Praying to the Porcelain God

It's amazing how perfectly on schedule the illness progresses. Literally, Donald told me everything that was going to happen to my poor body well in advance, in the correct order, and to within an accuracy of about half an hour. Fortunately, I hadn't had much to eat yesterday, so I managed not to suffer quite as badly as Don. I haven't lost my lunch today, but I still feel a bit iffy, I'm extremely tired and dehydrated, and I've managed to sleep most of the day away, not eat much of anything, and miss all my classes. I just hope I haven't passed it on to anyone. Expecially, I don't want to ruin Joel's birthday tomorrow--if he's going to be puking on his birthday, I want it to be for the right reasons!

Music: Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill

Brockhome Syndrome

The latest bug to infect the student ghetto I have cleverly dubbed Brockhome Syndrome after it's ground zero, my house on Brock Street. It seems to be characterized by sudden, extreme fatigue, followed by nausea, followed by violent vomiting about five hours after the first symptoms appear. First my housemate Donnie had it a couple days ago. Then today his girlfriend Marie had it. (No Osmond jokes, ok?) Now me. According to the schedule I laid out, I'm due to move onto the violent vomiting stage at any moment. Donald's detailed description of the experience was "This was the worst kind of flu I think I've ever had." Loverly. I'm just hoping my powerful immune system can put Donnie and Marie to shame, at least with the help of a little Pepto-Bismol.

Double Digit Highs

The weather is really rocking these days. Yesterday was the first double-digit high of the year, a balmy 14 degrees! And despite the fact that right now it's a bit chilly and overcast, it looks like it's going to be nice all week.

I just saw the funniest thing ever! Picture this: a forty-something guy with long black hair--he looked like a biker--sitting in a rusted-out white sports car from the 80's, window open, blasting music on the car stereo. Standard trailer trash? Almost, except the music he was blasting was Beethoven's 9^th Symphony.

My house is playing host to Joel's birthday party on Friday, and I've been put in charge of the music. So if there's anything you want to request, now is the time to do it so I can upload it to my iPod.

No More Physics Countdown: 20 days, 10 minutes

Always Look on the Bright Side of Death

I had a really funny conversation yesterday that went something like this:

My grandfather's eyelashes were so long that they would brush against his glasses, and it was quite an annoyance.

Yeah, I get that sometimes too.

No, this was such a problem that my mom had to trim them for him.

Uck!

She was always terrified that her hands would slip or something.

Does she have steady hands?

I guess...

Well there's one way to know: does your grandfather still have both his eyes?

Actually, he's dead.

At which we both totally cracked up.

Music: The Starlight Mints - Built on Squares

Birthday Shoutouts: To Joel, probably my closest friend both figuratively and literally: the wisdom you pass on to me from your first 10 days of being 23 will be invaluable once I join you there next week.

Be Cool: don't go to AJ's

On Thursday night, a Queen's student was stabbed to death at a dance club only two blocks from where I live. Apparently there was nearly-fatal stabbing there a few weeks ago, too. It's almost as if the Student Ghetto is turning into a real ghetto! Very scary.

That news aside, it's day two of the long Easter weekend and it's been a great weekend so far. Last night I went to the movies and saw Be Cool. I had somehow managed to escape ever hearing about this movie, but it was suggested that it might be the best thing on at the cinema, so we saw it. Apparently it's the sequel to Get Shorty, which I haven't seen, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I thought it was pretty good. It had a very clever element of self-referential humour about it. For example, in the first scene, John Travolta's character is talking about how in the movie business, if you say the F-word more than once in a film, it automatically gets an R-rating. "And you know what I say about that?" he says. "Fuck it." The F-word isn't used again in the entire movie. There are a bunch of little things like that. Looking at the reviews, it seems like most people didn't like this movie because it's full of stereotypes. But I say, what's wrong with that? I mean it's one thing if you're making a serious film that's full of stereotypes, but this is a comedy! I'm sorry, but stereotypes are funny, and if you don't agree, you shouldn't have traded in your sense of humour for that little pink nametag that says "Hello, my name is [insert name here] and I'm politically correct." I might be a pretty left-wing guy, but I can't stand when people are PC for the sake of being PC.

