New Blogger Features :)

You might have noticed a few slight changes in the last little while. Firstly, I finally decided to fix the titles of each post, but I have to do them manually (ugh) because I was too clumsy to figure out where the "Title Field" button was. Secondly, I have the new option (courtesy of Blogger Beta) to put labels on each post, so now I am going to go back and do them at the same time. So don't be alarmed when you see your name for some reason in the labels even if I didn't mention you explicitly, because I am probably 1) making notes to myself and 2) wrong - where option 2 is more likely than 1. Thirdly, I put a site meter link at the very bottom of the page, like Jorgh's, so that everyone can see which person with a mysterious IP address is visiting our blogs.

Hopefully all these changes can lead you to a more pleasant and enjoyable blog-reading experience as you laugh at all the related things I've done, such as getting sick and/or paranoid.

P.S. Sorry for killing your news readers. :(
P.P.S. I think I might not have understood the concept of labels, because I think I have too many. :(:(

Someone Got a Blog!

I'm hiding in Jorghnassen's Montreal condo right now, as his parents dropped me off here this afternoon, and they're not planning to leave the city until Tuesday. It's pretty lonely here without anyone around, especially Jorgh. :( On the plus side, Jorghnassen finally set up his blog, bleuetfjord.blogspot.com!

People keep wondering if I'm going to be in Waterloo with him, or stay in Quebec. Well, if I can secure a job for certain in Waterloo, then I'll go for sure since one doesn't drop a few (hundred? thousand?) bucks on furniture to live in a massive apartment by oneself...

Oh, I know exactly how he feels.

And I think this cover letter is absolutely on-the-spot great. :p

Another One Joins the Fray

Much to my joy (or chagrin?) Stephen joined LJ and already has an entry up! The user name is kind of funny though. ;)

Everyone's got some sort of redesign going on. Maybe I'll do that too. When I am more awake.

Metablogging

Since Davy and brem have lately taken some time to explain certain aspects of their blogging activities, I thought I would talk about mine today. Though I highly doubt anyone actually cares about these points because my own blog doesn't sound serious enough to merit such commentary.

1. I write about absolutely anything. I think this is fairly obvious. My most natural trait is to excessively brood over one topic and then completely change line of thought. On the other hand, there are limits. I don't talk about more personal things beyond feelings and events.


2. Completely unilingual. This is because I don't actually function in any other language. I'm chinese-illiterate and I can't even carry on a normal conversation with my mum in cantonese. Despite living in the middle of redneck Quebec City, I have very limited french interactions with the community beyond going down to the local pharmacy and buying a lotto ticket when the jackpot exceeds 20 million. Really, it's that pathetic.


3. OMG don't even think of sticking this thing on a search engine. Being a class A super-introvert and also a highly traceable professional (high school teacher), I am very sensitive to people invading my privacy. I don't mind the random readers or trusted acquaintances and friends who come by (hi!) but I would rather erase this whole blog than let one of my charges get a hold of any of my entries, and with good reason.


4. Reason be damned! If I think something is stupid, you know I'll say it. If I think something is awesome, then you're free to skip the crude 4-part LOST sketches and follow-ups of why I think Mr. Eko should be crowned as the new king of the LOST island.


5. No posts because of winter solstice, the beans' sprouting, and the crossing of paths of Mars and Jupiter. I don't have a regular schedule. This is because when I do work, I tend to get cranky and I won't have much to say that is newsworthy. Also mentioned before, I skip writing when I'm in Montreal or otherwise travelling. Then I can come back and whine about it, like Cowtown.


6. Above all, I write for myself. Yes, I get embroiled in thoughts of "Waaa Jorgh is the only one who left a comment!" and I admit, I'm not a very good responder because I don't actually answer him. But my blog wasn't initially meant to inform, educate, and entertain my readers. In fact, it was meant for me to vent and sound pompous to myself. I am entitled to such a space, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to exploit it!

This degenerated pretty quickly. Anyway, to compensate for this lack of journalistic professionalism, please enjoy the following sketch.

Confused old man???

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.

This City is Going Down the Crap Hole

After spending about 6 months back here in Quebec, I am rather disappointed by its offerings. A right-wing (ADQ, leader Mario Dumont) politician was elected in our provincial riding in September. The RTC (formerly the STCUQ) is on strike this week, thereby dooming the entire city of 600 000 to ride the bus during the brief window of rush hour (at 1/3 reduction of service) during the weekdays ONLY.

What I am most disappointed in is the lack of internet-based news sites about Quebec City. I'm not talking about the bullitens that the National Assembly, or other Quebec government sites set out, but just plain effing news.

Montreal Web Blog is a decent enough news/commentary site that is varied enough to keep even me interested in what is going on in Montreal. It has a link to a Quebec City blog, called Québec urbain, that is probably going to be the closest to a news blog there will be in this city.

I don't mind that everyone is French-speaking and probably hardly ever see anglos or immigrants miling around town. I don't even mind that some can't speak English, or hold preconceived notions about other cultures and ethnicities. But posts like the third one down from this thread really piss the living crap out of me. Especially when people like that choose to hide their identity behind the anonimity of the internet.

Fortunately, sentiments like those don't ring true of the majority of the population. I prefer to think that among the people who live in this very bureaucratic city, the majority is in fact highly educated and well-informed... well, except that majority who decided to elect the ADQ. (But this is Vanier, so I don't think there's much to wonder here.)

Blog

Yes I was attempting to post pictures on my blog, since I figure it'll get me more comments to my posts. I'm using Hello (?) software which was bought out by our good friend Google, and this allows me to share photos online with people AND get free hosting for photos in my blog. Isn't that something? :)