The Side Project: Thrown To The Wolves

Here's a taste of what my own blog is like. Warning, it is extremely long and text heavy and picture free. But hey, this is the kind of blog that Shirley reads on occasion so feel free to judge her taste. Without further ado:

Never Is Enough - Barenaked Ladies

As I type this, I'm currently having an msn conversation with Annia (Shirley and I's mutual best bud). This was necessitated by the fact that some confusion lead us to miss a scheduled Skype meeting on Thursday. It's funny, because I was expecting her to be mad at me that I screwed up somehow so I immediately opened up by apologizing and assuming guilt. She wasn't, though I'm sure she was annoyed that things didn't go as planned. In the past I might have antagonized her and demanded to know whose fault it was, but it didn't occur to me to act like that. No, we brushed the incident off and continued our chat. It's amazing how easy it is to avoid confrontation when you genuinely cannot live without the person in question. My patience with her is infinite, not that I need that much.

*****

My boss finally gave me a raise. To $8.45 an hour. That's 70 cents, by the way. Son of a bitch. This is clearly a misguided attempt by him to get me to stay. I should thank him though. He's finally given me something to walk away from. Before, leaving my job was a decision of little consequence. It was like telling myself to stop smashing my head against a wall for five hours a day. Now there is temptation. Now I can see a reason that leaving might not be a great idea. Now, more than ever, I know I'm making the right decision.

Fifteen days left.

*****

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for a while. The New College Student Council Frosh Week 2006 executives and I were having a meeting...at Woodbine Beach. Normally we stuff ourselves into this meeting room at the University of Toronto, but this time we decided to have a "Bonding Event" and what better way to do that than to run around in the sand for four hours while making awkward conversation? I'm kidding. It turned out to be a great time.

Due to an unfortunate case of can't-get-my-ass-out-of-bed-itis, I was a little over an hour late. I felt bad because apparently there were a series of mini crises to deal with early on and I wasn't around to help. At the least, I could have supplied them with an unending supply of witty comments. When I arrived, Michelle (one of my best friends and the organizer of today's events) was still coming down from her freak out and Julius (one of my best friends and the Frosh Committee Chair) was in a pissy mood. After downing some sausages and tossing around the ol' pigskin, Julius and I broke away from the pack to go and find a cake for Michelle. It was her birthday on Saturday.

A brief recap. We walked about ten minutes to his vehicle, which was parked far, far away. Then we drove for a while until we found a Loblaw's and picked up a cake. Then we drove back and had to find a new spot, so we ended up parking in a
a construction area. Probably unwise. Then we walked all the way back to the beach and gave Michelle the cake. I also bought her a book called How Animals Have Sex. She's minoring in Zoology and that was enough justification for me. A couple of our friends were leaving, so Julius decided that he would take their spot so his car wouldn't get towed. So we walked back to his car, changed spots and then walked back to the beach again.

Other than sharing this tedious journey with you, I also wanted to let you know that the whole time we were doing all this walking Julius was telling me about how planning Frosh Week 2006 was driving him CRAZY. Not only was he saddled with numerous responsibilities, but the chores that he could delegate were not being handled with the utmost expediency. He spent almost the entire day venting his frustrations, even when I tried to change the subject. I asked him about his courses and about his girlfriend, but it always came back to his troubles. That's a classic Julius Ko move right there. I was feeling surprisingly light today, so I listened and dispensed my unique form of terse, useless wisdom. He didn't completely unwind until we finally dove into the waters of Lake Ontario. Aaaaah, taste that sweet, refreshing disease! I noticed him immediately perk up though. I like to think I helped him out by being there for him, but I think being surrounded by cute, soaking wet, scantily clad Asian girls also contributed to his change in demeanor. He looked alive again. I went to go play some soccer with committee members I didn't know (it's a bonding event, okay?) and left him to his pleasures. I ended up bruising my foot, but I was happy that Julius was finally letting go of his responsibilities.

After cleaning up after ourselves, we headed to Mr. Greek for dinner, courtesy of the New College Student Council. Hoo-ra! It was excellent, even though I ended up overeating and dry heaving outside of a Burger King about an hour later. Not important to the story. Normally, when I'm at one of these social gatherings I stick to Michelle or Julius and use them as a buffer to avoid dealing with people one on one or, even worse, entertaining a group of people. Somehow I got seperated from both of them and ended up at a table with my friend David and a bunch of people I know little about even after a handful of meetings.

