red9

Is a Nintendo Wii!

Ok, now that I got that totally out of the way, no really, I do want a Wii, but I’ll get it by myself, for myself and for my friends in the new year. And there’s my golden connector for this post, to my friends. I’ll be down in L. for this holiday season. It’ll be nice to visit what I used to call home for a while. To be quite honest though, and now more then ever since my mom won’t be around, I’m going to L. to see my friends first over anything else. Which in a way has it’s downsides since there are now so many people who I know from W. who I would love to spend a few days of the holidays with, especially considering how some of them are leaving for co-op work places again in January that aren’t anywhere close at all; At least some are coming back. Isn’t that an annoying perpetual cycle that our universities co-op program instigates? For all of its benefits it sure makes some relationships and friendships ridiculously hard.

Which brings me right a long to a reflection on a story from my childhood, it’s ok Andrew I was at least 7 or 8. When I lived in Estonia I had two best friends, Kolya and Roman. Romka went to my school, from our 1st grade right to when I left, we lived in the same apartment building, he was on the 11th floor and I lived on the 5th. Kolka went to a different school, and for a reason which I’ll explain in a second it made the situation that arrose possible, he lived about 5 minutes from my house. Our school schedules were like this, I went to school from morning until afternoon, but there was another option, you started in the afternoon and went until early evening, odd I know, but that’s how it is with schools there. So my two best friends, I don’t think there was anything that could ever cause a rift in those friendships, except I bring you to the hitch of this perfect trifecta is that Kolka and Romka absolutely hated each other. There was not even a moment where they ever got along, and I don’t mean it in a sense where they’d tolerate each other and actually do things together. No I outright mean I never did anything with both of them together. It was like I had two best friends with friends around them and I had these 2 groups that I could never see together.

Except, one time, there was a ring at the door, I opened it. And there they were, both standing there, together, calling me to go out. I was quite literally shocked, I remember us going down in the elevator and one of them saying, so could you imagine anything more odd that could have happened a moment ago, and I’ve honestly had nothing. I don’t remember what we did that day, or that week, but this event only lasted a few days. After that it was back to having two best friends that could never see each other for me, and while I would never give up having either of those friendships as I’ll remember them for life, how messed up is that, years of my life split between some of the best people I’ve ever met.

That day when I opened my door, wasn’t a Christmas day, it wasn’t New Years (my preferred day for celebration), but it may as well have been. The event, or the gift of that day was one of the best things that could have happened ever. I don’t think I’ve really ever told this story to anyone else, I knew, they knew, and we knew. But what a gift that was, no piece of a wrapped up present can ever measure up to gifts of spirit quite like that.

This brings me to these holidays and my opening statement of why I travelled anywhere at all, for my friends. I’ve made more friends this year, more close friends that I feel confident enough to say that I’ll keep for life, which is a hard thing to say for me given my previous experiences. I lived with Andrew for another 4 months, watched him make the right choice and joked with him in the evenings after work. I hung around with Adam, and hopefully helped him be a bit less comically emo. I think I finally made some headway into getting Allen to come out with us instead of spending 23.9/7 hours of his life on Caprice (all jokes aside she got seriously lucky with him). I heard stories of Ken going to see the forbidden movie. I saw Julian come to UW, after saying cya to him in high school. I talked to Flora again, something I haven’t done in a while. I really shouldn’t have started a list, no matter how long I write I will come up with more and more names of people I’d love to add. But one last person who’ll certainly be included is Sharon. I don’t have one defining memory of what we’ve done in the last year that I’ve known her, it would probably be too silly and too funny to explain in words, one of those ‘you had to be there’ experiences. But whatever random series of events led to our meeting, and it almost couldn’t have been more random, not to mention all the ties and similarities we’ve found since then, a huge ‘effing thanks to whoever (note the proper spelling ) arranged the events for that. If I could meaningfully translate the two Russian songs that just played while I wrote these last few sentences I would, but I’ll have to stick to just saying they were strangely perfect.

So you ask me what I want for Christmas and the holidays, and I tell you the answer is easy. My friends, my family would be really nice (but that’ll have to wait until next year) and all the events of the previous years, the good, the great, some of the bad. And to comment on one last part of Sharons post:

The only thing I’m worried about is how am I ever going to be able to leave them when I have to go to Japan?

