A Requested Wishlist

(Mind you, I'm not the one who wanted to write one in the first place. It's for certain parents-in-law-to-be. And I won't guarantee that the items will be anything serious.)

• A Smart Car! (Silver and blue)


• One of these cuties... if the company isn't just bsing us.


• This book, because I adore Jon Stewart, but not as much as Jorgh. He likes him more.


• The fantastic 102 episodes of the hard-to-come-by anime series, Kodomo no Omocha. Unfortunately it was just licensed by FUNimation and now probably sits on some dusty shelf in the back of an unfrequented room full of licensed anime that the network also won't air. (At least without dubbing.) Manga volumes are already out, but it just isn't the same. :(


• While I'm talking about anime, Excel Saga, or Chobits. Maybe GTO, but I might get disillusioned with teaching afterwards...


• An Athlon 64 system, or at least something that runs a movie properly.


• A certain band , and I don't mean music either. ;) Connected to this, also my wish to kill all furry pr0n.


• A lot of desk space.


• Socks. I hate white socks. I @#$%ing hate white socks.


• A new, happy apartment with no @#$%ing landlord.


• Decent hair.


• A way to deal with a jackass :P


• A mean gene!


• An agenda


• A clue.

Don't forget - that cheesy CBS Christmas special is on Sunday at 9 pm.

Making Money

So far, I haven't taught any classes yet. Despite being in class for an entire week, I didn't have the heart to. It's not because I'm not ready (but at this rate I may not be actually ready by Monday), but namely because the teacher whom I am replacing isn't ready to go yet either. It's a sad, sad story only readily told by imaginary and wildly exaggerated dialogue.

Me: Ok, I'm all set! New teacher on her way!
K: Ah, I can't leave teaching! I've only retired twice already!
Me: You're such an excellent teacher, it's a shame you have to go on sick leave...
K: Well, you can sit tight and I'll take up this last week. Besides I have many loose ends that can't be tied by you anyway.
Me: Argh! I'm going to have huge shoes to fill when you go! How the crap will I ever do such miraculous work on these fuxx0red kids?
K: I'll be back intermittently anyway.
School board: [Ominous and booming voice] By the way, we want to shut this school down by the end of this year.
Me: AARRGGHH! OMFGWTFJHCFFF!!!

Yes, you heard right. The school board doesn't have another plan for the high school so they may end up shutting it down. I think it's a really big shame because the kids will have to be shipped off to the downtown schools (which are about 2 hours away and have triple the school population). The atmosphere in this school is much better (virtue of small schools) and the kids get along so well that a majority of lockers don't have locks on them.

There's a meeting for everyone in the community on Saturday about the future of the high school; but since I only started this week on a replacement contract, I don't have any say in the thing. (ie. I could go, but I wouldn't get to do anything there.)

This weekend I'm working on writing lesson plans until December 22. I don't ever remember doing so much stuff in Math 536... WTF indeed!

It took me three hours. :) 

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I have yet to announce the grand news to everyone, but since I'm writing stuff anyway I might as well say it. I have a replacement teaching contract at DDO for the rest of the year (I think).

Other random postings:

• My charming and remarkably charismatic ex-roomie has her own IMDB listing. It's about time!


• My mother came back from HK with a promotional VCD from this company (in chinese) which sells certain tofu products. It's one hilariously sad VCD, where a guy dressed like an anime sailor is trying to show you how to cook one of their new products in 12 different dishes. One of them involves frying smoked salmon. ('Nuf said.)

And now my favourite part of taking photos of people: I like my friends so much that I enjoy catching them on camera when they're not watching. 

I had a much better picture previously but I decided to upload this one. (... do you believe me? I wouldn't.) 

I admit, Davie doesn't look like he's sulking in this picture. ;) 

A poor attempt at camera fun. 

Vieux-Quebec is a bit deserted at this time of the year, since it's grey, dull, and quite chilly for a fall. The following pictures are of Rue St-Jean, probably the most frequented tourist street in Vieux-Quebec due to its large number of stores and approximity to the big Gate. 

Rue St Jean 

Even the paving stones were kind of dull. 

Contrary to what you see, there is no snow in Quebec. Really. 

The Mother Has Returned

... For a jet-lagged person, she sure has a lot of vile, festering pus-filled words to impart. (It only took a few hours, really.)

Anyway, I still don't have much to say yet so I'll post some pictures instead.

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EDIT: So there's more to the landlord story.... Apparently it's true that he has a legal right to kick us out. It is apparent that the basement apartment of this building where he is living right now is too large for himself. (It has 4 bedrooms.) So he got it in his mind to take this apartment because it is the best among the four other apartments in this building in location.

In the Civil Code of Quebec, in fact, it says in article 1964 that the landlord cannot reposess: (my own emphasis)

where he owns another dwelling that is vacant or offered for rent on the date fixed for repossession, and that is of the same type as that occupied of the lessee, situated in the same neighbourhood and at equivalent rent.

Unfortunately for us, he already rented out the apartment he's living in for next year. (ALREADY???) So he actually has no other place to live. Hence, everything that was said is true in his part. But there are possible choices for our predicament, if we refuse:

1. The apartment to the other side of the building is exactly the same as this one, just mirror-reflected. If it opens up by January, he'll have to take that one.