David was no help at all. Somehow, SOMEhow, the conversation kept getting redirected towards me and my program and my future goals. Anyone who knows me knows that I love talking about myself, just...not that stuff. Especially since everytime I started talking, everyone listened to me even though there were eight people at the table! Ugh. So I inevitably ended up talking about my hatred of my Film minor, my constant nap taking and my lack of any plans for the future whatsoever. Not once did David try and redirect the conversation to himself or even attempt to change the subject. He sat there, satisfied with gorging himself on shrimp pasta. It wasn't so bad, I guess. I ended up breaking out an old Psychology Seminar story and got a
big laugh, which allowed me to relax for a few seconds.

I made it through the night alive and ended up bumming a ride off of Jess' friend's sister, Queenie. We both live in Markham and yet it never occurred to me to ask her for a ride before. She had a Hedley CD playing in the car and her and this guy, Bernard, were extolling its virtues. To be nice, I said I didn't know much about them (which is true) and that I was more into stuff from the Canadian indy scene. Bernard asked if I was referring to Simple Plan. I held back my anger and then proceeded to explain why bands like Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Theory Of A Deadman, etc. suck. I cited my usual resources (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Arcade Fire) and then gave them a taste of the other side of things. "Indulge me," I said before blasting them with some Mushaboom. Then I laid some Stars on them and wrapped it up with The New Pornographers. They seemed to like it. I don't think it changed their lives one bit, but at least they know where I'm coming from. It was the most civil conversation I've ever had about Simple Plan. I didn't even mention my desire to inflict great violence upon them.

One last bit about the beach. I love it. I love watching beautiful beach creatures. I love the mad dash I have to make across the sand to prevent the nerves on my feet from being fried. I love the all the cliche baptism and rebirth imagery that comes with being immersed in freezing cold water and coming out knowing that today was more glorious than yesterday and tomorrow will be even better. It wasn't exactly like that for me today, but maybe it was for Julius.

Thomas can raise a barn, but can he pick up a 7-10 split?
God blessed my brother to be a good carpenter. It's okay.
Yeah, well he blessed you too, and I'll give you a hint what it is: It's round, has three holes and you put your fingers in it.
You leave Rebecca out of this!
12:47 am

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Side Project: The One Thing We Can All Agree On

I wanted to post this cool picture from a trip to the Ontario College of Art and Design a few months ago. I tell you, when you're stuck trying to figure out what to throw on someone else's blog, a picture never hurts.



I believe this is supposed to be some form of art. That, or some artsy fartsy kid was real bored.

That was a fun day. I went with my boy Max (for Brian's reference, that's the other guy who went out with us for tea that time) and our mutural friend, Miranda Fung. If I understood correctly, she's transferring to the OCAD this year and she wanted to scope out what was going to be expected of her. She came out petrified, which was totally unwarranted because she is a spectacular artist. She'll be fine. My day was thrown for a loop early on when we walked into this room to check out some mechanized-wooden-sculpture-thingies and the artist who made them was sitting there next to her work. She was very, very beautiful. I checked the name next to the work and I said, "So, you're Jessica Fountain, huh?" She said that she was and I said, "Cool." That was it. Aaaah, Jessica Fountain. I shall remember her always.

The exhibition was truly amazing. We were there for a few hours, but I could have walked around for a week. The last time I went to an art gallery was with Annia. I have her to thank for making them so appealing for me. I remember when I was younger and I had no taste for such things.

One last thing: I'm leaving work in two weeks! Whoo!

- Big Al

3:37 pm

Monday, July 10, 2006

Watering the Plants: Initiation Week

Today marks the beginning of Initiation Week (I-Week) for the Beta Gamma pledge class of the Theta Psi chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity (a mouthful, I know). It is the final week in the pledging period, and is the most important. By Saturday morning, the pledges will become Sigma Chis, and to prepare them for this life-long commitment, we ask them to excise levity from their daily lives for the week and instead use the freed time to contemplate everything. Everything they have learned during pledging; everything they want from life; everything significant that happened to them previously; everything about their relationships; everything ad nauseam. To encourage this excogitation, assignments and reading packages are handed out, within which are philosophically-weighty questions in the former, and inspirational poems and short stories in the latter. Here is an example. Read and discuss:

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400.00 that carried over no balance from day to day and allowed you to keep no cash in you account and every evening canceled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent of course! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is "Time." Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to no good purpose. It carries over no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow." You must live in the present--on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success.

--Author Unknown

The pledging period prior to I-Week slowly eases you into the concepts of the ideals and aims of the Fraternity. One pledge class is scheduled a week, within which are discussions on the ideals of friendship, justice, and learning; on the founders and the events leading to the founding of the fraternity; and on pretty much everything else about the fraternity. It's generally easy-going (unless you're me, but that's a long story) and has a relaxed atmosphere. Attendence is strongly suggested, but pledges can miss a class or two. They don't have to do the assignments, and don't have to learn about Sigma Chi, but come Initiation Week, things get serious. Pledge classes become a nightly affair, and there is the examination to haunt the pledges and make them regret their prior procrastination. Then we force upon them all this self-reflection, and I-week usually takes places just before exams, so it's hectic to say the least.

