the show at all (and for me, it's simple, since there's no show to replace Heroes, or Top Gear, or TBBT, etc.). There are a few exceptions to this, of course. The Simpsons, for example, has long ago jumped the shark and I don't spend much time tuning into it anymore- it's not disappointment, I just don't watch.

I remember when the venom spewed by Top Gear "fans" during the last few seasons reached such epic proportions I thought the internet was going to explode. It was really interesting because the quality of the show nowadays is far greater than the earliest seasons when Top Gear first started (and when I first started watching), yet from the sound of people on the internets, you'd think nobody watches it because James May staged a stunt involving an airship made out of a camper van flying uncontrollably into airport airspace. Turns out, Top Gear's ratings are quite high and one of BBC's most watched programs, in stark contrast to the original show with a minimal budget and held in a tiny ass hangar.

For some reason, people have an odd sense of entitlement to things, and it's stuff like this that reminds me of it every now and then. You see it in sports fans, as Raptors fans want to trade this player, fire that coach, blow up the team and rebuild, as if they are all capable general managers with a wealth of experience and savvy. There is a Pizza Pizza promotion (if the Raps score 100 in a home game, ticket holders get a free slice), and when you see a Raptor player holding the final shot at 98, 99 points as a sign of respect to opponents, you see people jumping out of their seats screaming and booing at players like they were criminals. When Doug Smith from the Toronto Start expressed his view (the right one in my opinion) that these people need a life, some readers retorted that... well, fans deserve it and can whine and bitch about it, forget the game and respect and all that.

You also see it in car fans, as they demand things from their car company that are unrealistic or completely stupid (from the looks of things, people somehow want a V8 RWD car that costs $15,000). And look at the Apple iPad. The name sucks and it really does seem like a giant iPod touch, and the venom from the internets has been incredible. You'd think nobody would buy it. Yet I remember the Apple iPhone had similar response, and we all know how that story ended.

I guess the phrase "Everyone's a critic" should tell you that this sort of behaviour has been going on for a long time. As much as we are consumers and expect certain things (really, demand them, and we should because we are the ones working for it), I also think it's silly and a waste of time to be disappointed if we don't get what we want. If you don't like it, don't be disappointed- just don't watch/do/buy it. It is, after all, a capitalist democratic society: If you think the show sucks, make your own! Watch something else! Don't like the iPod, then buy an Android phone! And hey, start your own NBA franchise and your own specialty automotive juggernaut and whatnot. Buy something else. I don't get why anybody could get disappointed in these things as if they're disappointed they lost a leg or something, then whine and bitch about it forever.

However, I suppose in today's "instant" gratification society and where nobody does anything for themselves anymore (i.e. they buy shit and more shit and expect to be spoonfed things), it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Maybe I'm a bit "disappointed" in people? =)

I'm definitely making sure as hell my kids don't end up like that. The idea of my offspring being little trendwhores who bitch and whine about not getting what they want and are spoiled sort of really scares me.

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This class is really boring. I'm reminded of why I skipped lectures and self-taught using a textbook. Can't really do that since I'm living at home and my parents would chuck me out of the house if I didn't go =/

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Speaking of disappointment, I was disappointed in my desktop computer's inability to play HD video clips, so I spent a couple of hours yesterday swapping the motherboard out, so that I can put in a new graphics card (my old one doesn't have any graphics ports!). I'm going to ride my desktop (and my laptop for that matter, not like I can afford a new computer right now) until graduation.

At one point I was contemplating getting a new LCD monitor too, but the price sort of makes me wonder. It's rather strange to me how things are priced nowadays, because I can get a netbook for $200 (which has the same guts as a "premium netbook", which is less than the price of a 23" monitor. But you think about it, the netbook is infinitely more useful, even though it would obviously be "great" to have a huge monitor. And it's stranger still that any of the smartphones costs at least $300, if not greater. Anyways, rather than spend money on all of that, I'm going to pocket the savings in case shit happens later on to anything (the wonderful thing about doing everything by yourself is that you can buy parts cheap and provide the labour yourself), or just use it on my trip to Shanghai this May. I'm going to steal the 18.5" monitor my parents have on their desktop (since they never really use that ocmputer), and call it a day.

After that, I'm going to do maintenance to my motorcycle, and then perform some minor upgrades to that, as well as repair the CT70 to "stage 1". With all this shit to do it's good not to be bored =)

~Eastside

Due to technical difficulties

2010-01-19T18:47:00.003-05:00

Blogs might be sporadic for a while (not that they aren't already).

The "technical difficulty" is the fact that I have hit writer's block. And I can't seem to finish any of my blog posts because my mind is always muddied when I'm in the middle of making a point.

I hope this is a temporary thing, and at worst I'll write shorter, less philosophical (read: easy, mindless) posts to make up for it.

Later.

~Eastside

First class at UT, and the TTC

2010-01-06T00:34:00.003-05:00

Today I had my first class at UT's St. George campus. It was in the RS building, which is right next to one of the medical buildings. Actually, I was kind of bemused by the fact that my engineering classroom looks like it belongs in MDHS; while the medical faculty at UT had so much money that they have all glass and steel expensive-looking buildings that look like they were designed by high end architects... they had so much money that they were even able to hang what looked like giant testicles in one of the buildings.

Meanwhile, some of the lights in the classroom I was at didn't want to work. Engineers seriously don't get any respect in this world. The fuck.

I wanted to explore the rest of the campus, but after realizing that the place was so large that there are at least 4 TTC subway stations strategically placed all over, and that it was such a cold morning that most people had red noses, I decided to leave that for another time, and headed to Eaton Centre and Henry's instead.

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Of course, going downtown means I have to contend with the TTC. The way down was sort of smooth, except for the fact that I was actually late because Rei's mom couldn't drop her off at my place in time (she went with me to explore the campus). It was surprisingly straightforward for me to find my classroom and the registrar's office, especially since I only had vague ideas of where they were on campus (and the map was of little help). But on the way back...

A few of my friends may remember one time a few years back when I had to use the TTC to get to Carlton Road... the first time I had to use TTC that year basically. It happened that it was the day when the union went on strike, exactly one day after the union said it would not. Today, I was similarly screwed over. At approx. 5 PM, we went inside Queen Station near the Eaton Centre, and while we were waiting on the subway platform... the guy at the ticket counter told us to grab a transfer and grab out. And so, on the first day I've had to rely on the TTC all year, they decided to stop subway service in the downtown core.

After two hours of finding using the Queen and Spadina streetcars, Bloor subway, Scarborough RT, we finally made it to Scarborough Town Centre exactly two hours later.

TTC: I am not happy with you. Beyond that, I ain't sayin' nuthin'.

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And on a more personal note:

The reason I tried to avoid the topic is obvious: It's awkward and makes me feel uncomfortable. One of the few things I don't really like talking about.

It should have been fairly obvious. The exact same stuff happened in the past, and in an effort to not be as shameful as that person, I refrained from even giving an opportunity, an excuse, even a hint as to doing the same sort of stuff. I do have some sort of pride and honour left in me (not much, I'll admit), and this is one of my ways of showing that. It's not in my nature to do something like that, but I know that fear and paranoia is sometimes irrational and I have a responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen. It's very disheartening when I learn that I am not completely successful.

In any case, I've learned from my own episode long ago... and because of that, I am very much at ease and I have complete trust in this... in everything. I had (and have) complete confidence when I made my decision long ago. When my intentions are questioned, well...

Also, you have to understand that as well intentioned as people are, I am starting to grow weary of emos or people who for some reason still seem to be in/fresh out of high school. Frankly, I thought that we as adults are well past that stage, or at least able to actually deal with it. It's no secret that I like to say that many things in life are self-fulfilling prophecies... well, fear and paranoia and (most destructively) distrust are exactly that: self-fulfilling prophecies. Again, I feel that at some point in time, people get so bored that they think up of shit to get depressed about, and that eventually ruins everything. It's especially annoying when these people have probably never been through anything resembling a "challenging life scenario" yet find some time to bitch about it. It's like a horrible Asian drama. The solution is actually quite simple: If you have any doubts, don't do it. As much as I give into my emotions nowadays, I at least have a clear enough head to understand the consequences of my decisions.

~Eastside

Happy New Year !

2010-01-04T02:01:00.002-05:00

Well, a belated HNY. I hope you've all shaken off your hangovers and are getting ready for school or work or whatnot.

As for me, it's been pretty busy. I've once again found myself struggling to juggle time between my brother (who's back visiting from UBC), my gf, and my other responsibilities, and if it wasn't for the need for sleep, I probably wouldn't be struggling so much.

As it is, I'm looking forward to school starting, because it's a return to some form of normality in terms of establishing a sleep schedule. It's also special because for this term and next fall term, I'm a University of Toronto student =D That's right: because of my strange gaggle of courses (I'm missing approx. 4 before I can finally enter 4th year), I'm taking those courses at UT, which is far more convenient (and cheaper) than simply going to Windsor and taking two courses per term for this winter and next fall term. I'm actually somewhat excited because I haven't explored UT's downtown campus very often, and it's right in the heart of downtown. In the meantime, I also hope to find a job, which would obviously help a lot, especially as I have a ton of trips planned.

I've also got a massive list of projects I need to do...

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As for new year resolutions? I've actually achieved what I wanted for this year, but I've realized that resolutions are stupid in general. You make up goals as you go along and tackle them one at a time. It's good to have some sort of game plan, but over the course of a year things change. They always do.

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I went to Circa nightclub in downtown Toronto yesterday (or rather, the day before), in -26 degree windchill. The combination of "Toronto" and "Nightclub" was pretty sketchtastic, but I went anyways because Rei and I had to rescue Sora from the evil awkward turtle that is the random people she didn't know who for whatever reason ended up at her birthday party. I already knew of many stereotypes that you would normally find in nightclubs, so at the end of the night, as disgusted as I was, I wasn't surprised.

The sights were quite interesting, to say the least. As per the stereotypes:

-The whiteman dance involves bobbing your head while holding your beer, awkwardly staring around or on the side of the dance floor
-The gino dance involves fist pumping at every opportunity
-South Asians seem to enjoy emptying entire containers of body spray/cologne on themselves
-Metrosexuality is encouraged; I saw a korean man who I was convinced was gay because he was so womanly. Rei reminded me that real gay men would not subject themselves to that sort of humiliation and are in fact quite manly (which is true from what I've seen)
-Everybody texts while dancing
-Music was standard krappy kollege fare: the lyrics that one can understand are pretty shitty; only Lady Gaga was enjoyable. These are beats straight out of a clapped out Civic/stoned suitemate

In actuality, I was quite shocked to see that although the place was so upscale, the whole experience was far worse than any of the clubs I've been to in places like Guelph. There was a creepy old guy who kept hitting on the women in our group; I kept putting myself between him and the girls and Rei told him off... twice. I bore witness as some white dude smacked a lady and wouldn't go away when she told him too; he eventually had smirnoff ice spilled in his face (she could have just smashed the bottle over his head eventually) because there was something wrong with him as he would not leave her alone despite repeated requests to do so. I left for the bathroom for five minutes and somebody hit on my woman twice! People were generally really sketchy, and people were really the reason why the experience was so terrible.

It's actually pretty sad, but I had more fun in a intimate one-floor club (Apt. 51) in Guelph than in an upscale nightclub in downtown Toronto. It's especially sad when you consider that the people in a University town like Guelph (drunk white college students) are far more well behaved than what you see at Circa. It's probably unfair to paint all Toronto nightclubs like this, but considering how Circa is supposed to be one of the better clubs, what about places like Guvernment, which is even MORE sketchy and where real shit like stabbings and shootings happen? My recommendation is that if you're looking for a good time at a club, don't do it in Toronto. Places in Guelph, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, etc. are probably far less sketchy.

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It's not fair to say that the night sucked completely. After we left the place (thank god), Rei, Sora and I went to Metro to grab some ice cream, and we sat down at the Don Mills/Steeles Tim Horton's and just sat and talked (something that I'm thinking none of us have done for some time). The simple pleasures in life are usually the best.

~Eastside

Of Apologies, and What AT&T and the iPhone Teaches us

2009-12-17T15:30:00.005-05:00

Remember (amongst my numerous other rants) about how I felt that my generation as I know it, is a bunch of slackers with no hopes or dreams? Maybe "Generation" isn't the right word, maybe it's simply the way "the world" as we know it today works.

The latest case in point: AT&T. If you do not know of the story, AT&T has been raking in massive profits, because of their exclusivity deal with Apple's iPhone. That's good and all, right?

Wrong. Because AT&T is apparently such a shitty network you can't get a clear signal in New York City (there's got to be something wrong with that picture). Then eventually, AT&T alleges that 3% of iPhone users are using 40% of the company's bandwidth. Imagine that! Your network is SO SHITTY that a small portion of users are using 40% of the company's bandwidth.

In the past, or what most hard working, extremely smart individuals would do, is expand their network to meet up with demand. But AT&T instead talked about "incentivizing" those users to get them to stop using up so much bandwidth! Instead of taking things and making it better, these people instead decide to sit on their fat lazy asses and think of ways to screw customers over for more money.

This is almost exactly like how Nintendo was too lazy to ramp up production for the Wii. And pretty much, you can describe this for many companies.

So Fake Steve Jobs set up an interview with an AT&T exec, and while FSJ's writing was a bit childish, I agree 100% with his points. As he said,

"At the risk of sounding like Glenn Beck Jr. — what the fuck has gone wrong with our country? Used to be, we were innovators. We were leaders. We were builders. We were engineers. We were the best and brightest. We were the kind of guys who, if they were running the biggest mobile network in the U.S., would say it’s not enough to be the biggest, we also want to be the best, and once they got to be the best, they’d say, How can we get even better? What can we do to be the best in the whole fucking world? What can we do that would blow people’s fucking minds? They wouldn’t have sat around wondering about ways to fuck over people who loved their product. But then something happened. Guys like you took over the phone company and all you cared about was milking profit and paying off assholes in Congress to fuck over anyone who came along with a better idea, because even though it might be great for consumers it would mean you and your lazy pals would have to get off your asses and start working again in order to keep up.

And not just you. Look at Big Three automakers. Same deal. Lazy, fat, slow, stupid, from the top to the bottom — everyone focused on just getting what they can in the short run and who cares what kind of piece of shit product we’re putting out. Then somehow along the way the evil motherfuckers on Wall Street got involved and became everyone’s enabler, devoting all their energy and brainpower to breaking things up and parceling them out and selling them off in pieces and then putting them back together again, and it was all about taking all this great shit that our predecessors had built and “unlocking value” which really meant finding ways to leech out whatever bit of money they could get in the short run and let the future be damned. It was all just one big swindle, and the only kind of engineering that matters anymore is financial engineering."

Fucking A.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am tired of apologizing.

I'm sorry this. I'm sorry that. Oh, excuse me for doing blah blah blah.

There was an interesting article I read a little while ago in the Toronto Star, about how kids nowadays are being "awarded" every time they do a little thing. Getting an "A" on any paper means massive stickers. Good behaviour for a week means that kids get to get something from the Toy Chest on their way home. Parents give kids toys for when they behave well.

And while this seems to be the proper way to raise people, in the end, it's wrong. And this has become evident to me.

The reason is quite simple: If you constantly award kids, then they will not understand *why* they have to do a good job, other than for awards. Outside of rewards, they will not be motivated to do anything by themselves. They will not understand the meaning behind their actions, other than "Shit boy! I got another sticker on my drawing!" You might as well be training a dog. Or a prostitute.

Now, the opposite is true too. If you constantly punish somebody by yelling at them and asking them to apologize, then they will never know what they are doing wrong. "Say sorry!" "What am I sorry for again?" And this is my gripe. Apologies simply become empty words with people not understand why they did something wrong.

I have never had to apologize so many times before in my life. I mean clearly, I am doing something wrong (otherwise I would not have to apologize in the first place). I try to correct myself, but evidently, with these people being so different from me, sometimes I really don't understand what I did wrong. So I ask... only to be told to figure it out for myself. So when I ask what I'm doing wrong, I'm told that I have to say "I'm sorry" because what I did was "wrong". I am told I have to apologize.

Apologize for what?

Unless I'm mistaken, an apology involves showing remorse for your actions, while striving not to do the same thing again because you understand the consequences of what you did.

Here's the thing: Though I am an enormous asshole, that does not mean I like to do things to make your life miserable. I do not go out of my way to do bad or wrong things. In fact, if anything, I would prefer if most people I associate with had a great, happy stress-free life. So if I did something asshole-ish or otherwise "bad" to you, chances are (especially nowadays), that I don't get what I did wrong. Call me stupid or ignorant, that's fine (actually no, don't call me stupid or ignorant). But sometimes I really don't understand. Make me understand. Make me understand WHY what I did was wrong. If you're just telling me "say sorry", then it's just hollow words. That's why I cannot apologize sometimes if all you're going to do is tell me to "say sorry".

My favourite case in point was an event several months ago where I was yelled at because I put a bit of apple salad in my bowl, which had a bit of soy sauce at the bottom. Suddenly I was being yelled at in cantonese, and of course naturally I'm like "What? What's going on?". For sure I did not realize that I wasn't supposed to eat apple salad like that and that I had actually offended someone by doing that (yes, you heard me right- I actually offended someone by doing that), and the fact that everyone was yelling in a language I do not speak did not help matters. I was told it's a bad thing. I was never told why until the next night, when I was told that it actually offends somebody because "you're not supposed to eat it like that". Which made me wonder, what happens if I simply liked to eat it with soy sauce? Would that still have offended people? Regardless, I wish I was told that instead of simply being forced to apologize at the time.

And you know that from them on, I didn't mix my apple salad with soy sauce.

Anyways, as I have always said (and this is one thing I've been saying since grade 11), in any sort of interaction, you have to precisely communicate. That means that when you want somebody to do something, you tell them. You have to give them the reasons why. If you did something wrong, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you why. In fact, I never expect people to apologize to me- I simply expect them to improve. But apparently for some people it’s more “adult” if one were simply to apologize for their actions. People say that they are able to communicate "intuitively" to learn from their mistakes, but frankly, after all my years, I've realized that it's a complete load of crap (and I realized this after realizing that the people who can communicate “intuitively” actually don’t understand what each other’s intentions words… or even what the hell they’re saying).

The other thing too is that, sometimes when somebody does something wrong, you have to look at the reasons behind it. This isn't justification, this is just plain fact. It's just like how juvies are tossed into jails, and people believe that the solution to our increasingly violent youth is to simply chuck even more of these kids into the jail. "Go to jail. Apologize and feel the consequences of your actions." Sometimes (not all), these kids grew up with little support. They grow up with guns and things because they saw violence in their lives and their parents never tried to make them understand why it's wrong to do what they're doing. And by chucking them in jail, are you really helping them to see the consequences of their actions? Are you really going to set them free a few years later, only for them to return to jail because while they were in the jail in the first place they missed out on school, jobs, a stable life, etc? Shouldn't the community be understanding the reasons behind these kid's behaviours, and try to act as a support group to try to get these kids off their feet and back into society? It's easy to say that it's these kid's fault and problem that they ended up their in the first place, but honestly, I don't really see how many of them could have wanted such a life in the first place.

Of course, that never happens. And thus, the shortsightedness of mankind. For me too, sometimes (only sometimes) when I do something wrong, it's because of the situation I've been put in- can I really be 100% blamed? And instead of helping or trying to see what they can do about it to help improve the situation for next time, the solution for most people is to simply demand me to apologize... only for me to be put in the same situation again later. I feel at times as though I'm being set up for fail. When it comes to apologizing, it really should be a "combined" effort.

I think this fact has been lost on everyone. Maybe that's why our generation is so dysfunctional.

More often than not, it becomes a case of "me vs. you"… now go and fix it yourself.

~Eastside

2009-12-16T18:52:00.002-05:00

9 days until Christmas! So close and yet so far.

Tomorrow I will have pretty much my most important exam evar. If I do even somewhat well on it (i.e. I will pass with a 45% but really, who wants to get such a low mark on an exam?), it will be smooooth sailing and a truly Merry Christmas.

~Eastside

Looking back (list time!)...

2009-12-15T18:39:00.009-05:00

We are near the end of the decade.

Actually, wait.. that's technically wrong- the new decade should start in 2011 (since there's no "year zero", and the new millennium was supposed to be in 2001), but we'll go along with the flow, ya?

It's really weird to think that this decade comprises nearly half of my lifetime. I entered grade 9 in 2001, and within a few days... the September 11th bombings. This whole decade has been about change.

For me personally, I can split my life into two distinct time-frames within this decade: high school, and university (duh?). One included the greatest 4 years of my life; the other has subjected me to an 'enormous' (and I'm being polite about it) growth curve, filled with the insanely awesome and insanely bad. Compare what I was like in grade 10 to what I'm like now. I'm almost a completely different person- and that's both good and bad.

It's been pretty much the same for the world. As "humanity", however, the decade has been pretty hellish, or otherwise really sad.

-The September 11th bombings
-Global warming (seriously... freaking econo-mentalists)
-Automotive Industry Upheaval
-Sub-prime mortgages and the financiapocalypse
-Afghanistan, Iraq
-George Bush
-Driving while texting (especially with asian female teenagers)
-Britney Spears went crazy
-Emos, punks and goths
-Reality Shows
-Kanye West's outburst involving Taylor Swift
-SARS, bird flu, swine flu, mad cow
-Some of the worst natural disasters ever (Sichuan Province earthquakes, Indian Ocean Earthquake, Hurricane Katrina)
-Pacers-Pistons brawl
-Sarah Palin
-Hybrid vehicles and Segways
-Online Dating websites prove that humanity is quite sad
-Pluto was demoted to dwarf-planet status
-A two week span in which several notable people, including Michael Jackson, died
-The rise of metrosexual men
-LeBron James' crabwalk (aka Crabgate)
-Twilight
-This guy

There have been a few bright spots though, and some major powers rose. Most of this happened in the tech industry. These pale in comparison to the bads, but it's interesting to see how pop culture has shifted.

-The rise of youtube and facebook, giving us "Facetube".
-The prevalence of Internet Pr0n
-The rise of Apple, creating high quality products for people who don't understand or want to understand how to use computers. Invention of the iPhone, creating a rapid convergence of technologies to become the modern day Swiss Army Knife.
-Google and Photoshop became verbs
-Medical advances, including Human Genome Project
-GPS
-Several discoveries in the solar system, including new planets, moons, and weirdness around Saturn
-Digital cameras become practical for the everyman, including the first practical DSLR (The Nikon D1) and first cheap DSLR (The Canon Rebel EOS 300D)
-WiFi and rise of the internetz (including Internet memes and lolcats)
-The Nintendo Wii, for people who don't know how to play games
-Huge progress in gay rights
-Obama
-Hairy Pothea... er, Harry Potter, DaVinci code, etc.
-LOTR, Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pixar, Comic Book Heroes
-Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, House, Lost, Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, etc.
-Halo, WoW, Maple Story, etc. became some of the defining games of this decade

Yeah. It's been a hell of a decade. Get ready though, because next decade, our generation will move from affecting pop-culture to completely charting the course that humanity will take. I think our generation sucks (especially compared to the mentality of the generations in the 60s and 80s), and we haven't done anything yet to really affect the world... but who knows? We might turn out fine.

~Eastside

Asian Dramas

2009-12-11T18:05:00.003-05:00

Are ridiculous. It's not the low budget production (i.e. krappy kameras, some random guy's small and poorly decorated house as the set), nor is it the poor acting... it is most definitely because the storylines are something else (i.e. really... really... shitty). The thing that confuses me is the number of cookie cutter dramas out there- how come nobody can write up a story that doesn't involve a couple professing shy love, and somebody subsequently dying of cancer?

Since I've self-banned myself from Facebook until end of exams (20th), I'm posting a list from somebody's blog, of typical things you can expect/learn from Korean Dramas. But honestly, it applies to pretty much every drama out of asia nowadays:

50 things you can learn from a korean drama

1) Hot, rich, younger men love fat, older vulgar women.

2) If you have a best guy friend, he is in love with you. And secretly you are too.

3) You and your boyfriend will always playfully chase each other on an ice rink, at the beach, or in the leaves. And you'll laugh for no reason and your boyfriend will hit you "playfully" but the force of his push will have you flying across the room. But it's okay. Cuz you're still laughing like a crazy person.

4) Brothers/cousin/uncles-newphews will always love the same girl.

5) You're allowed to make uturns wherever you want in Korea. And there is never traffic on the side you want to u turn to.

6) There is a super quick payment device that allows you to pay a bill quickly enough for a guy to run immediately out of a restaurant after his angry girlfriend storms out.

7) Everyone has cancer.

8) If you're sick, all you need is an IV to make you feel lots better.

9) There is vomit and urine all over Seoul at nights.

10) Fighting at a pojangmacha with a random stranger is merely part of a normal night's event.

11) Soju must cost 10 cents. Everyone drinks it everyday all the time, especially the poor people.

12) If you're rich, you're a jerk.

13) If you're poor, you're an angel.

14) Women sleep and wake up with a full set of makeup on.

15) You're not studying hard enough unless you get a nosebleed.

16) If you have a nosebleed, you most definitely have cancer. And you have no money to pay for the surgery that will save your life. And your liver is missing. We're not sure where it went, but it's making your cancer progress faster.

17) If you work in a sool jeep, you have massively curly hair and wear flashy colors from the early 90's.

18) You always order orange juice or coffee at a cafe. And you never drink it. EVER.

19) You will always call your boyfriend by his job title. Or simply sunbaenim. Never his name. Never. He doesn't have one.

20) If you TRULY love each other, you must die together in the end. Frozen outside instead of finding shelter like sane people. Just frozen....

21) You go to America you come back miraculously successful. You go to England you come back amazingly fashionable. You stay in Korea the only thing that changes is your hairstyle.

22) And if you come back with no apparent reason then it's because you have cancer.

23) Everyone always goes to the same hospital no matter where they are.

24) If you stand out in the rain for more than five minutes, you'll end up with a fever and vertigo and people will rush you to the hospital to get some magic IV. And instead of taking an ambulance or driving they'll race you on their back.

25) Even if you're poor and can't eat, you never wear the same clothes twice.

26) If you play a poor kid, you always have dirt on your face and your hair is always messy.

27) If you're saving someone from being hit from a car, you'll push them out of the way and wait for the car to hit you instead.

28) Everyone has a long lost sister/brother/twin. Usually one they didn't know about.

29) If you don't want to answer your phone, you can't just turn it off. The battery
needs to be taken out.

30) All korean men can drink hard, smoke long, sing well and play piano. Usually all at the same time. And at the same restaurant that has a piano that they let anyone use.

31) If you're in a relationship, you must at one point leave and have your lover tearfully come RIGHT before you board the plane (vice versa applies as well. You can be the chaser). 60% of the time you see each other, the other 40% you're roaming around in circles and pass each other about six times, but miraculously never see them.

32) If you're getting off a plane, you're ALWAYS wearing sunglasses. ALWAYS.

33) All guys wear hideous tracksuits zipped up to their neck. Even if all they're doing is jumping rope.

34) Girls will always storm off because they're mad and the guy will stoically grab them by the arm and swing them back- and by magic, not dislocate their shoulders.

35) Guys always look like they're 6 feet tall, even if they're only 5'10. Thank you camera angles.

36) Guys like to wear foundation, eyeliner and sometimes a smudge of lipliner.

37) You always get stuck in an elevator with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. Even if there are six different elevators, you'll always be stuck in the same one with that bastard you hate (or just fought with).

38) Unless you're fabulously rich, your in-laws will always hate you.

39) So will your sister-in-law.

40) Your brother-in-law might be pining away for you.

41) There are only 2 ways to kiss. You either press your lips against theirs with your mouth completely shut, and just press away for a very long and uncomfortable time. OR you devour the other person and suck out their soul. In both instances, the world spins.

42) A guy will always get the right size ring, even if you're never held hands.

43) People stare off into space and ponder a lot. They'll just stop in the middle of the road and watch a leaf on a tree for a good three minutes, and just ponder.

44) You'll get pregnant the first time you have sex.

45) You'll get pregnant if he kisses you on the forehead.

46) Hell- you'll get pregnant if you hold hands.

47) If you overcome great obstacles to be together, one of you must die. Probably due to cancer.

48) One Korean man can kick the butts of 6 gangstas. Especially when they all stand in a circle and attack the guy one by one. Then when each of them get their butts OWNED, they wise up and attack the guy at the same time. Then the guy will get pulverized and bleed out onto the dusty concrete floor of the empty warehouse they've found to fight in. There will be a fire in a trashcan somewhere. And the girl will have watched this the entire time, screaming in horror. Instead of calling 119, she'll just watch and cry. But it's okay. Cuz the next day the guy will be fine with a few random bandages and a few face scars. But never a black eye.

49) It ain't a real fight unless the gangstas fight dirty with a stick or switchblade.

50) If you study in the states (perferably Harvard), you are one of the top students and can speak perfect English (as assumed by the reactions of those around you). Why the rest of the world OUTSIDE of the TV can't understand a single word uttered out of your melodramatic mouth is beyond me.

~Eastside

2009-12-06T23:56:00.003-05:00

Things have been going well lately, actually. Believe me, considering that this is the transition period between fall and winter, and with finals arriving after next week, this is a surprise.

I won't be able to update this blog often during that time (or maybe I might, depending on how bored I am partway through), but what I can say is that I'm glad that this will be the end of a really, really long, if successful year.

Next term I'll be in the GTA for 8 months, as I'll be taking part time classes at UT. Sadly, I'll be spending my summer at Windsor, but at least it's much better living there around summer, where the boardwalk is beautiful and the Red Bull Air Race comes flying in. I'll be able to spend the colder months at home, spending more time with my girlfriend than I have been able to for like... the entire year.