Who knows really? But just speaking from experience, I’ve moved my life two times now, thankfully L. and W. are close enough that I won’t even count that as a move. And both the previous times I’ve had to say goodbye to those I knew and met, some of them I’ve lost over time, but some I talk to, or try to visit whenether the opportunity comes up. So why worry now, wouldn’t it be better to have now and have the memories and see what happens later then any other way around? =D

Or the 10 songs that have become the staple of our musical selection at work. Some of them are truly enjoyed, some jokingly selected, but all have an unique role in this collection.

Artist: Europe
Title: The Final Countdown
We’re leaving together
But still it’s farewell
And maybe we’ll come back
To earth, who can tell

Possibly the official closing song, but really it has served us so many times as a countdown song (what a surprise huh?) that it deserves to be at the top of yet another numeric list.

Artist: DHT
Title: Listen to Your Heart
Listen to your heart
When he’s calling for you
Listen to your heart
There’s nothing else you can do

It seems appropriate that this song for some reason comes on everywhere and at anytime, even when we leave the work it shows up on the radio and during grocery shopping trips. Andrew of course stole it from me, but he’s definitely taken the title more to heart.

Artist:  Paul Engemann
Title: Push It to the Limit
Open up the limit
Past the point of no return
You’ve reached the top but still you gotta learn
How to keep it

It first came up in a conversation way back in January with Joel. Talking about what songs get played while playing WoW over ventrilo. Since then it has integrated itself nicely and while doesn’t get played as often anymore still deserves this place.

Artist: Gigi D’Agostino
Title: I’ll Fly With You
I still believe in your eyes
I just don’t care what you’ve done with your life
Baby, I’ll always be there
By your side

Great candidate for most overplayed office song of September. We’re all in a way still hooked on it and I know for sure we sang it at least once at Bubble Tea yesterday.

Artist: Simple Plan
Title: Untitled (How Could This Happen)
How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
Got no where to run
The night goes on

This song is a huge internet meme, but for us it’s just a fun thing to bring up when those dreaded moments come around where you just go “seriously, why the hell…”.
Artist: PPK
Title: Resurrection
Do, da da da doo di doo…
(Ok, so maybe there aren’t any lyrics)

It’s 8 minutes long, it’s easy to listen to and no one can say they don’t like it. Except maybe Greg, but his music choices are hella questionable in the first place anyway.
Artist: Geto Boys
Title: Still & Damn it Feels Good to be a Gansta
All along,
[still] it was a ghetto, nothing, but the ghetto /
Damn it feels good to be a gansta,
I mean one you don’t really know

Oh Office Space, is there really anything else that needs to be said about this. And yes, I cheated by having 2 songs in one entry.

Artist:  Chamillionaire
Title: Ridin’
They see me rollin’
They hating
Patrolling
And tryin’ to catch me riding dirty
We mostly consider this to be one of the theme songs to Nitish’s life. But to be honest we play the song enough ourselves that it belongs here. Of course there’s always the other version by Weird Al Yankovic, We be White and Nerdy =D
Artist:  Buckwheat Boyz
Title: Peanut Butter Jelly Time
It’s peanut butter jelly time
Peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time
Where he at, where he at
There he go, there he go

Now break it down and freeze…

Artist: DarkMateria
Title: Picard Song
Captain, Jean-Luc Picard! Of the U.S.S., Enterprise.
Mak-mak-mak-mak-mak-mak-mak…
He just kept talking, in one, long, incrredibly unbrroken sentence,
So that no one had the chance to interrupt:
It was really quite hypnotic… ‘notic… ‘notic…

You’d be surprised how long this song can be on and for some reason you just let it keep going and going. The sensible thing would be to stop the insanity, but that would just not be fun.

And now for a rambling of honourable mentions all in a disorganized format: YTMND soundtracks, because a lot of our songs are already from them anway, go popular cultrue. Backstreet Boys, since in high school no one would seriously admit to liking them. DJ Tiesto, the lifeline of one of the ResNet workers. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, because Rocky Balboa has still totally got it. And finally a whole lot more dance ones which were just too numerous to fit in here, this time.

I find this post to be relevant to not only the title, but the topic at hand. All these personal blogs on the internet, and of course the associated social networks like Facebook and MySpace (did you honestly think I’d make the latter a link) are full of our intentions, moods, opinions and comments. Even this blog, despite really being mostly for my feelings, experiences and rants is visited by my friends and about 300 other people who I have really no idea who they are. Sure I can use the really cool Google tools and Urchin to check out where they’re from, but for the most part I really don’t know them except for their virtual address.