2. If he doesn't take that one, then he'll let us take that one.


3. If there's nothing open here then he'll be helping us find another apartment (out of good faith actually); if it goes through the Regie, then he'd have to pay our moving expenses and possibly 3 months rent as compensation as well.

As in The Life of Brian, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." *whistles*

The NES Fix

Having very little to do in the evening and currently very busy hands (despite the blister asplosion), I went about looking for a fix for our old Nintendo system. We have the old "blinking problem" and the "stupid rusted connectors" problem. Many web sites recommend the following things:

1. Clean all connectors with rubbing alcohol and/or spray WD40 to fix the rustiness and dustiness and lustiness.


2. Take apart system, pull out the 72 pin connector, and bend the bottom row of pins up to make it happy again.


3. Chop up the system, and resolder the parts to make cartridges face back/up/left/right or smallitize/bigenize the thing.


4. Buy a new 72 pin connector. End of story.

My fix was basically to derustify/dedustify the thing. It took a lot of sweat and ruined screw heads to make it work, but I think I got it. So far, it has run Super Mario 2, Ultima 3, and Kirby's Adventure without too much hassle. Hopefully, the other games will run just as smoothly (?) so that we can finally use this box again without cursing. (Which is unlikely, seeing how I play action games so badly.)

I Took a Trip

I spent the last several days out in the sunny south called Montreal. How warm it was compared to this Quebec. Yeah. No. Well, somewhere in between. Actually, when I got back last night, it had snowed here at some point, so there were some icy patches and white fluff lying about here and there.

I managed to burn myself while making supper on Thursday for us (including Jorgh's brother and girlfriend). Blotches of hot oil will immediately cause burns because it doesn't evaporate and likes to spread itself on your body. You know, like hot oil massages. Mmm mmm... ... I'm not a masochist. Really.

But it was worth it! I made a butternut squash soup, courtesy of the Kraft Kitchens. Basically, since Caroline is vegetarian, I figured that she wouldn't mind a hearty soup made of a local (doubtful) gourd. And I admit that I took a long time to finish cooking the stir fry and the tomato-egg dishes, but only because the stove element seemed to be malfunctioning.

But I was upset with Jorgh's brother's remarks after he volunteered for the dish duty, It fell along the lines of "WTF if I had known it'd be this messy/long/inconvenient then I'd have just ordered out." And my reaction was more like a muffled "OMFGWTF IS HE ASKING FOR A BEATING LATER FFFF???"

Seroiusly, this is *not* what you want to hear after spending 3 hours in the kitchen.

Tho the tables were turned on him on Saturday, because he and his girl friend decided to repay (?) us by making a spinach flaky thing. (I forgot what it's called.) It took them 2 hours to figure out what to buy, and 3 hours to cook it. But strangely (and masochistically) enough, at the end, he also said the same remark as above. I think if his girl friend wasn't seriously second-guessing herself before this incident, then she probably is doing it now.

Or not. I find couples which compose of one strong-minded character will have the other quite complacent and flexible to a point. The stronger one extreme, the more the other will compensate to the other extreme.

At least that's my experience...

I had lots of fun seeing my old SUMS-ite friends on Friday night for supper. Norm, Vito, Derrick, Ivo, Donnah, Jorgh and I partook of the chinatown 8 person peking duck meal (while Davey, Lisa's younger brother, sulked and claimed he wasn't hungry but we forced him to eat something just for the sake of it).

Afterwards, we had a romp in Old Montreal with ice cream, and continued our rampage downtown to Tim Hortons on Rene Levesque, near University. It was a great evening. :D

I think I have pictures. I will get around to uploading a few later on today. (I have an excuse this time!)

Great Teacher Onizuka - Great - Onizuka + Me + Elementary School = WWIII

So being a nocturnal creature recently, I went to bed this morning at 6 a.m. which turned out to be a very stupid idea. I got a call at 7 a.m. from the nearby (English) elementary school and they asked for me to arrive at 8:30 a.m. It's a good thing it is close by, otherwise I think I'd be dead by now.

It was a replacement for a team teacher (who works on alternate days) whose son was very sick so she had to go home today. The instructions were quite lengthy but comprehensible. I don't think the problem today was the lesson plans.

The kids were grade levels 3 and 4. One of the things I immediately noted was that kids in elementary school are so small and fragile, yet can act so brashly and disastrously. I had to "break up" at least 7 fights during the day, between the same handful of kids. Was it becasue they didn't think they were observed by a teacher? Were they just ignorant of their actions? Or did they think that I didn't know any better?

After getting 3 different people to intervene in the class during the day, the kids still didn't understand that they were driving me STARK RAVING MAD. I tried to start the kids at the "do it for your teacher and her sick kid" level of cooperation, but it quickly escaladed to "OMFGWTF STOP TOUCHING THAT GIRL THERE YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE BOY!!!"

The staff didn't blame me for the disastrous day. I was informed that this class was indeed a "bit tough" and "had problems with a previous substitute," but they didn't learn their lesson so they're going to be forced to each write me a letter of apology tomorrow. That'll teach them. Yeah.