There is a lot more to look forward to. After this term ends it looks like we'll be having another gathering, and I'll be looking forward to busting out and waxing down the snowboard. Audrey and I will be heading to NYC. Next year, I'll finally have time to finish my various projects that I have put aside, I'll be able to see friends more, I'll be able to work and slightly pull myself out of debt (as well as fund my projects and future trips), and I'll be heading to either (or both) HK and Shanghai: one to visit Audrey's island =D and the other to catch the 2010 World Expo. Next year, Audrey will also be completing her motorcycle course, and even potentially go on rides on our own bikes.

There is a lot to look forward to, and I'm very excited.

But first, I have to get through my exams. There are a total of 5 (since for my online course I just have to write an essay). In actuality, 3 of the 5 are fairly painless and brainless, since they consist of Matlab programming, economy, and Environmental politics; but I still have to get through fluids, and most importantly dynamics. I am spending much of my time and energy on dynamics and fluids, and I'm hoping of course, that it pays off. Once this term is over I'll be extremely happy... after I bring all my shit back to Markham.

~Eastside

The Trouble is

2009-11-26T05:23:00.004-05:00

As I began to unravel the mysteries of humanity (aka stereotypes are 95% true), I'm beginning to understand that the more different we become... the more we remain the same. For example, white people love yoga, sushi, expensive sandwiches, coffee (especially fair trade), and Apple. But the same silliness applies to North American born asians (occasionally, South-East). White college students are worse drivers than fobs. Everybody knows Super Junior is gay, yet asian teenagers appreciate them, just as white girls appreciate sparkling vampires. As much as we say that stereotypes segregate people, the reality is that they bring us all closer together, because we can all relate??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes we can be too stubborn. It's what happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object (and that often leads to fights and arguments). Our world is constantly stuck in a weird paradox and frequently forces strange errors.

I've been looking through some past photos on facebook (in particular, the "Welcome to my World" album), looking at the past things I've done, stalking through several profiles of old friends I haven't caught up with in ages, and it's abundantly clear to me: We are pigeon-holing ourselves. I feel whimsical and nostalgic, thinking about the absolutely stupid shit I used to do with my friends... and how much fun that was. We took risks, not because we had to, but because we were bored. We were willing to get lost on prom night for hours on end trying to blow up coconuts, travel to Japan on a whim, take curvy and ghetto backroads in pursuit of fish, screw around with UT engineering students on orientation day, go on random day-to-day adventures like discovering the mythical Wal-Mart in Waterloo or taking the freaking #1 bus for hours playing punch buggy trying to get to the Steve Nash Charity game. The establishment of Fooners Inc., with plans still in progress to take over the world (starting with conquering our own bedrooms... and Iceland). I randomly went bowling with a strange group of asians that would turn out to be some of my best friends, and had one of my most amazing summers ever. And I rescued a beautiful young woman from the evil, boring, lonely and cow-scented clutches of U of Guelph. Whimsical and nostalgic indeed.

Now that people are graduating, moving away from each other, we are left completely... stark... naked. We only have ourselves now. We have no standards, no chaos, no sense of adventure. And that breeds laziness (which in turn, breeds contempt, at least in my case). Comfortable with who we are, we refuse to try new things, to bend one way or another.

This can't happen. And while it's easy for me to be all idealistic and naive and simple and say "Where did all the passion and excitement and adventure go? We need to stop. And go. And be uncomfortable and try new things"... the reality is, well, that's what we have to do. While all my cynicism has led me to being cautious and jaded, the reality is that I have to eventually "put myself out there" and possibly make an idiot of myself, or fitting into one of these silly stereotypes, or else I'm going to be too complacent. Too bored. Too jaded. Too me.

I mean, I'm in my early 20's. This sort of shit shouldn't be happening until I'm in my 60's. At least.

Now of course I have to finish my school term, but I have to do something about this, and fast! As for the rest of you, my advice is to do the same =)

~Eastside

People

2009-11-21T13:55:00.006-05:00

The things you see nowadays from my fellow peers (that is, people who are +/- 4 years from my age) is so exceptionally sad, that sometimes the only way you can cope with it is to stereotype them. I won't go into them here, but I've seen things ranging from ridiculous, to stupid, to completely evil.

I used to care. And the things I saw pretty much broke my heart and my faith in mankind... and that's why I was so angry for a period of time. You can try to change people- they don't want to hear it, because they like the status quo. Besides, who am I to determine how someone else lives? It hurts, when your eyes suddenly open to just how ridiculous people can be, and it takes a while to adjust to it.

I tried to cope with it at first by simply not caring. Okay, that works somewhat. But I still wasn't happy. So I tried to develop an ego, by making myself feel that I am much better than some people. Okay... that took away some more, except that in my POV it just means that I'm slightly better than the average person, which is still ridiculous and stupid. So now I'm trying the stereotyping angle, looking FOR someone's stupidity and then making fun of it... and strangely, it's working pretty well.

In a paradoxical way, it goes back to the way I treated people in high school and early first year: Love people for who they are, embrace their flaws and strengths. Except now, it's more like "Love people the way they are" in the same fashion you would love a sitcom or any sort of entertainment show- revel in hilarity and just brush off the points of stupidity. Match people up with stereotypes, observe trends that people follow that are ridiculous and point them out. Frankly, this is the disrespectful way to view people, but for me, at the moment, it's working really well, and I don't stress out about people anymore. This 'methodology', of course, only applies to people whom I do not know/want to associate myself with, as my close friends I love regardless, and are about as flawless as you can find.

You can't change people. It's just like how environmentalists, in their most fervent of warnings and prophecies, can't change people. Ironically, the goals that environmentalists aim for always happen AFTER the environmental movement dies down, when the world is plunged into a recessionary cycle and when people conserve, reduce, reuse, downsize. In the same way, so shall my peers eventually change, whether or not you stress out about them. One day, they will also wake up, realize how ridiculous things are, and in their own way, change. One day, when they realize that they are no longer kids in school, when they are forced to fight for their survival by getting jobs, when they are lonely enough to have real and lasting relationships, then they will change.

You cannot force change- it will occur at its own pace and on its own path. You can only silently watch it happen.

~Eastside

2009-11-10T16:22:00.002-05:00

It seems kind of ridiculous to me that it's almost mid-November now and I STILL have midterms. Only one left for tomorrow, but I was under the impression that "midterms" were held "middle of the term"; it's clear that such a term is used loosely.

This is the first term in a long time (a bit longer than a year?) where I've had a term with 6 courses, and honestly, I am surprised as to how well I'm doing. For 4 of my courses, I am getting somewhere in the mid 80's currently. Of course, you can say that they are bum courses (economics, Matlab and two political sciences), but with a full course load it's really not that easy.

Now for my other two courses, fluid dynamics II and dynamics... well, my marks are okay so far (somewhere in the mid-60's to mid 70's), but it's pretty precarious. I still have another dynamics project that I absolutely have to do well on since I realize at this point that the prof is out to screw all the students over; and fluids is so theoretical it's really more of a differential and vector calculus course than anything else (and I'm really poor at math). These two courses are also far more important!

I've been left feeling overwhelmed at times. 6 courses in a term was easy in first year, but not so much now. It's pretty difficult keeping up with homework, especially since I have many other things to take care of. Because midterms stretched this far into November, along with the fact that I still have two essays and a project I will need to complete before heading into finals, I've been left scrambling and often find myself basically locked in my room for days at a time. I supposed that having one thing come after another has kept me busy and forced me to study properly and get good marks, but it's done a number on my sanity (not to mention I'm surprised my ass hasn't inflated to epic proportions).

Again, I'm glad that next term I'm basically getting a term off, with another term that's also pretty slack =D

Random Mind Dump

2009-11-07T09:17:00.002-05:00

Regional stereotypes, like most stereotypes, are based on some kernel of truth. It was really funny because back in high school at MDHS, I heard someone remark once to me that I should be careful of girls from Scarberia (of course, back then I was more interested in MTG cards), because they are absolutely batshit insane.

And the funny thing is, he's right. Or rather, at least partially right.

I mean, there was this one story that I was told about this girl who was in a beautiful, steady relationship. Except that for whatever reason, she decided one day that she was bored, and then pretended to make it seem like they're breaking up, in order to get the guy to do something crazy and special for her.

Yeah, you can already see how this one ended: They really ended up breaking up. To say that this whole thing was retarded is an understatement, in my opinion.

I tell you, I've had a lot of fun listening to my gf's stories about some of the people she knew at her old high school. But it actually turned out that it wasn't because people in Scarberia are crazy; rather, it seems that all students in the year before us are insane, since a lot of stuff happened at MDHS too. While our graduate year went through high school with relatively little drama, my gf witnessed people showing off bags of weed in class, kids yelling at teachers at her Scarborough high school, and everyday some poor sap is coming to her with stories of their broken high school relationships. I mean, between the giftees, the Fooners, the non-giftees, and the smokers, I don't think I've ever heard so many stories of messed up people before (actually, come to think of it, the number of relationships people had through high school were actually rather low).

Oh no, people in our graduate year only got messed up AFTER we got into University. And yeah, the amount of "messed up" went up exponentially after first year. It's amazing now that I'm sitting back and remembering everything that happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And actually, it only seems to get worse with the younger crowd. There was apparently this one instance at MDHS just a little while ago where a junior football player (asian, so it's pretty typical) got into a fight with a black student. Long story short: Football team found the black kid later and beat the shit out of him. Then one day in school, the kid's entire family and posse went into school, found the football kid and beat the shit out of HIM, right in front of the main office. Apparently even Mr. Shigeishi went out there to try and stop the whole thing.

Damn, kids nowadays =D

~Eastside

2009-11-06T16:59:00.004-05:00

I am in no position to tell anyone what to do.

And for most intents and purposes I don't, though I like to give people advice and ask them how they're doing, to help them further consider their futures. But I am in no position to tell anyone what to do.

It occurs to me, however, that people don't like being given advice (especially since it's not sugarcoated), and they don't like being questioned. Some people ESPECIALLY don't like being told what to do. However, I've oftentimes watched these people go through pitfalls and end up hurting themselves... unfortunately, almost always leading to me saying (or thinking) "I told you so".

There are some who are more guilty of this than others. Those who are younger or around my age actually do tend to listen; the older crowd usually thinks I'm a stupid idiot and then tells me that I'm wrong. It leads to a lot of frustration on my part because some of these older people end up hurting themselves, maintaining a shitty status quo or otherwise really ARE doing things the wrong way (And end up doing things the way I said they might want to consider, after a big runaround and wasting so much time). It seems that the older people get, the less they tend to listen to others and the more pride they have. Good traits to have, to be honest, but not in large quantities.

It really sucks. When I actually try to care, then I'm usually rebuffed. I once had this thought in my mind that I'm sort of like a guardian to those closest to me. I thought I was the one who was supposed to give advice, protect people from unseen dangers and pitfalls, and to make sure that people don't repeat the mistakes that I made. But it never works that way because people often refuse help, especially those who seem to need it the most. I remember my girlfriend telling me about some of her friends who are also like this: Content in being emo and bitchy about situations they put themselves into (sometimes for no reason at all). It's almost like some people are happy being this way. In the end, I usually give up because I'm just wasting my own time. That is why my mentality nowadays isn't "How much to care" like my girlfriend, it is "whether to care or not".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I suppose in a way, this is how parents are supposed to behave (as a guardian to prevent repeat of past mistakes), and having witnessed my gf's family with my own eyes, this is exactly how many of them behave. I'm beginning to understand that although some parents don't want their kids to repeat their mistakes, a lot of times, they overdo it to the point where it's stifling. Stifling to the point where you're no longer a guardian, you're the prison warden. And what's most ironic is that although parents sometimes ask you not to repeat their mistakes, they are always the most stubborn ones, refusing to change anything even though it's obviously hurting them.

My gf's mom is understandably concerned with our relationship. However, the end result of this is that I often feel as though I'm dating my gf's whole family, not her =/ And the amount of stress put on my gf is understandably unpalpable. I mean, when your mom constantly approves or disapproves of things your significant other is doing, and freaking calls you on your cellphone because your significant other is wearing a shirt she doesn't like, wouldn't you end up pulling out your hair?

What's the point of all this? I realize now that I still have a lot to learn about, in regards to HOW to care, and WHEN to care. I thought it was a simple idea at first (to be everyone's guardian), then I thought that it was an idea with caveats (you need to choose when to care), and now I realize the issue is more complex than I've understood at first (not just when to care, but how and how much). There is a balance that needs to be struck. And it's important to learn this now, before I myself end up as a parent. After all, I don't want to be like my parents, but I don't want to stifle my kids like my gf's parents either.

~Eastside

2009-11-06T01:18:00.003-05:00

My woman told me that she was going to take a short nap. That was an hour ago, and I just told her to wake up (she went back to sleep).

Anyways, nothing much has been happening lately. I have another midterm coming this Saturday, and I'm just sitting here waiting for my solutions manual to download so I can understand how to do a stupid problem.

I was actually in Guelph for Halloween night, where Audrey and I headed to Apt. 58 for the night. She dressed up as a sailor (we got the costume off eBay for a good discount =D), and I dressed up as... myself. I know, it's scary shit, but in reality I didn't have a costume because I left my LOTR stuff from last year at home and I wasn't sure where it was put. With me running back and forth between Windsor and Guelph and trying to stay on top of homework, I asked my parents if they could find it and mail it to me, but it was a long crapshoot anyways since I couldn't adequately tell them where it was. I visited one of those temporary Halloween stores they set up at the mall with Audrey, and contemplated buying a pimpin' pirate costume, but it was something like $60 =/ So I was left being myself. I was okay with that though.

Heading to downtown Guelph on Halloween night brought back many memories. There were the drunk white kids on the bus, the insane/awesome costumes (Audrey's housemates that lived in the basement went out with Dick in the Box outfits), the lineups outside clubs (which we mercifully avoided), and the loud music/lack of dancing skills inside clubs. This time we visited Apt. 58, and we ended up going downtown around 8:30, which meant that we were early and avoided anything resembling a lineup. The place was good, and $5 beer wasn't a total ripoff considering they give you something like 16 oz. mugs of Moosehead.

Of course, getting back home proved more of a challenge. We miscalculated when the main buses stopped running (instead taking a stroll through downtown and window shopping the closed stores), and even though I was prepared to pay for a taxi, we couldn't even connect to their phonelines! In the end, we were lucky to find a special-run bus heading back to campus- lucky because we found it in a back street when we were desperately trying to flag down a taxi.

The rest of the weekend I stayed for Audrey's birthday.

Now, strange circumstances lead from one thing to another, and on Tuesday when I was about to leave to head back to Windsor, Audrey decided to skip the rest of her classes and tag along. So here we are, with her 'napping' on my bed with her mouth open and dribbling =D I love this woman, I really do.

Of course, since I have an exam on Saturday, I've been busy studying for that and we didn't have much time to actually see the best parts of Windsor yet (downtown, the Casino, the awesome boardwalk) =/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got some more new photography stuff. As mentioned, I got an EOS 300D, and we took our first pictures last week once we got a battery charger and SD-->CF adapter. It's a completely different experience from shooting film. With film, I had to think about shots, compose properly, think about exposure, and then finally take one single shot of a scene; with a digital SLR, I simply have to aim at the subject in a variety of ways and keep shooting in burst mode. It's like using a machine gun vs. a carefully aimed snipe shot. It is much, much easier to experiment with a DSLR than a regular SLR, and at the same time it makes things so stupid proof that regular people with no experience are suddenly taking the best pictures of their lives.

However, I don't see it replacing film, especially if I start using black/white Kodak T-max and Fuji Velvia 50 in my Elan IIe. It is obvious after taking shots that although digital has an advantage in terms of ISO and noise, when it comes to things like colour and dynamic range, it still can't quite match specialty films.

Along with this, I got a new Olympus 28mm f/2.8 OM Zuiko lens, and I should have a Nikon-mount Vivitar Series 1 lens in the mail. Now, the only thing I need is a 18-55mm kit lens for the 300D, and I should be set. Forever (well not forever, but satisfactory). I also have some lenses and stuff I need to sell (mostly the old Nikkor and the EF 35-135mm lens).

As for that 18-55mm kit lens, the reason I am looking for it is because on the 300D, it's a APS-C camera, which means that all lenses that I put on it has its focal length multiplied by 1.6. This can be good, as it means my telephotos suddenly have longer reach. However, it also means that my wideangles are useless on this camera. That Olympus 28mm becomes a 40mm on the 300D, which is nothing close to "wide" (hence the 28mm is going to be mainly used for film). There are also no cheap wideangles for the 300D, as lenses like the Canon EF-S 10-22mm costs over $500! The only cheap wideangle option I've seen is with the kit lens =/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, with the approaching winter, I need to head home one day to winterize my CBR125R. Being in school all year, it's unfortunate that I did not get to ride my bike much. I don't think I went past 2 tanks! Not much for motorcycling at all. However, with free time next year and such, I am going to be placing an order soon for parts for my CT70, and finishing phase one once and for all. It's a long overdue project, set back by school work =/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have an extremely busy schedule. This is sort of what I get for taking 6 freaking courses (even if two of them are BS), and all my weekends really up until finals are occupied. It's scary because this has probably been my busiest year... ever. And next year will hardly be this busy because I essentially have 4 months off (with the other 4 being "minimal amounts of work").

What's also scary is that I have not seen anyone I know, outside of Audrey and her family, for over two months. I haven't kept up with my friends at all, don't really know what they're up to either.

I really can't wait until Christmas. I just hope I can survive until then.

~Eastside

Midterm in less than 2 hours

2009-10-19T14:19:00.003-04:00

And I'm here blogging.

I'm sure that others have experienced this a well, but it seems that on midterm days, I can't seem to study at all.

Then again, this is for my elective political science course, and most of it is BS anyways. 25% midterm =/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not much has been happening lately in the grand scheme of things. However, last week was my reading week, and I headed back to Markham. Another trip to Henry's for some cheap ghetto photography stuff, and I met up with Yi and Jon Ng for the first time since like... high school ended (or actually, a bit after that, when we met up at Demetres one year). It was great talking to those two again, and while we ate curry they talked about their exploits at Queen's University, including the infamous night. All in all, a great time, and definitely one that brings back nostalgia.

After that, I spent the week with Audrey back at Guelph. Not much happened- no Oktoberfest, no Henry's photography show, but we spent most of the time going to class, studying, and relaxing. I think I've got much of the school layout memorized, though it's tough because Guelph is the ideal definition of "sprawl", with buildings that spill over to other blocks. Compared to Waterloo and Windsor, the school definitely has a ton of spirit, and it's a veritable beehive of activity every single day; in stark contrast to the quiet, often very angry environment at Waterloo and the night-time ghost town at Windsor (though to be fair, most students head over to the casino during the night at Windsor). The buildings are an odd mix of old and new, with many cool classrooms, and as Audrey told me, sometimes leaky. If I were to do a science or bio program though, I would for sure want to go to Guelph. It's a special place.

Only regret I have is that we didn't have time to explore more of Downtown. Even if it IS essentially a single street with numerous alcoholic establishments on either side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We also got some new toys for our photography collection. We picked up a 28mm Canon FD lens for a measly $25 from Henry's eBay store, I sold off the Canon FD 35-70mm f/4 for quite a bit of money; but most importantly, we picked up a Canon EOS Digital Rebel 300D.

This is our first DSLR, and we got it for a measly $160 (again, for SLR photography, it's okay to pick a cheap SLR as long as it has features you want and you have good glass). However, it occurred very quickly to me that with the 1.6X crop factor from the APS-C camera, I would need to invest in quite a bit of coin to get a proper wideangle, like Canon's EF-S 10-22mm lens. There's no way I can spend over $500 on a lens, so the only solution for wideangles on the camera is the cheap 18-55mm EF-S IS lens (which is obviously optically weaker than a dedicated, more expensive wideangle prime or zoom lens). And that's not even really that wide, being a 28mm full-frame equivalent on the wide end. So the plan is to use the 300D as a telephoto/normal lens camera, to take with us on trips. If there's a need for wideangle shots, we'd use the 18-55mm, and for critical quality wide angle shots (landscapes), we can use Fuji Velvia slide film in our film cameras.

That being said, this is not the end of my "ghetto photography" film project. It just means that I will be using film for more specialized purposes (black and white urban shots, as well as the aforementioned Fuji Velvia for landscapes), while keeping telephoto, normal and everyday snapshots to the 300D.

In any case, I should be getting back to studying =/

~Eastside

A bite late but...

2009-10-14T16:42:00.001-04:00

There's a lot to be thankful for.

A lot has happened in one year =)

2009-10-07T16:30:00.002-04:00

Just stick to the plan.

Stick to the plan like it was laid out. And then everything will be fine.

Stick to the plan, and the goal will be reached.

Stick to the plan, no matter what arises, no matter what happens. There are no excuses, there are no more chances.

Stick to the plan, no matter how hard it gets.

Just stick to the plan.

~Eastside

Systemic Stereotyping

2009-09-29T17:49:00.004-04:00

I absolutely love to stereotype people. Doesn't mean that it's always true, but it always amuses me whenever I make an assertion about people's actions, and the person acts/does things exactly as I expected them to.

It's obviously very bad (don't follow my example kids), but stereotypes are always based on some kernel of truth. If not, they are based on observations of people's actions and habits. As humans, we are creatures of habit, and in a way, I don't think we can ever really escape stereotypes.

Note that my definition of stereotype is different from "racism" or "prejudice"- these usually involve very unfair remarks. My stereotyping of people stems from their everyday actions and humorous side of their actions.

In any case, I don't think I'll give up stereotyping anyone anytime soon. It's my only way to deal with humanity; and the current state of humanity is very depressing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This all leads to my next point: pigeonhole-ing people. It seems very strange to me at least, that while people believe that prejudice is wrong, psychologists, etc. are actually doing exactly that when they pigeonhole people into categories.

Case in point: The Myers-Briggs indicator.

It is a system, very much like those personality quizzes, that divides people into personality types based on 4 categories. It is an actual psychological tool used for everything from general assessment to job interviews.

Maybe I'm just being idealistic, but I most certainly cannot pigeonhole people's actual personalities into 4 categories, and most certainly cannot say things about their whole lives based on a stupid quiz. People are much too complex for that. They change too often for that.

And yet, here we are, with what, at least in my opinion, is a form of systemic stereotyping. While I make fun of asian music or korean cars or stylistic tendencies of people, it's too much when you ask me to divide people on an absolute scale, and base their success, failures or social situation based on that scale.

The sad thing is that people who like these quizzes seem to follow the personality characterizations to a tee, instead of being who they genuinely are. They use it as an excuse for their current deficiencies, and never try to change out of that (until they lose interest at least). And that is the greatest travesty of all.

It's almost hypocritical for people to remark that society is full of prejudice and racism and stereotypes, yet seem to have no problem about things like this.

~Eastside

We (by we, I mean Audrey and I) are trailblazers.

2009-09-29T04:12:00.005-04:00

Okay, maybe "Trailblazer" is a bit much, but certainly there are a lot of things that we've done first, and had copious amounts of people emulating after.

Perhaps it's really just a coincidence, since it's possible that during a summer there's only so much anyone can do, and everybody therefore had the same ideas that we had- but seriously? The timing and frequency of these events makes me think otherwise. Many people have been consistently doing what we've done, a few weeks after we've done them.

About the only thing that people haven't done that we did was horseback riding. And I'm almost sure that it's because we forgot the name of the club we went to. Otherwise I'm pretty sure there would be at least a couple of people doing that too.

Yes, I'm being an assy egomaniac. I'm sorry, it won't happen again (for the rest of this post) =D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a more serious note, I've been thinking more about my life at this point. It's become fairly obvious to me that I've actually been starting to get more paranoid lately. About Audrey, about myself, about "things that can go wrong".

Love does some fairly funny things to you. When you're single, you tend to be more brave, more reckless- you have more of an insane streak. It's fine when you're single because honestly, if you died, you really aren't leaving anyone behind. But now, with an SO, I worry about myself a lot more. Finding myself having second thoughts when motorcycling, wondering if every little minor ailment could be something major, wondering if perhaps the next day... what if something happens and I'm not around anymore? It's gotten to the point where I've been thinking about the what-ifs each time I do something. It's gotten to the point where it's started to stress me out.

Granted, a lot of this paranoia rubbed off on me because my girlfriend is a very careful and OCD person. I am constantly reminded about how I'm doing it wrong, or how I should be careful doing it a certain way or else I'd get hurt (ironically, she gets hurt way more often). Her mother, working in a doctor's clinic, is "very careful" (to put it politely). But even so, a lot of my paranoia is due to my new responsibilities- I have someone to take care of now. Someone I care for, and someone who cares about me. I mean, frankly, if I died I wouldn't care (why would I? I'm dead...), but certainly it would break my girlfriend's heart.

But at the same time, the paranoia is stifling me. I always have this nagging weight in my mind about the consequences of the activities I'm doing- seriously, how can you have fun when you're a weak pansy that's afraid of getting hurt? How can you have fun motorcycling when you're always afraid of accidents? How can you have fun thinking "This edge looks pointy" or "I wonder if this ache here is something that will turn permanent"?

The Honda Canada Fall Meet I went to with my girlfriend brought back the feeling of being alive, of being able to truly enjoy something without fear of consequences. It brought back the feeling of being adventurous, of doing something that is new and exciting, of taking a (non-stupid) risk, of feeling BAD. ASS.

While on the train ride back from Guelph today, I contemplated all this. And I realize that at this age, with my life experiences so far, my common sense, my ability to solve problems and think ahead (I'm betting if Audrey is reading this part she'll scoff)... there should be no reason to be afraid. There is no reason to be paranoid. I have always done things with precaution and common sense. I'm cynical enough to point out bits of stupidity and prevent myself from doing/being caught in it. I have confidence in my physical and mental abilities to be able to withstand most rough and tumble conditions. Conditions I have been subjected to my entire life.

Things will always be uncertain; but by the same token, always worrying about it denies yourself from having a life at all.

I reasoned to myself on that train, and then I simply decided that I will take all precautions, and I wasn't going to worry about things anymore. Instantly, the little annoying nag in the back of my head disappeared, and my heart feels a lot lighter.

I've still got to work on it, but that feel of adventure and being BAD. ASS. from the Honda Canada Meet hasn't subsided since.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, another thought occurred to me: My gf's sister apparently hires co-op students from Waterloo to work under her supervision in a bank downtown.

Those poor bastards.

~Eastside

2009-09-24T14:15:00.003-04:00

So apparently, I can offend people even when I'm not talking to them, near them, or even mention them.

Great. So people come to me in order to get offended. That's awesome.

So what can I do about this situation? I would normally tell people that if they don't like me or their opinions, they either speak up or ignore me. But apparently that's not possible because people like to come to me to get offended.

It reminds me of all those people on dpreview.com who post in the forum about how much they hate Ken Rockwell and thinks he's an idiot, because he wrote some article (his own honest opinions btw) about how he doesn't like something about a camera or a brand. He doesn't even have to directly address these people- people go to his site, get uppity about something, and then trash talk about him somewhere else.

FFS.

2009-09-24T11:49:00.005-04:00

I have another post about my break (saved as a draft), but first...

I was told for about the nth time that I am stubborn and arrogant. And accordingly, I am such because of the way I act- specifically, I never ask for help and make people feel like they would be useless and a hindrance if they get in my way.

I tend to do things by myself instead of relying on other people. Usually I would say something to the effect of "If you want it done right, do it yourself", "relying on other people is a pain in the ass", and generally this will come across as hurtful to people, who will then hate me.

While I made the remark that maybe these people are just too easily offended and hateful people whom I probably wouldn't want to be friends with anyways, I will clarify my stance right now:

It is indeed true that if I could, I would rather do things myself. This is because, truthfully, if you ask someone else to do your work for you, they will likely fuck things up. It's not always their fault- sometimes it's because of miscommunication, sometimes it's because they simply forget, sometimes they're really just lazy and slow... but regardless, people can and will fuck up. Even worse, sometimes people will start to lay blame on ME, telling me that I wasn't being specific, or that I should not have made them do it in the first place, etc. It IS a pain in the ass to rely on people.

Over a period of a few years, my cynical side has developed as a result of people fucking my shit up and screwing me over as a result. And over these years, I have also developed more and more skills to do things by myself, in order to not rely on other people. I developed more confidence in my ability to do things. And that's why I never ask for help.

The only way to really guarantee the quality of work, at least in my point of view, is to do it yourself. Leaving all that responsibility to yourself means that YOU can dictate and control how something is done.

Of course, there's the service industry, where people can do things for you- for a fee. But for most things which I'm able to do myself, I'm too cheap/poor to pay someone else to do it for me. Which again, leads back to me doing things by myself. Unless it's something really specialized or if my skill in doing it is limited.

That is why, when something weird happens or when I'm working on something, I will say things like "I'll deal with it myself", or "It's okay, I'll do it myself", or "I don't want to rely on someone else to do something for me". I don't hate or think people are useless; but it's simply fact that people can and will mess up. If I mess up, at least I only have myself to blame, instead of blaming someone else and then wondering if maybe I could have done things differently (like get another person to do it).

So... if I hurt your feelings because I made you feel useless or otherwise incapable of functioning like a normal human being, I am sorry. But do understand that it's in my nature now to try to do things by myself, and not a reflection of how capable I think you are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, apparently the other thing that people don't like is the fact that I always think that I'm right.

Well, that's false. If I was factually wrong, I will admit it. I am only 95% certain that I am correct. If I do not know enough about something, I will usually take your word for it (and look it up when I get home =D).

