Back and Forth, Back and Forth...

"Back and forth, back and forth; I'm beginning to feel like Sisyphus!" -some merchant, Zeus Master of Olympus

Once again, I took to the task of driving back to the homeland, while Jorghnassen had the monumental task of keeping me awake and calling for rest stops at every other service station. Our primary goal was the week-long vacation in our home province. Our secondary goal was to obtain the Rav4's summer tires from Jorgh's dad in Quebec.

Our first stop was in Toronto, to attend the pre-wedding Ning fling at a Dave & Buster's out in the middle-of-nowhere-Toronto. All I know is that one of the Ikeas was next to it. (I-KEEEEE-AAAAAHHH...) I haven't seen Ning in a long time, and even then it was a brief coincidental meeting in Quebec City as she was walking in old town with her now-fiancé Steve. They're supposed to be getting married this week. So happy...! :)

After spending overnight in Toronto with my cousins, we spent all day driving to Montreal, and then I spent all evening correcting Calculus final exams. The marks had to be submitted the next morning at 8 a.m. by email, otherwise I would have had one hell of a commute. I called Davy up as soon as I arrived, certain he would be having his party, to send my regards, and he promptly told me to get our butts over there. Unfortunately, I could not complete my corrections until 10 pm.

By the time we arrived, Ian had already scuttled off, having waited all night for our arrival. On the other hand, Ivo had been asleep and appeared half-dead on our arrival. Then he slept some more. ;) We spent the rest of the evening chatting, sipping tea and whatever else was left, and singing more Beatles songs.

Checklist of Montreal/Quebec Things to Do Eat:

• eat poutine


• eat poutine from Ashtons


• buy maple syrup in cans


• buy bagels by the dozen


• eat and buy tasty bread


• buy or eat own weight in cheese and curds


• eat sushi (!?)

(The last one actually makes sense if you remember what my mum does for a living.)

My favourite thing to do with friends is to make food for them. (Heck, any excuse to get the old roomies together.) So we ended up having one supper in Montreal with homemade sushi (unfortunately not Sushi Sunday but still good).

I managed to secure some of SUMS' doorstops Calculus textbooks for the school. Another reasonable excuse to make this trip's expenses tax-deductible. :)

Eventually we made our way to Quebec, but none of my siblings could make the trip. My bro is recording a new album, so all his evenings are taken up; my sister was entertaining her 'rents-in-law. And arriving in Quebec... my mum was working. Alas, we were also booked for pre-Easter supper with Jorgh's parents and brother in downtown Quebec, so we had virtually no time to go anywhere nor do much shopping. :(

I do feel like we ate a lot though...!

I was pretty bushed by the end of the week. And I still had to drive back to Waterloo, and then the next day yesterday was the first day of school.

... also I had to stop in Toronto for about an hour or so to drop off the bags of bagels, cheese curds, and beans for my cousin. We got back in Waterloo at about 10:30 p.m. and I worked late into that night at making new lesson plans.

Ooh you can bet your sweet patootie I'm completely off my rocker. I made a class blog for my computer class and I think it shows. (In order not to let random strangers get to this blog from the other one, or vice versa, you'll have to ask me what it is.)

A Can of Worms? Open?

To my relief, I secured a part-time job teaching math at a private high school outside of Waterloo, with Jorghnassen's help, starting in early January. The details of the job are still lacking, but the major detail in my quest for sanity has been more or less fulfilled. On the other hand, it caused a much bigger "deal" than it fixed: zero public transit and a 20 km commute.

I had thought of every single possible way I could get there on a regular basis.

Carpooling would be the most obvious one (and most feasible) if only I had asked the principal when he offered me the job; but I was only given his cell number and it apparently costs a crapton for him to use it for incoming calls... thus I am still rather reluctant on calling him through that number again. (And I know what you are going to say, so don't say it and stop saying it!)

Someone suggested getting a bike; cheap and ideal, but I loathe to find out what kind of physical shape I am in right now. Last summer, it took me 2 hours to travel 20+ km uphill, and 1 hour to roll it downhill.

Car sharing is great, but would run up quite a bill for daily commuting, compared to the final option:

Buying a car.

(The absolutely, unquestionably retarded option my mum demanded from me, despite it not being her decision, was that I take a cab every single day until I "matured" enough to know enough about cars to get one, which would take at least a year, and even then she told me I was "too stupid" to own a car. I won't even begin on ranting on the stupidity of this.)

I thought of buying a scooter or car as the absolute last option (barring the above), as I know probably less about scooters and cars than anyone I know, and I have the most overbearing, insane family of anyone I know. Fortunately, as I am the most inept of all my acquaintances, I have the option of asking advice from everyone else. And here are a few nuggets!

Rachel's brother, Pat, who had accompanied us to Bwawston, works with and studies in cars, and has a classmate who could probably locate a suitable used auto. He also offered to service it in his school. This would be in Montreal.

Ian has prevoiusly advised me to buy in Ontario, as the transfer between provinces would cost more than it was worth, but as I was uncertain whether I had time to do that before the job started, I opted for the former.

Shhh! told me that car dealerships would take care of everything in a pretty timely manner, and that it was well worth it for him.

Davy said to look into cheap enough cars within $3000 (if I could only think the costs would end at $3000 :( ).

And alas, I know naught about scooters except deep-voiced Eugene has one that he commutes with in Ottawa to the bus station. Though scooters seem quite cute. :)

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To excuse my absence, I have been helping Jorghnassen fix up his presentation for his Ph.D. defense last Monday. Which he then passed with flying colours!

Still Goddamn Si-*koff koff koff*

I spent the last two nights in various states of unsteady sleep and coughing myself awake every hour. My lame treatment of doses of cold water, and attempts at just keeping my eyes open until fatigue set in, don't seem to work, but I am convinced that I will be better soon.

In a surprising twist of fortune, the contact at the EMSB told me to email her my CV "ASAP" this morning (after admitting that she had almost given up on me but then realizing that I had been sick all week), which led to a phone call a few hours later from a principal out in Montréal-Nord, which now leads to an interview tomorrow morning out there. I will probably capitalize on Ian's idea on getting a 100-pak of Fisherman's Friend and at least stumble through the interview without hacking up spittle or whatnot.



In yet another piece of (old) Islands news, my brother published an article in Chart Magazine, September 2006 (page 62). I remember my sister showing us the article earlier this year, and yesterday she had just sent me a pdf scan of the page. It's not about anything in particular (... it's called "Who I Have The Hugest Crush On") but it does have that popsicle picture and a sketch by his friend Sinbad at the bottom of the page.

Popcorn Again and Other Blather

Not two days after my attempt at making caramel popcorn did my mum bring home a bag from Kernels. It seems an acquaintance at the mall who works there brought her the bag in exchange for sushi. And now I know why they call it Kernels - every other bite has a rock-hard pellet in it.

Ms C's Random Food Review, Part Million Twenty-Three

Today: Kernels Popcorn, Caramel

Comments: It arrived in a blue bag, proudly proclaiming it was popped freshly that day. It also arrived with the seal broken, my mum having opened it to eat some. I HOPE. The only contents are popcorn (and kernels, thank you very much Kernels) and caramel coating, so no nuts and other random metal bits to fuss about.

Review: If I hadn't burnt the caramel popcorn in the oven the other day, mine would be much tastier. (Yes, I know, I suck.) Generally speaking, the caramel of the Kernels popcorn is bland. Not much flavour other than sugartastic sweet. The popcorn was decent enough - fluffy, large, and fresh enough to last a day. The disadvantage of old popcorn without flavouring or fancy coating is that it gets gross and stale quickly. Also, anyone who has ever made their own popcorn from kernels and a stovetop or air popper will tell you that microwave popcorn and popcorn sellers are ripping you off into oblivion.

Rating: Three / 5

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I calculate that a supply teacher in this city can work about four days a month to cover the rent. '_'

Yesterday, I went to an elementary school to supply; this being my second time doing elementary, it was just as I expected from the first time, without all the fights breaking out every ten minutes. Like a hockey game! Furthermore, I have never been in a school that I have become lost in so quickly. It's like one of those dreams where you walk down a hall and up or down stairs, follow random people, and find out you're in a completely different building.

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Within a few days, Ian should be in town to visit. I had told him to come while the autumn colours were still around, but that rain-and-wind-storm from last weekend pretty much blew off all the leaves around here. Hence, he'll have to settle for drab November and all its dull glories.

MIA for 2 Weeks

I know that there have been some people trying to contact me over the last few weeks. I should have made this more obvious: I was attending two weddings over the last two weeks in completely different cities than the one I currently reside in, and thus I was not in town for those two weeks. I just returned this evening to my home (computer) and have listened to the phone messages (16, a new record) and read my backlog of emails (5 nonspam, wonderful).

Obviously I am terrible at communicating with people via any other sort of means than face-to-face conversation, especially the telephone. And I am also a class triple-A introvert. My choice of career is ironic.

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I see that Ian is back in Montreal.

A Kid Who Makes One Reconsider Having Kids

Toronto was a massive tropical mess. The sun is stronger with even this slight difference in latitude. The air was laden with so much moisture that the humidex was 37 degrees nearly the whole time I was there. In addition, it was so hot in the morning that I couldn't run longer than half the usual time. (But I did get to see cute animals scurrying about.)

There were good things, like having seafood and more seafood. There was also seeing the cousins and more cousins of cousins. Then there was the terrible things, like filling up on so much water that I felt like one of those controversial fountains. But the thing that I could not understand was the behaviour of that certain ~3 year old baby...

The baby was cute enough. (Cousin of cousin of cousin, I suppose.) He spoke about three languages, all of them chinese, at the same time. Even his mum had a hard time understanding him. His favourite television program must be Thomas the Tank Engine because he had his own Thomas inflatable mattress.

But he had almost no discipline. The mother would restrain him when he hit her or slapped her around, but there was little to no follow-up after restraint, nor any corrective behaviour, so that the kid would just keep doing the bad behaviour. He would also start crying if he was restrained too long or denied anything he wanted. Then the restraint would stop or the adults would give in. In addition, he would slap around my female relatives, but not the male ones.

The boy made a great start when he arrived, as his nose suddenly bled three times in a row, and right onto the rug that Rebecca had just finished scrubbing a few hours prior to the mess. She then commented that the last time he had visited, he had peed on the floor as well. For some reason, one of the adults thought it might be a good idea to stick a piece of chinese green into the nose to stop the bleeding, but thank goodness the kid refused this unorthodox treatment.

But that is not the only thing the kid refused. He also refused to relinquish things that kids aren't supposed to play with, such as the inflatable mattress motor, and he refused to be told to stop beating up the people around him.

I was spared the whiny torment and torture of the boy by interacting as nonchalantly as possible, because I couldn't stand another moment when the mother would allow him yet again to fling a chopstick around. (That didn't mean I was heartless - I still helped him up and down stairs and make sure he didn't run into a pole or something.)

Eddie and Rebecca both work with young children his age, and they had suggested to the parents to leave the kid with them for 3 weeks and they'd straighten him out. (I'm sure everyone deep down inside really hoped the parents would say yes.)

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.