So what does that mean for me? Well that random people, who may or may not know me, partake in reading my experiences all the time. Which effects me everytime I make a post, whether consciously or not I will always censor it to some extent. Some things will always be left out and not spoken of. While other topics which I think might be fun to read about will be exhagerated and amplified in their delivery for the benefit of the public. However it’s that censored part that I’d like to focus on today. And before I proceed it’s worth mentioning that while writing this post I’ve now checked Facebook 3 or 4 times for whatever reasons.

The omissions are usually on a variety of topics, and I won’t lie, this is partly inspired by Dan and Yuffie, Andrew’s ‘work report’, Nitish’s ResNet stories and well myself. How much personal info to post or discuss in these public domains is too much. Or is there really a limit, it is your personal info after all, but then it seems that for anything that might be most personal there’s always someone else involved. Whether it’s Nitish and his, what seems like, bi-weekly dating changes. Or is it Dan and Yuffie, and their newfound bliss; interesting to find a photo album on Facebook when just weeks earlier Yuffie took down her photo when people found out who she was. Then there’s the professional impact of what Andrew wants to say and we all know on his future career. You can see, by now, I hope how much these personal musings aren’t so personal at all and involve so many other people who you either have to know very well to guess their choices, get their approvals or just blindly guess and hope for the best.

So on this new landscape of public openess it’s a most amusing thing to observe what people choose to reveal and how more and more they’re introduced to the possibilities that significantly more personal details emerge. Despite so many warnings of idenity theft on the news in television, print, and the new age media it’s in some way more amusing to read over my friends notes and rants and smile at thoughts of how someone could try to pretend to mimic their quirks, behaviours and identities (yeah, yeah I know they only steal the important things like numbers), but it sure is a fun trip for my imagination. With all that said — I’m all for it — I’ve met more diverse friends over places like the DC++ hub and the internet then I think I could ever possibly achieve from say classes where everyone is really there for the same reason and from the same area. And since social events beat pretty much anything else in terms of enjoyment whether it’s with one other person or a group, the more people you know the better! Which reminds me I’m somehow supposed to be at at least two different places tommorow one being some of my Waterloo friends having a Martini party and then Doug and Co. are hitting up what I think is some sort of bar/karaoke/something cool place.

Oh, as a final realtime update, I just checked Facebook again inspired by a quick note from Sharon to find our snowmen shots stolen from the semi-private gallery and revealed to the world. That was a really fun night though! Thanks to Andrew for taking some of the pictures, the weather for the snow, the 1st year jerks for smashing our creations twice and gravity making sure that I have 1 less wine glass : )

Last night I added two movies to my I’ve seen it list. The Labyrinth and Clerks 2. Labyrinth reminded me the most of two creations really, the Heavy Metal collection of shorts and that other movie, who’s name I can’t remember, but it has a kid in it who rides the long white dog looking thing that looks like a dog dragon. It’s really, at its core, just another classic adventure story with a hero(ine) partaking in an epic journey to achieve a noble goal. Of course this classic description fails to account for the weird creatures, the multitude of puppets and the completely random ideas that come up throughout the movie, just to name a few: the everstinking bog, rolling rocks, talking *everything*, musical numbers and some super cheesy and funky effects. Did I mention David Bowie and his… well battle of the bulge.

Clerks 2, I have some mixed reactions. I barely remember the first one, but I definitely remember laughing more about it. I’m not entirely sure what it was, but maybe it was just that too many things were given tribute to, I suppose to appease the hardcore fanbase. Not that it wasn’t a fun movie to watch, but I don’t really expect to want to see it again soon. That’s not to say that I wasn’t laughing through the better part of the movie anyway. You’d be rather surprised what 3 people can accomplish with an assortment of pillows in hand. Alliances were made and broken, trajectories of pillows were lauded and criticized, and I discovered the the softest pillow there kinda wraps around really easily over your head and hits you in the eyes when you least expect it… I think I got my “revenge” in quite nicely though against the purpotrator.