But most of what people argue against me involves either opinion, or wishes. In which case, I guess people don't understand that when I make an opinion, I usually stick with it. If you can convince me otherwise, then I will of course change my opinion, but I usually don't because I actually believe in what I'm saying, and I base everything on things I know and things that I believe are morally right. If you cannot convince me, then... well, what? Is that so wrong?

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I am very opinionated in many things, and that when somebody points out their point of view, I loudly argue mine. I'm guessing this usually hurts people because A) I'm fucking up their point of view or B) I refuse to change my point of view to theirs... and people don't like that.

It's just the way I am. Again, nothing personal, but if you speak of a something that is subject to opinion, and you cannot convince me, that either means you're not trying hard enough or that I believe my POV is valid. That's really all there is to it. If it were up to me, I'd rather not argue with people at all- I don't want to waste my energy.

~Eastside

2009-09-21T20:28:00.003-04:00

It has been a very, very long weekend.

I guess I should have known, going home on Thursday noon, that this weekend was going to completely wack. There was only ONE event that Audrey and I were looking forward too, and that was the first ever Honda Canada CBR125R meet.

On Friday, Audrey and I watched 9. It was a pretty good movie, but it needed another 10 or so of background story because a lot of it was left ambiguous. The ending really said it all, when 9, 7, and the Twins stood over their friends graves and wondered what they were supposed to do next. And what about the 'thing' they had awoken? What was the stupid amulet for? The movie was obviously meant to provoke some thought, but it took that a bit far. The ending was also very tragic, but I saw it coming.

I strongly contemplated going to Edwin's birthday party, but there were a lot of people I did not know, and it's always sketchy going to sing K with random people. It also gets fairly expensive. I do have some regrets, not only because I didn't say happy birthday to Edwin personally, but also because Stephen Chai and the Chlebowski brothers showed up, and I have not seen any of them for ages.

But Audrey and I had a goal, and we needed to sleep early for it. Saturday was the Honda Canada meet. Almost from the get-go there were some problems, because Audrey was delayed and we ended up arriving about 30 minutes late. However, things were just starting. The meet was held in one of Seneca's parking lots, and involved not only a group gathering of CBR125R owners, but a gymkhana course was set up, hot dogs were served, free stuff were given out, and we had opportunities to test ride bikes and see the newest Honda bike- the CBF600.

The highlight of the day HAD to be the test ride on the CRF230M. I felt like a redneck spreading my arms dirt-bike style! The engine was vibrating like hell all the time. No tach (and not much of an instrument panel), low rev range, lots of torque, bouncy suspension, rattly plastics that quivered at idle and buzzed like bees when you're on the throttle... it was a pretty ghetto beast that encouraged you to act uncivil and hoon. If a bike has character, it has to be this: a rip-snorting little beast.
Our ride leader was really quick from the stoplights so I able to hit redline quite a few times catching up to him. Doesn't feel a lot faster than my CBR125R overall, though midrange was much better as it pulls from all the gears very quickly... you probably don't need to rev the bejesus out of it in normal traffic (though I did as habit from riding the 125R). It needed some pretty deliberate rev-matching and shifting as the transmission was notchy, and you need to pivot your foot quite far to completely shift (I ended up stomping through each rev-match downshift).
Audrey also commented on the exhaust- the ride position is pretty comfortable for the passenger since it's a banana seat, but the exhaust snakes right under the passenger's right leg. It gets pretty toasty. The CBR125R is really smooth and easy to operate in comparison. The CRF was far more "exciting" to ride overall, though for a bike to use on a daily basis I'd take the tamer and easier to control CBR125R instead.

After that, we headed home, and this is where trouble began. Technically, Audrey wasn't allowed to ride on the bike. Obviously, when Audrey's mom found out, she pretty much freaked. The ensuing chaos felt very reminiscent of my own struggles with my family. Mom telling daughter that if she wanted to be independent she should leave the house and make me support her, accusations of parents being stifling, talks about what it means to be an adult... and all the while, Audrey's sister was chirping in the background. I tell you, she has got to be one of the weirdest people I've ever met- if there was a more true application of "pot calling kettle black", it would be her. For a woman with a lot of her own problems, she certainly doesn't hold back on accusing other people of their flaws (especially when they would apply more to her).

Strangely though, the night got better as it got worse. The main issue was that Audrey's parents were freaked out that she rode on my motorcycle, and that she was keeping things from them. Their solution at the end of the night? They are going to let her take lessons... and then get her own bike.

Believe me when I say that I was (and still am) extremely confused.

~Eastside

Public Transit Comparisons

2009-09-14T02:46:00.003-04:00

Comparo/Battle between two known public methods of transportation, Greyhound, and VIA Rail. Between two different inter-city trips...

Between Windsor and Guelph:

$76 per round trip via VIA Student 6 Pack. 4.25 hour trip, leaves 4-5 times a day.
VS
$86.10 per round trip via Greyhound ISIC discount. 6.5 to (a whopping) 8.5 hour trip, only leaving twice a day.

Winner: VIA Rail 6 Pack
Comments: The need to purchase a 6 pack is sort of annoying because you have to pay upfront, but since they're basically ticket vouchers, you can get your train tickets whenever you want. Since there are rarely ever any carpools running between Windsor and Guelph, you HAVE to take public transit. VIA Rail is far more comfortable and provides power plugs and WiFi, and in this case, it's actually cheaper than taking the bus (not to mention A HELL OF A LOT FASTER). A kind of obvious duh to the winner in this case.

Once upon a time I ran my own carpool taking advantage of $20 a day weekend rental rates, but Enterprise now tacks on a $20 per day extra fee since I'm an "underage" driver, making such an idea economically unfeasible.

Between Windsor and Toronto:

$98 per round trip via VIA Student 6 Pack. 4.25 hour trip, leaves 4-5 times a day.
VS
$82.50 per round trip via Greyhound ISIC discount. Average 5.5 hour trip, leaving as often as the train. Return trip has even more return options.

Winner: Greyhound ISIC Discount
Comments: If the costs were within $8, I might have been tempted to take VIA rail; since it is the far more comfortable, has friendly staff, suffers zero delays (they are ALWAYS ON TIME), provide snacks and drinks (including beer), and include free WiFi and power plugs for laptops. It's also about an hour faster to the destination, which doesn't seem like much until you actually ride a bus for that many hours.

However, the $15.50 is quite significant, once added up. A VIA Rail 6 Pack allows you to travel three round trips, in which case the Greyhound would net you a $46.50 savings... not an insignificant amount of change. This is enough for an expensive dinner, a manual focus lens, or 1/2 of the cost needed to rebuild an entire SOHC motorcycle engine.

Greyhound also makes it slightly easier to simply buy a ticket and hop on the bus, without the need to buy a VIA 6 pack or something. It makes it somewhat easier for me to try to find a carpool to Toronto first, and if it doesn't work, use Greyhound as a last resort.

Carpooling to Toronto typically costs $25 one way, so it is therefore the cheapest way back and forth, unless you own a car (or rent a big van) and run your own carpool. The problem is that the people who usually run these carpools are brown and usually drive Corollas/Civics/old riced cars, and blast extremely loud Gino dance music, to the point where you wonder whether they're deaf or not (and how long it'll be before your hearing is permanently damaged). And I'm not even going to get into how badly they drive. Trust me, I take the punishment for my woman, not for myself =)

~Eastside

2009-09-12T19:00:00.001-04:00

One thing I'm starting to learn again and again.

When you want something done, you do it yourself. Relying on other people only becomes a pain in the ass.

2009-09-11T20:01:00.004-04:00

So, the end of summer.

While I can't say it has been the best one yet (mostly due to the fact that I was in school), it wasn't all that bad. When school ended, it was a lot of fun.

For one, I got to try horseback riding. It's really not that difficult at all, or at least with the horse that I was on. I heard stories from our guide that there were often people who don't do very well, and I was one of the better ones, and it seemed very odd to me because there's only so many "controls" you have for the horse. Pull left on the reins to turn left, pull right on the reins to turn right, and pull on both to stop. To go, you squeeze the horse with your legs/ kick it and make a kissy sound with your teeth.

Of course, each horse has its characteristics. Mine was the n00b horse because it was very mild mannered- the only bad thing about it was it had a tendency to kick horses that are less than 5 feet behind it (as I discovered near the end of our ride).
Accelerating has its foibles too. When you nudge a horse, what you'll normally find is it starts trotting faster, and at fast speeds you had better stand up (or post), or else your nutsack is going to be destroyed. You have to kick it and coax it into going into a slow canter (my guide described it as going up a gear on a dirtbike), where it'll become slightly smoother. My horse, however, was a bit old and with what was described as "horse asthma", so refused to canter until I kicked a few times. Apparently kicking the horse doesn't really harm it, since they do weight about 6-8 times a normal person's weight.

All in all, it was quite a bit of fun. I can't imagine myself doing it anytime soon... not only because there's no access to a horse, but because my inner thighs are burning, but again in the future.

Audrey and I also went to the CNE/Ontario Place, where I managed to win her a tiny penguin. Everybody knows that guys compete by getting the biggest prizes, but Audrey discouraged such practices. Not that I would have gotten anything bigger. We did manage to pick up a "King of the Road" Hammer for Jacky though =D The other thing I noticed a lot of at CNE were photographers. I'm not sure if it's because I'm suddenly aware of them or what, but there were a ton of them setting up tripods and taking pictures of the lights.

The other thing we did was go to Centre Island. The first time I went with Audrey, it was just sort of a spur of the moment thing. The second time, it was also with Air Lai and Ringleader for a photo tour. Quite a bit of fun, and we got some great pictures. I had forgotten (again) what it was like to be with a small group of friends, doing what we did. Our personalities really do compliment each others, and it was a hilarious day. I think Audrey finally got a real taste of what we are really all about =)

As for school... well, nothing happened yet. My schedule is actually somewhat empty, which is surprising because there's currently five courses on there, with a sixth distance ed course about to be added. I wouldn't exactly call it relaxing, but it's very manageable, with lots of time for sleeping in and with potential butt-scratching days (not to mention an extended weekend). There were a ton of problems when I first arrived at school (inability to sign into critical courses, OSAP, dorm room problems), but these were solved one at a time and now I'm mostly worry free.

The only gotcha so far this term is the fact that my bicycle's front inner tube burst, probably from hitting curbs and carrying the weight of my groceries. I'm going to need to get a new one, but that's not too much trouble either. I also have to start looking ahead to next term, when I'm going to be back in the GTA, but taking two courses. We'll see =)

~Eastside

24 Hours

2009-08-31T04:35:00.005-04:00

In a day never seems to be enough.

It's very odd how I came home at 2:30, walked around the house doing stuff, and now it somehow became 4:30. Seriously, where did the time ago?

I seem to be in this constant struggle lately in terms of time management- in other words, at the moment I have none. Yet it seems that no matter HOW quickly I try to do things, there's really not enough time to do everything I want to do in the day- consequently, I end up sleeping late... And then I wake up at noon (or later) the next day, and time becomes even shorter.

I need to do something about it, but it's difficult when I have so many commitments. I don't see this abating anytime soon but, most certainly I wish I had more than 24 hours in a day (or that I didn't need to sleep).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, all things considered, I've been somewhat relaxed so far this break. My marks came back better than I expected (and how often can you say that?), and I've spent my days so far chillaxin'. There hasn't been many major events, other than the BBQ/Jackson's b-day, and most of the stuff I've done involves stuff I was far behind on to begin with. I have a doctor's appointment, and on Tuesday my gf and I are heading to Guelph and Windsor, but the whole point of this break was to relax a bit (fat chance, as you can see with the utter lack of time to do everything).

The BBQ itself was pretty good- It was the first time in at least 2 months that I've played actual basketball, and at least a month since I even practiced. Needless to say, my ass and shins are sore right now, but it was great fun playing with Jackson, Jacky, Ricky, Robin, Edwin, Calvin and Audrey. Some of these guys I haven't played with for a very long time (Robin and Edwin), and it was fun running back and forth again, even though everyone was sort of out of shape/didn't want to run/didn't want to play defence. The actual bbq was decent, though not as eventful as our first bbq at Sally's place so long ago. Lots of food, and since it was Jackson's b-day, we presented him with a cake.

I haven't seen anyone for a long time. It was pretty cool catching up with the Fooners again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend, all my 'extra' camera equipment has been sold. The Nikkormat, the Rebel G, and the N6006 are all gone. If you look at the Rebel G, I've actually made money off of my first camera kit (though I'll be sad to part with it), and the N6006 and Nikkormat were all throw-ins that were offered when I bought my Nikkor. In essence, right now I've bought my Nikkor 80-200mm f/4 for about $20 USD. Overall I've just about broken even with all my equipment, except for perhaps $30 for the Canon Elan... not bad at all. However, I've now invested in a Canon EF 35-135mm lens, which should be arriving sometime early this week. I also bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 point and shoot, which should also be arriving soon.

So far, my camera outfit includes:

-Tripod, Gorillapod, various accessories
-Canon Elan IIe film camera
-Canon AE-1 Film Camera
-Canon EF 28-80mm lens
-Canon EF 35-135mm lens
-Olympus Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 + adapter
-Nikkor 80-200mm f/4 + adapter
-Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
-Canon FD 35-70mm f/4
-Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 FD mount (technically shared between my gf and I)
-Canon 188A flash

And actually, this is after selling off my extra bodies and misc. things! I don't anticipate any of these things really changing (i.e. my outfit is complete), except that I might trade in my Nikkor and one of the Canon EF lenses for a EF 70-210mm, and/or a true manual-focus wideangle prime. I am also looking into getting a better bounce flash for my Elan, but so far I haven't been able to find one at a good price. Again, the great thing about photography is that if you invest in the lenses, you won't be killed by depreciation if you sell the item again to put towards something else, especially if you buy your equipment used. In the case of my Canon Rebel G, I actually *made* money off of everything because I was able to sell the lens and the body separately, the lens alone sold for the price I paid for the original kit!

If I ever move on to a DSLR (and it doesn't seem like it's happening soon as the only DSLR bodies in my budget range suffer from low dynamic range and huge amounts of noise), I'll probably go through another equipment upheaval, but at the moment I'm pretty happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've noticed a very interesting phenomenon over this summer. Looking through facebook, I keep seeing people who are doing the same things that Audrey and I have done. Niagara Falls, the Zoo, Montreal, places we've visited and things we've done, etc. and obviously, it makes me wonder: Is it simply a huge coincidence that everybody had the same idea at the same time after we've done it, or are people actually copying what Audrey and I have done?

It really is very odd because why is it that after Audrey and I went to Montreal, seemingly a billion people (okay, maybe about ten or so) decided to go right after? Has the idea never struck people before? Is it something about this summer that compelled everybody to head there?

And it's not just us. After Nathan and Jamie went skydiving, I saw a couple of friends go skydiving after. And after a couple of friends went "treetop-skimming", I saw another couple of people doing it.

In a way, it's a cool feeling, because Audrey and I can think of ourselves as trailblazers (yeah, cocky, I know)- yet at the same time, I kinda have an eugh feeling over the prospect of everybody copying everything we're doing. It seems like an asshole-ish statement (it is), but it's also very true. Next thing you know, Audrey and I will go horseback riding, and somebody is bound to copy. I almost guarantee it.

I wonder what would happen if we went to a shooting range (for guns), or if we both dropped by the racetrack? What if we went cliff-diving?

~Eastside

2009-08-21T02:44:00.003-04:00

The funny thing about this exam session is that it seems there are tons of things trying to stop me.

First I had to worry about my various health problems, though everything seems fine now (as a precaution, I will visit my doctor when I get back, though at this point I feel like a rather weak pansy for worrying). Then I have to worry about my courses for next term, which are still unresolved, though I have confidence that it "won't be a big deal".

And earlier today, a couple of Tornadoes went through the GTA? Man, I hope my HOUSE is still standing, since no one is home as my parents currently aren't in at the moment- the girlpren was nice enough to volunteer dropping by to check it out tomorrow (I lav her oh so much =D).

But all these things are unnecessarily distractions, and frankly pretty serious issues. It's sort of weird that I can't even get two quiet weeks to just focus on exam studying =/

~Eastside

2009-08-18T21:09:00.004-04:00

Just a quick observation/question...

Why do people marry so young? It seems that I'm hearing stories everyday now about people around my age getting married. And to be honest, it sort of seems unbelievable to me.

There is nothing wrong with loving somebody and making the commitment. My astonishment is that, at the age of only 22-24... do people actually understand what commitment means?

Perhaps it's different for those of us who have not gone on to post-secondary ed. For some who've married, they spent that 4 or 5 years working, so perhaps they have a steady job and income.

But what can compel university students to do such a thing? I mean, we're all saddled in debt or at least don't have much in the way of cash, so how are these people able to even host a wedding, let alone get a mortgage and find a place to live or something? Surely their parents aren't paying for all of this?

I wonder if people do this because they think it's cute or if they love each other a lot? Because in any case, I find it irresponsible. While it's okay to show love, it's also important to be responsible by showing that you can support each other financially. You should be comfortable enough to hold off an official "joining" because you're confident you'll still be together when the time IS right for marriage. You should be responsible and show you care by planning for the future, instead of rushing headlong into it and making a mess of things.

If you truly loved the person enough to marry him/her, shouldn't that person be worth waiting a bit longer for? So that s/he has a proper wedding ceremony, less stress from not having to deal with cashflow problems, and so that s/he KNOWS you're serious about the whole thing?

I remember a blog post I read where a woman complained about her life so far. Immediately after graduating (with her second degree), she decided to marry someone. The thing is, both of them have fairly useless degrees, and they can't find employment. And they are in even worse trouble because now they have to pay off student loans AND loans for marriage AND a mortgage. I was reading the whole thing, astounded that these idiot kids would put themselves into that sort of situation already.

In another case, a girl barely out of her teen years, she was involved with a bad person when she was in school, got married (the person promised to let her continue studying... she didn't), and got her life turned upside down when said asshole cheated on her and left her... with a kid. She was fortunately saved by a wonderful man and literally lived happily ever after... but the effects are still felt because she never got her degree, and thus, always had to worry about money.

All I can see from all these early marriages are people who are screwing themselves over, saddling themselves in debt when their futures are still in flux, and sometimes I wonder if these people have actually dated long enough to know if they are right for each other.

Most of all, I wonder if this is the reason North America's divorce rate is over 50%, because of people making these kinds of mistakes.

As I once told somebody about relationships (and this is funny coming from me): Be patient. If you force things in any relationship, you screw yourself and possibly other people over.

This is just a word of advice from me. While I haven't had personal experience, I have seen the effects of rushing into relationships and rushing through relationships, and it's devastating for everyone involved. Just take it slowly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finished my first exam today. Next one is on Thursday... and then one on Friday... and then one on Saturday. Those are going to be a doozy, and I hope that my body can hold itself together until I finish... with high grades.

At least I did well in today's exam... and I needed to because I messed up on the first midterm. The best way to describe what happened today is sort of like... my brain is like a sponge. You know how I can just amass a huge amount of knowledge at once? It happened with cars and motorcycles. It happened with guitars and music. It happened with model building. It happened with MTG. Hell, recently, it happened with photography too.

Well, it also happens in the reverse direction, once in a while- the sponge can be squeezed out. For today's exam, I picked up my pencil, looked at the first question, opened the notebook, and started spamming ALL the information I could remember from the course notes, onto the exam. Illustrations, diagrams, explanations, the occasional equation, everything. For the next two hours, I was thinking fast enough that my hand could not keep up, and I think I put my pencil down for a total of five minutes. After two of the three hours, I was finished, and my brain shut down and I felt ill. I wrote 12 pages of information (single lined, with small diagrams and wrapped text) that is a condensation of all the course notes I've studied the previous two nights. And when I got home and looked through my notes again, everything was right =D

I do feel sorry for the person marking as I believe that I wrote perhaps way too much information for some of the questions, but I'm trying to cover all the bases. So I'm hoping to get a 90%+, which is much welcome relief.

Now for the other three courses (and then a two day rest until my last one on Monday). I somehow doubt that I would be able to repeat the feat, but there's hoping...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The prospect of reaching the end of my exams has me excited, and makes my heart sink at the same time because I need to write 4 more exams to get there. It also reminds me how homesick I really am.

I really am homesick, since there is someone to finally come home too (plus a dog I need to rescue).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of responsibilities, there's so much to do when I come back that the prospect of how unfinished I am even then makes my heart sink -_-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After several trips on the greyhound between Windsor, London and Toronto, I think I can safely say that I'm fed up. It comes and goes at the weirdest hours, and then takes at least 5 hours, if not longer. Plus, the seats are narrow and when it's crowded you're usually elbow to elbow with a fat dude. And the seats hurt my back. And sometimes, the bus drivers are assholes

Worse of all, if I wanted to make it from Windsor to Guelph, it will take me a whopping 7-9 hours. At that rate, I might as well go back to Toronto and then take a bus to Guelph! WTF?

Just recently, I researched VIA rail and found that trips between Windsor and Toronto only take 4 hours. Not only that, but with a student 6 pack, I found that it costs the exact same as taking the greyhound. That already saves me an hour of my life.

But best of all, a trip to Guelph ALSO only takes 4 hours, AND costs 3/5 the price of a Greyhound ticket!

You cannot believe how much this realization made my day (and how stupid I feel for not having thought of/researched it earlier).

The prospect of having more comfortable seats and roominess (and less erratic driving), not-so-anal baggage requirements, Wifi for my laptop (this is a big one since it means much less boredom), and even catering service is alluring. I'm definitely trying a trip out on my way back to Toronto after exams, and if all goes well, it'll be my preferred mode of transportation from now on. Unless I can find cheap bus tickets (i.e. to New York or Montreal). Or if flying is a even faster/cheaper way.

I read reviews of VIA rail, and they are generally very positive. However, it seems that the US counterpart, AMTRAK, is quite horrific because of lousy service and numerous delays. I'd probably avoid it in the US, but now I think that one day I'm going to try taking the Via Rail Canadian for a trans-Canada tour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, it's back to burning the midnight oil studying again =/ I'm highly motivated nowadays to do well.

~Eastside

2009-08-15T03:15:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I went to the doctor's, and it didn't seem like anything is seriously wrong. I did have some pain, but the doctor told me to keep an eye on it- if it IS something with the appendix, it's probably just in the early stages where nothing much can be done, otherwise it could also be something else. Just to be sure, I'm going to go to my home doctor when I get back- but after exams, obviously. It's an inopportune time for something like this to happen but as long as my damn body keeps up with my mind and makes it, I'll be fine.

I also waved goodbye to my Nikkormat FTn... assuming it makes it there, I hope it finds good use. I stalked the guy who bought it (didn't realize you can even stalk on eBay), and he seems to be collecting a huge set of film Nikons and lenses. I don't have any nikkors other than my 80-200mm f/4, so it really wasn't doing any good sitting there being a display piece. I cleaned it up, added light seals and a battery, made it as good as new, and that was that. Off you go to someone who would appreciate you. I hope that camera lasts another 50 years =D

Otherwise, nothing else to report. I'm far too focused on exams right now, so I don't have much time to focus on anything else.

~Eastside

2009-08-14T00:12:00.002-04:00

Things to note:

-Exam studyage: I spent the whole day on one subject. It's really driving me bonkers but there's no way around it. Actually I lied... I have another 4 hours (or I might even pull a pseudo-allnighter). I have a review "class" tomorrow at 10:30. And then I have a ton of other courses to study for. If I had to do my exams tomorrow, I would say I would be somewhat screwed. I will PASS, but who the hell wants a pass (if you asked me that question 3 years ago I would have given a very different answer? However, since I start next Tuesday... I think I will be in okay shape.

-There's been this strange pain that comes and goes away in my lower abdomen, I would say to the right of my bladder. The pain isn't even sharp, it's a numb pain. I hope it's not appendicitus, but I also have to see the doctor tomorrow to get some ideas. This is one of the worst things that can come up in the middle of final exams, truly. I hope it's nothing but I really don't think that's the case.

-I sold my Nikkormat FTn. It's going to be mailed out tomorrow- farewell!

-Saw the prof today about my courses for future semesters, and due to the school computing system messing me up. It looks like I'll be taking six courses next term, though two are non-tech electives. Year after that, MUCH MUCH EASIER.

~Eastside

2009-08-09T13:47:00.002-04:00

Outside, it is 35 degrees, extremely bright and sunny, with a high level of humidity. In other words, this is probably the warmest day of the entire summer, warm enough to make Montreal weekend seem like a fall day.

It's hot enough that I'm actually glad to be indoors for once. And glad that AC was installed in our residence just this term =/

~Eastside

2009-08-08T00:33:00.002-04:00

I'm doing so much math that it's actually being drilled into me for once. Right now I feel I have enough mathpower to outdo some mathematicians.

Facebook will be deactivated by tomorrow. And I will be staying off the various forums I populate... this eliminates my two biggest timewasters by far. I'm keeping my anime/manga, and will continue to prowl Gawker Media because hey, I need SOMETHING to keep me from going insane. And actually, even on the manga front I have some respite because there will be none for next week. Top Gear was finished last week too. If not for the presence of my gf through webcam everyday, I might have already gone nuts already (she's the thread holding my brain together).

Tomorrow I will buy a massive amount of groceries and will be going through a massive cookfest, enough to last for the 2 weeks I won't have time to cook. Tons of spaghetti+mushroom cream sauce, tons of plain rice, tons of mandarin orange stew, steak (for the night, last good meal in other words), slow-cooked chicken + veg, etc. In addition to the tons of pizza boxes I'm going to be stacking up, and fluids. Yes, most of that stuff is going into the freezer. If not enough, I'm going to do it one more time a few days before exams actually start.

Of course, I'm still going to continue exercising once every few days, but it's going to be 30 minute "maintenance" exercise as opposed to full workouts to make sure I don't go out of shape.

I will try to continue posting once every little while (actually, I most likely will out of boredom).

I hate finals. Just a few more terms to go.

~Eastside

2009-08-06T03:07:00.001-04:00

Out! OUT! Fucking demons.

2009-08-05T21:24:00.004-04:00

Man, it doesn't matter HOW much I try to simplify my life, it ends up being more complicated.

As it is, I'm trying to lower the distractions surrounding me for at least a little while since I'm entering final exam mode.

That means no more facebook (will be deactivating next week), (slightly) less information whoring, etc.

The only things I will be focusing on is my gf, course selections for next term (there's a slight fuckup that I need to deal with), and exams.

My schedule will include eating, sleeping, studying, spending less than an hour every three days going to the gym, and I'm going to start whoring food and supplies this weekend as well.

Here's hoping for high marks and a slightly more restful time period before fall term! Not to mention, looking forward to next year.

~Eastside

2009-08-03T11:53:00.001-04:00

I'm at a crossroads right now.

... What do I do?

2009-08-01T04:26:00.003-04:00

There are times when I wonder:

Students, being a couple of years removed from high school English class...

Have they completely forgotten English literacy?

Now, I will readily admit that my grammar, writing style and especially my storytelling isn't as good as it used to be back in high school (or my blogging even, considering that I don't even really proofread or pay attention to what I write anymore), when such things were practiced almost daily. But at least I can READ something and understand it (assuming it's well written), and I can at least write a paragraph that people can decipher.

But when people my age start writing as if they're talking to someone on msn (LOL... Kekekekeke), and their usage of grammar involves elementary school level confusion between "there" and "their", there (Ha, see that?) is clearly something wrong.

I mean, most programs nowadays come with spell and grammar check. Are they computer illiterate too?

~Eastside

2009-07-30T04:17:00.003-04:00

Heading home in about... well, 8 hours.

Which is really funny because it means that by the time I head back on Monday night (or Tuesday morning), I would have been at school a total of 4 days out of 12, counting last Thursday.

Though this is also the last time I'm coming home this term, until I finish my last exam on the 24th of August.

I feel really guilty about the situation I'm in, sometimes. Not for me, of course, but for my girlfriend. It's really tough, because I only get to come home once every other week, and then only being able to stay for the weekend. Tough because this already sort of messes up my homework schedules/ will to get my ass to lectures, and tough because even with this commitment... it's still not enough time.

Every weekend I come back, it's always a rush. We try to cram everything possible into the day, from shopping, to running errands, meals, different activities, to watching movies together in her bedroom. I could spend an entire weekend (and I have at one time) at her place, and it would still never be enough. By the time I leave, I find myself missing her again. By the time I get back to Windsor, I feel like I haven't done enough during the weekend.

What makes is worse is when she told me early in our relationship that she was so glad I went to the University of Waterloo, because with her at Guelph, we were so close we could have lived together for periods of time. Now, what was a 45 minute bus ride turned into 5 hours, and with her being a fairly n00b driver (heck, she still has trouble steering =D) and therefore barred at the moment from driving all the way to Windsor, it is impossible for us to casually drop in on each other.

You couple all that with the fact that I have completely neglected my friends and family, and it becomes a huge clusterfuck of fail. I have already missed two significant events: specifically, Drifty Friend and Ho Yuen left Canada recently. Forever. And I missed out on their going away parties, though I was asked to several times. I have not seen Spoon or Ringleader for at LEAST 4 months, if not longer. And my brother, who is about to go to the other side of Canada to study at UBC, is gone on August 12th, and I haven't spent a significant amount of time with him either. We've only really had two meals together, and I bought him and my parents a webcam, as well as a Nikon L20 point and shoot as a going away present... but honestly, it's too little, especially seeing as my brother doesn't exactly have many friends. He, like me, doesn't like to spend time with my parents, so he's really in his own world most of the time. I won't even be able to see him off at the airport, and then he'll be gone until at least Christmas. My brother, who before now has never spent more than a few days away from my parents.

All these responsibilities to my love, my friends, my family... and simply, not enough time for even ONE of them. It should make me sad and stressed, but strangely, it does not, though I know I will regret it.

