24/10/08

How lazy can you get?

So if any of you out there have been wondering what I've been up to, too bad. I answer e-mails. Sometimes. I've had numerous chances to blog but I've been too busy/lazy to, depending on how you look at it. Right now I'm sprawled on one of our fine, comfy couches. It's tuff writing a blog entry on an ipod touch, not to mention time-consuming. But I'm just too comfortable you know?

Tonight I'm dressing up as some sort of wizard to go entertain some Strathroy children. But that is not the thing I am most looking forward to this weekend, for you see, L is paying me and my group a visit! Wonderful no? I think that is quite awesome.

I think I shall go do some dishes now. J, you would love the amount of dishes you get to do here, it's quite a handful.

-KALEIDOUGHSCOPE

09/10/08

In Farmers' Fields

Sometimes living with 11 people gets to you.
Other times it's cool to be around so many people.

When the first situation arises, walk out late at night into the local farmers' fields listening to Nightwish and you shall learn to cope.

29/09/08

Search.

First day of volunteer work today.
If you didn't know, I work at Search Community Mental Health Services.
The first day was really uneventful, they had us read the staff policies manual and I borrowed the "Bipolar disorder Survival Guide" to read. And that's pretty much all I did from 8:30-4:30.

We did drop by the art club that they run for the "clients", there are some wicked painters there.

Tried to communicate with a deaf guy, but since I don't know any sign language, me and Trish (my coworker from Katimavik) had one of the staff who knew sign language translate for us.

Tomorrow I think we're running this car wash dealio, and then in the afternoon I'm going with one of the counselors to visit a client in their house.

Two days ago I cooked up a mean stir-fry, and it was deffo good. But now that orientation week is over, the house managers for this week (Kaylie and Myriam) will be cooking stuff for us while we're all at work. We were supposed to have Spag (that's what we call spaghetti around here - Quebec thing) tonight, but they didn't get the chance to go buy groceries because some people had to drive to London to get this weird skin-tuberculosis test thing. Delegate from Iceland, any idea how that works?

Tonight, after coming back from work, we just sat around the couch room (aka computer + living room) till we decided to go downtown to the Cool Cucumber which we have been going to every night for ice cream. We're addicted.

And then Andrew, Kaylie and I hung out at the local gas station to mingle with the locals. Wednesday, during our free time, Andrew will be going to London with one of them to get his nipple pierced (or tongue, I forget, but it REALLY scares me that everyone in my group is obsessed with piercings), and he'll be stopping at this headshop while in town, and I'll give him money to buy stuff.

Oh, my hemp body butter supply is running rather low - everyone's loving it and using it.

Too much to report on, not enough time.


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22/09/08

Love, from Strathroy ON

Wow. Holy crap. Right now I'm in a living room with four other people, and we're the late nighters. The seven other people I live with in my Katimahouse are sleeping. And I'm actually tired.

I have so, so many things to say about the past five days, but I can't even remember now. My days have been long, it feels like I've been living with the same people for years. You probably can't tell at all from the tone of this blog, but I have been a FANTASTIC time. Every single person I've met at Orientation Camp (where three Katima-groups join together) are really, really interesting people.

But now I'm settled into my Katimahouse, which is located in Strathroy, and I'm living with ten other people (should be eleven, but we have one person missing...). And I'm with an amazing group. Everyone is awesome, and it's pure chill.

Oh, before I forget, the address for the Katimahouse I'm at for the next three months (till January, when I move to Quebec) if you wish to write me letters, which I -will- reply to, if you leave a return address:

602A Albert Road
Strathroy, ON
N7G 1X2

Aaand I'm super busy, so I'll try to get to e-mails I've gotten and all the other stuff when I can!

There's LOADS more stuff to say, I just can't think of anything right now! The couches are comfortable, I feel at home already, and though I miss Toronto and everyone I know and used to talk to, I'm having a blast here.

