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Sunday, November 27, 2005

Les coureur de bois

I remember learning about these guys in the fourth grade. Brave men who travelled deep into uncharted territory with little more than canoes and daring, they discovered new worlds unseen by men before them, and inspired generations of intrepid explorers after them. It suddenly occured to me today that I've always wanted to be a coureur de bois. Perhaps I don't possess the physical strength with which to portage a canoe with the same ease as a voyageur, but I certainly don't think I lack the courage :-p Surely that is a good place to start, no?

Your intrepid explorer

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Jerksicle

It's cold outside! Officially, the temperature with windchill is minus 12, but the 50km/h northerly winds make me feel like it's a lot colder. To give you an idea of how strong the winds were today, my frozen right ear was cut by a piece of flying debris while I was making my way upwind to the Medical Sciences Building this afternoon.

So far, it appears no one truly understands the cause of this sudden climatic shift, but that hasn't stopped the "experts" from weighing in with their half-cocked explanations. The resident weather expert in this morning's paper suggested quite matter-of-factly that the cold weather and harsh winds were the result of a "weather bomb" in the Maritimes. Seriously now, "weather bomb"? If you're going to make stuff up, at least be creative. I would have had an easier time believing him if he had told me the temperature drop was the doings of vindictive Arctic gnomes with large, family-sized fans from Costco. Why can't I find a job where I get paid to make stuff up to appease the masses?

On the bright side, this weather is perfect for catching up on some leisure reading with a nice hot cup of 奶茶 (milk tea) by my side. Now if only I had the perfect pillow to snuggle up to.

Your Favorite Jerk

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Rapid post

The thing about procrastinating is that sooner or later the things you avoid doing will catch up to you. Here's a case in point: a lot has happened in the two weeks since I last blogged, but I haven't bothered to blog about them until now. The result is this highly abridged post that will attempt to summarize what has happened in the last two weeks in a single sentence. Mr. Olsen, my highschool English teacher would have had an embolism if he read this.

My mom came to visit for two weeks, during which time she saw my newly adopted home and met almost everyone at Delta and had lunch and dinner with Tiffy, for whom I had to find a birthday present, the centrepiece of which was the bunny mug from korean BBQ; and with whom I had dinner tonight, along with her mom, dad, and brother to celebrate her birthday. This post really doesn't do much justice to the goings on of the past couple of weeks but I'm too afflicted with writer's block to write any more. But it was the nicest couple of weeks in a long time :)


Your Favovite Jerk

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Shameless indulgence

Tonight I gave in to the pleasures of gluttony, a capitulation that was, in hindsight, quite inevitable. After weeks of turning down dessert and limiting myself to only one serving of meat per meal, I finally could not resist my cravings for deliciously unwholesome foods any longer. My meal tonight had the following cast of insalubrious edibles: steak, curly fries, soup, and pizza with an extra helping of ranch dressing for added fat content. I must admit the whole experience felt decadently fulfiling at the time, but its aftermath has been more than regrettable. Sadly, such is the result of mindless surrender to the temptation of life's many pleasures. The trick is to find a happy middle ground between the stark but honorable life of asceticism that leads to inevitable surrender in the face of temptation, and the pleasurable but destructive life of shameless indulgence that leads to regret and sorrow. I pray that I will find that place.

David

Thursday, November 03, 2005

BBall

I had the good fortune of receiving a free ticket from Han-Kit for the Raptors' season-opener against the Wizards last night. The game was quite tight and entertaining, though it came to a disappointing 96-99 conclusion for the Raptors. Aside from a defective inflatable noise-maker, and terrible accoustics at the ACC, I found the whole experience--this was my first time attending an NBA game--rather enjoyable.

There were, however, a few things I just couldn't get used to. The most grating and perplexing of these is the circus aspect of the game. Please allow me to explain myself before you mistakenly accuse me of hurling baseless insults on your favorite sport: basketball is probably the only other sport besides competitive cheerleading and extreme aerobics where music plays *during* the game. What kind of nonsense is that? Most of the night I didn't know if I was supposed to cheer for Chris Bosh or Usher. The man does have a catchy hook though.


Your Favorite Jerk

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

November is here

I've been waiting for November to come for quite some time now, and she's certainly taken her sweet time getting here. But now that she's here, I can say without reservation that she was worth waiting for. I hope she'll stay awhile.

David