The reason being, at this moment, despite all my side hobbies and distractions, I have one goal, and one goal only: Finish school by summer 2011, get my degree. Then, if no immediate job offers head my way, go and get a Master's degree. Then head for work and support my girlfriend as she finishes school herself and becomes a veterinarian.

Despite the fact that I rarely went to class this semester (for good reason... I don't learn ANYTHING from this term's lectures and get more from reading and doing things from the textbook myself), this one goal has me extremely focused. It's the reason I still have the energy to sleep at weird hours, to travel for hours on end to see my girlfriend, to cram everything into a weekend without keeling over, to continue eating right and looking after my body and keep fit and practice basketball in the gym on a regular basis. It's the reason I'm able to keep going despite knowing that I am missing out on some important moments of my or other people's lives.

I sacrifice all this because I'm not doing all this for myself anymore. Everything in the past has been solely about me, because nobody ever depended on me for anything- nobody would ever miss me if I were gone. Now, it's different.

Paradoxically, despite hurting my love, my friends, and my family... I sacrifice all of this precisely for them. To invest in our future.

Responsibilities are weird.

~Eastside

2009-07-29T02:02:00.008-04:00

I wish I could blog more, but the truth is that I've been so busy lately that I barely have time to go on facebook and get through my daily news/research/knowledge whoring, nevermind writing a full blog.

Maybe it would be better if I wrote one short entry a day or something?

Anyways, there really hasn't been much going on in my life, other than midterms. But just a little while ago, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing was celebrated, and this got me thinking about several things.

As many of you know, a few months ago I got into film photography for the first time. Recently, my collection has grown to include a couple of vintage cameras, one of the oldest being from the 1960's, a Nikon Nikkormat FTn. This camera was devoid of nearly all electronics, and while build quality was good, everything was done using springs and gears and whatnot. The most advanced piece of electronics was the light meter, which back then consisted of a primitive mercury cell and what I presume to be a selenium or silicon solar cell. The camera’s operation was not dissimilar to a vintage grandfather clock.

This was state of the art technology back then. And yet, with this level of technology, mankind managed to launch a man to another celestial object. Perhaps not everybody quite has the same feelings I do, but you consider what mankind achieved back then with such primitive technology... and frankly, it's fucking unbelievable.

Of course, the 60's were full of such acts. Coming out of the war, Baby Boomers really grabbed the world and changed it as they saw fit. The number of people who graduated from colleges increased dramatically. Cultural revolutions occurred (disillusioned teens becoming hippies, rise of feminism, etc.), music went through its golden period (Beatles, Elvis, Rolling Stones, etc.), cars went through its golden period (muscle cars, introduction of Japanese imports), and technology was on the up (invention of the internet, integrated circuits, etc.).

Then JFK dropped the biggest bomb of all when he said that the US would put a man on the moon. The entirety of the USA depended on a couple of geeks, and within a few years, they did it: They put two guys on the moon (and one guy in orbit). Nevermind the fact that the navigation computer was the first computer to really use integrated circuits and had 1/10th the computing power of the computer you're reading this blog on; nevermind the fact that when these guys were sitting on the launch pad they were actually sitting on a couple of million pounds of explosives; nevermind that just a few years ago people had doubts about whether this was possible after an accident left three astronauts dead... mankind, despite all the odds, put a fucking man on the moon.

People back then were ambitious. They already believed they could do whatever they wanted, but after the moon landings, the common phrase to obstacles became "If they can put a man on the moon, why can't we blah blah blah...".

And this made me wonder about my generation. And it was only then that I realized a disturbing truth: Our generation sucks.

What exactly have we achieved? Our generation is known by two names: The Echo Generation (because we're an echo of the baby boomers), and The iPod generation... and that’s just sad. When we die, will people remember our generation for anything? It seems the two largest groups in our generation consist of either tree huggers who think that dihydrogen monoxide is a dangerous chemical; and kids who stare at their iPods all day and exhibit nerd-rage over the suggestion that Microsoft products are superior to their beloved Apple, on the internet.

Our generation was led for 8 years by a leader with no vision. We suffered terrorist attacks, financial meltdowns (this financiapocalypse is just the latest and is based on a bubble of greed bursting, but there was also the dotcom bust and several recessions); household words consist of Viagra, Green, Apple, Google, scandal, etc.; and shit on the radio consists of Flo Rida and a number of gino beats.

But the worst of it isn’t the fact that we haven’t achieved anything yet- it’s our attitude in general. Nobody has any aspirations beyond A) not allowing the government to waste tax dollars B) Not in my backyard and C) As long as I can instantly get my house/car/gadgets/shit. My generation has become a generation of slackers with no vision.

Of course, there have been a couple of good things lately: Obama was the first US president in a long time to generate ambition and excitement, we have made huge advancements in genetic medicine, electronics technology has actually enhanced our lives (despite all the useless shit out there), broadband internet has literally connected each individual to the world, and we have gay rights and marriage. My only hope is that before we die, that something good will come out of this generation, something that will create a lasting, positive impact on the world. Ultimately, whether that happens is up to you.

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Speaking of "you", I recently found a feature on photobucket that tracks how many times a picture was accessed. And looking at the Blue Bokeh banner at the top, it registers about an average of 20-25 hits per day, meaning that about that many people actually visit this blog per day. The most interesting stat is that since the new Blue Bokeh banner went up, it registered 1,019 views. And this has me wondering: How many people actually read this thing? I didn't think there were more than 5 people who even know about/keep up with this blog, so this comes as some surprise.

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A few months ago, I bought a set of precision screwdrivers from Crappy Tire, because the usual dollar store crap stripped when I tried to open up my Olympus Trip.

It turns out that between my sockets + torque wrench, my soldering iron and portable toolset, it has become one of the more important toolsets I’ve had. These colourful minions turned out to be the best five bucks I spent over the summer. They’ve been used on all kinds of shit, ranging from cellphones, to several cameras/lenses, to laptops.

USEFUL SHIT.

I always underestimated these screwdrivers because they usually throw lower quality versions of these in with other tool sets... that was, until I needed them. Now I don't know where I would have been without them.

Invest in a good set of tools, as always. Treat them well and they will treat you well for years.

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I have been keeping extremely busy at school, and I might have mentioned this but I am going to have 8 months of very low levels of school related activity next year. I already have a sort of list of things I’m going to do. The most important things (besides spending time with the girlpren, of course =D) are low-cost mods for the CBR125R, resto-mod project for the CT70 i.e. get PHASE 1 DONE AND GET PHASE 2 GOING BEFORE I GO INSANE; and to get through a stack of models I have yet to finish, including my Impreza model… remember that? It’s still all there, ready for the body shell and finishing touches! I also have a new Gundam 00 model that Jacky and friends bought me, a LEGO model from Venus that I have yet to crack open, and additional lego parts I ordered for my Technic Chopper that Gloria got me.

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After my acquisition of a Canon AE-1, my collecting of film equipment has basically stopped. And it’s going to be like that unless I find something else crazy like a Canon F-1, Nikon F or a funky lens, because I’m more or less satisfied now with my current kit. Currently, I’m looking for a Canon EF 35-135mm USM lens, and selling off all the excessive stuff. However, I did a brief calculation of stuff I’m selling vs. stuff I bought, and if you factor out the cost of film and development (which is inevitable), I’ve spent less than $100 on this stuff. It’s quite amazing considering that this stuff used to cost thousands of bucks and is top-notch in terms of build quality and technology.

Oh, I’m also looking for a new point and shoot, and am considering a Panasonic Lumix LZ8, which costs about $100 brank spanking new, with a great lens and decent image quality for the price.

With a 5X optical zoom, including a 32mm equivalent wideangle, plus a lot of manual features, I’m actually pretty astounded you can get this kind of shit for under $100. Selling my older Sony W1 would bring the price down even more!

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Speaking of point and shoots, Gloria recently gave me her old Canon Ixus 400, which was suffering from some kind of weird defect that gave it “purple-tinged melty” pictures. She told me that it was actually recalled, but that she didn’t remember the exact details. Well, I found out here that it was actually recalled over a defective Sony CCD sensor, that not only affected Canon’s models, but also a lot of other camera manufacturers. Damnit Sony, first exploding batteries, and now also bum CCDs?

Fucking Sony, always messing with our shit

I emailed Canon, and they told me to ship it to a service center in Whitby. If it’s the specified problem, then they’re going to fix it for free =D Since Gloria got the camera free from her relative in the first place because it was already crapping out, this basically means she’s getting a refurbished camera... for free (though a fairly old one).

The Ixus 400 had pretty good image quality for its time, had a pretty cool ceramic/metal cover (not sure if it's an actual ceramic steel alloy or just some kind of coating), and cost a cool $500. Getting one with a potentially better CCD is pretty awesome.

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Sometimes I wonder if I accumulated too many hobbies. Is that even possible?

Probably not. There’s probably going to be even more shit I’m going to be interested in, in the future =D

~Eastside

2009-06-22T00:45:00.004-04:00

A few questions/thoughts before heading off tomorrow to Montreal:

-In order to continue being different from everyone else, in order to be myself... do I need to push other people away? Is there any way to keep them around, or is it too much for me to accept other people for their flaws, and for them to accept me as I am? If so, would I be able to cut myself away with no regrets? I don't think so.

-If you can, you can. If you can't, then don't. I have trouble (actually annoyed) relying on people who are non-assertive and indecisive.

-Why does it seem like most people at this stage in their lives (i.e. early 20's) act more like kids than senior high school students?

-Good parenting makes all the difference. Especially in high school and university years.

-Smoking. In all honesty, I still don't understand why. Then again, you can ask the same question for alcohol, except in small quantities, alcohol doesn't kill, or make you hack and cough like a dying patient. And do people do weed because they actually like it, or just because it's illegal?

-Am I the only one who thinks that nearly all luxury cars out there are ugly? Whatever happened to good taste?

-Why do most comments on deviantart consist of "EXCELLENT!", "very nice!", "FAVOURITE", etc., instead of actual feedback?

-I really want to play basketball and MTG again. Practice makes one better, but I'm itching to apply that to a real match.

-Maybe I'm just getting old, but music is getting really, really crappy this past year... worse than anything the 90's had to offer. It's almost surreal the kind of stuff they put on KISS 92.5. Where did all this Eurotrash/R&B music with horrible lyrics come from?

-Is The Stig really Schumy? Guess I'm finding out on Top Gear in the bus ride tomorrow

~Eastside

2009-06-18T11:39:00.003-04:00

Reading week.
Montreal from Monday to Thursday.

Lately, it's occurred to me that all the fun in life is being taken out. Taking things too seriously, very little interaction with people, and most importantly, no more imagination. Think about it: In High School, we all had dreams, but they weren't attainable.

And (I'll be nerdy here and use a quote from FF7 Crisis Core) as Director Lazard said, "Unattainable dreams are the best kind".

Imagination was what made life fun. You always go out with the hope/feeling that something crazy is going to happen and you get pulled a random adventure. There were bouts of that in University, but it's not the same as back at MDHS, where every Friday Jacky, Robin and I would take the bus to FMP to play video games; or during the craziest summer of my life after grade 12 when I met Air Lai and a wonderful group of friends and we somehow got involved in a huge leadership volunteering group when my mom's Jimmy meant absolute freedom.

I just haven't had that kind of feeling for a while. The last time I did was -ironically- Montreal last year, and that was only a taste. And while I have gone on a few trips with Gloria, we haven't done anything that was genuinely exciting.

Until now, of course.

It should be a good trip =D
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After that... well, Robin's Karen has a AE-1 that she's selling me (I really want that camera), and I have a couple of things to sell myself on eBay (like... $150 worth of photography gear... though I technically bought all that for about $70). I'm also trying to find a wideangle lens (Probably an Olympus OM 28mm) and perhaps a cheap, older EOS EF lens (that is better than my current kit lens... which I'm trying to sell). I'm thinking something in the 35-135mm range for travel.

Other menial tasks: Motorcycle maintenance, another review of my financial situation, and of course.. homework. Still, it's nice to have a week off from school to go on vacation and relax. My head hurts.
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I posted a thread on VTEC.net about this article from Jalopnik about consumers. And you know what, I fully agree with this article.

Most mainstream consumers really are lemmings. If fuel prices go one way, they will head for hybrids and small cars; if fuel prices go the other way, they suddenly start buying trucks again, oblivious to the fact that it was only the previous summer when they've experienced record fuel prices.

And Ray Wert makes a really good point when he wrote:

"the moment gas prices spike again — whether through a recovering economy or a supply disruption — expect consumers to make a beeline to the Insight as though it were some kind of hybrid honey.

In the long term, if we want to get off this merry-go-round of lemming-like behavior, we need to recognize as a society that gas prices are the greatest single influence on American driving habits. But no politician has the political will to do the right thing to really change consumer driving habits — implementing a progressively and artificially increase to the price of gas. Instead we'll continue our fun game of mandating automakers kill off "fun cars" for us enthusiasts out of a desire to increase fuel economy — a feature American appliance-driving consumers apparently don't desire."

The other problem has to do with the government's handling of the situation... or rather, how poorly they are handling it. It is quite clear that fuels derived from crude oil won't last forever, and there is a growing sense of urgency in the need to preserve what we have left, until we are able to develop ways of using alternative forms of energy to get from place to place.

The problem is in the government's handling of the situation. Instead of solving the problem at the source by regulating fuel prices to encourage consumers to preserve fuel (by hitting them where it hurts most- their wallet), governments have decided that the best way to preserve fuel is to put the onus on automakers, by mandating rules like 35 mpg corporate average fuel economies.

This is a problem. For enthusiasts, it means that because automakers have to meet fuel economy standards, they have a dilemma. Trucks and plain-vanilla passenger cars sell extremely well, so what can they do? Well, since the mandate suggests a corporate average fuel economy, then corners have to be cut elsewhere. And that means that the first vehicles to go will be performance vehicles.

Look at the new, restructured GM. They actually haven't done much at all to reduce their load of fuel inefficient trucks. Instead, they have only managed to kill off all their SS performance vehicles, and the next generation Corvette is slated to be potentially be lower performance. You can even look at a company like Honda, who has the Civic Si as its best performing vehicle. Let's not even go into a company like Toyota.

Meanwhile, the best selling vehicles in the US last month were the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado. Insight and Prius sales are projected to drop 33% and nearly 50%, respectively.

If the government had done the right thing and implemented a plan for regulating fuel prices, then consumers would still have choice, but they'd be more responsible. If you need a truck, an automaker can still offer you a truck, but then you'd also have a choice of a sports car or economy car because the automakers aren't regulated in what they can or cannot make.

A poster in the TOV thread made the argument about regulating fuel prices as screwing with a free market economy, but frankly, I don't see how mandating so many regulations on auto manufacturers constitutes a "free market". The "Free market" concept doesn't exist anymore when the US and Canadian governments decided to buy a majority stake in the restructured GM.

Yeah, the automotive industry is in some deep shit. But after GM and Chrysler's culling, I think the next few years will see some stabilization and growth. Frankly though, I think that automotive landscape has changed again (just like the malaise era in the late 70's/early 80's).
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For the first time in a long time, something electronic has captured my imagination.

The Olympus EP-1

I am genuinely excited about this product, and I think it could be the start of a revolution.

Now, you may find this strange (what's the big deal, isn't it like any other camera?), but as always, I'll explain.

Back in the 1960's, a few years after Nikon revolutionized the photography industry with the introduction of the Nikon F, the first really practical professional SLR camera, Olympus came out with the Pen-F. This camera was another revolution for photography enthusiasts. It was portable, extremely small, yet offered high image quality. It was the world's smallest SLR camera with an interchangeable lens system, rivaling the Leica rangefinders for compactness. It even shot pictures differently: It was a "half frame" camera, meaning that in a single 4X6" print from 35mm film, there are two pictures. Each film roll that normally gets you 24 exposures will get you 48 in the Pen-F. It was remarkable, and is today, a highly sought after collector's item.

And that's no exaggeration: You should see the prices of the camera bodies and lens on eBay. The coolest thing about the Pen-F really is the form factor. It was handsome, with a highly stylized "F" logo, that really encouraged you to pick it up and go outside to shoot pictures. It made picture taking fun.

A revolution.

This camera started a trend that wouldn't die out until the mid 80's.

Separately, the thing about today's modern DSLRs is that they still have recognizable roots to their film predecessors. The biggest advantage that electronic devices have over purely mechanical ones is, well, size right? Electronic devices are far simpler than their mechanical counterparts could ever be. Yet today's DSLRs are actually heavier and chunkier than the Canon Rebel G film camera I have (which isn't even really compact). In addition to the electronic processors, sensor, etc., modern DSLRs still retain their roots to the old film days because they have things like a traditional viewfinder, focus screen, flip-up mirror, etc. I mean, why are these things necessary? Can't these be electronificied or sumthin? In the end, even something like a Nikon D40 weighs a ton in comparison to compact point and shoot cameras.

Olympus and Panasonic then made a pact to support a new Micro 4/3 shooting format. Olympus is already quite different because their 4/3 cameras uses a sensor that is smaller than full frame, and has a 4:3 aspect ratio that allows for fairly compact DSLRs(learn more here, but with micro 4/3, Olympus and Panasonic were looking to make things even more compact with a new design and smaller lenses.

Panasonic came out with their first micro 4/3 camera, the G1, but even that camera was sort of clunky. It used an electronic viewfinder instead of the traditional mirror viewfinder, but perhaps seeking to be conservative, Panasonic decided to keep the traditional SLR form factor. The result is a "really really small" DSLR, but not something that you can truly call portable and fit in a jacket pocket.

And now, enter the Olympus EP-1. Here we have a form factor that with current technology, finally takes full advantage of the fact that it's electronic. No viewfinder, a nice compact design, yet with a sensor that is much larger than a regular point and shoot. It may not offer the ultimate image quality and resolution of a DSLR, but the fact that you can toss it into a coat pocket or a handbag, and that it's an interchangeable lens system with high quality lenses is simply amazing.

12.3 megapixels, ISO 6400, extraodinarily low levels of noise, versatile lens system, and a handsome metal body that feels like a tank. A camera that you actually want to carry with you and take candid pictures. A camera that stays true to the Pen-F philosophy.

Though honestly, considering that practical DSLRs have been around for a full decade, why in the world did it take so long to get to this level of compactness?

In any case, this is why I'm excited. Just as the Pen-F offered something classic for photog fanatics, this new EP-1 can potentially start a whole new trend of compact cameras with near DSLR quality. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

~Eastside

At times...

2009-06-16T00:43:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I wonder if I've taken the right path at all. If all the things I've done, were done right. If all the choices I made, were made right. If all the situations I was put into, I've handled right.

Things just seem so impossible to overcome at times. At times I can feel despair to the point where my chest feels heavy and I can only... well, facepalm.

But I'm driven to do so because I'm pushed deeper and deeper into a corner, and I have no choice but to fight back tooth and nail. It just seems so easy to give up. I think I would have, just a little while ago.

But cheesy as it sounds, you've given me a good reason to continue going.

There are far loftier goals than the monumental one I already have before me. Goals at this point, that I need to reach, for some sense of redemption and vindication. I have to dig in, and I'm hungry for it.

~Eastside

2009-06-12T18:40:00.003-04:00

Like everyone else, you just had to warm up to me =)

It works both ways you know: You had my heart in knots.

When I first said that, I knew it was true.

I'd do anything for you. I love you.

2009-06-12T01:30:00.013-04:00

I should technically be doing work, except I'm on schedule and I suppose I have 30 minutes to spare. At the very least, I have a ton to blog about.

First things first: UP! This is a phenomenal movie, in terms of emotion. The animation was smooth, and to see a ton of those balloons lifting the house up for the first time was definitely a "whoa" moment. But you know what? This isn't a computer animated movie that happens to have a storyline- rather, Pixar's story telling has become SO GOOD that they are making movies with great stories that happen to be animated.

I'm not sure about best movie I've ever seen or ever will see, but certainly the best of the year (and I don't even think Transformers can top it)

Let's face it- movies that focused exclusively on computer animation never turn out to be memorable hits. The original Final Fantasy was bad (and actually, I think FF7 AC was pretty horrible too), and Polar Express had a sort of Uncanny Valley to it that made it unpopular. But UP! was completely different.

It was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not in an action sense, not in an animation sense, and actually, the plot was very simple. What made is special was how Pixar told the story. I won't give any spoilers, but the opening scene, almost totally devoid of any words, was touching and tragic. It made me feel for the characters, and immediately gave you a compelling reason to enjoy the rest of the movie. As Gloria would say (and I paraphrase), the unspoken word is the most powerful. We've seen this in Wall-E, but UP! took it to another level entirely.

This movie made me cry. Throughout the movie, I cried about 3 more times. And in between, the movie managed to make me laugh, make me think seriously, and make me go "whoa". There were scenes in the story that were so powerful that I can vividly remember them now (the first sighting of the Spirit of Adventure, and the silhouette of the house floating in the air against a red sunset). It was by far the most touching movie I have ever seen. And when it ended and I left the theater, I had a feeling that I never had before (and no, I'm not exaggerating). I felt like I was going to explode, and I had to control myself or else I wasn't sure HOW I was going to explode.. crying? Laughing? A bit of both?

If this movie could make a cynical, sadistic and mean-spirited bastard like me cry, I don't think anyone that doesn't have ADD has a chance. I went into the movie thinking that perhaps it was a Monsters, Inc. kind of movie, made for kids. But in reality, the storyline was such that I think that only adults can enjoy the subtleties of the movie. The movie is THAT GOOD, and you have to see it.

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Gloria and I took a short road trip down to Hamilton last weekend, to visit Webster's Falls. It was pretty good, because I haven't done actual, "real" hiking for a long time. It was also a good chance to experiment with pictures, and I *think* I got a couple of great ones. We'll see once I develop them =D

That weekend also involved a lot of driving. I was kind of astounded because the rental car I had, a Dodge Caliber, had done 1,300 km by the time I returned it. Obviously, travelling the equivalent of the entire length of the 401, plus another couple of hundred KM going back and forth from Hamilton was going to have that kind of effect. And of course, driving for 1300 km gave me a lot of time to think.

The first thought, of course, was about my life in general was going, my goals for the near term and foreseeable future, and then my thoughts shifted to my beautiful girlfriend. After that, my focus shifted to the car on hand, the Dodge Caliber I rented.

And my conclusion is thus: It sucks. It is products like this that are the reason Chrysler fell into bankruptcy and now requires the assistance of FIAT to get out of it. If I could only use one word to describe the Caliber, it would be: Plastic. I have never seen so much plastic in a car. In fact, I have seen far less plastic in most Korean cars nowadays. Looking outside of the car, most of the exterior trim pieces were plastic. The stupid roof spoiler was plastic. The B and C pillars were plastic. The door handles were plastic. The trim around the windows were plastic. And the interior... was all plastic. Now granted, most other vehicles have these pieces in plastic too... but the difference is that most automakers spend some time to paint those pieces, and use better plastic than the hard, scratchy stuff that the Caliber had. I thought I was back in the mid 90's.

The interior was so bad that I felt I was sitting in a rubbermaid box. The center console was lifted out of a commercial van (I'm not kidding, I've seen that same cluster before in the company van when I worked at Co-Ex-Tec), the air vents were poorly designed and bent when you adjusted them (I was afraid I was going to snap them), the headliner shade felt cheap and was fitted on the wrong way, and perhaps the only trim that looked good was on the shift knob. The gauges were huge and looked like they came out of a Fisher Price toy, with seemingly glazed and waxed plastic. And the build quality was horrendous, as the plastic trim pieces couldn't even fit together without leaving huge gaps. My steering wheel had two holes on the side that Chrysler couldn't at least foresee putting a plastic cap to plug in. The result was I was left at times, staring at the innards of the steering wheel.

A study of contrasts: cheap plastic all around, but a few nice touches makes this a conflicted car

There were a few positives though. Surprisingly, fuel efficiency is one of them. I was quite surprised to learn that the Caliber actually had a CVT transmission. The 4 cylinder engine was quite similar to the PT cruiser, except that the PT cruiser only had a 4 speed automatic. What this meant was that every time I came back home from University, the car buzzed (or rather, it groaned) at 3.5K RPM all the way home, and I had to actually fill the car up before I got home (it takes about 1.25 tank fulls). Now, with the Caliber, the CVT meant that the engine ran at a relatively non-frenetic pace of 2.5K RPM at around 125 km/h, and when I got home I still had a quarter of a tank left. Saving half a tank of gas through 400 km is rather impressive. Styling wise, the Caliber had some pretty cool two-tone seat covers with comfortable material (a big plus that actually puts it over many of Toyota's low end offerings) that was perhaps a bit wide to compensate for fat North American asses, and a nice fat grippy steering wheel. At night, there are lights in areas like the cupholder, which helps a lot when you're trying to aim your Ice Cappuccino into it after a long drive. However, the lights surrounding the instrument clusters were laughable... basically you're getting a 80's style green glow behind the white plastic of the gauges, which had to be the worst idea I've ever seen. The Caliber also had some features I liked, such as the big passenger side storage box on top of the dash, a gigantic glovebox that had space for drink bottles, loads of room for luggage and rear passenger legs, and even a 120v AC outlet so you can just plug whatever device you have into it without needing a travel adapter. These are things that I think should come in every car!

A nice neat touch was the lights in the cupholders

This was a good idea, it keeps your drinks cool too

The Caliber had a little pocket to hold an iPod player... however, flipping it up means you can't use the arm rest anymore, and it felt cheap and plasticky. I was bored at points in my trip and resorted to peeling bits of flash off

At times, I could even imagine myself liking the car. Then the bad points hit again with an enormous bump. Speaking of bumps, the suspension is horrible. Every time it went over a bump in the road, it doesn't give a soft "thump", it crashes. The steering was numb. It's not particularly sporty, but it was comfortable enough on the highway, and through on ramps, the chassis was stiff enough to stay in firm control with controlled body roll (faint praise, but still better than the majority of SUVs I've driven). That engine, while being very fuel efficient, is extremely gutless. In the PT cruiser I never had a problem accelerating fast (despite the fact that the Cruiser was basically an aerodynamic brick), but maybe it's the CVT, but when I put my foot down the Caliber was better at converting fuel into noise than it was at actually going at any decent pace. It actually felt weaker than the aforementioned Matrix XR, which has about 120 or so horsepower (and this car is rated at 148 horsepower). If you buy the car with this transmission, you're doing it for fuel economy, and nothing else. The interesting thing is that the noise the engine makes is hardly soul stirring. My dad's Camry sounds like a vacuum cleaner, but it sounds better than this car, which simply sounds like a old man snoring loudly (and no, I'm not exaggerating).

And the worst knock against it? It's ugly. Just look at it:

As a rental car, I'm fine with it. But buying it new, for myself? No way in hell.

In a way, the Caliber embodies the characteristics of the entire Chrysler brand. The car seems to have decent specs, and certainly has many good ideas. Certainly it is quite inexpensive too. However, the execution and attention to detail is severely lacking, and this is where Chrysler loses to everyone else. While the powertrain and the ideas were sound, the car was put together poorly. Use of poor quality materials, poor fit and finish, horrendous styling and poor suspension tuning just destroys what could have actually been a rather good car.

And that is why Chrysler is in the position it is today, because this applies to every single one of their vehicles.
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Speaking of the rental, I once again went through Enterprise, and this was where another thought came into my head during my long drive. The thing is, to take the Greyhound back and forth between my home and University costs $91, and it still takes something like 5 hours to get back and forth. You know how much it costs me to rent the Caliber for a three day weekend (rent Friday, return Monday)? Barely $60. Enterprise has great weekend rates where you can rent cars for as low as $16 a day for three days, though because the Caliber was larger (and including taxes), it came out to about $60.

But think about that: $60 to rent a car. And since I only had to fill up 1 1/2 times, fuel costs came out to about $60. In total, it cost me barely more than $120 for my own private car, which can get me home in under 4 hours and is exceedingly more comfortable than sitting next to a fat smelly man will ever be. And it gets even better: Most weekends, I can rent the car and pay for gas, free.

It's quite simple really: just run a carpool. There are thousands of people in town who have come to the conclusion that Greyhound was making enormous amounts of profit off each full bus they run, and by offering each seat in my car for $40 for a two way trip (or $25 for a one way trip), I pick people up, drop them off along the 401, and I usually end up almost breaking even, or even better, making a small profit.

Granted, I have to actually drive, so I'm technically working for it. But to get a free trip back and forth? Hell yeah, homie. I'd do that anytime. Enterprise, as I talked about in the past, also offers some of the best customer service I have ever encountered, so I would wholeheartedly recommend them even if you had to pay full price for a rental. They are just so pleasant dealing with, and I would think that works quite well with the people who rent cars because their own cars are either broken down or crashed.
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Lakers Vs. Magic. Um... I was about to say that I had a feeling that the Magic would make it a series, but apparently I was wrong. A few hours ago I saw Jameer Nelson beaten in the 4th quarter by Derek Fischer, and then AGAIN in overtime. I also saw Dwight Howard bonk two critical free throws, which would have put the game out of reach. Instead of making it 2-2, Orlando is now down a 3-1 hole, and I certainly don't see them winning.

Magic's 15 missed free throws were too costly. Add to that Dwight Howard's bonked free throws at the last 11 seconds of regulation, which instead of putting the game out of reach, meant the Magic were only up three. And then Derek Fischer schooled Jameer Nelson with a clutch three, sending the game to overtime.

Which resulted in things like this:

SUPER BEST FRIENDS!

There's only one picture that can describe the Magic at this point:

Courtesy of Basketbawful

The tragedy isn't that Kobe will finally get a championship ring or an MVP trophy, it's that all the people who cheered for the Lakers will have something to gloat about. And that is unfortunate, because I really dislike the laker fans (not that I like the Magic any better).