I'll try and update this blog once in a while, but there's only one computer for eleven people... Which is good, really, because I'm forced to do other things!

Piece out.

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16/09/08

The Tell-Tale Departure

True! --nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The oppurtunity had sharpened my senses --not destroyed -- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of finally leaving the city at which I had spent the last 18 years of my life. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily -- how calmly I can tell you my story that will begin tomorrow, at 4:00 pm.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Katimavik! The subways in the city I so often used bore one of two ads proclaiming Katimavik to be the leading youth-volunteer-involvement program. Why should I, a humble young man wish to involve myself into such a thing? 

No matter, the truth is upon me that tomorrow, I shall no longer be here. Gone. The last time I shall be able to write my lines upon this little oasis of a blog from my computer, at least for nine months. Who will I be when I come back?

All I ask from you - and be mindful, I'm not one to beg- is to, well, maybe once in a while, send me an e-mail, or to leave a comment, or to send me long love letters (the usual, what) to show that you're alive. I don't know when I'll get the chance to go online at all, so, well, be patient.

Maybe I'll try to keep this blog updated with interesting stuff, maybe vent some steam about my groupmembers or something, post pictures, vlog maaaybe, I don't know.

All I know is I have butterflies in my stomach and I have no clue how I will fall asleep tonight.

Strathroy, ON, say hello.

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13/09/08

Addiction.

I am obsessed with Yahoo Answers. It's six am and I'm on it browsing/answering questions.

I can't stop, I... I just need to answer people on things I'm familiar with. 

And just knowing that there are some suicidals a step away from death on the Mental Health section really really scares me.

And I need to get to level 2, at least, I need to be able to vote.

Help me.

P.S. I leave for Katimavik in four days, I'm going to start to pack tomorrow, I hope I can bring all the books I bought today.

28/08/08

Road trippin'

ALRIGHT GET OFF MY BACK, THE FAN EXPO STUFF WILL BE UP SOON. IT'S COOL, AND MAYBE WORTH THE WAIT.

"Yo Gabe, wake up tomorrow, we're picking you up to go to the farm"
"Faaaaaaaack"
"Evan'll pay your expenses"
"Sick, I'll be up at 11:00"

Srsly though, as Andrew found out, the cottage up there is pretty damn amazing. As a fun little expedition, we took some bikes to explore the property, and that took a while. Unfortunately, the seat on my bike was rather low, so, uh, well, it was a pain to bike, because I got almost no power from pedaling. When we returned to the actual cottage house, I got to be in charge of making four boxes of KD in this giant pot, and we pigged out. And we had some other stuff which, of course, added to the party nature of this entire trip.

Truth be told, we were on the road more than we slept. But hell, my iPod had enough juice in it to blast some Nightwish and some older classics for most of the trip, and we took a scenic route to get up there, so we didn't care about all the driving we did.

Some other stuff at Evan's cottage that just made it awesome:
  • Oldschool N64 with a ton of games
  • Big firepit outside to burn and make stuff explode
  • Lots of spiders (okay, maybe not as nice), and these aren't regular spiders, in the winter, they cocoon themselves in the basement in some white stuff. Cool right?
  • Absolute freedom to do whatever the hell we wanted
Yep, a perfectly normal and good end to summer...


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Edit:  2017/05/24

25/08/08

Fan Expo

Pictures, info, summary to come very soon!

General Grievous(sp?) is so damn cool.

18/08/08

Audiolog #2

That's right folks, another failure of a vlog!

This time, no script, just a pure and true audiolog for you!

Since there is no script, you'll find I speak more casually, that there are a lot more pauses, mistakes, and "ummms".

If you hate my life, don't listen.

(:

16/08/08

Skippy skippy

Off I skip to the Hawt and Spicy Harbourfront festival!

Why?

Hell, I'd rather be here than locked away in my house with the parental unit!

And I'll go shopping too, I have so many things to buy for Katimavik!

And then tomorrow maybe I'll go to the Kensington market, because it's sunday!