Grumble, grumble...

I overslept this morning. I can't figure it out; my alarm didn't go off, yet I can't figure out why it wouldn't. My best guess is that I managed to turn it off without waking up--quite a feat, since it's at the foot of my bed. So I missed my 8:30, Algorithms, the course I genuinely care the most about. Worst of all, I must have had a really bad dream or something, because I finally woke up thinking, "I'm such a big loser, it's no wonder I slept through class." Haha.

The possible reason for my sleepiness is that last night, I accompanied Joel to the Artsci Formal "I Need a Date" smoker. Well, no, that's not the reason, because we got there and it was cancelled. But then we went home and watched Futurama and Family Guy until 1 AM. The other consequence of this is that all the beautiful ladies out there reading my blog are still in luck, because Joel is still available! Oh, poor Joel...

Music: Elliott Smith - Either/Or

Tap Tap Tap

It was an awesome weekend. Finally, I and everyone else in Sci '05 have joined the club; we now wear the ultimate accesory of geek chique, the perfect form of nerd bling: the symbolic Iron Ring worn by all Canadian engineers. I would have a photo, but every one I took that wasn't terribly out of focus produced in me the reaction "Does my hand really look like that?" Luckily Craig posted some good photos here, although you can't really see the rings in any of the group photos. Speaking of Craig, after the ceremony and reception, he hosted a group of us over at his house for dinner. I don't know what he's doing wasting his time with engineering, because cooking seems to be his true calling. The Greek salad, the potatoes and the lemon goo were awesome! That was followed by a pint with some eng phizzies down at the brew pub, followed by a jaunt up to the Brass, where almost my entire year had spontaneously gathered. It was a great evening.

Music: Soundtrack of Our Lives - Extended Revelation for the Psychic Weaklings of Western Civilization

Exploring my hobosexuality

Between everyone in eng phys finishing their theses this past week, everyone in engineering getting their iron rings tomorrow, St. Patrick's Day on Thursday, and Joel's ex-girlfriend being down for the weekend, this is proving to be a very busy weekend in an--ahem--social sense. Thursday we went bar crawling downtown, first to MyBar, then off to the Merchant MacLiam. Despite being St. Paddy's, the band playing was decidedly un-Irish, and played cover after cover of butchered 90's rock. The lead singer looked like he walked straight out of an episode of Dawson's Creek, and belted out every song in a very clichéd Raine Maida-esque vocal style. We stayed for quite a while, then headed home. I got side-tracked to the Toucan on the way back (finally a real Irish pub! At least, real in the fake North American sense) and it ended up being quite a late night for me. (Those of my friends who didn't join me at the Toucan are probably really shocked right now, but...I don't mean it like THAT! You all have sick minds!)

Then last night there was a big party with a lot of engineering people. It was in a pretty small house, and a LOT of people showed up, and it was very very crowded. It would have been a total gong show, except for (a) a good friend of mine had supplied the party with beer from his home-brew supply--which is actually very passable beer--and there was absolutely no shortage, and (b) if you got sick of dealing with the crowd indoors, you could go out back and stand around the hobo fire. Yes, out back, there was a bonfire. In a garbage can. It was great. Except today I smell like a hobo. It was also a late night; I was still around at about 3:30 when the cops showed up and discovered that nothing illegal was actually going on.

Music: Grandaddy - Under the Western Freeway

Take That!

The thesis is finally out of the way for good. The presentation went okay--much better than last time. I didn't get asked any horrible questions, but I also didn't get asked the questions I hoped I would get asked that I had clever answers worked out for. Still, it doesn't matter, because it's over! Only six more courses to deal with now.

This weekend is going to be an exciting one: Thursday: some sort of St. Patrick's Day get-together, as planned by Kristin and Sharone. Friday: Joel's ex-girlfriend is coming down and we're going to a kegger. How random! Saturday: no plans yet, but there's sure to be something! Sunday: Iron Ring ceremony! I've heared rumours that there's an open bar afterwards, but I seriously doubt it's true because (a) Sodexho is cheap, and (b) giving out free booze to 550 engineering students and 200 or so engineering alumni seems like a bad idea even if you aren't cheap.