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Brief note for all who follow Formula 1: WOOT BRAWN GP! After the team has seen so much shit over the last few years (peaking with the uber "oh shit we're screwed" when Honda left F1), to see Jenson Button at the very top after 9 tough years is a just reward. Never say never, but I certainly hope that Brawn GP captures the constructor's championship and JB becomes champion. It's only fitting after all the crap they've endured.

BrawnGP: Out of the darkness they fly, like a bat out of hell

Something that peeved me was when one of my friends, who knows very little about cars, nevermind F1, went "oh my gawd it's Ferrari! Ferrari Ferrari! Go Ferrari" (now imagine that in a sickening small school girl tone). Ever since that day, I wanted Ferrari to lose. Actually, I didn't like Ferrari very much before that (and if you want to know why, one -made up- word: FIArrari). It's great to see Kimi Raikkonen panicking and crashing out. Massa? Well, he never really was a Schumacher.

________________________________________

Actually, when I posted my carpool ride advertisement on Kijiji, a lady had asked me to pick up some chinese newspapers downtown to bring back, for the princely sum of $15. This actually didn't strike me as odd, because I have seen many ads on Kijiji asking for odd favours, from needing to borrow tools to sharing rides to Vancouver to delivering pets from one house to another. What this made me realize is that Kijiji is much like an RPG town hall, where people buy and sell, trade and barter, and offer services.

________________________________________

I used to love Wal-Mart, because it had everything at cheap prices. Now, I love Dollarama even more.

Not only is the store based in Quebec (making it a Canadian owned chain), but the savings are stupendous. Some asshole decided to steal my cutlery and utensils when I had my stuff stored away for the mid-term break, but I went out to Dollarama, purchased several knives, forks, spoons, kitchen knives, etc. for under $10. That replaced almost $50 worth of stuff! I found a headlight for my bicycle for $1.50, and I found an exact same replica with CCM branding at Crappy Tire that costed $15! I found film to take pictures with that were a dollar each, and I had even found cleaning and medical supplies and a non-stick mini frying pan there. I did some rough calculations, and to date, I have saved over $120 by shopping at Dollarama.

Frankly, I'm not even sure how they make a profit, especially since so many of things they sell there are actually useful and can replace more expensive things on a dime. A few days ago I saw them selling a fishing rod for $2, and a reel for another $2...

Anyways, that's enough ranting for today. Unfortunately, I have to go back to studying. This year is going to busy with me nearly constantly in school, but next year I have a minimal number of courses to take. One term I'm only taking 3 courses (and I'm probably going to do them at University of Toronto), the summer I have a full course load, and I'm completely off for the other term. Just the thought of that makes me happy, but I have oh-so-much work to do right now =/

~Eastside

2009-06-04T00:35:00.002-04:00

I can't wait to come home this Friday. I'm so excited I can nearly poop my pants. Nearly.

It's too bad that I have to go through a midterm, lab, a quiz, and assignments to get there (seriously, wtf?).

It gets even better on June 22nd, as I have that entire week off and going on a trip =)

~Eastside

Never Buy a New Car

2009-06-02T20:42:00.005-04:00

Just a quick public service announcement: Never Buy a New Car.

This thought occurred to me while I was talking with some people about used motorcycle prices, and also because over the last couple of years as a university student, I've learned to take better care of my money.

It might seem very obvious to the more money savvy amongst us, not so much for most people, but buying a new car is one of the worst investments you can make.

Obvious reason? Depreciation.

Consider that in one year, a Toyota Camry will depreciate to just 55% of it's value, average as per Kelly Blue Book. That means that in one year, you have just lost 45% of the car's value. The most commonly bought trim, the LE I4 with automatic transmission, standard features and no options, retails at $24,900 MSRP, before taxes and delivery and financing interest. 45% of that is $11,205 that you've just lost in a year.

And that is before things such as sales taxes, financing and PDI/freight.

It gets even worse when you buy an expensive German vehicle. For example, a Mercedes C63 AMG, can depreciate about 60% in the first year. At a base price of $63.5K, before options (which you'll want) and taxes, you will have managed to lose $38,100 in the first year.

This is why investing in new cars is the worst thing you can do.

Obviously, buying used is the smart way to buy a car. Depreciation for something like a Camry drops out gradually after the first year:

Vehicle Value Vs. Year- Camry LE, I4 AT

*taken from Kelly Blue Book*

In other words, between your 2nd and 5th years of ownership (a four year span), you would suffer about 20% depreciation. Simplifying matters, if you have bought your Camry from some dude (who would be very stupid to do this) after the first year for a theoretical value of $13,695 (MSRP X 55% after depreciation), after four years of ownership you can sell it for $10,956, meaning that you've only lost about $2,739.

Of course, this is all very simplistic. Nobody ever sells their Camry after the first year (unless they love losing money), and it will take some bargaining to get the price you are looking for. But even so, you can easily see how much money you are losing just by buying a new vehicle.

The above chart has other implications. As you can see, there comes a point where the car's depreciation rate starts to bottoms out, and so in real world terms, you can buy a 3-4 year old car and sell it when it's 7 to 8 years old, for minimal depreciation losses. Taking it to the extreme, buying a 7 to 8 year old car and then selling it when it's 10-12 years old means almost minimal depreciation losses, although practically speaking, it's probably better if you drive it until it dies at that point. You also have to keep inflation in mind, though the effect is usually very small.

The point of all this? It's possible that you may think that your neighbour next door is a rich bastard, since he has two Mercedes Benz's on his driveway and his daughter drives a BMW. In reality however, if he bought them used, it is likely that he spent way less than you did when you bought that brand-spanking new Accord and Fusion.

Corollary: You don't have to spend a lot of money to drive nice cars. In fact, older Mercedes Benzs are often better drives and are far more reliable than their modern counterparts, because they were built with better quality and care back before they absorbed Chrysler. With used cars, you can either buy a car because it's cheap, or you can buy a better car than the new one you're looking at, at a similar or lower price. Even if you have to make more repairs to a used car (and pay for it out of your own pocket since you don't have a warranty), it's not likely you will shell out $7K for a car unless it's a lemon and/or you are stupid and got screwed over buying a bad car.

Not everybody is able to deal with used cars though, and it's the fear that used car sellers are unscrupulous bastards that drives the new vehicle market (along with the clueless idiots who love to show off their brand new vanilla Camry to their neighbours). Used cars often don't come with warranties, and unless you bought it from the dealership, they often aren't fully inspected beyond the regular "safety inspection" (which is easy to pass). Unless you are a car enthusiast and know exactly what to look for, used car buying isn't for everyone.

Corollary 2: There are some cars that even as car enthusiasts who know how the ins and outs of vehicles will not touch. For example, a twin-turbo BMW is just a disaster waiting to happen, as these vehicles tend to explode right after they're off warranty. There are stories of people with grenading engines and having to spend over $10K to fix these cars. It obviously pays to do your research beforehand to avoid buying cars that can kill the bank. A used Civic's D16 or D17 engine will run you $300-$500 to replace entirely, and hence are good bets for used cars as they are not likely to break in the first place, and if they do, parts are cheap.

For the buyers who don't want to dirty their hands in such shit, there's the other option, which is leasing. I would wager that most luxury vehicles you see rolling down the road are actually leased cars. And in reality, leasing makes a whole lot of sense. With leasing, you're essentially renting a car, paying monthly payments equivalent to what the car's "projected" depreciation. So for our Camry example, if you get a 3 year lease, you will be paying about 50% of the car's cost over the 3 year lease period, which is about $12.5K. This the same as suffering the 50% depreciation, except for the fact that you're also driving a brand spanking new car, AND you have a warranty.

This fact becomes extremely attractive when you're looking at luxury cars. Companies like BMW, for example, provide a 4 year warranty with included maintenance, so if you get a 4 year lease, it's conceivable that you will only ever have to worry about gas, as the maintenance and warranty means everything else is taken care of.

The downside of leasing is that you're now technically the dealership's bitch. If they find scratches, dings, dents, or if you exceed a certain mileage, you can be hit with hefty extras once you return the car to the dealership. You are left with nothing at the end of the lease period, and you have to baby it or else you have to pay extra. If you like the car, you have the option to buy it for the agreed residual value, but in some cases (especially since dealerships love raping people of their money), you will end up paying more than if you just decided to buy the car in the first place. The upside is that when something bad happens to the economy, such as the current financiapocalypse, you end up a winner because the car will have depreciated much more during your period of ownership than was originally estimated, meaning you escape without suffering the huge depreciation drop while the dealership cries over the pile of lost money. This, in fact, is what happened with Chrysler in the early stages of the economic crisis.

There is one other option to avoid depreciation, and it's quite simple: Buy a car, and then drive it until it dies. When you do this, depreciation doesn't even come into the factor at all because you're not reselling it. If you do this though, you might as well buy a used car to begin with to save cash.

With all of this now in mind, it's quite simple that buying a new car is perhaps the most horrific investment you can make. Cars are, for most people, the 2nd most expensive thing they will ever buy, after a new home. Yet, a home's value appreciates in most cases, while a car's value will only depreciate (unless you somehow come across a Shelby Daytona or some other extremely rare case, but I digress). As a car enthusiast, new cars rarely ever interest me, because you can't fiddle around and modify them and have project cars without the dealership screaming at you and threatening to kill your warranty.

If you know what you're doing, buy a used car. And if you're absolutely clueless and/or want convenience and are only driving low miles, lease a car.

~Eastside

2009-06-02T00:40:00.002-04:00

I don't understand why I get annoyed by so many little things.

You know, there was a time, once upon a time (i.e. high school), where I liked people because they were flawed. I thought it was what made them interesting, and I had come to the conclusion that people and their flaws should be embraced, because ultimately it is what makes them human.

I was also a lot more helpful, putting myself in front of people to ask them if they needed help. Now, that's all changed.

Now, I can't stand them. Inefficiency, flawed logic and ignorance actually make me angry. And I only help people when I see that they genuinely need help (i.e. an old lady needs assistance up a stairway, or somebody has actually fallen down). I don't know when this transition happened- I think that it was just the result of all the assholes and retards that I've met throughout my University odyssey bringing me down, as well as weariness being subjected to it all, but my patience has ground down to near zero.

This is a bad thing, really. I myself am so full of holes and flaws it's not funny.

Maybe I should return back to those times in the past, especially now that I don't really associate with people anymore. I have to... I can't imagine myself ever being happy if I don't accept people for their flaws. Because especially with what's going on in this world nowadays, that's all I can see.

~Eastside

2009-05-30T19:20:00.002-04:00

Quick note on the new banner.

The old theme was... actually I wasn't quite sure what it was, but let's say it's a Matrix-starry-computer-funkadelic picture.

The new theme is much simpler: Out of focus "bokeh" from blue LED lights (and no, not my own picture).

~Eastside

2009-05-29T00:39:00.009-04:00

Anybody know of a good way to link blogs to facebook pages?

Reason I ask is because at one point I used the "My Blogs" application, which worked perfectly. And then it stopped working.

Seriously, the stupid application doesn't seem to want to update with my new blog posts, so I deleted it and I resorted to using the "notes" RSS feed system. Except I don't like because all my links and formatting don't show up.

If you've got a better application to use, drop me a line.

[Edit] Note also the bit of spring cleaning done to the bar on the left. One of these days I might consider switching the blog over to a new template, with a new commenting system and perhaps even a google adsense type of dealy (it helps me buy my lunch from the dollar menu at McDonald's, so if I start using it, don't hesitate to click away). At the very least, I will try to get around to changing the title bar, which was made by an esteemed friend, Joseph. It depends on how much time I have on my hands.

Also, the archive list is getting ridiculously long, since this blog has been running since October of 2003.

~Eastside

Song of the day

2009-05-28T17:19:00.008-04:00

Nothing revealing today, so I'll leave you with this:

Welcome Home (Instrumental Abridged) - Coheed and Cambria

This is the song from the "9" movie trailer (for which I am seriously excited about)

~Eastside

Word/Phrase of the Day

2009-05-28T00:43:00.001-04:00

Zero Sum Game

2009-05-27T23:56:00.010-04:00

You know, here's one thing I will never understand about people...

Conflict: We love it.

I have to say that I'm guilty of this myself. I always need a small amount of conflict in my life... it's what drives me, motivates me and helps me to reach my goals. In most cases, my conflicts give me a reason to do something in the first place.

But, this does not include conflicts with OTHER PEOPLE, which I don't like.

You might not believe this, but I absolutely, positively HATE having open conflicts with people, particularly those that I know personally. Which is why when I'm angry about something someone did, I get absolutely pissed, steaming mad out of my mind. I go into long ass rants. I hate doing it, so if I want to get my point across, I only get my point across once (making sure the other person listens). Then after that, I consider it a sealed deal, and frankly, don't care about it anymore. It's like the Beatles, "Let it be", right?

Yet for some reason, others seem to revel in conflict and chaos. We see it in emos who bitch about their lives. The website fmylife. The 50% divorce rate in the US.

As people, we absolutely, positively, fucking LOVE conflict.

Back in the day, before I stopped associating with people when I didn't find the need to, I always somehow, always managed to find myself embroiled in some conflict. And the sad thing is, most of those aren't started by me. It almost seems that people have beef with me when they see something about me that they don't like, and then somehow it boils over into a huge, exhausting battle that drains me emotionally and mentally.

In most cases, I prevail, because most of these people did it because of stupid reasons. The few times it was my fault, I actually did apologize.

And yet, even the people closest to me somehow start conflicts too. We could be talking randomly one day, and then suddenly the person will turn vicious and start blaming me for shit. Things ranging from some small 3 second action I did one day, to something that I commented on off the cuff. And turn what should otherwise have been a small deal will crop up, and then we'll end up yelling and screaming at each other.

It's gone to the point where it's absolutely hilarious. Now granted, the problem may lie with me and what I consider a "serious issue". But consider that throughout my whole life, I've been through so many conflicts and have so many mental scars from these conflicts, that unless it's something I consider a big deal or someone pushes my buttons the wrong way, I simply don't care about it. Unless it involves me in some life-threatening situation, or some other life changing event... seriously, why the hell should I care?

Which is probably a problem for those who are still in a fresh-outta-high-school-and-hasn't-faced-the-harsh-cruel-realities-of-the-world frame of mind, because they think that EVERYTHING is a big deal. Shoelaces always untied? Divorce. Putting the empty milk container back in the fridge? Fight. Being friendly with the hot guy? Slut for life. Inevitably, when I talk to these people, they will bring something up, and they'll start attacking me while I'm at a loss as to why we're even having such a retarded conversation in the first place. Why exactly are we arguing about whether or not somebody owes you $0.50?

Recently, somebody talked to me about the previous post I made, when out of nowhere, this somebody brought up this girl I made fun of on her facebook page some months ago (because she had a pic of her kissing her bf as a display picture... which as far as I'm concerned, makes them fair game for mocking). Yet somehow, NOW of all times, this person talked to me about it, and equated my actions as being a paralympian level action.

See what I mean? One situation I didn't think was a big deal, something I don't even have much of a memory of anymore, and yet somehow turns into a point of contention that involves the other person insulting my intelligence. The kicker was that this whole situation had almost nothing to do with what we were originally discussing (and what we were originally discussing started out as a nonchalant talk too).

The whole progression of our conversation almost made it seem that because we were at peace for so long, we NEEDED to find conflict, so we HAD to pick our brains and find something to argue and get angry about.

You know, sometimes I think I WOULD be better off as a paralympian. I mean, it's not like regular people are any smarter when they have to argue and have conflicts over such stupid, retarded shit. If I was retarded all I have to do is stare blankly at the person without really listening, and have a nurse wipe up my drool. In other words: I wouldn't have to deal with these stupid small conflicts. The only thing I would be concerned with are the important things in life, like when the next meal is or beeping to the nurse to roll my wheelchair to the bathroom for a spongebath.

I mean, why can't we just argue about adult stuff, like paying the bills or whether one has cancer or something?

Honestly, just peace out. SERIOUSLY, PEACE THE FUCK OUT. I can't take this shit anymore. I don't need the drama in my already complicated life.

~Eastside

2009-05-26T20:37:00.009-04:00

To say that I’m disappointed with the number of people who turned out for the MDHS reunion is a pretty big understatement. For months, I had imagined that I would be able to see everyone again, and find out what everyone is up to and how they’re doing.

But no. This actually went below my lowest possible expectations (which is saying a lot since I always expect the worst). In all, perhaps only 5 or so people from our year arrived, and certainly no more than 20 people from our entire decade. I was shocked and dismayed when the only people from our year that I saw was Air Lai and Cameron Roberts. I also saw two other people that I recognized but could not name. Frankly speaking, it’s almost unbelievable.

I mean, how many students were from our year? At least over a hundred right? Yet somehow, the number of people who visited were less than the number of fingers I had. That means that less than 5% of all possible alumni came! No giftees, no slackers, no Asians, NO ONE.

I posted my thoughts and feelings on facebook, wondering if perhaps people had simply forgotten about it or if they actually didn’t care about their high school.

Some told me that they didn’t know there was a reunion. This, after I had posted the damn link in my msn display message for god knows how long, asking people over msn whether they were going, and also having mentioned it quite a few times. Not only that, but consider that the majority of the alumni that actually came had grey hair (one lady was an alum from 1938!) and probably didn’t understand the nuances of internet usage, yet THEY somehow managed to come. There were so many people from pre-80's that they filled up the entire girl's gym, and then some.

And one person told me that a few decided not to come because they heard attendance was going to be horrible. A statement that I had trouble wrapping my head around at first. Isn’t that a self-fulfilling prophecy? If people hear that no one was going, and decide not to go… then no one will have went. I thought that even with relatively low attendance, the school would be important enough for people to visit, but apparently this wasn’t the case.

And then there were people who tried to justify their absence with the $30 price of entry. I’m not even going to go into that one.

I like to point out stupidity and complain about quibbles in our society on a daily basis, but this time, it goes well beyond that. This time, I’m actually indignant and self-righteous, and I think, for a good reason. This is a sad example of humanity’s failures in life (i.e. the fact that nobody cares or at least try to make an effort to care).

Anyways, the facepalming continued later on that night when Gloria and I (who just came off a huge argument) went to Go For Tea with her friends. They seem like fairly nice people, but even though they’re only a year younger than me, they looked like kids. Seriously, you compare them to people from our year, and each and every one of us already look like adults (okay, most of us in any case). They looked like they were fresh out of high school.

And they are typical fobs. At one end of the table you have people who talked about the latest in electronic gadgetry. Some dude brought his several hundred dollar Canon DSLR (I couldn’t see what model it was), and this was the same guy who owned that extremely riced Civic that Ricky and I made fun of earlier at MDHS (frankly, it’s been years since I’ve seen a Civic with that level of ricing). At the other end, some guy thought he was funny and tried to communicate to me in Mandarin. This last point actually didn’t make me laugh (especially when Gloria’s friend told me that I’m “allowed to laugh”).

It’s not so much that I found it offensive more than I found it lame. Why is it that as soon as any Cantonese person finds out I’m Mandarin, they feel the need to try to communicate to me in their broken mandarin in order to try to be funny? What, does no one in Canada speak in cohesive English anymore? I’ve heard it so many times before that I found it tiring. I don’t try to speak to the first Cantonese person I see in Cantonese sentences (I do use swear words and a couple of… um… quirky words), so why do they feel the need to butcher my mother tongue? I’d rather they try to speak to me in French or something. Of course, Gloria doesn’t understand all this, so I simply told her that it’s probably similar to why I couldn’t understand the “Apple Salad Incident” we had in the winter: You’re not in my shoes, you’re different from me so you won’t understand. Of course, the girl telling me that “it’s okay” to laugh didn’t exactly help my feelings.

Before I continue, let me say that usually I don't openly scoff at stupid people. Mention, make fun of, and I usually tear people apart only when what they do directly affects me, but rarely do I try to emphasize the sheer stupidity that happens... this, however, took the cake. The other thing that killed that day me was the dude with the riced Civic and DSLR sitting at the other end of the table. Not because of anything that happened during bbt, but afterwards when I went online and saw the pictures he posted. This guy, with the several hundred dollar DSLR, went into photoshop and tried to blur out the background of his photos, trying to fake a shallow depth of field. However, he did a crappy job as he missed entire sections of the picture in his attempts. I was pretty astounded because here we had a person who spent huge amounts of cash on a new camera… yet didn’t understand something as simple as the concept of depth of field and what aperture does.

I once read an article at Ken Rockwell’s website, about the fact that it’s not the camera that makes the picture, it’s the person. Or, as Joseph would say, “lenses and composition are more important than camera bodies”. Ansel Adams from the 1930’s took some absolutely spectacular photos at Yosemite using cameras that are several times crappier than cameras of today, yet almost nobody even today could match his photographs for sheer awesome. Somebody with an Olympus Trip 35s can still take extremely good photos compared to n00bs with Canon 5D Mark IIs, because as long as they had something to take pictures with, and as long as they know where to stand and when to get there… anybody can take a prize-winning photo. In the same way, it's also why somebody with a 5th generation Civic can outrun several thousand dollar sports cars. Or how, in my case, a motorcycle with 13.5 horsepower can outturn and outbrake a higher powered superbike.

And the advice from these people went through my head again as I put my hands to my face

It is fairly clear that money does not buy skill… or knowledge (the latter being, in most cases, free). I mean, I started photography myself only since the end of April (using a combination of FILM and MANUAL focus), and yet the first thing I saw when I hit “photography for beginners” on google were things about DOF and aperture. How is it possible to miss or not even know something about this? To buy a several hundred dollar piece of equipment and not even know about the basics that you can experiment with in a point and shoot? The level of epic fail is almost astounding. And yes, this is me scoffing at n00bs.

Frankly, I'd be worried if the majority of "consumer" DSLR owners were like this.

Speaking of Cameras, I finally have my basic ghetto setup: Canon Elan IIe, Olympus 50mm f1.8 with an Olympus OM --> Canon EF adapter. This combo set only costs $65, yet for about 60% of situations it’s all I need. The only thing I need left is a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5 and I should be good for 90% of picture taking situations. I’m learning a lot (and certainly I feel that I’ve already passed over consumer level knowledge… or in the dude’s case above me, complete n00biness).

Aye… there was a lot to dislike about people that day.

[EDIT] One clarification: I realize that a few people were on vacation and thus didn't have a chance to go to the reunion, and that's fine- many have just graduated, after all. It's the people who had the CHANCE to go but didn't that I'm frustrated with.

~Eastside

2009-05-17T14:45:00.004-04:00

It's been a long long time since I last posted anything here. I don't know if anybody actually reads my own blog, but for those of you who don't already know, yes, I blow some smoke on my own blog from time to time, link on the side.

So, four years of undergrad had passed me by like an instant. It felt a little unreal, first year seemed like just yesterday. I still remember me being a snobby jerk, a drunken, slacking idiot, and failing my first year geology, physics, and chemistry back in the days. Then life completely changed in second year after I decided to go to maths and engineering (apple math) due to its cool-sounding nickname, despite my almost-failing average in first year and it being one of the two hardest (the politically correct term would be "most challenging", the term that accurately describes the programmes would be a more vivid variant of the term "bottom-unfriendly") engineering science programmes Queen's offers. Good thing I pulled thorough, no, we pulled though, because I could not have done it without my encouraging and helping colleagues. Apple maths was like a family and we pretty much did everything together. Although it was touch at the time, but the numerous sleepless nights of working together on maths assignments in the Integrated Learning Centre (ILC) were actually some of the sweetest moments I had in the past few years. I will miss my life in undergrad. It has been the best 4 years of my life.

So what's next? Well, a lot of my friends will be going to graduate school in the States and Canada, some, including me will be working. Having scored one of my dream jobs in a recession was really lucky for me. I'll enjoy my life. I should. At least so far I am liking the sound of the dry weather in Calgary.

Well, before all the serious real life stuff, I am still enjoying my one month of doing nothing at home until my convocation on June 2. It will probably be the last time in a long while I'll get to meet with everybody in my programme. I'll go take a look for a week in England (and maybe Scotland) this coming Thursday. It will be fun, and it has already been very costly (flight tickets, rail pass, some cash...). So far my plans include visiting the British Museum, the London Transport Museum, the London Eye, Waterloo Railway Station, and Euston Railway Station in London, the National Railway Museum in York, the Museum of Science and Industry and Piccadilly Railway Station in Manchester. Hopefully I will also be riding the Virgin Train Class 390 Pendolino between London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. I will crash at a friend's place in Bristol near the University of Bristol. This trip will be good.

So yeah, I guess that's all for now, and hopefully Duckie wouldn't mind me spamming his blog lol =p

2009-05-13T23:54:00.001-04:00

Long time no post. Well, there’s not been a lot of profound things to talk about, and certainly a day to day account gets tedious and boring. Mostly though, I’ve been pretty busy in school and had little rest, even during the three week (yes, three weeks =D) school break that I had.

I guess the main thing was my obsession with film photography. It actually wasn’t supposed to happen. My girlfriend talked about how she wanted to get a Nikon D40 DSLR for a while, and I did a bit of research to get familiar with terms and what’s good and what’s not, but nothing serious ever cropped up. A good friend of mine, Joseph, also had a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and took some great pics and made some great shorts that I really liked, but I was never into that either. That was, until I found my mom’s old Canon T50 from around the time I was born.

I started getting really curious about cameras, and after doing some research, I ended up getting a Canon Rebel G off eBay for $50. At the same time, Gloria’s mom pulled out an old Canon AE-1, and from there on, the obsession took off. Or rather, it exploded. I guess I took quite a few people off guard with my massive sudden absorption (and spamming) of knowledge related to all things photography, and it’s now become a fun past time for me. I can’t afford a new top-line DSLR so I’m sticking with film photography, and a couple of hours ago I won myself a Canon Elan IIe camera for $25 USD off eBay. I’m also sticking to old manual focus lenses, because I simply cannot afford a couple of hundred bucks a pop for autofocus Canon EF lenses. So at least for the foreseeable future, this is more of experimentation/for fun thing than anything serious.

And it will never be anywhere as close as my gear headedness to all things mechanical (though the inner workings of cameras do appeal to it).

Anyways, besides that, I spent most of my three week break at Gloria’s. Walks at Swan Lake Park (to feed the picture taking machine), pick ups and drop offs and using both of her parent’s cars to get around (and driving to remote locales), eating, sleeping, watching movies, and a trip to Niagara Falls.

Actually, those “suburban nature” hikes turned out to be pretty good. I managed to find a variety of wildlife, like frogs, snails, various birds, plants, that I rarely get to see in my everyday excursions. We had a good time feeding chickadees and finding frogs among the reeds (as well as trying to catch various birds in our viewfinders).

For the driving bit, I think I finally refound my “passive aggressive” edge in driving that I lost after having not driven a vehicle for any length of time (and then spending what time I did have driving the Jimmy, which changed my style to a laid back pace). While Gloria herself was pretty immune, I drove her family’s Corolla and Matrix with more aggressive hands and feet than I usually do… you know, going through turns with only minimal braking, pushing the throttle all the way down to floor, and then tracing a line through traffic to find the quickest (legal) way through, and more aggressive acceleration than I normally would utilize. You ever had that “feeling” in the back of your head? The one where you are completely sharp and focused and extremely competitive, with a sort of tunnel vision that only made you focus on dispatching the slower drivers around you? I had glints of that. The Matrix XR’s sportier suspension setup didn’t help matters. Neither did the fact that the only other vehicle I use was my motorcycle, which is more hoonerific than those two mild vehicles.

And speaking of my motorcycle, I did spend a few hours doing the regularly scheduled valve clearance check. I’ve done it so many times now that I can basically pull the bike apart and get at the top of the engine in under 45 minutes (If I actually rushed I can probably do it under 25). But I think my feeler gauge is off because it seems that the valves are still a bit loose… i.e. I can hear a bit of ticking and idling isn’t 100% smooth. Well, better loose than tight, as they say (don’t think dirty now!), and for now, the bike can run decently enough. But I’m going to have to eventually get those valves at the right clearances. I have a backup feeler gauge (That I got/stole from when I worked at RIM) that I think should be right for this job, as it’s in metric units instead of the stupid inch unit feeler gauge I have in my toolbox at home… I’ll possibly fiddle with that when I come home this weekend on Thursday night or Friday morning.

In any case, I’m back in school this semester, and if anything, my schedule is even more lax than last term. It doesn’t mean I can actually fall asleep or skip class or anything, but it does mean that I should be able to get even higher grades more easily. Also, my earliest classes start at 10 AM, so the fact that I don’t have 8:30 AM classes is a major boon.

Anyways, that’s it for now =D

~Eastside

2009-04-17T16:18:00.002-04:00

"...For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill"

- Sun Tzu ~ The Art of War

In other words... STFU BITCH.

~Eastside

2009-04-16T14:13:00.004-04:00

You know, honestly, looking back at some of the things that went on in my life, I'm kind of surprised at the way I turned out. I REALLY AM, I mean, things could have gone oh so horribly wrong (although I'm sure there are a few that will argue that it has =D), considering all that's happened.

It still amazes me how much someone can evolve through university life alone. I've talked about it in the past at least a couple of billion times, but if you look at me, or any of my friends, you can probably say that all of us have changed... for better or worse. Being thrust into situations where you have to take charge, grapple with the fact that you have to take care of yourself, molding yourself into the person that you are going to become for the rest of your life, and exposing yourself to the world causes significant changes.

It was not so long ago when I entered university that I saw myself go through three separate phases and personality shifts (hence the subtitle of the blog, "Rise of the Fourth Renaissance") in less than 4 years. These huge and unstable changes were rather chaotic. Those bright summer days and quiet winter nights of keeping things simple and being naive are long gone, and I went through periods of defeat, anguish, bliss, anger, learning, and finally... calm. I find it so unusual that after such a wide array of emotions and undergoing so many trials and tribulations, the end result from all that honing and shaping and chiseling is a general feeling of calm.

