Bach

Do not consider listening to this if you don't want ruptured eardrums.


EDIT: Ahh geez, don't click the "Listen" part because it doesn't work. I forgot to mention this the other time too.

Nothing to see here yet

I was going to record something today after school, but I kept messing up the piece at the same places, so I'll have to do it tomorrow morning. In addition, my eyelids are currently getting too heavy to keep up.

How to Turn Your Brain Into Mush

Practice tests, to apply to work for the Government of Canada.

General Competency Test: Level 1 - you need 18/50 to "pass," but after doing about 10 of these questions your brain will start to swirl around in your skull.
Office Skill Test - you need 35/75, and they time you so you're bound to make some mistakes from feeling the heat.
General Competency Test: Level 2 - probably to dissuade the 1% of people who managed to get through the other test without turning into puddles of goo.
Graduate Recruitment Test - I'm not sure what this is for, since I quit after the first two tests.

Bureaucracy sucks, but it pays really well.

Islands in the Magazine That is What We Are

For chrissakes, don't buy this magazine if you're not gonna read it. 

Islands

My brother, in his infinite wisdom with computers, messaged me last night with the most urgent and legal message, "I NEED WINDOWS XP I FUXX0RED MY LAPTOP THERE'S A VIRUS I NEED THE ISO NOW." (Actually, he's not that direct - it's condensed from a hundred questions of "Why do you need it?" and "What the hell happened???" to which he replied "I NEED IT NOW AND FAST.")

Well, I'd gladly help with less crazy solutions if I were in the same country as him, but he is on tour right now for a whole month (yet again). He was in Washington DC, and he also mentioned that this month's SPIN magazine had a small feature on the band. I asked him if it was this feature, and he promptly replied, "No, that pic of me sucks." Agreed. He said, "GO GET THE MAGAZINE AND SHOW MOMMY OUR PICTURES."

So today I went out to go hunt down the magazine (an english magazine in a french redneck neighbourhood, figures), but it's $5.50 for a compilation of music bands I'm sure to never hear about nor be familiar with ever. And on top of that, I stood there for about twenty minutes in Archambault scanning it and I couldn't find the article, so I left without buying anything.

On the plus side, I did take a look at their instruments, and they have a cello for 800 bucks. :) and :(

---

Thus ends the day of yet another unemployed bum in this city. Tomorrow, featuring a second run to Archambault and buying the stupid magazine because I missed the damn thing.

GI Joe

Goddammit, I can't find either a clean mp3 or midi of the GI Joe ending theme. You'd think with the 80s nostalgia craze that there's one out there...

EDIT: It looks as though I will have to encode my own midi, probably from this video. I'll get back to you in a few weeks...

I am such a bastard

I don't internet-stalk. Rather, I internet-peep.

Most of you may know that I don't publicise my blog. I almost do not have it on any search engine (I think). In fact, if you anonymously and randomly sign my blog, I will freak out for about half an hour trying to figure out who you are. Then I hide under a big shell until nobody's looking and run for freedom.

On the other hand, I will go to great lengths googling people I knew back in the past. I will turn over many a stone to pry into the depths of the underworld (ie. look in my old yearbooks) until things become clear.

And lo and behold, if you have a livejournal or a blog, I will find you. Or in this case, both of you.

EDIT: I should probably specify that these two are from my old school while I was up in blueberry land.

Otakuthon

Following the failed hybrid-con from a few years ago in Montreal that I talked about more recently with that comic last month or something, the newest and FREE anime convention is being held in Concordia's Hall building on June 10 and 11. It's called Otakuthon and is hosted by Concordia's own otaku group, whatever they're called. Some points:

• Concordia has a larger otaku following because McGill sucks


• Most people should not go to these things to not spend any money, because leaving empty-handed from these things makes one feel like several hours of your life has been wasted mingling with weirdos in furry costumes.


• I don't expect things to be as busy and nuts as the Anime North back in 2003, but it is inevitable that you will see at least one disturbing thing. A person in a furry costume, for instance. Humping random uncostumed people. And that random person enjoying it.


• Most of these kinds of events are pay-to-register, so it's interesting that they aren't asking for money.


• One of their special guests is a local internet personality from Laval who will be singing japanese pop songs. I'm imagining that it's akin to the japanese pop idol singing quebecois rock music, but I haven't the foggiest...