How could I possibly be in a bad mood?

It's another beautiful day out. I've never seen a bluer sky! The world is a muddy paradise today. I was walking home today, and I was listening to Pavement on my iPod, and I just though to myself "Spring is here. As of tomorrow, I'll be forever finished with my thesis. In only 35 days, I'll be finished university. And I'm listening to Pavement! How could I possibly be in a bad mood?"

A couple interesting links. First, the New York Times (registration required) ran a story over the weekend about how the White House has spent over a quarter-billion US dollars on illegal "covert propaganda" since the start of the Bush regime. Wait, wasn't 1984 about 20 years ago? I also came across this ecological footprint calculator. I'm not sure how scientific it really is, but I still think there's some truth to it. Take the test--you will be terrified.

Music: Ani DiFranco - Evolve

Of Weddings and Electric Cos.

Aw shucks, in my last post I totally forgot to mention the two best things about this weekend! First and most importantly, after three years of engagement, my sister Caroline and my soon-to-be brother-in-law Paul have finally set a date for their wedding. Well, it isn't finalized yet, but they've decided on a date: August 20^th. It's gonna be great: my sister, about 20 of her closest friends and family, and 150 Portuguese people we've never met. The wedding is probably going to be at Arlington's, and the reception at the Portuguese Hall.

The other cool news is that I just got the new Magnolia Electric Co. album, What Comes After the Blues. It's not every weekend that you get a new album by your favorite band!

Oh, Wonderful Day!

It's spring! *knock on wood* We've had two beautiful sunny days here in Kingston this weekend. I actually have my window open! Now granted, that's still a bit crazy since it's only slightly above freezing outside, but still...!

I also had a brilliant idea today. Okay: bags. Every time I go to the grocery store, I use what, three to five single-use plastic bags. Every time I buy anything from any other store, that's another one. It's so bad for the environment. I mean sure, at least in Kingston you can recycle plastic bags, but that's still really inefficient. Paper bags are, apparently, almost twice as bad for the environment. I know it's bad to use single-use bags, but I do anyway because it's so damn convenient and I have no real reason not to. So here's what I propose:

They should implement a 50 cent tax on bags. It's enough to provide an incentive to bring your own reusable bag to the grocery store, but not so much that it imposes undue hardship if one day you forget. Think about it: it raises money for the government, it saves municipal governments money due to decreased waste, it stimulates the reusable bag industry--it even saves the supermarkets money, because they won't have to give away as many bags! The only people who stand to lose are the people who make the plastic bags in the first place, and frankly, I wouldn't feel much pity. "Oh, but it's a tax and I hate taxes!" you cry. But it's not a tax at all, if you do what you should be doing anyway and using reusable bags. It's a tax on people who spit in Mother Nature's face! You people deserve to be taxed, you losers! (Yes, I realize as of now, I'm one of those losers)

Anyway, back to enjoying the beautiful day!

Music: Grandaddy - Concrete Dunes

News Potpourri

Amazingly, we already got the midterm marks back! Natural score: 3/10. Adjusted score: 5.5/10. So yeah, it was tough for everyone, but I still did pretty badly. And my other test today (for my algorithms course) was easy, so that's good; if it had been hard, I would have felt stupid for going to a Brick Beer tasting at the Grad Club last night with Craig and Kevin. That was pretty fun. We had some good beer and caught the beginning of Open Mic. While the the performances we saw at Open Mic were kinda awful, that's good in a way--it's given me a lot more confidence in my plan to eventually play an open mic this year. In class today I was so bored I decided to built a xylophone out of PET pop bottles. That should be fun! I just need to collect enough bottles. Oh, and then tonight I went out for bubble tea with Karin and Vivian. Yeah, okay, that was the most random assorment of news ever, but meh.