By the way, I can't believe how much BS comes out of kids. Don't ever trust a kid to tell you the truth in a classroom situation.

I can't remember why I took this picture. 

I tried to get the car started, considering that no one's used it for two weeks and it's been dipping below freezing point. Lo and behold, it had problems. Fortunately, I used my very limited knowledge of cars (actually, I looked in the manual) and managed to get it to start. There's about 4 cm of snow on the car here. 

On Saturday, it snowed in the morning. This is a view of the backyard. (The neighbour cut down the huge tree in his yard during the summer, and this is all that remains of it. Then our landlord decided to do the same thing and cut down another huge tree in the backyard. Now there's way too much sun coming in the building. I can't wait until the winter really comes and blows at us like a hurricane.) 

Other Blogs

You may have noticed at the top of many Blogspot pages that there is a bar with a button to the far right, labelled "Next Blog"... But what it really is is a randomizer. I was using this to browse other blogs that choose to be viewed publically within the Blogger sphere.

What I see isn't very pretty.

There are certain categories of blogs that exist; the political blog (usually consisting of American politics), the angsty teen blog, the cutesy incomprehensible teen blog, the one entry blog saying "I'm going to write something soon" dated last year, and the ever disgusting and polluting Google-Spamming Blog. (If you don't know what it is, just try looking up anything on Google. Like maybe "travel", "bargain" and a random country name.)

But not all the blogs are terrible representations of the human psyche. I occasionally stumble upon some interesting (English) blogs whose authors are fascinating, humourous, shocking, heart-wretching, and sometimes intelligent. I won't put any links to these blogs because I tend to just browse, read, and forget where they are later on. (You know me.)

Davy says that reading blogs can be addictive (or I think that's what he said). Although I agree with him, I don't really see why he keeps reading this blog... ;) My fanbase is cute and loyal, but I'm not into writing blog entries because I want to sound smart or inspired. (Far from that... I want to sound like an idiot.)

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Anyway, I'll be later uploading some photos of the early snow from this weekend.

I Almost Never Want To Get Pregnant Ever After Watching This

I watched a program today on TLC called 14 Children and Pregnant Again, a look at Jim Bob Dugger's family from Arkansas. Yes, they have 15 kids. It's a charming but also disturbing look at the logistics and social aspects behind a large family. Just to reiterate some of the FAQ's from the show:

1. No, they are not on welfare; in fact, they were always debt free from the start of their family and are financially secure.


2. There are 10 boys and 5 girls, all with J names (like Jim-Bob). The wife's name is Michelle.


3. Yes, they have a certain religious conviction. I don't really know what it is, but it's probably one of those uber-conservative ones.


4. The father ran for US senate, and also a state House Representative for two years. The mother homeschools the kids and is quite young!


5. The kids seem to get along so well that you'd think they were robots or something.

I don't dislike this family because of the massive, massive number of kids in the household. I do admire the incredible organization and resourcefulness of each person. But it's stories like this report from the UN recently that makes me both disturbed and completely turned off of having a huge family (or having even one baby).

But of course, we cannot compare the huge Dugger family to another kind of huge family, the rather more disturbing and gross-out type...

No One Wants to Know What We Think.

Besides getting up and hearing that those votes were still being counted, I spent the last hour shivering in my room. Where's the heating, dammit?

A piece of good news; the Quebec buses are no longer on strike as of today. So I can technically go outside and enjoy the autumn in old city... but that would require 4.20$ and I need that money to go sub at DDO tomorrow. :) (On the other hand, the fact that the bus drivers are getting a 15% raise is not settling well in my poor-assed commuter belly.)

In other news, my brother and sister should have arrived in HK yesterday evening. I hope they bring back lots of pictures and things because I'm tired of being left behind. :(

Stomach in Throat... or the Other Way Around

I went on a short trip to Montreal and got back to Quebec yesterday evening. I attended a food-filled Hallowe'en party at Lil V's, which was quite refreshing for me because I haven't seen anyone in months. (I wonder if living in real isolation is anything like this.) I'll be posting the pictures from the party in my album later today. :)

Naturally, I wasn't looking forward to coming back here. But I have to. The landlord is getting on my nerves, looking for my mum (who already left two weeks ago). The mail has to be collected. The plants are dying, and that's only after missing one watering. ;_; And on top of that, I'm supposed to be looking for a job, otherwise I'd be in HK with the rest of them already.

This morning I was awoken by the secretary of DDO calling to ask for my references. Good sign. Except I didn't know where they were at the moment, so I said I'd call her back. (Not to mention that I just woke up and was disoriented...) Amazingly, a few seconds later the landlord came knocking on the door again, and I answered. We spent about 10 minutes talking about the situation (omitting that my mum isn't in the country right now). After a few more words of discomfort, he left. I called the secretary afterwards and gave her my references. (Hopefully more-than-a-year-old contacts aren't going to be too outdated.)

Most likely, things look to the up-and-up. The last thing on my agenda today is to clean the house and laundry. The last item on my mind that is making me quite nervous is the obvious item of the day. Perhaps I should turn to a more trusted news source...