Have a good Caturday, readeries!

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Happy Birthday Linus

Don't you love point form? How about point-formed sentences?

  • Explosions occured one night, I actually went to investigate. Preliminary theories included:
  • "OMG we're under fire from alienz"
  • "OMG gangs are taking over the city"
  • "OMG the U.S. is bombing us for maple syrup" (okay, this one is an exaggeration)
  • There's someone walking in the attic
  • Thunder (but no rain nor clouds?!)
  • Buildings asploding
  • Things we did
  • Hid in the basement with sticks
  • Timidly took a look outside
  • Boldly took steps outside
  • Walked towards the sound, took about 45 minutes to get suitable spot to see black smoke billowing from some distant building
  • Returned home to google the asplosions, OMG propane factory blows up!
Okay, so that was a few days ago, and I was at a friend's house at 4 am.

  • Eighteen
  • Happy birthday, Gabe
  • I slept through most of my day
  • Lived through the night
  • Some wishes came true
  • Some probably won't
  • I know I shouldn't feel giddy for seeing "you have... 32 new messages", but it felt kinda cool
  • All you readers out there should post ideas as to what I should do now that I'm eighteen. So many times I've thought "damn, wish I was eighteen", and here's the time, and I've got nothing.
My sleep schedule is still bad.

Tomorrow (today), I think I'll go downtown to the Hot and Spicy festival.
I'm saddened by the fact that I thought I would get the house to myself for the weekend, but turns out one of my parental units is staying. God. Effing. Damnit. No, I didn't want to throw any parties or anything, it's so much nicer being alone though. I will try and be out of the house as much as possible, as I cannot stand it with that parental unit around.

Happy birthday.

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09/08/08

Good Morning (again?)

A most peculiar thing today.

I go to bed at six am (which is, in fact, early in comparison to other days that I dare not mention again. They are like a black spot on my calendar, they're gone from existence, as I slept almost entirely through those days), and somehow wake up at nine am, feeling not too tired. Looking at the sun shining through my window, my internal clock somehow estimates the time to be 2-3 p.m. So I decide to get out of bed, take my shower, and just go downstairs, a normal routine, what.

As I step into the kitchen, the reality of time hits me like a ping-pong ball to the forehead (APPLIED DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD, PING PONG BALL APPLIED DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD). And suddenly, I feel very, very tired.

So I go back up to my room, and collapse into my bed, only to wake up at five p.m. from a phonecall.

Some would argue that it's because of my shitty sleep schedule that I fail to grasp time correctly, others would think my body was determined to get up really early, and that I should pay attention to this. Maybe If I had stayed up, and gone on the computer at the time I first woke up, and pressed F11, my crush's name would have popped up on the screen! ZOMG!

Me? I say, the day breaks, the mind aches.

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03/08/08

Good Morning

And a good night to those of you sleeping at this hour.

As for myself, I'm alright, save one important thing.

I've fallen back to the vice that has plagued my previous summers: addictive computer games.

I've been spending hours playing Diablo 2, instead of doing normal summerly activities such as frolicking around in the ravine and so on. Why? Maybe out of sheer boredom, out of loneliness. I haven't gone out in the night like I did so often in weeks. Instead, I stay locked inside and rot away. But hey, guess what? After I'm done this post, I'll probably go back and continue levelling my level 71 barbarian. And then go to bed, sleep till four, and rinse and repeat, with some virtual school work (which I have been neglecting because of my newfound hobby).

Pathetic, right?

Hey, at least I'm past the denial step.

My departure is looming on the horizon, but I find that I'm not as scared of leaving town anymore. After all, I'm currently not doing much anyway. But I think I'll miss not having the freedom of frolicking in the city for whatever, and I really should take advantage of my last month and a half of being around people I know.

Hey hey, my my.