They are also looking for volunteers, so if you know japanese I think they might appreciate a translator... (for whom, I don't have a clue...)

Norm and Davy!

I had a devious plan. It was to organize a (reverse) surprise party for everyone (especially Norm). In fact, it was so devious that I had others do my bidding without knowing what it was for! Bwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Like the classical evil masterminds, I divulge my plans to you, dear readers. Here's what happened in chronological order.

Felix went to visit Davy in Seattle. Davy told Felix that he was quitting MS and coming back to Montreal. Felix told me, correctly surmising I would be ecstatic. I told Jorghnassen. Then Davy told Felix not to tell anyone. Of course, the buck stopped at Jorghnassen, since he was too busy to tell anyone else, but I was almost ready to publish a front page story in the National Post. :| In the end, we agreed not to tell anyone else since Davy wanted to surprise everyone.

The second step was to produce this surprise to everyone at the same time, otherwise it would have been impossible to keep it a secret from everyone. So I had to mastermind a party plan, which wasn't hard. The hard part was to get this plan going. I don't know how other people make parties in cities they don't currently live in, but I just had no bleeding clue.

Hence, the puppets! Now, Norm is usually the one who plans the gathering because he has the most contacts and the best ideas. On the other hand, it would be too much to ask him to do the arrangements, so I had sent out an email asking for suggestions. This was around 2 weeks ago, to ensure people would not make other plans for the event.

After a week of consultations, I was ready to get Jorghnassen to make reservations and I was about to send out a last email to confirm these things, but then Norm sent out an email to everyone, as he had gone out of his way to set up a reservation for us. He sent to people on and off the initial list (which I was expecting, since it would reach more people), thus started the confusions.

What works the best for surprises is to make sure that the planner is completely in control and the planees are not suspicious of anything off the mark. So I had to justify getting more seats than people had confirmed. (Of course, this led to more confusion after.)

In fact, it turned out no one had any idea who was coming because Norm had been waiting at the restaurant with place for exactly 8. I had counted 10, but I was also expecting more. The waiters didn't want to arrange for more if we weren't sure.

In the end, after Davy arrived (after running into Ivo and Donnah, of all things), we ended up being 14. That's the last time I'm going to organize these things! >:|

Anyway, it was enough to get (some sort of) reactions from everyone when Davy announced he quit MS. It was all worth it though to see Norm completely dumbfounded while he kept asking if we were all kidding him, and Davy showing him the newly signed lease to his new apartment downtown.

Yeah, all you suckaz who didn't make it, don't say I didn't tell you this stuff could never be repeated again. In verbatim:

It is also imperative that you attend (with whomever I haven't done
gone put on this mailing list), for the sake of an evening that will
never be reproducible again forever and ever. Even for the first two
hours or one hour. I'm serious!!! ... I mean, I'm serious.

I'm mostly sorry that I didn't write this in a 60 point font.

Tetris!

Here's the Tetris "A" theme, the one that everyone knows.

I was going to do the title song but Jorgh doesn't seem to know it.
P.S. It repeats!

Garlic

A strong, pungent herb that is capable of arousing both ravenous appetites and stink-o-meter alarms of disgust. Beware of the fresh uncooked garlic, for the pure juices and aromas of joy will undoubtedly defile any and all body parts that come in contact with it. For instance, a home-made garlic butter devilishly lathered on a side of potatoes or bread will cause the mouth to never forget the herb's acidic and shaming designs.

If there is any seasoning more damning in the world, I'd like to hear it.

Sketch

It's called a sketch. 

Edited Post Because It's Important Interesting

In case you don't notice, I sometimes edit my posts within a day or two after publishing them. So I posted the following Altered Beast cover:

but I don't think many of you will realize it until weeks later when I see you and mention it.

So... if you haven't heard it yet, please do so. :)

Argh Hair

Goddamn, I didn't think flippy outtie would look so bad. >:( 

I Spent the Day... Awake!?

I'm surprised. I thought I was going to sleep in until noon again. But I was awoken at 8 am by a phone call from the teacher I was replacing at the school last Friday, asking me where the supply teacher folder went. Well, I think I was awake when I told her that it should be at school because it sure as hell wasn't in my backpack. Unless someone stole that too. >:(

I couldn't get back to sleep. I was still trying to drift off to lala land but it made my eyes itch so I thought of other things. Like travelling.