Another task with which we charge our pledges, and in this case, the initiated brothers as well, is to identify a weakness in their own character and defeat it, or at the very least, abstain from succumbing to the weakness for the week. Examples include quitting smoking, going to the gym regularly, don't go to McDonald's, etc. I remember not logging onto MSN, refraining from watching television (not that I watch much TV to begin with), using the internet only for educational purposes, and quitting masturbation for the week. hah, it was tough, but I managed to survive.

My personal take on the reason for this task is this: I am a Sigma Chi for life. As a Sigma Chi, much is exected of me, including becoming a better man. That is a life-long journey towards an ideal, my ideal of the perfect me. If I can't hold to my resolutions for a single week, a pitfully short period of time, then how can I expect myself to strive for that ideal outside of the structure and pressure of Initiation in the rest of my life? When no one but myself is there to push me to improve my body and mind?

I decided for this week, I would not take upon myself any resolutions. I've lately started on so many self-improvement projects that I feel that I don't need to, and can't really expend any more time on such endevours. Within the previous two months, I started getting up at 5:30am every weekday and 8:30am on weekends to hit the gym, I started seriously following my healthy dietary plan, I started spending less time with Shirley (not that I have a choice) and spending more time studying for the MCAT (two hours a day is the target), I started planning on a comic I want to write/draw for the Imprint, I started reading books again, I continued on my (painfully slow) quest to become a better big brother and son, and I quit smoking. Next up on the list, when I have the time, is to learn Mandarin and vernacular Chinese, go skydiving, go fishing with my dad, learn how to shoot a gun (again), and perhaps finally leaving the damn province and go somewhere for a vacation (I have never, ever been on a vacation).

I-Week ends with the formal initiation of the new brothers, and we throw a big, fancy brouhaha. I'm looking forward to it, as it will be my first weekend out of the house in almost a month. I am so socially-deprived at the moment. I might start talking to my football in another day or so... God help me.

--Brian

7:26 pm

Friday, July 07, 2006

Another Airport Entry

Did you know that computers with free internet access at the Changi Airport in Singapore automatically log you off after 15 minutes? I didn't. And so, I lost a yummy entry about the last week that I've spent in this part of Asia. All I have to say is:

MALAYSIAAAAAAA!!! and SINGA-FREAKING-PORE!!! The past seven days just whetted my appetite. I'm totally coming back for seconds. I love it here. Every.single.grain of it all. I don't think I've been this consecutively happy in a long while. I've officially survived my first bout of Traveller's Gastro-Intestinal Distress AND five mosquito bites on my right calf that have left 3 massive bruise-like scars. It looks like someone beat me with a 2x4. I don't know what purpose mosquitoes serve in this world (other than spreading disease), but I'm sure it can be replaced with and by something better. Right now, I'm kind of hoping that every single mosquito in the world DIES.

I'm currently awaiting another flight back to home base in HCMC where we will do laundry like mad before we leave for China. w00t.


---
Ash: Double YES to another BSB concert!!

Al: Totally wish I was there for the concert. Max gave me a headsup on pre-sale info a long time ago and when I saw the date of the show, my heart broke just a little bit.

11:03 pm

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Ottawa Bound for Canada Day!

Does anyone else miss Shirley? I do. Anyways, on with regular posting.

This weekend I went to Ottawa to celebrate Canada Day. I had never been to Ottawa before and when offered the opportunity to drive down with some friends I thought "what better a time to see the city -our National Capital!!" The drive down was ridiculously long (feeling) but we had only two 'slow-downs' which was pretty good for after work on a Friday of the long weekend. These two incidents happened for good reason. The first was because an old VW Van was engulfed in flames on the side of the 401, we could see the smoke but by the time we got up next to the van (and the four very upset looking 'owners') it had been put out and there stood the 'skeleton'. The second was due to llamas. Yup. Everyone was slowing down to look at them, we too were guilty, but that produced fodder and laughter for the rest of the weekend.

Ottawa isn't exactly what I had imagined. I don't really know what I expected. It is a University town mixed with some big city. There are more homeless people than I could have ever imagined and am somewhat ashamed that in our Nations Capital the situation cannot be improved. One thing that I did find nice-and granted I was very close to campus- were the number of open grassy areas. Also, there were many old buildings and churches and government offices that caused me to awe in appreciation for the amount of work that goes into running this fine country.