I hope that as the years pass, I still continue to grow. I still have quite a few issues to work out, but as of right now, I kind of like the way I am.

~Eastside

2009-04-08T01:03:00.002-04:00

You know, right now I'm supposed to be studying.

Except my brain is on fire and all over the place.

Things to do for the summer (personally):

-Financials
-Get a student line of credit (this will come in handy for emergencies and for trip to Asia next year)
-Finish paying off motorcycle, pay insurance
-Sell off tons of shit that I don't need. This includes any "extras that weigh my life down", including old junk that I do not need, my violin (*sniff*), THIRTEEN TEXTBOOKS that are likely still worth something, etc.
-Get used to this messed up system called OSAP

-Projects
-CT70: Order those damn parts, get phase 1 over and done with, make that shit run and ride up and down street illegally with big silly grin on face. Then proceed onto plans for phase 2, including extensive eBay surfing. *side note: going to Uwindsor has the pleasant side effect of lower cost for shipping as items can be shipped to a UPS store in Detroit, then I just have to take the tunnel bus and grab it. On big items, this saves quite a bit.
-Helmet Camera Mods: create mount for motorcycle helmet, and add a foam shroud/cover for the microphone to kill wind noise (this shit is extremely sensitive).
-CBR125R: Mods include installing a 2-way paging alarm and blingy stuff (Fork cap nuts, triple tree top plate, fairing and heatshield screws... that's it for now (no budget for new mods). I will need to drill out a couple of screws that I managed to break when I was installing my new muffler, so that's something I need to work on.
-Bicycle: Fix up the old bicycle: the crank has a stripped left foot pedal mount, needs to be JB welded in permanently; reinstall old seat; put in front and rear lights; make sure that all bearings and nuts and bolts are functional; create new camera helmet mount for it, then take it for a ride with Rei. Also need to find a rear pannier rack for my school bicycle, as well as pannier bags (this will make grocery shopping a hell of a lot easier)
-Laptop: One of my mounts broke, so I have to fabricate a new one as the ones on eBay are f***ing expensive

Activities:
-Find old video capture device for computer (I think it's somewhere in my pile of shit in the basement), burn disk of rock climbing vid
-Try out the old-ass Canon T50 I recently recovered
-Rock climbing
-Biking
-Motorcycling (well I guess that's a given)
-Short side trips to Montreal/New York, also over the border to Detroit (without being killed)

Busy busy busy...

~Eastside

2009-04-07T00:31:00.001-04:00

Me too.

Raptors... LIVE!

2009-04-01T20:08:00.001-04:00

April Fools! Raptors Vs. Orlando

2009-04-01T03:40:00.004-04:00

The things people do sometimes astound me. That includes very expensive hobbies, although staring at my garage with two motorcycles, I'm not exactly one to talk.

Still, when does a hobby become more than a mere hobby? When it crosses over and becomes an obsession? A love? When you've poured so much time and money into it that you can't back out, simply because of how much you've invested in?

That is something I admire... but then thinking about the commitment makes me weak in the knees.

Even my own hobbies, with my two bikes, seems to pale in comparison to that.

As a friend says, do everything in love. Or in my version, do everything with a passion.

~Eastside

A discussion about rich people

2009-03-31T21:30:00.003-04:00

An interesting conversation happened between my gf and I today.

So, this being the year where her class starts applying for the various medical related programs they want to go into, she and her classmates had to write MCATS.

However, she was rather bitter because she knew one person who was able to pay $2000 for some kind of prep course about MCATs. Bitter, because in her point of view, Rich people will always have it easier.

I was about to do my routine slagging of rich people, but then I thought about the difference between this guy, and the regular rich douchebags who drive BMW X6's.

Namely, the difference is thus: There are two kinds of rich people: The people who are rich and smart, and the aforementioned retards with BMW X6's.

I don't think it's fair to be bitter about somebody just because they have money at their disposal that they can use to obtain higher education. In this case, the rich person is using that cash to become more educated, and that is something I don't feel you can hate anybody for. If you can afford a good tutor, become a well educated and smart person, and go to a good school, that's something to be admired because you are using resources at your disposal that can help you make something of yourself in life. Also, even if this guy paid $2000 for a course, it doesn't necessarily mean he has it any easier- he still has to LEARN the material, and it's not like he can just buy a better MCAT score.

On the other hand, you CAN hate on people who are not only rich, but are also stupid. These are the douchebags with BMW X6's, the idiots with spiked hair and popped collars and don't really do much with their lives except try to win popularity contests and don't really try to do much else with their lives. And the ones who don't really act like human beings.

While it is sad for "us" (aka the great unwashed) because we don't have this kind of easy access to the higher echelons of expensive education, it's not like we don't have our own methods of ensuring higher education success- it just means that we have to do everything for ourselves. Learn things by ourselves, or in my case, McGuyver shit together.

For example, OSAP and cheap Canadian education means that more people have an equal chance of going to school and getting a degree- it's not like in the US where going to Ivy League is all but impossible to the common person, because it would literally cost an arm and a leg (and a kidney) to get in. Also, we have an alternative to the $2000 tutorial course, which is buying a couple of Princeton Review books and studying our asses off using that. In the end, the result is pretty similar, the difference is that you've done everything yourself instead of paying for a guiding hand.

I swear, if I ever somehow get rich and I have kids, I'm going to make them work hard and stay as humble human beings. I look at those naive and spoiled douchebags doing nothing except bum around FMP and PMall, about as smart as kids, and I would absolutely kill myself if my kids ended up like that. Maybe leave the cash as an inheritance, but they've gotta learn how to live life like "real" people.

~Eastside

A brief note about Coverage

2009-03-30T18:22:00.002-04:00

Hey guys,

I found a new website,CoveritLive.com, that allows me to cover an event live on this blog for you all. You might have already seen this being used at websites like ball don't lie, Doug Smith's Raptors blog, etc.

I thought it's pretty interesting, so I might be using this to do some spot coverage of some events myself later. Expect to see the odd Formula 1 race, basketball game and other misc. events from time to time- of course, I will put up a post beforehand indicating when it's going to happen.

~Eastside

Some people tend to fail at life

2009-03-30T16:44:00.004-04:00

My patience level must be hitting an all time low. I'm not sure what possessed me to start pointing out people's stupidity like that.

I should really try actually making friends. Yet somehow, in the mood and situation I'm in at the moment, it's probably not going to happen.

~Eastside

2009-03-25T19:12:00.003-04:00

My frustration level is reaching an all time high, and strangely, it has absolutely nothing to do with school.

Maybe it's just a difference of opinion, or rather, a difference of personality.

I have never ever thought of myself as a complicated person. In fact, I think of myself as a person who is easily read, simple in nature. I wear my emotions on my sleeve, I'm pretty honest about how I feel about things (as much as that pisses people off sometimes), and my whole philosophy revolves around common sense and logic. Nothing philosophical, nothing mystical, nothing religious. Just do what makes sense. I don't do stupid shit. I do things for fun, but I don't go out of my way to do things that carry consequences. I try to keep things simple.

Lately, people have been driving me insane. It's not even a matter of them caring about me or not (and actually, at this point I kind of want to distance myself from more people), it's just a matter of me simply not understanding them anymore. Has my IQ gone down the drain? Because nowadays, I'm finding more and more instances of myself going "HUH?" when people say something, or trying to understand what the fuck people are trying to do. Seriously, the things that people say and do nowadays make absolutely no sense to me.

The actions of people puzzle me. People seem to have this knack for making their own lives a living hell, out of reasons that again, make no sense to me. The problem is, they eventually come to me, and then somehow, when I try to fix it, I always, 100%, unequivocally, end up being the bad guy. Always. Doesn't matter what the fuck I do.

At least it means that people end up leaving me the fuck alone.

Am I so out of touch with people that I'm simply not seeing what they're seeing anymore?

~Eastside

2009-03-23T14:39:00.004-04:00

For my second rant of the day, I present to you: Mainstream Media.

The quality of journalism has gone to appalling levels. I am not sure if it's always been like this, but recently it has become glaringly apparent.

I mean, how hard is it to actually, you know, hire people who know what they're talking about?

I was sitting there, reading the Wheels section of the Toronto Star, and one of the articles quoted this guy who claimed that the hydrogen generating station for the Honda FCX involved "burning" natural gas. I was so pissed off that I couldn't think straight for a while.

Then they proceeded to post some wrong specs on several different reviewed vehicles, including what appears to be Toyota V6 specs into the Mustang.

Their comparison tests between different vehicles lacked any sort of actual instrumented data, such as interior noise, speed, slalom, ride, handling, etc.

About the only thing in that section that I trust was the FAQs involving talking to a mechanic for answers. But the actual meat and potatoe articles? *facepalm*.

It's not even just the vehicles section that I have beef with. My girlfriend made note that the BBC science sections are a constant torrent of mistakes and stupidity, and I have noticed that several technology and health sections of newspapers and news websites are severely lacking in well, anything. Perhaps the only thing that I can trust in newspapers is the Sports section, but that's only because a few, like the Toronto Star sports section, actually have good journalists.

What pisses me off the most is this: Some of those same journalists who've made several mistakes and assumptions in their articles also post editorials, which continue with their own opinions regarding things they've wrongly informed the public. Except they don't know what the hell they are talking about. These people don't even know what a unit of horsepower is.

I also remember reading an article in the health section about some studies involving grapefruit, and all I remember is that the author somehow conveniently forgot about what the study was supposed to... well, study.

It's not just the ignorance. I remember turning on the TV in a hotel room in the US, flipped the channel to CNN, and for the next 20 minutes all I kept hearing was "sex" and "scandal". The woman on TV, who had a creepily joyous look on her face at all this talk about sex scandals, then proceeded to talk to "experts" about the sex scandal, and why people should care. I don't even want to get into what I saw when I turned to Fox News.

This whole ordeal has literally lowered my faith in mankind. You have to understand, as a member of the journalistic community, you have unfathomable power. Mainstream Media has more power than any government, any weapon combined. People read, watch and listen to the media for information, and this information affects their lives and their opinions. Entire governments can be brought down, countries cast as evil, economies brought to a grinding halt. As Spidey's uncle said before he was killed, "With great power comes great responsibility". It's no joke.

With this much responsibility, how can news outlets hire people who don't know shit? Or NOT talk about something more relevant than who Paris Hilton slept with?

Which makes me wonder, if all these idiots are actually paid to babble about stuff they have no idea about on mainstream media, why are people like me, not? I mean, think about it. I KNOW that I know much more than those idiots in the wheels section. I HAVE worked in the industry and I HAVE taken part in the design of vehicles and I HAVE actually taken motorcycles apart and put them together again. I have a passion for these kinds of things. I can even write grammatically correct essays (non-biased even, if I'm actually paid), on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of things.

So why are these idiots who clearly don't know anything about the things they're supposed to be covering, being paid to babble on something they clearly don't care about, while I'm sitting here?

You know what I'm going to do? Come this summer, I'm going to submit a resume and cover letter to the Toronto Star. I'm going to make my displeasure about their current crop of writers known, and I am going to explain why I would be a good choice to at least add to the editorial panel. I highly doubt that I will get the job, but at least I would get a good kick out of it.

~Eastside

Eco Hippies

2009-03-23T14:38:00.002-04:00

Eco hippies, I'm only going to say this once.

I am sick of the colour green, I am sick of the words "eco, natural, etc." and I am sick of you chaining yourself to trees, yelling obscenities at me while I am just trying to bicycle my way to class. I am sick of you telling me that unless I take my own shit out of the toilet and plant tomato seeds in them, that I am living an unsustainable life and I'm going to hell.

You are arrogant. Not only do you believe that people can actually affect the world, but you feel you have a need to SAVE it. You honestly, actually, believe that people have that much power?

Let me tell you this: The Earth does not need saving. It's rather simple- if it doesn't want us on it, it'll simply kill us. It doesn't mind- life can always rebuild, and it has another 5 billion years of existence. Which makes me wonder- are you shouting your cause because you actually have good intentions, or because you're paranoid and scared? You know, I have some tinfoil you can make some hats out of.

Instead of contributing to global warming with all the hot gas that comes out of your collective mouths and asses, why don't you try doing something that actually helps make things better for yourself, or other people? Make something work more efficiently. Make something grow better. Make something that will, you know, help eradicate parasites and makes people's lives better? Isn't that what it's all about, your cause? To make things better for the next generation, my kids and yours?

After all your screaming, what have you actually done in this world? While firefighters, doctors, engineers work to make our lives better and safer today and in the future, all you've managed to do is piss people off.

You have people starving, people dying of genocide, people hurt every single day who fall through the cracks.

And the best you can do is spray paint on a couple of SUVs and beat up some seal hunters? Turn off all your lights for an hour (when it's common sense to do so anyways?) and then turning them on again, only to cause transformers to blow out and coal fired plants to spew even more gas into the air?

~Eastside

2009-03-15T21:41:00.003-04:00

It’s been a long long while since my last blog. I’ve been keeping really busy at school- midterms, quizzes, labs, girlfriend and side projects have meant that I actually had little time to think. This is one of those rare moments where I can actually sit down and write a blog, because there’s a lull in the schedule.

My plans regarding school have changed somewhat- next summer I plan to go to HK with my girlfriend, so it’s not likely that I will be able to graduate until maybe April 2011… but frankly, with the way the economy is going and with the thought of graduate school on my mind, it’s not like I’m in any hurry.

I have to say that I actually quite like the University of Windsor, and I’m not saying that just to make myself feel smug (being cynical, if something sucks, believe me when I say I will talk about it). I wouldn’t actually say that the courses themselves are easier than at the University of Waterloo, but a better library system, access to profs and TAs (there’s seemingly a billion of them), a better online course website, and better support for students. Also, there’s like… a REAL strip plaza and food around. The school also seems to be better suited for mechanical and electrical engineers, because the engineering building is rather large and features a huge machine shop and fluid dynamics lab.

Most importantly, I get to choose my classes and times. This means no more fucking 5 exams in a week, or 8:30 class. If you guys ever drive through Windsor into Detroit, don’t be shy to drop by for a visit.

As for plans after University- again, because of the way that the economy is turning out, and the fact that my girlfriend is making a run for vet school, I am thinking about going into graduate school and get my masters in mechanical engineering. I’m not sure where yet, but I think that I will be able to have the marks to go to different places. There are usually two kinds of master degrees: research, and course-based. The research program is for people who are planning on getting their PhD’s, and obviously, students do research. The course-based program is taking a series of courses for professional development. As for myself, I can’t see myself getting a PhD, so I’m likely going to go for a course-based program- it also simply seems more practical in the real world.

My weekends haven’t exactly been free either. Every other weekend I’ve been traveling back to either Markham or Guelph. Despite the distance, it’s actually only about a 3.5 hour drive to Markham, and about 2.5 to Guelph. Of course, I don’t have a car, so what I’ve done is rented one from Enterprise, using their weekend ½ price deal. In order to cut down on costs, I’ve also been running a carpool service using kijiji.ca (in fact, I have a listing right now). Carrying 4 passengers, each paying either $25 one way or $40 for both, I have managed to make a slight profit too (the car rental costs about $65 for the weekend, but gas is actually the most expensive as it usually costs around $70-$80 for the weekend!). Of course, the fact that I’m stuck driving a PT Cruiser most weekends sucks ass, but I’d gladly do it to see my girlfriend, and the fact that it’s free with a bit of pocket money is a big bonus.

By the way, Enterprise is an awesome company. I’ve had good experiences with them in Waterloo, and it’s no different in Windsor. These guys take customer service to another level- extremely helpful and friendly, which is more than could be said for many other places. With the cheap rates and a pickup and dropoff, I wholeheartedly recommend them. They make what’s usually a stressful experience into one that is much more pleasant, if not easier.

As for other recent events: One notable one I could think of is my girlfriend finally getting the hang of snowboarding. Very early in the winter time, I helped her to get her snowboard, but it’s been a pretty rocky road to getting down to the bottom of the hill without falling over and without doing the “fluttering leaf” style (the same happened with me when I started). The main reasons for these difficulties is because we were unable to find a hill with the right slope for learning – not too steep, not too shallow, and long enough to make a few extremely wide turns. As with most people, she had difficulty making the transition from heel side to toe side. There were also numerous issues with the equipment she bought- she originally had a set of Burton bindings, but they were surprisingly crappy: It’s hard to crank them tight over boots, and a screw stripped out on one of the straps. She returned them for a pair of awesome Flow TMX bindings (making me extremely jealous). It wasn’t until we hit the beginner slopes at Chicopee when she got the hang of it, and at the end of the day she was so fast I had to snowboard at full speed to keep up with her. I think that Chicopee has some of the best beginner slopes in Southern Ontario- it is quite literally the perfect slope and length for beginners to perfect their technique, and it’s helped both Ringleader and I to learn how to snowboard properly. Of course, the day didn’t go off without a hitch- at the end of the day, I somehow managed to lose my Dragon goggles. Frankly, I was devastated because of all my snowboard equipment, they are perhaps the piece I appreciated the most. The amber lens made seeing at night extremely easy, they were comfortable and they looked awesome. I’m trying to find a good deal on a new pair on eBay- I honestly wouldn’t get any other brand of snow goggles at this point forward, because my experience with them has been so positive.

I also went downtown numerous times. My gf and I visited the Paws Way center at Harbourfront, witnessed a dog rescue at the actual harbour, went to see the Cleveland Craboliers take on the Craptors, and simply explored. I think the only thing I haven’t done this winter is skate.

Oh, and one more noteworthy event: I finally got my damn SPC Mosaic Mastercard, at least 8 months after I applied for one. Yeah, that’s what you call “Cotomer Sevis”. Anyways, I’m glad I have it, but it’s not like I have much/any cash to put behind it.

I’m planning on getting a part time job while I’m at school (something I have never considered before), due to the fact that I no longer have Co-op… I might apply for OSAP for extra funds too. It’s not that I’m critically short on money (okay, I’m short on money- if I didn’t like… BUY anything from now until graduation I’d make it out okay), but I’d rather some cash to work on my projects and save up for my trip next summer.

If I had enough money for a 2nd/3rd generation Prelude it would be nice too.

Anyways, that’s all the time I have for- you probably won’t be seeing another blog for a while. So I’ll end off with one final (long)note:

You know how, at some point in your teens and early 20’s, that you suddenly found out what your “thing” is? Something that is uniquely you, that you can do for the rest of your life? My old violin teacher, Jonathan, recently won a Kollaboration 2009 contest and I realized that even if his day job is a pharmacist, his “thing” is being an “audio artist”. And while another friend, Joseph is also going to end up as a pharmacist as his day job, his “thing” is photography and movie media. An acquaintance, Kristen, ended up as a fashion model. So what’s the point of all this?

I think I’ve finally found my own “thing”, my own niche in life and a hobby that I feel makes me uniquely me. The difference between me and the people I’ve mentioned is that, I am not quite good at my “thing” yet. The one thing that’s always bugged me is that I always kind of disappoint myself. No, not in school (I don’t give a shit, frankly... I have the skills I need). But it’s just that you look at the things I do, while I’ve been “okay” at them, I’ve never been “amazing”. Back when I went to Roy H. Crosby, I remember Ms. Beale (I think that’s her name), told my parents that I’m a solid B student.

You know, a solid “B”. That is, I’m not crappy, but I’m not amazing either. I’m just average. And that’s kind of been the story of my life. If you’re me, and you look at the things some of your friends and acquaintances are doing, it disappoints you. It’s just that throughout high school and part of university career, I’ve always kind of accepted it and never tried to go beyond my limits. I was pretty content too.

But recently, that’s changed. I am not sure what happened, but sometime during my workterm at Denso, something snapped and I decided “Fuck it, I’m going to do something and I’m going to do a good job at it”. Maybe it was the philosophy at my workplace, maybe it’s because of Ringleader and Spoon, maybe it was just something that inherently came up. My girlfriend came along, a model of strength, and those feelings suddenly took on an urgent feeling. Now, I feel “alive” again, that is, I have clear goals and I actually have a want, a NEED, to achieve them. And I decided on my “thing” in life- and I’m going to become good at it. Scary good. And that is partially why I’ve been so busy lately.

It’s funny because I don’t tend to look down on other people- stereotype and mock, yes, but I never actually think to myself, “I am better than you”. But that has changed too. Now I look at people, and I KNOW I can compete, I KNOW I am better than 90% of the scrubs out there. You see those losers who go through university programs their parents chose for them, because they don’t know what they want to do in life? The idiots who are in engineering but don't realize that it's a crappy job if you don't like the stuff you do? Those people who think they’re on top of the world? Those emos who still haven't hit puberty at 20 some odd years of age? Emos? Pitiful. Let’s see them 5 years from now.

It’s the final 10% I’m after- I want to belong in the elite, and be the best I can be.And now, it’s just a matter of doing it. I know I can.

~Eastside

2009-02-05T03:26:00.003-05:00

Anybody still here?

Just so you know, since I'm in the midst of having an extremely eventful part of my life, I have exceptionally little time for this blog.

Therefore, don't expect to see much written before Reading Week. And even during Reading Week, I'm likely to be busy.

It's a good kind of busy though. Productive, and in a way, quite fun =)

~Eastside

2009-01-13T02:50:00.002-05:00

I wonder why I do keep doing this?

I wish I could let my own pride go sometimes. Why do I feel the need to argue something that I don't agree with? Why can't I just let it go?

Times like this, it just wasn't worth it.

~Eastside

2009-01-04T20:41:00.001-05:00

Now that I’m in residence and settled down, I finally, FINALLY have time to write a blog.

It has been a hectic month and a bit, but I’ll start from the top (from what I remember):

-Work term ended, and I scrambled to pack and generally get things done. The foosball table was left behind, as are a pair of my jeans (Need to still go buy another one tomorrow)

-I have *not* finished my Impreza model, but I have finished the interior. The only thing left is roll cage and exterior, but I’ll take my time with those. Which means I probably won’t be finishing it anytime soon, especially as I’ve left it in Markham

-I spent nearly my entire break with Rei. I think that in total, I only spent about 3 days away from her. 1 which I spent buttscratching, 1 where I crossed off a bunch of things from my to-do list, and one at Jacky’s b-day party. And despite the fact that we did a whole crapload of things (snowboarding, watching movies, going to the Ontario Science Centre – yes, very nerdy-, playing Halo 3, bothering her sister, copious amounts of food eating, meeting the family… and extended family… and friends, figuring out transportation, etc... everything basically, minus a roadtrip)… it felt rushed.

Despite all the stuff we did, I could say with a certain amount of sappiness that I was happiest when we were just sitting in the living room, lying on the couch together, with the Christmas tree and ikea star-curtain lights (like the ones on the windows at the Asian Legend at Metro Square) glowing in the background. During those moments, I feel really comfortable, and very strangely… safe. I nearly fell asleep every single time.

And on my way to school today, I felt really tired and grouchy, before realizing that a part of it was because I missed her. And unlike before, she isn’t a 30 minute drive way anymore.

-The reason? I’m not going back to Waterloo.

And here I have to make a confession. You know that period of time sometime last year where things went really badly for me? They went REALLY badly. I had to repeat a year, which was why I had an 8 month work term.

Of course, I didn’t really have the heart to tell anyone then, but now you know. And at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole world knew (some people can’t keep secrets).

In any case, shortly after that, I decided that I’ve had enough of Waterloo, and I started exploring my options. Failing that term, it became clear to me that even if I passed every single term after that, I will always be struggling, because the work load is way too damn high. The fact that my schedule is always loaded and I had no freedom to choose my courses made things worse. This has repercussions down the road, because I was also thinking about doing a Master’s of Engineering degree. And while I’m not exactly in a rush to begin “real life”, I wasn’t happy with the fact that I had to stay for another year.

During the summer term at Waterloo, I decided to spring for Windsor, for Mechanical Engineering- Automotive Option (the only school in Canada that has such a program). Basically it’s a CEAB Mechanical Engineering program with specialization in the automotive field. I figured that maybe a fresh start would re-motivate me. If I didn't like it, I can go back to Waterloo as I deferred for a semester to see how it's like. And well, since summer, this decision has become quite interesting, because during this time period I:

1. Witnessed the financiapocalypse, which basically destroyed everything related to the automotive industry- although luckily I *am* a mechanical so I have options
2. Saw another close shave with my grades, which showed me that I made the right choice in switching schools because the next 2-3 terms are going to be crazy
3. Met Rei. Who is much closer to Waterloo than Windsor.

As you can see, going to the University of Windsor has been and “up and down” sort of thing.

I am planning on taking a series of terms and 12-week summer courses to finish my degree by 2010… the same time as I was originally supposed to get my degree. And most likely, I’ll enter a graduate program somewhere to get my Masters of Engineering (not Applied Science as I don’t think the theoretical aspect is as useful)… hopefully in the GTA region or surrounding =P

As for the school and city itself? Well, U Windsor isn’t exactly the most beautiful campus, but it’s no worse than Waterloo, and is certainly more interesting. It is situated almost right underneath the Ambassador Bridge to the US, and there is even a public bus that takes you back and forth across the border underneath the tunnel. More importantly, places like Crappy Tire, Dollarama, Zellers, Wal-Mart, and A&P groceries are all a bike ride away.

And while I’m feeling cautious because I’m in a new school in a new university with new people (and guess what… there are actually Asians here!), and I feel a bit lonely for obvious reasons, I am also very excited to get started.

~Eastside

2008-12-22T04:25:00.003-05:00

It has been two weeks since I wrote a blog... and for good reason.

It's not that I don't have anything to write about (on the contrary), but I've been really busy moving around and haven't really had quality "bloggable" amounts of time and being left alone with a computer.

And it looks like it's going to be that way for a while.