Music: Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill

Worst...Midterm...EVER

The midterm was a total gong show. It was entirely on one section of the course (out of six or seven), some people had equation sheets and some didn't (and they would have been helpful!), and yeah, basically I bombed it. If I got four out of ten it would be a miracle. Two out of ten is probably closer to my actual mark. It was very rough. The prof is going to have to do something about it though, because it was totally unfair. I mean sure, I didn't expect to do well on it, but I shouldn't be getting 20% on it either, and that's what I'm going to get.

Music: Songs: Ohia - Axxess & Ace

Just when you think things are looking up...

The thesis got done and handed in on Friday, but I don't want to talk about it. The final hours without any sleep tally came to 34 (43 if you ignore the 40 minute nap I took on Friday afternoon). I basically spent the entire weekend celebrating. No, alas, that's a big lie. I spent Friday celebrating. I spent my lame Saturday night over at Mech House playing old school NES and SNES games. Zombie Nation, you rule! Then Sunday I had to do this stupid group project for four hours. Then this morning, just when I thought things weren't looking too bad, I find out that the solid state midterm I thought was on Thursday is actually tomorrow! Although, looking at past midterms, I'm not sure the extra two days to study would have made much of a difference, because it's HARD! But when that's done with tomorrow morning, then my semester gets easy. Uh...right?

Solid state physics? Bah! Who needs it? I mean the course is basically just the study of metals, and what is a metal anyway, except a solid with a Fermi surface? (Eh? Maybe I am learning something.)

43 more days!

Almost done!

It's now 11:30 and I'm still up. Yep, that means I've gone over 28 hours without sleep. Let me tell you, I'm feeling a lot better about it than I was at 4 AM. I was really losing it then. Now I've just resigned myself. Yes, it's pretty much done (I just have to write my 2 page executive summary and then print everything off), but it's one of those things that I'm ashamed to put my name on. Much like my thesis presentation was in November. This is the first time I've ever done an all-nighter, and let me tell you, it's an interesting experience, but not one I'd care to repeat. Okay, now I'm never having another coffee again. I'm going cold turkey. I feel like I never want another coffee again, actually. But in reality, I give myself until Monday.

No More Physics Countdown: 46 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes

No More Thesis Countdown: 4 hours, 20 minutes (not counting defending!)

The 12 hour mark

Yes, it's 4 AM and I'm still up, and I'm still going to be up for a long time. My thesis is due in 12 hours. It's going to be absolute crap. I just hope it's no crappier than everyone else's. I've never worked so hard in my life. I got back from my midterm, sat down to work at 9 PM, and this is the first break I've taken, other than to stock up on caffeine. It's an absolutely amazing drug, and I don't know what I'd do without it. It seems like so long since I got my last coffee, right before Coffee & Co. closed at 11 PM. It'll be open again in another 3 hours. Wow. Intense. If you haven't figured it out, the intense amounts of coffee/Pepsi and the crazy work and the stress are making me go just a teensy bit insane right now. I just hope I don't crash before everything is done. It's going to be so great to hand this in, my god! Even if it does suck. And then I'm going to fall asleep on the couches in Stirling. Ah, sleep, that will be good.

1 midterm down, 2 to go (plus a thesis)

I had my discrete math midterm tonight. It was pretty easy, but I got really lucky with one question. I was the first person done, but the prof was out of the room. The TA, being a bit of a dope, didn't know what to do, so he told me to sit back down. To make a long story short, while I was sitting waiting for the prof to show up, I found a mistake I'd made and fixed it. So I think I did very well. On the whole, I'm not very worried about any of my midterms this week. The thing I'm really terrified about is getting my thesis done. It's due in like 68 hours, and I still have a ton to do. I don't feel quite so bad though, having talked to some other people and realized that they are way more behind than I am. One guy from my project group hadn't done anything on his thesis since our interrim presentations in November! I feel sorry for that guy.

Music: Dear Darling - Everything All At Once EP
Drink: Irish Cream flavoured coffee. Ugh! I'm never getting flavoured coffee again.

No More Physics Countdown: 48 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes