Trend Wars

Amusing for perhaps a few minutes (or until you run out of things to compare), Google yourself a war! Surprising and unsurprising results?

P.S. If you process common things too much, Google restricts your access. :(

Tour of My Neighbourhood

Following my habit of reading the SA forum, not joining because it costs $10US (although that might change into $10CA at this rate) and then posting about the topic here, I give you a Tour of My Neighbourhood (versus "Tour of My Town" because I really, really don't know that much, come to think of it).




WARNING: large file size (~2 MB)
Goddamn let me fix this problem... >:( Picasa won't let me send large photo sizes :(

EDIT: OK, I've made the above image into an image map, so you'll have to click the different quadrants to get one part at a time.

Those of you who aren't too familiar with Quebec, there's very little public transit going out to the really boonie-like places. For instance, the movie theatre does have a bus line going there... once every two hours or something equally as ridiculous. Also, the entire city is white so there's not much reason to put "REDNECKS LIVE HERE" everywhere.

---

Yet another article about Islands. Hilarious (and at the same time, NOT hilarious) if you know what is going on there, and you know who the article is talking about...

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.

Ongoing Feature: QHS Alumni 97

The Castonguay twins have a family blog site, which would probably reveal more about their respective current situations.

Dear Vero graduated from McGill in the same ceremony as my education degree, with an MA in English. And here I am having busted my ass for a freaking degree and a half for five years. :(

Mr Z was last spotted online conducting some sort of choir...

Sarah wrote online from her outpost in PEI. I'm certain she's keeping herself busy with research.

Cedric's younger sister attends my school at the secondary 1 level. She approached me with her friend as backup one day (with some sort of fear that I would eat her alive or something) and mentioned his name. I acknowledged that I recognized him, and asked why in particular. She then hurredly uttered "He's my brother" and ran away. Interesting.

A Long, Long, Long Day

Another week, another three weeks left of school. I think the school board and the MEQ are total crap. At least they pay me...

It started with a local union meeting at my alma mater, yesterday after school. Erik commented that the kids are wearing things that are totally banned at our school like baseball caps. I mentioned that when we were students, the caps would stay on in the halls, up to the millisecond they stepped in the classroom. He then commented something that implied that this behaviour was asinine.

Our local union wants to have us vote to let the negotiating team use a 5 day strike, which is why we were all coralled to the big school to listen to one of the members of negotiation desperately convince us to vote yes.

They gave us granola bars and juice boxes (of which I had three of each), but it still didn't convince us to vote for another freaking 5 days of lost wages. It's bad enough I lost like 160 bucks (minus taxes), and stretching it out will just screw over everyone. Except the government.

---

Today, the school committee to save the school (composed of mostly parents and students) tried to organize a rally-trip to the school board office to attend the commissioners' meeting. Erik warned me that he would like to go but can't, because he is a teacher at the school and it would look sort of bad on his part to be at the meeting. So I attended, but as a member of an interested public and a friend of committee members (which is totally legitimate, as long as I don't open my mouth).

Anyway, Glenda (mother of one of my students) briefed me about the meeting and briefed me after the meeting. We tacitly agreed that the commissioners were rather uncompromising, as their only solution was to ask the government for the freaking 1.7 million dollars and nothing else. All we got from the meeting was that the commissioners will attend a meeting with the MNA next Tuesday. Great.

---

The three hours before the meeting, I was in Sillery tending to my father's gravesite. The flowers we bought last week were crying out for water, and the hanging plant that my brother chose was sad and ridiculous sitting on the ground. I planted the little orange flowers around the (currently) dead flower roots from last year, and cleaned the headstone. That took up about an hour, but I still had two left in Sillery before the boring-assed meeting.

I went to the library afterwards, if not for nothing to do then simply because I had to empty the bladder full of the soda I bought from Subway half an hour prior. I was greeted in the lobby with a photo of the church with the churchgoers, and the old reverend from way back when I was still in Quebec. Among the churchgoers were my mum and my brother, back when he wasn't six feet tall. I was laughing silently at him because of his prepubescent dorkiness quite obvious in the photo.

The library is very nice, quite modern, and smelled very little of books (unlike some other musty, dank liberries of yesteryear). I sat and read newspapers for two hours.

I came across a three week old Quebec Chronicle Telegraph where I saw a picture and a headline. Of course I didn't really recognize who it was until two minutes of staring and wondering where I had seen his nose from... Then I figured out he was one of my peers who graduated from high school with our class. Of course, seeing him now doesn't mean much, except that he was once my peer tutee for math 536. He had a hard time integrating well with our class, seeing that he came to our school only for a year, so he didn't go to graduation. I think he came to prom tho.

---

I will eventually compile a class of 97 alumni list. So far, I know that B is in Montreal still working at the McGill bookstore, and my old ex roomie is still in Montreal working on her acting career. Andrea is teaching at an elementary school in Qc.

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? :)