So yes, just a brief note to show that I'm still alive and haven't forgotten about this corner of cyberspace =)

~Eastside

2008-12-08T17:35:00.001-05:00

So it seems that I will be ending my work term exactly 4 days early, on December 17th. Not 100% official, but I would say greater than 80% at this point. While I am somewhat saddened at the amount of money I will be leaving on the table, I am also glad that it means 4 extra days off. Especially now with the list of things I have to do piling up, and the fact that I want to spend lots of time with those closest to me, any amount of “time off” is appreciated.

~~~

Okay, so I realize that I am quite an impulsive person, or at least I seem that way. Apparently I seem to jump into things without a clue as to what I’m doing =/

While that is the case a few times, I do want to emphasize the fact that I *do* actually plan things out. Depending on the importance level of what I am doing, I never actually jump into anything without a clue as to possible consequences or future impacts. It just depends on the level of “detailed” planning I do.

For example, let’s talk about my motorcycle. I always had this thought in the back of my head, a bit after I started looking at them, that I was going to get one. What I did not know was when, where, or what kind. So in preparation, I took a motorcycle course the year before I got my motorcycle, and got my motorcycle license as a result. During that time, it was a win-win situation: If I get a motorcycle, this training and licensing would have been needed and useful anyways; if I didn’t, then I tried something new. Then I got word that the CBR125R was coming out, and decided to take a look. I knew looking at it that this was a great opportunity for taking the next step. I spent a fair amount of time looking at my financial situation, thinking about possible consequences or impacts down the road, even setting up a timeline for the short financing time I had and what it would mean for the rest of my university career, and the numbers worked out. So I went into the dealership and signed the papers. A month or so after, I received my shiny bike. While I didn’t plan in “detail” in terms of when or where or what kind of bike I was getting, I didn’t jump into this without preparation beforehand on the eventuality that I was going to get a bike, taking some hard looks at the numbers, sleeping on them and then making my decision after a few days of deliberation. In this kind of case, I just saw an opportunity that popped up suddenly and unexpectedly, and seized it.

What I found from experience is that the more detail planning you do, the more likely things are not going to go according to plan. It’s impossible- something is bound to crop up that’s unexpected or not to schedule. And then there’s Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong, will go wrong.” So I only do enough planning to get the job done, and then make up contingency plans because Murphy is bound to rear his ugly head up.

You have a different situation sometimes, something like the bigass Birthday parties that I always organize for Venus and my B-days (since our birthdays are 4 days apart). It was pretty clear to me, seeing the guest list of over 20 people that a LOT of planning and such was required, and so I planned… a lot. The guest list, rides, presents, the restaurant, keeping in constant communication… I even ended up creating a checklist on a moneybag for collecting “chip-ins” for the present, with spare change inside because I knew a ton of people would only have $20 bills and needed to break it. I mean, there were over 20 people that came! If I just did everything without planning, it would have been an absolute disaster… if it were just me who was screwed over and things went bad, I wouldn’t really mind, compared to if I was personally responsible for screwing 20 of my friends over. THAT would have been bad.
As it was, the dinner didn’t go off without a hitch, as the restaurant was being stupid and took years to set up our table. In this kind of case, I had to do detail planning because it was a pretty big event.

As an aside, I’d also like to say that having a woman aggressively come onto you on your birthday, showing up at the party when she said she wasn’t coming, refusing to chip-in for the gift for the birthday girl, and then systematically pissing off your closest friends when you don’t really know her (or even really talk to her), is also a somewhat traumatizing and extremely annoying distraction to deal with. I never mentioned this before because it was pretty plainly obvious to all my friends who were there what was going on, but the memory irks me even as of now. And stop stalking me.

Something I once did that approaches “impulsive” is the overnight roadtrip to Buffalo I went to, one time with my friends. No planning, no regards for anything, just an idea that came out of boredom and a few msn messages/phonecalls to friends. Even then, I was thinking about what needed to be done and “steps” to getting this trip going, in my head (since I’ve done it several times before). Of course, we got held up at the border… but then again, I ALWAYS get held up at the border. In this case, I mean how much planning is needed? You just have to find some free time, gas up the car, check your wallet, get your ID and go!

I am probably most close to impulsive when it comes to random day to day things. Things like going somewhere in Waterloo or getting back into painting and assembling models. But again, these aren’t exactly tasks that require a ton of brainwork.

The only other thing I can imagine that makes me seem impulsive is the fact that ideas randomly pop into my head. I don’t really think that’s being impulsive, rather than just having… well, ideas pop into my head. They pop up all the time, coming and going, but they only come out of my mouth or through my actions when I deem them “great ideas”. Having tons of random ideas at any one time is good brain exercise but it doesn’t really make me impulsive I don’t think.

I actually use careful judgment to determine what level of planning is required for the situation. Perhaps the only thing that you can truly accuse me of is that I’m not shy about trying out new things… and I try out new things a LOT. Also, having been put into a number of compromising situations in the past, I have developed confidence that I am able to handle almost any problem thrown my way, minus situations I have absolutely no control over, i.e. my parents, various “acts of god” or border police (not like planning would eliminate those problems anyways); so when I do something it might look like I have an attitude that suggests I’m either really naive or haven’t thought it completely through, when it’s actually just me being pretty confident about it. It helps that I react fast and don’t panic easily. Seriously, when people say I’m being impulsive, it just means that they’re slow and indecisive compared to me =P

~~~

I have a slight injury on my right index finger… I was bitten by a cat. I guess you can say that karma visited again, because I was teasing it quite a bit. Damn cats are really crafty, subtle creatures.

~~~

Oh, speaking of injuries, my right thumb that I injured near the end of the summer term is finally healing well. It should be good by the end of January I believe, but I did not realize that sprains took so long to heal. Full range of motion has returned, swelling has gone down significantly, and only slight pain when I bend it to the limit. I get the feeling that if I had spent some time massaging it, it would have healed faster. But at least it’s not an important muscle/tendon I injured (the important one being the muscle/tendons that allow your thumb to grip doorknobs and things).

~Eastside

2008-12-05T16:33:00.001-05:00

Okay, so apparently Honda is pulling out of Formula 1.

When I first heard inklings about it, I thought it was the most preposterous rumour I've ever heard. Why would Honda, a company that bases a large part of its engineering prowess and history on its racing, suddenly pull out of F1?

Granted, the team has had a dismal two seasons. The first season was an absolute disaster, especially in light of the fact that Honda won their first victory the year before, and a few years before that they placed second in the constructor's championship, behind perennial favourite Ferrari. But during that dismal season, Honda managed to hire Ross Brawn, who is by far the most competent technical director in the paddock today. Last season, the team underwent restructuring, not only in terms of in-house changes, but also in philosophy and approach to logistics and car design. Even though Honda didn't progress very far in terms of standings, Ross Brawn directed all funds and development time to the 2009 car and changed the structure of the team to put it in a position to win. Honda was poised to make a major move, so how could they pull out of Formula 1 NOW?

But yesterday I was startled to find more and more articles supporting that Honda is indeed pulling out of F1, and even Autosport.com is reporting this now (and AutoSport, unlike many of the other F1 news websites, does not BS and rumour-monger). And this morning, I found that even CP24 has reported on it.

If this is indeed true, then I am absolutely shocked. Not just shocked, but "disappointment" wouldn't even describe it right. This would be the worse racing related news I have heard in recent history, almost as bad as when Colin McRae died. It's just so unexpected... Based on past history I cannot believe that Honda would pull out of F1 without at least achieving a reasonable finish. To pull out now without much progress in the last season is akin to a dog limping away with its tail between its legs. It is utterly shameful.

This is a dark day for Honda fans.

The only reasonable justification I could see is the financiapocalypse, but Honda is poised to make within 1% of its projected profits for the year (within 1%! During these times!?), so could that really be a reason? I cannot imagine Takeo Fukui, the CEO of Honda and a race engineer himself, giving the go-ahead to pull out of F1, especially when he said in a recent interview that he wants Honda to be able to get a championship! There has GOT to be a deeper, more fundamental issue at stake, especially since this is happening at the very beginning of the new season and Honda is again, poised to make a big move. It just doesn't make any sense. I'm getting into the bottom of this, because I can't imagine that any Honda fan (especially the guys over at TOV) being very happy about this either.

~~~

In other sad news, last week there was a stabbing at a kid's birthday party. Apparently some psychopathic guy came in, slashed two kids with a knife, and then attacked the parents. The wife and mother tried to defend her husband, and died while doing so. She was declared a hero, and it was rightfully deserved. The oldest son avoided the attacker, along with his cousin. The attacker was shot dead by police when he tried to attack them.

Then on Wednesday, one of the kids (a 3 year old), succumbed to his injuries and died in hospital. I was already sad when I heard about that, and thought about the struggles the father and his two remaining kids would have as they crawled through life trying to put this tragedy and horror show behind them. Man lost his wife and child, kids lost their mother and brother. Then this morning, I heard on CP24... that the father passed away as well.

Now, I normally don't blog about these kinds of these because you hear them happen all the time, but this incident is particularly horrifying and "tragic" is describing it lightly. Can you imagine something happening like this on a kid's birthday? I mean, it was a day of celebration, for presents and cake and memories. I can't even imagine a family having three kids being anything but unhappy. And what did it turn into?

A friggin' bloodbath. Both parents, one child dead. One still in hospital recovering, and another unharmed but had to witness everything with his own eyes. And now I can only wonder... what now? Those two kids are going to be scarred for life (assuming the last one makes it), witnessing that kind of violence and having their loved ones ripped out of their lives. They have lost their youngest brother and both parents, and even if they live with their grandparents or relatives, I cannot imagine that they will ever be able to live a normal life, ever again. It is enough that 3 people died... but this is now a broken family. Which is the worst part of all.

You only ever hear about these kinds of things in movies and tragic plays. But here it happened in real life... Life can be utterly cruel, and it is expected to be cruel... but this has to be worst kind of hell for all those closely affected. This is Black Friday.

Rest in peace. And peace for the rest.

~~~

Holy crap! Two weeks and a few days left until I'm done work and am back in Markham, getting ready for next term. This is shocking (as you can tell, it's been a shockfest throughout the term)!

I was trying to think about things the three of us at Fooners HQ didn't do but should do before the term ends... but honestly, the list is very short. I mean, obviously there's snowboarding, and we *have* to make a video before we leave. But otherwise?

There really isn't much. In fact, as Rei pointed out, it was a good thing that this was a work term because it's almost too much action-packed explosive entertaining excitement packed into 4 months than I should technically care for. So much stuff went on (just read through my blog entries)... I mean sure, maybe there could have been a roadtrip to some random far off place (not New Hamsburg) and maybe we could have explored more of Waterloo (The trip to the 24 hour Wal-Mart highlighted the awesome/randomness of travelling with friends to new places) and/or went to a few fine adult beverage drinking establishments together, and certainly we had our ups and downs, but seriously? Best term evarrr, except maybe for 1A.

I even managed to delve a bit deeper into the insane mind of Spoon and the paradoxical... ness of Ringleader. I realize if you took my nerdiness, confidence, emotionality and logical thinking; melded the three of us together, we would become the most "complete" person in the world, encompassing any and all possible faucets of humanity. If we were one person, we would be scary good, extremely powerful... and hawt. Seriously, the three of us are like a tripod... we complete each other and if one of us fell, the rest of us would as well =P

Two weeks. Must finish Impreza model, must go snowboarding as much as possible (even if by myself on some days), must plan for Blue Mountain trip, must think about presents for various people for Christmas. Must start thinking about what's next down the road.

And must get off my ass to make this term as complete as possible. Seize the moment, right? =)

[Update]

I just went into an emergency meeting at our plant, and it was very grave news indeed.

Apparently, Toyota is shutting down for almost 14 days for the rest of December and early January. In fact, they are completely closing for the entire first week of January alone. This goes along with the news that earlier Ford also said it was shutting down for the entire first week of January off. So far, the only customer that hasn't done this is Honda, but it is quite probable that they will announce similar cuts very soon. I knew coming into the meeting that this is likely to happen, but our president's words were very grave and the room was nearly silent.

Obviously, being one of Denso's biggest suppliers, this affects the plant quite a bit. As soon as Denso received word, the upper management team had a meeting, and it was determined that employees would be required to take leave of absenses or vacation days on Fridays when Toyota isn't producing cars, and during the entire first week of January. While I'm not entirely sure what this means for us, it is probable that I'm going to finish my work term as early as the 18th as even office staff are required to take LOAs and vacation days.

While I appreciate the extra days off, it also means a week of pay, simply gone.

The thing is, it could be worse, and I mean that in the most literal sense. Denso is fortunate to have Honda and Toyota as its main customers, along with Ford (who is the best shape of the big 3 and isn't in serious trouble)... today, GM announced it was cutting a third shift, and that meant about 700 jobs down the drain. I shudder to think about what would happen if the president of Denso had to make a similar announcement of layoffs... or a plant closing. Again, Denso is fortunate because it is in a strong position. The president made it clear that he realizes how much this affects everybody, and called the emergency meeting because everybody needs to know, now. Lastly, they're trying to schedule production days so that it minimizes the effects on people (cutting production on Fridays instead of random days during the week definitely helps with less disruption), and he asks all of us for our co-operation.

The nice thing about Japanese-based companies are that they treat employees well (i.e. they don't believe in layoffs). I actually do care about the well-being of this particular company and this particular plant so I hope that they pull through.

~Eastside

2008-12-04T17:07:00.002-05:00

Some more thoughts about what transpired last night for the Raptors:

Bryant Colangelo was apparently thinking about this decision for a while. It wasn’t just the loss to the Denver Nuggets when the Raptors were down by about 40 points at times, but also the blown lead in Boston to the Celtics… and that loss to New Jersey when Wince threw the dunk down with 2.1 seconds left on the clock (clearly BC isn’t a big VC fan either).

Now, this firing has several implications, obviously. With Jay Triano taking over on an “interim” basis (BC wants him around until the end of the season), we now have the first Canadian NBA coach in history. The interesting thing is that while Jay Triano has been an assistant coach in the NBA for 7 years, he has never played in, nor head-coached in the NBA. His resume includes playing for, and coaching, the Canadian national team (which as you know, isn’t very exciting and failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics).

The other implication is where the blame would go should the Raptors finish the season on a low note. The thing was that BC ”inherited” Smitch, who was originally hired by former GM Rob Babcock, the man behind the ill-received VC trade (but who was also the man who gave us Jose Calderon, Roko Ukic… and Joey Graham). So basically, if the team underperformed, BC could place the blame squarely on Smitch (like he just did). When BC took the reins to the Raptors franchise, Smitch still had a year left on his contract and BC was probably thinking about replacing him when his contract was up, but then the unexpected happened: The Raptors won 47 games that year and the Atlantic Division title. And Smitch won the coach of the year award. At this point, could BC really have hired someone else? If he didn’t, the uproar in the NBA would have been enormous. Perhaps his biggest mistake was giving Smitch a long contract, but then most of the big names available for hire at the moment is asking for the same thing (Avery Johnson, Eddie Jordan are all looking for 5-6 year contracts).

With Smitch now gone and BC hand picking a coach that HE wants, there can be no more excuses. If Triano does not help this team to a decent finish, and advance to the second round of the playoffs, even if he’s only an interim coach, the blame would rest squarely on BC.

~~~

BC also hinted that he was thinking about tearing parts of the Raptors down and rebuilding. While our big 3 frontcourt has been performing to expectations, players like Kapono have not been doing well. Frankly, I feel that the blame rests partly on the coaching and partly on the player (coaching because not enough offensive schemes are called out to get Kapono open looks; Kapono himself for continually doing that stupid “pump fake, dribble, travel, turnover” move and for waddling like a penguin). It’s not just Kapono- our bench in general is very weak, especially in the 2/3 positions (Roko is growing up very fast). I am not sure if a complete teardown of the team is necessary, as I believe that just having a good slashing wing player or small forward would be the final piece of the puzzle. Calderon can not penetrate on his own (especially without a high pick), so even with the great job he’s been doing he needs help in the form of someone he can give the ball to in crunch time and have that someone go to work. Surprisingly, Joey Graham, now that we’re seeing more of his good than bad, could be that player (in spurts).

In any case, the Raptors have a huge amount of salary cap space cleared for the 2010 season. Several expiring contracts, including JO’s giant $20.1 million, means that the Raptors could sign almost whoever they want. I hope that JO sticks around for one more contract though (maybe offer him $7 mil a year… if he’s willing to take that), as he’s providing a kind of defensive toughness not seen since the days of Antonio Davis. And because he’s now my favourite Raptor (I have his jersey).

~~~

You know what kind of reputation Raptors fans have throughout the league? We’re by far the craziest. Not in terms of “throwing beer on Ron Artest and causing a brawl” levels of crazy, but in terms of what happens when an NBA team plays in a hockey-centric city. Simply put, when the Raptors win, the level of optimism is bordering on ridiculous; when the Raptors lose, people want this person traded or that person fired and then people start writing the Raptors off… which is even more ridiculous. What is most ridiculous of all is the arrogance that “fans” of the game have. I am constantly hearing “the fans deserve better” or “the fans have been saying blah blah blah”… it’s almost like the team owes them something. Sure, the select few who actually attend NBA games for a spectacle should be shown some respect as they’ve taken the time to watch and be involved (not to mention generously open their wallets), but when a fan feels like they are owed something, that is simply wrong.

This also touches on another pet peeve I have- people who act as “arm-chair” GMs and Coaches. I mean, it’s one thing to see the action happening on the TV screen, but have you ever wondered why there are so few people who make it in the NBA? It’s easy to criticize in hindsight, but I guarantee that most people in Smitch’s shoes wouldn’t be able to do better. The NBA is the best basketball league in the world, and you really think you can do better than the people in it? What irks me the most is when people who normally don’t WATCH the Raptors start making suggestions. Seriously, stick to hockey or baseball if you don’t even know what a Pick and Roll is.

That being said, the Raptors also are fortunate for having probably one of the largest fan bases in the NBA, with several sold out games. Many fans are passionate, knowledgeable… and most importantly, actually care about the team, its executives, and its players. The Raptors are fortunate to have such a fan base when other teams are struggling for attendance, even if there are a few idiots in the mix.

~~~

About certain players: While I am not enamoured at the regression of Moon from last year, Kapono’s lack of effectiveness or Will Solomon’s… whatever it is he’s doing out there, there have been many positives too.

Technically, the conversation can begin and end at Chris Bosh. I can not stress enough how good this guy is now. After his role in the US national team’s victory at the Beijing Olympics (where he also shot the highest percentage and had a defensive presence that was sorely needed), he’s come back and has become monstrous. With Jermaine O’Neal taking much of the defensive pressure off Bosh (no longer has to guard opposing centers), he is free to work his craft on the offensive end. Let me tell you this: a player who is 7 feet tall, with an extremely explosive first step, a face up game that leaves opposing big men confused, and deadly accurate mid-range jumpshot is an offensive force. Not many opposing big men can guard that combination. Chris Bosh has been putting up some big numbers, averaging a double double (nearly 27 ppg… second in the league behind Lebron James – and he’s a POWER FORDWARD-, and 11 rpg), scoring 40 points or more in at least 2 games, scoring 30 points or more in… at least 4 that I recall, and scoring 20 or more in at least 8. I am not kidding when I say that if the Raptors had a better record, Bosh would be in legitimate MVP talks. Back in the day, many claimed that he would never go beyond a “barely” All Star, that he’ll reach his peak very soon and he wouldn’t be able to do much after that. Well, he is beyond a “regular” All Star now, and if he keeps up this development then who knows what he can do. After all, the man is only 24….

There are a lot of other players I want to talk about too though. For one, Andrea Bargnani. Last year was a brutal year for this guy, as he regressed from his Rookie year, but he’s made a large step forward this year. By far his biggest improvement is his defence. He is actually amongst the leaders right now in blocked shots per game, and even when Smitch inserted him into the three position, he has been able to keep quicker, smaller opponents in front of him. Also, he now has a post game. When he was drafted, the man was nearly allergic to the low post, because he did not know how to bang with opposing bigs and play with his back to the basket. He was a shooter back then, and that was his biggest weakness as teams simply put a man near him at the arc and he wouldn’t be able to shoot. Last year, he “tried” to do more in the paint, but that involved a head down, right handed hard dribble straight to the basket, without regard for whoever was in his way (which resulted in offensive turnovers galore). Now though, with hard summertime training and 15 added pounds of muscle to his upper body he is aggressive, and has a series of layups and turn around jumpers that makes him much harder to guard. His drives to the rim are more in control, and when I saw him live vs. the Nets, I saw one play where he drove to his left, dribbling and finishing with his left hand. It might seem like a small thing, but that is a massive improvement. He will never be a Chris Bosh in the paint, but he can be pretty good… you couple that with his defensive abilities and his silky smooth long range bombs (a 7 footer with a 3 point range is very rare), and he has the potential to be scary good. Like Dirk Nowitzki, except maybe even better. He still has a long way to go, but he’s not doing too badly with 16 points per game… the important thing is that he’s young, he’s improving, and he now has confidence to play on despite things like bad shooting nights or foul trouble.

Roko Ukic is also getting better. He was pretty bad in the first couple of games the Raptors played, but each time he’s shown significant improvements. If he could actually develop a jump shot, he could be a very, very good backup point guard. Especially as he is able to penetrate by himself to the rim, unlike Calderon, allowing the Raptors more versatility. If he continues development like this he would be another gift that Babcock left behind.

~~~

Last night was $4 Martini night at Symposium, in Guelph. Martinis are girly drinks, but with them normally going for about $8 at bars and lounges, can you afford NOT to have them? I would have had more than four, but their selection was miniscule. Both Rei and Wendy had ze asian glow after one drink *rolls eyes*. Symposium’s Swiss Cheese and Mushroom burger, and Jack Daniel’s Flat Iron steak are extremely good, if you’re ever in the area.

~~~

Okay, so apparently Chicopee opens on December 11th. Which clearly is teh sux as I have to wait another week =0 Could be worse… the snow has absolutely melted and is now the consistency of hardened slush.

Spoon also reported that the Turnkey desk is selling packages of 3 Chicopee ski lift tickets for $50. I believe they are 4 hour tickets (which may as well be considered a whole day for me), so at $16 that is not bad at all…. Especially when you consider that Lakeridge costs a whopping $42 or so (which is odd considering they aren’t *that* good, yet cost similar to better places like St. Louis) for a lift ticket. Last year, Chicopee also had a deal on Tuesdays where you get to ski for the whole day for only $10. I’m not sure if they have that this year, but it’s a hell of a deal.

~Eastside

2008-12-03T18:41:00.000-05:00

Two updates:

1. Rei is scary strong. I mean it. She is so strong I am convinced that if she got into a fight with a couple of my friends, she would badly injured them.

2. SAM MITCHELL WAS FIRED! I was just talking about this early today, and even though I can't say I didn't see something like this happening, it's still a shock. Jay Triano is taking over for the interim, but oh my goodness... where do the Raps go from here?

~Eastside

2008-12-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

Last night's Raptors game was the worst I have seen in a while. It was like right from the start of the game the Raptors played sloppy... well, sloppy would be an understatement.

They sucked.

It's as if they didn't even really care about the game. After watching the Raptors putting up clanger after clanger while standing and watching as various Nuggets make shots, I turned the TV off right when the 2nd quarter ended. That one play where Kapono was supposed to shoot the three, but instead passed it to Joey (who travelled and turned the ball over), only for Chauncey Billups to make a clutch 3 with 2.7 left made it clear that this game was not something anybody should have to watch. It was technically over early in the 2nd quarter. The final score is apparently one for the record books of suck, but damn....

For once, I can't put the blame on any particular player, the coaches, or anything. This time, they was horrible, collectively as a team... and that is obviously a serious problem. They played like D-leaguers last night. Smitch was at a loss for words after the game, and there was a player's only meeting back at the hotel to figure something out. That's how serious it is.

I am not sure if now is the time for changes, as it is still fairly early in the season and nothing is going to pop up in terms of wheelings and dealings until early next year. This game is also not indicative of the Raptors normal level of play. I can't imagine BC enjoying the crap-fest he saw happening right before his eyes however, so I think he's going to take a long hard look at his roster... and if the Raptors continue to play bad, he might pop over the salary cap limit and find a player to fill the 2 or 3 spot. You can bet the man is always working the phones trying to find way to improve the team, but he's also pretty patient. And while I don't think Smitch is a bad coach, you can bet that BC is also thinking about a replacement. Smitch is great at keeping players working together as a team, but he's not exactly a great tactician (high pick and roll, aka "horns up", seems to be about the extent of his offensive creativity).

~~~

Despite all this news about the financiapocalypse, I doubt that many of us are actually that affected by it. At least amongst my circle of friends, I do not recall more than one or two who just bought a new car (depreciation and financing/lease issues); certainly nobody bought a freaking house (bigggg drop in values).

But then I recently looked at motorcycle prices, and they have absolutely plummeted. The value of my CBR125R hasn't changed by more than a few hundred bucks (ahhhh, the wonders of having a bike that is in demand, is frugal and is already so freaking cheap to begin with that depreciation isn't a huge factor) but in the used bike market, the value of the 500+cc bikes have absolutely dropped. That extends to new bikes as well, as I'm finding bikes like the CBR600RR selling for as low as $8K (that is about $4.5K cheaper than list price!!) in dealerships.

The reason is pretty simple- motorcycles nowadays are seen as more of a plaything than an actual commuter vehicle. The only exceptions to the rule are certain low displacement sport/touring motorcycles. And since times are pretty lean, the toys are the first things to be chopped from the "to buy" list.

So what does this all mean? For me, it means that I'm going to be holding onto the CBR125R for a number of years. I'm thinking about 3-5 years (depreciation will hit bottom with it being worth about $2000 or so), with the only exception being that I pass my M- license test next year and manage to trade the bike for a decent used car through kijiji or something. I can always upgrade in the future once I get my M-license, and now I have experience in biking and buying/selling vehicles (and broader knowledge on how the economy, and depreciation, works). Maybe I'll pick up a 400cc sports bike down the road, when I'm 25 and insurance rates go way down, but I've had a ton of fun motorcycling and am willing to try something new -the budget project car- when funds allow.

For YOU, it means that if you're in the market for a car or bike, used or new, you can find some pretty damn good deals. Besides the aforementioned high end bikes, you can also find luxury cars with something like $8-$10K off the sticker price. $8-10K! That is nuts! With that kind of price, you might even be inclined to feel sorry for the dealership (pay them an extra $200 to help them survive if you do buy a vehicle... you'll still be ahead and these guys are really hurting).

And yes, now is a good time to buy a house if you have the ability. Not just in Canada, but prices have absolutely plummeted in the States. Houses that once cost over $350K can now be found for $110K in places like Cali, and if that's not a steal I don't know what is.

~~~

I ran out of lacquer primer for my car model last night. I am okay for about a week as I paint and assemble the parts that I have primed, but J&J hobby in Waterloo does not carry it and the only place I have found it in is RC Hobbies back in Markham- a problem as I am not planning on going back until basically the end of my term (unless something weird happens). I've asked Spoon through email (since I won't see him until Sunday night) if he could pick up a can since he's heading back to Markham for the weekend.

If you want to know, yes, it has to be that kind of primer. I have never seen a better primer on the market (even though I'm pretty sure there must be some out there).

~~~

As for why I won't see him until Sunday night? Due to unforeseen levels of crazy, I won't be back at Fooners HQ until Friday night =D

~Eastside

Irony

2008-12-02T11:59:00.002-05:00

Can this really be coincidence? I am astonished and somewhat in awe that something like this could happen when it did.

My good friend Karma has struck again, apparently, and claimed another victim. And while I should feel compassion and pity, deep inside, the evil part of me knew it was coming... and well deserved.

~~~

Model car progress: about 40% complete. Spent an hour or so yesterday putting the finished pieces onto the car, and voila... steerable and movable front suspension! I broke the front tie rod.... in two places.... due to my lack of finesse, but a bit of plastic cement and patience and I managed to fix it. Still, have to be careful with the thin plastic pieces from now on. And even though this model can be steered and rolled around, somehow I don't think the car was meant as a child's plaything. Although the paint isn't perfect, I am pretty proud of the job I did on the brake rotors, especially since it was basically my first time hand painting and I had to make do with a... less than optimal paintbrush (imagine trying to do surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpal and that's how my paintbrush felt).

My biggest mistake so far is my usage of old mixed paint. I had a lot of gloss black mix left over from my last model, but what I didn't realize was this was a bad idea. Apparently paint, when thinned with water or alcohol, degrades. It also dries on the sides of the jar, so you end up with bits of dried paint floating around. The result is that when you spray it, the paint comes out really bumpy and the gloss is not even. Fortunately, this only occurred when I painted the suspension pieces, so it actually adds to the 'cast aluminum' effect instead of making it look like crap, but it's something I'm keeping in mind from now on.

By far the biggest improvement to my technique is my paint mixing/thinning. Switching to alcohol from water and using the proper ratio (the trick, as the intarwebz told me, is to thin paint until it has the consistency of thin milk when spray painting; and slightly more viscous than that when hand painting) does wonders, as the paint comes out of my airgun easily, it doesn't run on the car, covers a wide area and dries extremely quickly. Because of the proper paint mixing, I'm using less paint and wasting less as well.

Also, I think I'm leaning towards painting the car body when I get to that point. I figure that since I've already invested so much time (and just a bit of cash: it's cost me somewhere south of $75, which is pretty cheap in hobby term, to get all the supplies and materials for this model... including the table, drawer and tools, which is an investment more than anything as I'll be using them for everything), I might as well do a good job and pony up another $16 (Mica Blue spraypaint + clearcoat... add another $12 if I need to get another can of lacquer spray primer) for a good body shell. It's too late to paint the chassis itself, but looking at it now, it's not that important... especially since there's so much junk attached to it that the minor flaws can't really be seen anyways. The important bits are going to be the body shell and the wheels. And since Spoon gave me this model kit, and especially since this will be the last car model I do for a while (with, you know, school coming up), I might as well do it as well as I can in one go.

Hmm... I still have my S2000 sitting there waiting to be made =P

~~~

I've pretty much had it with my hair, and in a fit of desperation (since it's not likely that I'll be cutting my hair until New Year's) and determination (it's out of control and the madness must stop as hair keeps getting into my eyes), I took a pair of scissors to it. Despite the fact that I am clumsy with my left hand and I couldn't see the back of my head... I did a pretty decent job with my "trim". If you can even call it that: the amount of hair I took off was amazing, like shaving a normal person's head... except even after having that much hair gone I still have perhaps too much. Needs a bit more adjustment but I'm pretty happy with it. It'll last me to the end of December so that's satisfactory.

Hmm, maybe I have some talent as a hair "cutter" (not stylist)? It kind of reminds me of the time I pointed out to Rei in a picture that she had really nice long straight hair once (now she has this really cool really short haircut)... only to find out she cut it herself because the hairstylists never do a good job =O

~~~

Thinking about going back to the gym tonight for a brief workout... not likely that I'll be able to ball, although we'll see. After my huge workout on Friday night, I'm already feeling the benefits, and am determined to do more. The trick here is not really to "gain" muscle, but to "build it". That means in addition to weights, I'm going to do quite a bit of plyometrics and "fast" activities to get my explosiveness and reaction time up. If I try to "gain" muscle like I did the previous year, it's just going to slow me down, and turn to fat as soon as I stop exercising. Seriously, you know all those guys with big biceps? It's all for show. You bump them even a tiny bit in basketball and they go flying, and they have surprisingly weak grip and strength considering their arms are nearly half the radius of their heads. Generally, it seems that guys with lots of muscle do poorly in sports like basketball... they just aren't athletic, too slow and too out of breathe. It's only on the rare occasion when you see guys who are "built" for athleticism (lots of muscle... but different from people who just "gain" muscle) play... and those guys are scary.

It kind of makes me wish I was back at Exco engineering. During that time period, due to the physical nature of my job I was built like a rock by the end of the term, even though I was still very lean. I think it was my strength and the beginnings of my attitude during those days that inspired a whole bunch of my friends to start working out and take their health more seriously. Those days are long past, but doesn't mean I can't be even better than before =)

~~~

I had a pretty crazy weekend too. Thank you ^_^

~~~

It's not so much a slow day at work as it is me not feeling like doing work. Obviously really bad, but right now my main task consists of cutting lengths of wire, which is tedious and utterly boring.

~Eastside

I will be the best I can be. For you.

2008-11-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

12 hours of sleep never felt so good, but it also means that I only got about 3 hours of sunlight as the sun went down at 5 =/

It's been a pretty tough week. Lots of work, fighting off sickness (successfully), and on Friday night I went to the gym with Air Lai to get back into the swing of basketball.

Before that, I did some weight and cardio training... for which I have not done in about a month. My upper body has shrank, so I did a pretty thorough regimen including complete upper body training (I mean complete. At least five different machines for my arms/shoulders, upper back, pecs and lat pulldowns), as well as working on my lower back and abdomen. After that, Air Lai and I headed to the hardwood court.

And damn, it really startled me how much I can regress. My body already didn't feel right to begin with, but I didn't have any balance and my shoes felt loose, which are inexcusable. I almost rolled over my ankles quite a few time trying to guard this guy who kept driving left and getting in layups.

That guy was pretty good, but I feel that I SHOULD have been able to stop him, as he wasn't THAT good. I was trying to make him drive left and go to the baseline to seal him off, but I was always a step too slow getting there and being 3 on 3, you can't count on teammates stepping in to help double him once he gets to the baseline (also, 3 on 3 tends to be a case of "defence=waiting to get back on offence"). After a few rounds we switched up the teams and I did much better job guarding one of the other guys, keeping him from driving and outscoring him.