Lil V wants to travel somewhere, but she wants a travel buddy so I told her I'd go. On the other hand, I still don't have a passport so I can't go anywhere in particular outside the country, as it stands. But I don't mind. I would be glad to rent a car, road trip it into the country and take off into the sunse- oh no, I remember what happened last summer. Namely, the drive back DUE WEST AT SUNSET from Medicine Hat to Cowtown was a NIGHTMARE.

Anyway, I was thinking that a road trip wouldn't be a bad idea, and it would give lots of time to drop into small cuddly towns and lots of time to kill. (The only drawback is that Lil V doesn't have her license.) Then I was thinking of Ian, simply making his way place to place without a second thought...

Then somehow after a train of thought, I came up with a song that fits our purpose, but I have yet to put the fiddle music to it:

The Travelling Busker Song

We're travellin' 'cross the country
Gonna go from coast to coast
We're travellin' 'cross the country
But it's nothin' much to boast
Gonna eat and drink this country of mine
From fish to steak to mighty fine wine
We're travellin' 'cross the country
And we're passin' through like ghosts.

We're travellin' 'cross the country
Lots of walking left to go
We're travellin' 'cross the country
Though the moving's pretty slow
Gotta take some pictures of every little thing
From deer to bears to anything with wings
We're travellin' 'cross the country
To enjoy the nature show

We're travellin' 'cross the country
Tryin' to make a little money
We're travellin' 'cross the country
To places warm and sunny
Well if you ain't gonna pay to listen to this song
Then you might as well get goin' right along
'Cuz we're travellin' 'cross the country
And we ain't a pair o' dummies.

We're travellin' 'cross the country
da da da da da da da
We're travellin' 'cross the country
la la la la la la la
Well our heads and tummies ain't feelin' alright
Cuz we're college kids who partied all night
We're travellin' 'cross the country
[ad lib something to end]

That's half my day there. The other half was recording the Altered Beast theme song (from the SEGA Master System), but I didn't upload it yet. That was an awesome game. My brother and I used to play at the demo Genesis console in Sears for hours, until the clerks forcefully cut the current on the game and we'd run away dejected. Then our parents bought us the SMS version which was 20% less fun because it didn't have the level with the awesome bear. I mean, why bother producing the game for SMS if there wasn't going to be a bear that shot breath so putrid with rotting food matter that it would literally cause your enemies to turn to stone?

EDIT: Finally, a Tindeck account! Here's the Altered Beast cover. It needs a bit of work, but whateva.

OMG THOSE GODDAMN F@$%ERS

It suddenly dawned on me.

On one hand, I was working at that school for 19 days (actually 18, and one was a snow day but I still didn't get paid for that >_<), and the 20th they got someone else to replace me. That other supply teacher will also be there for exactly 19 days until the regular teacher is scheduled to be back at school.

On the other hand, the collective agreement states that a supply teacher who works a consecutive 20 days or more for one teacher on indeterminate leave will be paid as a regular teacher (ie. full time schedule, depending on what the teacher was working at).

I was being paid per period (and a little more). That means I wasn't getting shitall for most off periods where I was working full time including all the supervision. That means that if I had less than 4 out of 4 periods then I get paid per part of a day. That would make sense, except I worked every day on a full time teacher's workload, and did everything and more than required of any supply teacher.

So if I had continued on that job, I would have had to have been paid at the sane rate of what teachers are supposed to be paid at doing this crazy crap.

OH THOSE LITTLE #@$%!!!

Random Notes ii

I've been busy this week working here and there. (Next week is looking pretty empty though.) And I have this insane craving for chocolate. We bought a bag of Hershey's Eggies, sold during Easter (like other egg-shaped things). They resemble Smarties, or other chocolate ellipses with candy shells, and large as thimbles. I was happily consuming them a few weeks ago, only to find that most of the eggies were chipped, dented, or mangled in the bag. Eggie after eggie of exposed chocolate derrieres. :( But I was desperate so I ate them anyway. Now I have no more, and I have been dying for some cavity-inducing crunchy chocolate thing.

:(

I have met a lot of new faces (versus people since I barely get to learn much else than "that face I saw at X school") and I think I have been learning much from my ordeals this school year. It is not enough, though, for some (certain) people (person), so it may not surprise anyone that I probably will supply teach for yet another year. :(

Birthday Davy

It's Davy's birthday today. Happy birthday, Davy!