Canada Day is definitely something that everyone should celebrate in Ottawa at least once. There were more people walking around dressed in red and white and carrying Canadian memorabilia than I could count. People were everywhere, shopping in the market and wandering the streets, mostly all clutching small flags and smiling under tea warm summer sun. While at the bar, because of course, that was what I did on Canada Day, we all sang Oh Canada and it was amazing. In fact, it was one of the highlights of my weekend. I do not remember the last time I was somewhere that everyone sang our National Anthem and did so with a smile on their face. It hasn't been since grade 4 when it was no longer cool to sing in class that I have heard more than a select few sing, and while I have attended many sporting events there are always those who stand silent -me being one of them. But on that patio, everyone stood, removed their hats and sang with respect. People on the streets joined in and we celebrated our country. Canada is an amazing place to live and I'm proud to say that I am Canadian.

I hope everyone had a great Canada Day.

--Ashley

1:47 pm

Monday, July 03, 2006

Watering the Plants: Literally

I stepped out onto the balcony for a bit of a study break when I looked northwards and saw the rain coming down onto the lake. I grabbed my camera and took photographs!

t = 0 minutes


t = +5 minutes


t = +10 minutes


t = +20 minutes


t = +25 minutes


t = +28 minutes (just for kicks, my workplace)


t = +29 minutes (the view of downtown)


Fin

--Brian

1:05 pm

The Side Project

First, the title. I have another blog that I share with some of my homies. I'm not going to say what it's called or provide a link as I prefer to keep its readership to a minimum. I mean really, why would you write something that you want people to read? What's the point of that? Anyway, now that I'm part of this site, albeit temporarily, it's like joining a new band. I'm happy to be the lead singer, the rest of you can distribute the instruments amongst yourselves. Except for the tambourine. That is also mine.

Second, the purpose. Almost everyone who reads my other blog is someone I spend a lot of time with in person. What this means is that anything I write about there is stuff I've already told them in person or, even more embarrassing, they were actually involved in the recorded events. Even though my friends and I are a bunch of egomaniacs, we can only take so much of ourselves. So, I've decided to use this spot to talk about stuff that would only be redundant on my other blog.

Hence, the island show. I would have posted about it sooner, but it has been a particularly busy week. (scroll down past all this text for the pictures)

Max (Wong), William (Cheng), Jess (Pang) and I (me) headed to Centre Island last Saturday to catch Feist, Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene. Shirley would have been a perfect fit for this outing, but for some reason she couldn't make it. We got there super early to make sure that we wouldn't miss any acts. This may have been a bad idea. It was EXTREMELY hot and in truth, I was only looking forward to seeing Bloc Party. They're the only band who I have much experience with. The first two acts were Raising The Fawn and J Mascis (formerly of Dinosaur Jr.). I enjoyed Raising The Fawn, but J Mascis came off as repetetive and boring. That could be due to the fact that anytime you throw three or four guitars into a live act, those of us unfamiliar with that band's songs hear nothing but a wall of indistinguishable noise.

Feist came on after what seemed like an eternity (or about five hours). At this point, we'd moved from our original positions and found a spot under a tree. It was harder to see the acts, but our flesh was no longer being seared from our bones. I'll take that. As Max ventured into the roaring masses to take pictures, I actually began to doze off in the shade. Feist's voice is so sexy and soothing at the same time. My nap was not due to disinterest, but rather a result of being charmed by this fantastical creature working her magic through a microphone.

I was well rested for Bloc Party. This time, I decided to follow Max for a closer look. The set seemed to go by all too quickly. Even though they were guests of Broken Social Scene, I'm willing to go on the record as saying that they owned this show. The energy level was off the charts. If you were to squeeze out the pure rock juices from this performance, you could extract enough raw fuel to power a city the size of Atlanta for, at the very least, six years. I warn you, my calculations may be a bit off there.

We couldn't stay for the entire Broken Social Scene set. We all had to go home for various reasons. Also, we're old. I didn't want to see them that badly, since I know nothing about them other than a couple of singles and I didn't want to be exposed as the poser that I am.

Overall, it was a great show. Sure, we had to sit around for about eight hours before we finally got to the headliners, but there are worse fates than sitting around on an island all day. For example, I could have been at work (SEGUE!). My last month at Food Basics officially started on Canada Day.

Shirley, when next you see me, it shall be as a free man.

(click to enlarge)

Raising The Fawn


J Mascis


Feist


Bloc Party


Broken Social Scene (all 600 of them)


Photos courtesy of Max Wong. Sorry there weren't more, but I suck at posting pictures.

- Big Al

12:38 pm

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Hi

Seen: Ho Chi Minh, Vung Tau, Hong Kong, Macau, Kowloon, Canton, Shenzhen.

Done: Even more.

12:38 am