Once again, my shot has completely left me, but this time I do know why: I'm panicking and not setting myself up properly. I tried driving to the rim as well but I lacked the explosiveness to really finish (trying to get a soft touch), so half the time my shots got blocked (although half those times I was also fouled). I did get quite a few points because the guy guarding me fell asleep a couple of times and I was completely left alone under the basket for layups, but that's not really saying much at all.

I tried to post up a couple of times, and I got really good looks when I spun underneath the net, but I couldn't finish because my layups are too strong off the backboard. This part should be simple to fix as it's a matter of getting the right touch. I got great position and looks, which is the important part.

It's clear that I need to go back to the gym more often to practice. I already felt quite a bit stronger this afternoon when I woke up (although tomorrow I'm going to feel sore as it takes two days for me to feel the pain from working out), and with more practice I am confident I can continue improving as a basketball player.

I haven't played with Air Lai for quite a while, so it was also interesting seeing him play again. He kind of reminds me of rookie Andrea Bargnani with his outside shots =D

Final thing I have to think about are my shoes. I only wore a single pair of socks today so that probably had something to do with it, but damn, they were LOOSE, and I don't think it entirely has to do with my lack of balance and ankle strength. They've broken in quite nicely, but I need even more stability when I drive because it feels wobbly at times. I tightened my shoelaces (but that was bad because it started to hurt my feet as circulation was restricted), and I wiped the bottom of my soles for cleaner grip, but it still didn't feel quite right. Something to think about in the future.

~~~

The next time I go back to Markham I'm going to head to Markham Outdoor Power to order some parts for my CBR125R. It's sitting in my garage and not only do I need to do maintenance (I need a new spark plug, front fairing, air filter and valve cover gasket for my valve check), but I want to order some new parts for it as well.

And I should probably order parts for my CT70 now. I don't think the Canadian dollar is going to rise back up anytime soon and I don't think about $10 CAD extra is THAT big of a deal.

~~~

Speaking of buying stuff, my CPU STILL HASN'T ARRIVED. Luckily there's a tracking number, but apparently after it was checked in at the mail office there has been no further word on it... and that was back in October 6th! I sent an inquiry to the seller a while ago, who wrote back immediately that he'll be on it. It's not his fault, but if the post office lost it I hope I can get a refund.

~~~

I'm going to spend this weekend to relax. Watch stuff on the computer, do chores, work on my car model... Ringleader will be heading home for two weeks, and Spoon is away every weekend so I get some "me" time here alone.

Although, I really wish I was able to spend that time with Rei, who is in the midst of finals =/ Looking forward to after December 11th =)

~~~

"Something About Us" by Daft Punk

2008-11-27T22:52:00.007-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving day for our neighbours down south, but honestly, it might as well have been a holiday for me as well. Well, at least it seemed like one after work.

Time, when it's limited, is precious. As Ray Kurzweil was quoted in Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines album said, "Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.", so you never take these kinds of moments for granted (of course, R.K. was talking about death).

The grill was very good.

"Digital Love" by Daft Punk

~Eastside

2008-11-26T16:12:00.002-05:00

There's something wrong with me: After months of thriftyness, I suddenly have the urge to buy a ton of crap. Maybe my recent trip to the dollar store for a "splurge" (Yeah, a splurge that involved $12 worth of dollar store stuff =P) was what triggered this, but for sure I have to be careful. Luckily, I have enough self control (and it only takes me a brief look at my bank account) to prevent myself from doing something stupid and spending a ton of money at once on something. But it's like an itch I can't scratch. I'm twitching in my seat trying to prevent myself from going onto New Enough or Wired Sport and checking out those amazing deals. And I found myself looking at DSLRs yesterday... although the price tag quickly turned me away, and made me realize that fixing my mom's old Canon SLR and taking photo developing lessons would be cheaper.

There's also the fact that I'm heading on a short roadtrip with Rei, the distinct possibility that I will be heading to Blue Mountain with friends, my M level license test next Spring (I'm not sure if I should take the course or if I should just go directly to the MTO to get a M2 exit test, as I've had quite a bit of experience riding now)... oh, and I have to survive through school term too.

I was expecting that borrowing the car for this term would cost me big, but apparently that has not been the case. While the Canadian dollar is in the crapper, making all purchases across the border somewhat undesirable (especially higher priced items), it has resulted a wonderful side effect: I have been spending a LOT less on gas then I was planning on. Yesterday I filled up at $0.729 a litre (I haven't seen 7x cent gas for ages), whereas during the summer it reached the astronomical sum of $1.43 a litre. If you do a direct comparison, gas was TWICE as expensive during the summer than it is now. Which means that at the pump right now, I'm saving over $40 per fillup.

$40 per fillup. Can you imagine? That is staggering, especially since my mom's thirsty truck (hey, it's proven extremely useful throughout its life) has to be filled up at least once a week. $40 is groceries for more than a week. $40 saved up over a number of weeks is anything from food to clothes to toys. $40 is a LOT.

It's a good thing I was riding my motorcycle during the summer, as even when gas reached its peak I only paid about $8 for a "full fillup" (the power of 105 mpg is not to be underestimated)... if I had the truck then I'd have been completely pwned (i.e. I'd literally be paying about 1,050% more times more per fillup). Seriously, how did people survive during those times?

~~~

Mmm, anyways...

Tighten screws on FLOW bindings to OPTION Eclipse snowboard (still really damn sexy)... check.

Put a leash between left boot and left binding... check.

Install stomp pad by using Spoon's "turbo" hairdryer (weaaak... must be Winson levels of turbo boost)... check.

Clean bottom with alcohol and rewax thoroughly... check.

Take out Burton jacket that my awesome awesome friends bought for me (that has a billion pockets and features); attach lock and ski goggles... check.

Buy snow pants at Wal-Mart to make up for motorcycle pants left at home... eh, sorta check. It cost $18 only but it's thin as hell, especially compared to my uber thick and super duty motorcycle pants... probably should buy a pair of long underwear to go along with it... or just wear jeans.

Snow... *Looks outside of office windows and sees wall of white* Check, check and/or check.

Come onnn Chicopee, open them doors!

~~~

Okay, so I'm apparently going to a "grill" tomorrow. I was apparently "warned", so I'm not so sure it will be a pleasant experience. Must be brave and honest -_-

~~~

Can you believe that it's already November 26? In less than a month, this work term will be over and it's back to "reality". I wish that it lasted longer... but I guess this forces me to use the time I got, wisely. This work term as a whole has been pretty busy, pretty eventful... and pretty good.

Actually, more than pretty good. It has been by far the best work term I've ever had.

~Eastside

2008-11-25T17:19:00.000-05:00

You can always tell how busy I am at work by the time and length of my blog postings.

So it's pretty clear that the last few days have been pretty busy, as I finally had enough work to last me through more or less the entire day. I've got some time on my hands now, since I can't use Solidedge at the moment to do floorplan layouts (We only have two network licenses, so once two people are using it, no more can).

Nothing much has been happening the past few days. Ringleader went home Monday after work (he's returning today), Spoon has been busy with his own stuff, and I've been at home taking care of myself. For some reason, on Sunday I had the beginnings of a sore throat (which more or less disappeared after a night of sleep), followed by burning sinusses (since disappeared), followed by throbbing headaches (since disappeared). I feel fine now, although looking at my behaviour over the last few days, I have a feeling that my brain isn't quite working 100% as of yet. I was planning on going to the gym tonight (my upper body has completely disappeared and I need to work on my pump faking/shots) and I'm not so sure if that's a good idea since it feels like I just beat the sickness. Maybe another night of rest and I should be good to go. I will, however, visit Conestoga and perhaps Wal-Mart tonight out of boredom. Yeah, not very exciting I know =/

What IS exciting, however, is the fact that Chicopee ski resorts is on the verge of opening again! Check out the snow webcam... mmm... ground looks fresh, although I'm not so sure if it's powder as opposed to little chunks of ice, considering the weather over the past few days. Im going to spend some time tonight prepping my board (waxing, installing stomp pad, threading a leash on, putting loc-tite on screws, etc.), and ask Spoon to get us some vouchers from the Turnkey Desk at U-dub. Oh man, I'm looking forward to going sideways down a hill again =D

Chicopee isn't exactly a top calibre snow resort. Let's face it, the runs are barely larger than some hills you find in people's backyards, and most end in under a minute. The good thing about it is that it's cheap (You can typically find vouchers and employee discounts that include a 4 hour lift ticket for a measly $16), and the gentle sloping hills are some of the best for developing your skills as a beginner. It's also open late as it has lights on the runs, which is convenient for weekday runs. Snowboarding in the night is a surreal experience, as Ringleader and I can attest to when we went for the first time last year, in the middle of an enormous blizzard (Balaclavas are a godsend; when every inch of skin is covered up even the fiercest snowstorm has little effect on your level of warmth and comfort).

The best ski resort I've gone to so far is St. Louis, a bit past Barrie. The place at least resembles a mountain, and some of the runs seemingly last forever. My best memory from that place was this one run where Nayfooner, Ringleader and I engaged in an epic battle all the way down, dodging people, trees, ice, and having tons of near misses. This is where our skills rapidly "advanced", not because we were trying to learn fast but because the situation necessitated it. At the beginning of that day, I was having trouble switching from heel to toe; by the end of it, I was leaning over so far on some carves that my hand was on the ground scraping the powder.

Hmm, maybe I should visit Blue Mountain later this year =)

~Eastside

2008-11-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

Now that I think about it, who am I to talk?

I have no self control whatsoever. It really is a mythical ability/attribute. I am somewhat responsible enough to do things when I am supposed to, and not do things I'm not supposed to. But sometimes it's hard... so so hard =/ Resisting urges and keeping focused just ends up draining will, energy and brain juice.

~Eastside

2008-11-23T21:08:00.001-05:00

I guess this is something that can be filed under the "extremely obvious" category of statements, but 3 on 3 half court ball is not the same as 5 on 5 full court.

While I do well enough in 3 on 3, in 5 on 5 it's a completely different animal. It's not the fact that you are playing against unfamiliar people, as in 3 on 3 the tendency is for you to play with 5 new faces; but simply put, you rely much, much more on teamwork than on anything else. There is a TON more space in 3 on 3 for you to develop your skills, but in 5 on 5 the paint is so crowded that it's tough to move around. If teammates are not spaced out properly or create space for you, it becomes infinitely worse. The NBA courts are actually slightly larger and the 3 point arc is moved farther away, so these guys have a ton of room to operate; in "real life" ball, that's not the case.

The only solution to this is to play more 5 on 5 ball. But that in itself is difficult- while Joseph frequently hosts Ballology sessions at Denison Park, we rarely have enough for full 5 on 5 games, and certainly pickup games in the gym are all half court 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 games. Simply put, when playing rec. no one wants to run up and down the entire length of the court. It's too bad, because unless I can improve my skills in 5 on 5 ball, I'll always just be another rat baller.

~~~

On the topic of sports, Rei and I were talking about the different sports we watch when the topic of soccer came up. I realize that it's an international sport and hosts a fanbase that is just stupendous; however, to me, it's a game where 11 people on each team run around a big green field chasing after a ball. It's not very exciting, and I think that such a game wastes the potential talent showcase of the people who play it. I mean, you can have the best footwork in the world but how is that amazing when you're running around a field chasing after a ball, trying to beat out people who flop like fish as if you killed them every time you give them a tiny push?

In my personal view, the best way to eliminate this problem is to shorten the dimensions of the green. Then, there would be less running around, players are closer to each other at all times, and things like player to player passing and proper footwork are focused on rather than... well, running around. How short, I do not know, but maybe three or four meters off both length and width would be a good start. I mean, there will always be a bit of running around, but the games are snoozefests at the moment.

*Update* Rei came up with this rebuttal:

"soccer: bigger field = more running = more stamina required, longer distances = more accuracy in passing long distances, bigger distance = more chances of error/interception = more difficulty = more awesome, but you're right... I watch the whole game just to see when the ball gets close to the net, and how they maneuver it into the goal..."

"the other thing is, how you can see everyone get massively tired, and the effort they put into it at the end of the game"

Fair enough. I've probably been spoiled by the dynamic action in basketball so it's skewed my perception of other sports =)

~~~

My Impreza model is about 35% done. I'm debating at this point whether I should actually paint the main body or just clearcoat it. If I paint it, it'll cost me about $16 in additional paint (and probably empty my can of primer), but just clearcoating would cost me $8. The main thing, obviously, is how good of a finish is wanted. The body looks okay the way it is now, but the plastic colour was not well mixed and there are some white streaks throughout, which do bother me. If I repaint it, then it will be a professional job but the extra paint cost makes me hesitate. I don't have to decide right now though as I currently have the rear suspension and interior to make, but it's something I have to keep in the back of my mind.

I'm learning a lot as I'm going along. My paint isn't exactly perfect but it's definitely passable.

~~~

Anyways, tomorrow is Monday and the start of another work week. Chicopee ski isn't open yet, and I'm itching to get back on them hillz. Unfortunately, I stupidly left my motorcycle pants at home, so I either have to spend $20 in gas to get back and forth from Waterloo, or $20 to buy a new pair of pants.

Hmm...

~Eastside

2008-11-20T10:25:00.001-05:00

You never, ever, take things for granted.

And this is something I have to constantly remind myself. I've actually been pretty fortunate throughout my life (even if I don't make it sound that way), and sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the bad things, the things you don't have or want, that you don't realize the value of the people and things you already have around you, their importance and stability in your life. Maybe it's human nature, maybe it's just me. In our never ending pursuit for bigger and better things, goals and ambitions... sometimes, you have to turn around and see where you came from.

A friend of mine was informed yesterday about something that I know nobody would ever want to hear. And strangely, at least outwardly, he has been rather stoic. I know that if I were in his position, I'd be... distraught. I'd be on the phone all night, perhaps even leaving immediately from Fooners HQ. But this man (and I mean it, he is a real man), has taken it all rather calmly. He already has things planned out and knows what his options are, and even has everything prepared. He is not an emotional person to begin with, a rather secluded and deep thinker, so it is really hard to tell how he's actually feeling inside. But I can only imagine that it's worrying, and that it hurts. Even if he doesn't show it.

I absolutely despise "these" kinds of situations, the ones where you're powerless to do something even while you're witnessing it. But this is the first time I've encountered anyone having a situation so grave and important as being one that overrides all other concerns in life at the moment. The only thing I can do is stand by and give moral support and advice. That's all I can do...

I'm counting my blessings. Never take things for granted.

~~~

Know what I noticed? My girlfriend is an amazing woman. I had an inkling of it before, but now, *nod*.

~~~

One thing I am getting better at is conflict resolution.

Two days ago at streetball, I was sitting down at the sidelines while these guys were having an intense (No... wait... now that I think more carefully about it, it's just angry) game. One of the guys I played with for the previous two games kicked the ball out, and in a fit of rage one of the korean guys were screaming and yelling at him. Obviously, I thought this was all a bit much, so I yelled to him that it was an accidental kick ball.

Clearly, this did not sit well with him, or, as Spoon would say, there was a "communication problem". The guy started asking me to repeat myself, to which I replied "I said it was an accidental kick ball, don't get so worked up about it". He probably thought I was insulting his skills because he started yelling "shut up" in garbled english (we were, after all, a couple of meters apart). What made it more interesting was his friend with probably the coolest goatee I've ever seen joined in and started doing a really slurry "shhh!". After the game finished, he started looking at me as he walked past and I stared back at him with a quizzical look. He started coming towards me saying "shut up" over and over (he clearly came to Canada only recently in order to study), and his friend with the goatee came over too. Now, obviously this won't do. I stood up to my full height from where I was sitting (which made them stop coming closer) and told him "I just said it was a kickball, and I do not know why you're so worked up. I said that because I enjoyed watching the game and because I'm a fan of basketball and I love the game". It was hilarious reading their reactions, as goatee man looked like he suddenly lost interest and sat down at the opposite end of the court to look at another game, while angry Korean looked confused and couldn't find anything to say for a second, before walking away to get a drink. I mean, what exactly do you trash talk to someone who just said something I said? Especially when your English vocabulary is limited to "Shut up"? "Shut up" again? A Russel Peters moment it was.

The only thing that peeved me about this whole situation was that one of my teammates from the previous two games, a guy who is literally only about my shoulder level high, started to join in too. I mean, come on man, we were teammates! Apparently in streetball, that doesn't count for anything. He didn't look like he knew the other guys so I think he just wanted to be involved for the sake of it. He also wanted to say something after the game but he walked away after I stood up to face the other two. I wanted to say something to him after all that as well but he had already left the gym.

If I were faced with this situation only about a couple of months ago, it probably would have escalated, but the anger has left me. It's really a revelation when you're actually happy with what you've got, even if nothing is ever 100% perfect and you're still faced with challenges. But I mean, don't push me around. I can tolerate angry people who are simply stupid or having communication problems, but I can't tolerate stupid and disrespectful.

~~~

As for the games? Well, Ringleader was not satisfied with his Hyperdunks, because they were too loose, so he will be returning them soon. It was too bad because I wanted to see him go off for 20 and 10, with 3 dunks, but it's impossible when your feet are moving all over the place inside the shoe.

The first game that we played was quite fun, also probably because of the fact that I was jumping from excitement. We were playing against 4 asian guys, of only one I would say has any athleticism whatsoever. At one point three players were going for the rebound and Ringleader got smacked in the face by a guy's elbow, which damaged his glasses. After a brief delay of game, Ringleader was all set to come back to play... but certainly this is one reason why I personally wear contact lenses. I think I'll buy Ringleader a pair of sports goggles for Christmas =D We were extremely competitive in that game, and kept attacking the other team. Besides Jacky, my other teammates were a South Asian guy (the one who did the kickball), and the really short guy. In the end, our opposing team weren't exactly top tier competition, as they succumbed quite fast... like tissue in water. For our first 5 shots they couldn't stop us. SAG completely ripped them apart in the post as they couldn't guard him... he could almost get to the rim at will. Short guy was knocking down tons of outside shots. It wasn't even really fair because they somehow managed to put me on the shortest guy on the other team, but since he was the play maker, once I shut him down nobody on their team could make a move. The interesting thing was that we all got each other's backs. The other team moved quite slow and were quite soft, so when one of us missed, usually another one of us was in there for the rebound and putback. SAG missed a layup, I took it and put it in. Jacky missed a shot, SAG put it in. SAG missed a shot, Jacky put it in. I missed a shot, and Jacky grabbed the rebound. It was crazy, we were all over the place and before 10 minutes of playing time has passed we won (and we started taking it easy in the second half of the game to try out different things). The final score was 11-1.

The second game was a bit tougher since we were playing a much more athletic team, but we still won by a considerable margin. The guy I was guarding started to trask talk SAG, so I guess they knew each other. Apparently, the guy I was guarding also got worked up quite easily as whenever he got the ball he tried to score... except that he was being guarded by me so he missed all of them =D The rest of the game devolved nearly into a one on one as SAG started taking on the entire other team by himself (as I told Jacky afterwards, Streetball is a different game entirely from "real basketball"... and not nice), but we won in the end 11-5.

~~~

Post game analysis time =D

At one point, I tried a move I learned by watching those NBA fundamentals videos posted on youtube, the one done by Rip Hamilton. The guy I had during the second game and I were at the free throw line, and I kept myself real close to the guy: in fact, I was lightly clutching his shirt. I feigned disinterest, and made it seem like I was taking a break, not even really moving and with my head slightly down. Then, I made eye contact with SAG, who had the ball, and quickly ran off my man (giving him a tiny push off, so subtle you can't even really see it visually) and to the top of the key to receive the ball. I had a short amount of time to set my feet as the guy suddenly realized what was going on, and then I launched a threeball that went in as he tried to catch up. Rip Hamilton said that moving without the ball like that is a lost art in the NBA and that it's his secret to his success; and I suddenly feel that this series of moves can help open up my game. While my dribbling is poor, if I can move around and get open like that for clutch shots or layups, then that just increased my level of offensive versatility from nil to somewhere approaching "another option on offence". While the move I used was only one variation, there are other variations that involve running through picks to lose the guy, flaring around big men, etc. In essence, this IS one of the most fundamental approaches to basketball (and in the early years, the most traditional "way" of playing basketball), but it's something I actually don't see a lot of ballers use whether streetballers or NBA players, as they all try flashier things like breaking opponent's ankles or dribbling through pick and rolls. So, I'll practice moving around with the ball more.

I had about two other opportunities to launch mid-long range shots, but I missed all of them. I got my shooting stroke back- it's no longer weird like the one I tried using during our last intramural game, but a proper, straight launch using the elbow and raising the ball above the head, squared shoulders and straightened out back. Unfortunately, both of my shots were too weak so while they were on a perfectly straight trajectory with the right amount of spin, they either airballed or hit the front of the rim. This is something that can easily be cured by practice- as long as my shooting form is okay then everything else will come.

I also have to work on my low post moves. I keep forgetting that you can pick up your dribble and run two steps (and jump in the air), so I never tried to drive to the rim (although I was around it half the time for rebounds). For actual posting up, I'm getting much better at it as I'm getting deep position, and when I try the layup I get fouled. The other thing I have to remember is to use a pump fake to free myself and actually get the layup in. I remember during our playoff game last season when Jamie came up to me after I got fouled a few times and he told me to use a pump fake. I kept that in the forefront of my mind and voila, after pump faking I got a three point play on a foul. While I'm bailed out by referees in real games (sending me to the free throw line for foul shots), in streetball getting fouled only gets the team another possession. There is also a pride issue at stake and you don't want to call a foul on every play like a pansy.

Lastly, I have to work on my strategy against big men in the low post. Although I didn't get a chance like that during those games, it was pretty clear from my last intramural game that this has to be worked on; specifically, the finish. The strategy is quite simple: if they are playing you strong by keeping up close to you, you grab the ball, bump them backwards a bit with your back, and then make a turn around layup/shot by jumping over them while they're still recovering. The main problem here is that I'm usually forced to jump really high (big men after all), and I hardly ever practice shooting when I'm that high up, so during the intramural game I missed the rim completely. Work on the finish, and I can be versatile in the low post too.

~~~

Okay, I definitely need a haircut. It is getting impossible to control my hair, and after nearly 5 months, it's about time.

~Eastside

2008-11-18T15:39:00.001-05:00

You know how you can tell when you've finally "really" settled into a work place?

I remember back when I was still working at Co-Ex-Tec Decoma, and I was asked to find someone to give me information about a part.

"Okay Chris, I'll give you this sheet... do you know who [insert name] is?"

"Not a clue. I'll be able to find him." As I started walking away, I heard Julia, one of my coworkers, start to laugh. She explained to me:

"You know you're finally settled into a work place when you're confident [referring to my tone of voice] and are willing to find people and do things on your own. Most co-ops when they come here would speak quietly and say things like 'No, but could you introduce me to him?' or 'I'm not sure, could you point him out to me?'"

"Once you're comfortable, you are able to take a more leadership type of role, demand things, and are able to do things by yourself. I think that was the defining moment; you're now a true employee."

Apparently though, depending on the work place, I'm a slow bloomer to comfort. I've felt semi-comfortable at Denso for a while now, although now that I think about it, while the level of work is at a much greater level than when I was working at Co-Ex-Tec, I also don't have as much freedom as I did before. I can't do many things without having to fill out proper paperwork or whatever, I have to go to certain people to do things for me (even though to be honest, I'd rather do things myself to make sure it's actually done), and sometimes, I just don't have things to do. Back at Co-Ex-Tec, not only was I very busy, but I was allowed to make my own decisions, such as how I should pace completion of a project out (or for that matter, sometimes I'm given a task and told to do whatever I want to do in order to complete it, completely left to my own devices), when I want to take the company van for deliveries and such. In this place, while the level of work is higher, much of it is *given*, not *asked*. And as I mentioned before, it's paradoxical that the busier the other engineers are, the less work is actually given to me. The past week and a half, it seems that all I've been doing is butt scratching and trying to keep myself entertained. Everybody assumes that having an easy job where you do nothing all day is actually a good thing; well, believe me when I say, it's not. Being bored at work is more draining than actually keeping yourself 100% occupied. I thrive better when I'm given deadlines, where I'm given a big task, and then given all the resources available in order to make it happen. And on some days, that's not happening. And because of that, I have been slow to "get comfortable".

However, I'm slowly turning around (even though there's barely a month of work left). There is one part of the plant that now *belongs* to me, and that's the grinder/polisher area. I've been doing a ton of capability checks where I take a part, slice it up with a band saw, grind and polish the pieces at certain points until they're so shiny they hurt the eyes (and where, if you look closely, you can clearly see the grain microstructure of the aluminum), to see the condition of the metal once it's been brazed. It's basically become an area exclusively for me as I end up doing most of the capability checks and I'm educating the other employees and engineers on the proper way of doing things. I came in about an hour ago to find that somebody left a mess at the station, with crap not in the garbage, water everywhere and dirt all over the place, and I was actually going wtf? Half of me wanted to write a notice saying "please clean this shit up when you're done!". Now I can understand why the R&D lab people and Tool & Die makers are always so touchy about their own work areas =D

I hope that work picks up eventually, although again, right now it's not bad. I just wish that I had better work and more independence, but I guess those are the kinds of things you're given two heaping servings of when you finally graduate and get a real job.

~Eastside

2008-11-18T10:20:00.001-05:00

Know what’s sad? Ringleader asked that we play basketball sometime after dinner today, and I’m actually very, very, excited.

Part of the reason may be that I have not done something physical for two weeks and am nearly bouncing off the walls from inactivity and the many things that have happened recently (the need to exercise and hormones flooding your brain will do that to you); the other is that Ringleader bought a pair of CB4 Hyperdunks, and I’m curious as to whether that will improve his game by allowing him to actually move with a sense of urgency and with some killer instinct (Like the real Chris Bosh does… at times). Somehow I doubt it, but it’ll be fun to watch >=P

Those hyperdunks, btw, are very comfortable, at least when you first put them on. Fortunately, Ringleader and I share similar sized feet, so I was able to try them on, and it became immediately apparent that these $144 shoes (that’s with a 15% discount via SPC card btw) are different from your average $50 kicks. The sole “meshes” with the bottom of your feet, and are extremely supportive. The interesting thing I’ve noticed is that the cushioning around the ankle and side of the feet are actually very thin- surprising when you consider that other high end basketball shoes, notably Air Jordans, have thick padding everywhere. Even Ringleader’s old Converse D-Wades have extremely thick padding. But it became apparent as I took the first step that maybe the lack of cushioning wasn’t actually a bad thing, as the shoe was not only very light, but it moulded itself around your ankles to provide support, and they feel more ‘responsive’, with no slip like you would find on shoes with extremely thick padding. The shoe is not made of typical leather. The ankle area uses a plastic-like material that is very flexible, hence why it feels like it moulds around your feet when you lace up. If I had to make an analogy, it actually reminds me of… fruit jerky: Sort of gummy soft and flexible, yet extremely strong. Laced up, I had extremely good midsole and ankle support, and I feel like I can explode with these on without putting too much stress on any one portion of my foot. Obviously, I haven’t tested them out in a real game, but somehow I doubt Ringleader will let me. He started dusting the shoes off when I was done wearing them, because I was walking around the house in my socks beforehand and they were probably dirty =D

It kind of makes me wish I had a high-end pair of basketball kicks for myself, but my $50 Converse shoes that I got on sale during the summer serve me rather well. Great ankle and midsole support, grip, breathability, lateral stability… the only thing I didn’t like about them was that they were very thin on cushioning, but doubling up on socks solved that problem and actually helped me over long games - this is something I recommend all ballers do, regardless of shoe as it helps over the long term.

I’m not really into the Hyperdunks myself, especially looking at the Kobe Bryant version, because they look like plastic kiddy shoes. This is also a completely unfair statement because basketball shoes are supposed to perform, not look good, but I’m a stickler for all aspects of design (and hey, you’re paying good money for them). If I had to take a pick for more expensive kicks, it would be the Air Jordan line. They not only feel great, but the materials used and the details like trim and stitching makes for a premium feeling/looking (and expensive) shoe.

It’s not like I “deserve” better shoes at the moment anyways. I’m not exactly able to break my man off the dribble (mainly because I CAN’T dribble), so what’s the point of better shoes if you can’t exploit their limits? And my general level of play is far from anything approaching “good or better” to warrant better shoes. The biggest issue is, of course, cash. Air Jordans and Hyperdunks alike are pretty expensive (although there is the eBay route to consider), and I’m not sure if a shoe that’s probably about… ~15% better than the ones I’m currently wearing would warrant a 300% increase of the price premium (this is an assumption. Obviously just having some pair of sneakers instead of going barefoot is worth 70% of the benefits of high end shoes). As with most materialistic things, it seems like you’re spending much of your money on a tiny logo of Michael Jordan’s midair jump, rather than anything with tangible benefits.

But then again, I’m cynical that way.

It also makes me kind of wish I could visit China again. Once, when my sneakers started falling apart, I hopped into a department store and came out with $10 shoes that looked and felt better. They’re still sitting in a corner of my closet at home.

~~~

Speaking of cash, it looks like it’ll be a while before I order motorcycle parts from the US again. The CAD dollar has dropped and is holding steady at around 82 cents US, and until it rises back above 89 cents I’m probably not going to make a purchase anytime soon. If nothing happens by mid December though, my mind would probably change. But I’ll sit patient on this one and see how things pan out.

~~~

In addition to b-ball, Spoon, Ringleader and I are planning to go visit J&J’s, the grocery store, and Crappy tire. We also need to grab some supplies for the signs we’re making for Friday’s Raptors game. It’s going to be a busy day (after work that is).

~Eastside