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26/07/08

Close, but no cigar

That's probably the expression my math teacher used the most.
Summer school's doooooone, I had my exam yesterday (if you can't tell, I'm writing this entry at 5:30 am), the exam was -easier- than the practice exam that he gave us the day before to complete. I answered all the questions (I'd say 95% of them right) that didn't have to do with Trigonometry, and, as for trigonometry, well, I answered about 50% of those. I hate Trig. It's awful. The identities. The formulas. The definitions. The endless barrage of possible answers, and the ever-so-annoying "special triangles".

But luckily, the Trig section was very small! So yay, I know I'm getting a good mark on the exam, hence a good mark on the course.

As for Virtual Summer School, that's working out nicely, it gives me something productive to do on the computer instead of browsing 4chan, youtube, XKCD forums etc.

Oh. And the biggest announcement of all, which I almost forgot at this primitively early hour:

Katimavik destinations. I got the package in the mail today.

From September 17th-January 7th, I'll be in Strathroy, ON (it's a small town 40 km west of London!). Between January 7th-March 25th, I'll be in Sainte-Marie, QC, a small town south of Quebec city. And... drumroll... Between March 25th-June 27th... I'll be in VANCOUVER, BC!

I was really hoping for a BC destination, and I get the best for last! And Vancouver is just totally awesome! Yaaaay.!

I think the tuffest part of the program will be in Quebec (though it'll even be harder for the people in my group who aren't bilingual, I'll admit), because, despite global warming, the snow is still going strong during the winter in Quebec. My parental units gave me a little speech on how I'd finally experience the true Canadian winter. It so happens that my mother lived in a town very close to Sainte-Marie, and I have relatives just about everywhere in Quebec, so no doubt I'll be seeing someone at some time or another.

I am currently haggling with my parents to buy myself a laptop, and I admit, reader, that part of the want of this laptop is so that you can stay updated on my adventures through this very blog. I know it's a bit sad, but I would find it very hard to live without a computer (rather, the Internet) for extended periods of time.

More details to come, I've already saturated this blog with enough stuff.

Goodnight.

Last edited April 15th 2019: Added exclamation point, barred the full stop. GH

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25/07/08

The Real 50th

Well it turns out that my last blog post was a sham - my earlier collaborator, K473z 7h3 m4gnific3n7, seemed to have forgotten to take out a draft of one of her posts, which counted into the 50 post count. Now, I've double checked, and I'm positive this is the 50th blog post written on this blog, and the 47th written by me. I'm a bit of hypocrite, because I'm always saying stuff like "what makes the 100th anniversary so important, why not 101?". The answer to that is that people like nice numbers, not ugly ones like 37. Some things that make me happy/comfort me
  • Beating Evan at Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl
  • Beating people at Guitar Hero
  • Walks in the night
  • Truth confidence
  • Curry (aka comfort food)
  • The first match in a badminton tournament, and winning the tournament (obv.)
  • Being owed something
  • Compliments about my hair
  • Beauty's Cantata
  • Pachelbel's Canon in D
  • Fish puns
  • Happy surprises
Some things that make me sad/depress me
  • Critically acclaimed movies
  • Nightwish
  • Truth disappearance
  • Lonely wanderings at night
  • Insomnia
  • Trigonometry
  • The 4 am blues
  • Sunrise after an all-nighter
  • Loss of communication with a friend
  • Others' miseries
  • Waking up with less than 8 hours of sleep

Edit: Edited for simple privacy 2022/09/03

19/07/08

Cinquantième

Fiftieth blog post. I've come a long way. But guess what? This blog post won't be commemorative.

Si seulement la princesse au long cheveux comprenait que si le sauveur est lui même très troublé, il ne peut rien faire pour elle, car dès qu'il esseyerait d'escalader ses cheveux, il tomberait. Et si la princesse comprend cela, je ne peux rien faire d'autre que m'excuser pour le moment. Et si je me fous les pieds dans le plat en écrivant ceci, je m'en fout.

I won't check the grammar on that, but I don't think anyone will be able to call me out on it.

Happy 50th...