As to the hard drives, well, I haven’t got much to add other then we’ve had some hard drives at work that were just wasting space. So after some thorough tinfoil hat treatment we applied the time proven methods of throw+floor+impact=destruction. Just picture two or more really clumsy people in a skit passing an object back and forth to each other over and over and over again and you’ll have a really good idea =D

I haven’t been to a concert in a while. The last performance event that I was at was a Cabaret show at my high school. To clarify, no not the show, just an assortment of acts performed by the students in various genre of arts. Basically anything from bass guitar, dancing, comedy and display flower consumption. Where I’m going with this is Andrew was doing a solo performance in Messiah, in a local church, this last Sunday. I was somewhat curious and with it being a nice break from anything else I might have been doing at the time: msn, WoW, sleep, watering my plant and msn again I accepted his invitation to go and see the show. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a production based on religious motifs so it was definitely different. But a performance is always a performance and those merits alone it was definitely worth going, it’s still, and probably forever curious to see these when you’ve participated several times on the opposite side of the audience, in my case as theatre crew since I couldn’t sing well to well save my life or the world. It’d be perhaps too much to describe the ongoing song and linked songs of Messiah in detail, so just go and see it, as the green panthlet which still lies on the chair entering our room calls it one of the most prolific performances in history.

I really did want to mention three quirks from that night, affectionatly called “the fly”, “the huddle” and “hey let’s go…”. The fly — a totally useless creature — that just would not go away flew around the church for most of the performance, and during various stages I saw it on the benches, in the air, and I think at one point in Andrew’s hair. I don’t know why this was so memorable, but the fly looked hella annoying to any of the performers who couldn’t really take the time to stop and make it go away. The huddle — during intermission — I turned on my cell to check my messages and play a little bit of that addiction known as Quadra Pop. Some of Andrews friends were in the audience, I knew that, but I didn’t know them, so I didn’t even try to look for them yet. Well on my way to another 100,000 point score I noticed that I found myself sitting, now surrounded by a circular group all having a discussion right around me and leaning above me. Awkward I thought, I knew none of them, and clearly I had somehow managed to sit in a spot where a group formed around me. Do I continue sitting there doing my own thing, excuse myself and move, or what, I chose the former and in a few minutes the strange group function had dissolved.

A Williams outing later, with Andrew once again making a few people happy with his program switch out of CS (hey deja-vu) that brings us to “hey let’s go…” to Sharons! She ended up missing out on the performance itself due to a last minute effort to complete a really annoying essay that was about 12 pages long and which between her brother, her parents, and me not helping she didn’t finish early enough to go. But that didn’t seem like reason enough to miss Andrew’s penguin tux with suspenders and an extra solo performance of the opening of Messiah.

It’s a moody Friday, it’s raining, coming close to raining hard, but for now I’ll still have to term it a bit of a moderate distribution of the water drops across the ground medium; at least it’s still not cold.

But that’s not the reason I’m here again this morning. This latest skit was brought on by a weird dream that I had earlier today. It’s best, perhaps, that I explain these types of dreams at first. They’re always in the mornings, the moment of time when you are just concious enough to comprehend and for a short time remember what occurs, but not to fully realise that you are still, on some level, asleep. Where things just happen, on their own, but if you focus enough, if you concentrate then by some form you too can have an influence on the events. It’s like your brain is creating the story around you, but as if you were a player you get some small say.

Which brings us to the story of the dream. I don’t remember the beginning, or maybe there was never one. But I do remember going home, or being on my way home and it not even being my home! Or I guess to be more correct it was sort of my room layout, but in an apartment building of some sorts in a city. Then having the most distinct idea that for some reason the city I was in was doomed, at this point it’s going to feel like the biggest deja vu from a show of Heroes, there was going to be a bomb — a nuclear bomb. I remember running over to another apartment, I remember the hallway in which it’s door was, one of those darker hallways that you might see in an old Russian communal building, with a dim light. I knock, loudly, on the door and it’s opened. On the other side I find Sharon, Alina and someone else, weird I know, now that I think of it I remember something here earlier, maybe I was here for a party, yeah probably that’s it. But that doesn’t really matter, I’m explaining how they have to leave, how there’s only 30 minutes left until it, the bomb, happens. For some reason none of them argue over it, and with little time to spare they’re gone heading to somewhere unknown. I definitely remember thinking about where would be the best place to go in a case like that, while supposedly travelling home. Why do I go home, who knows, the next moment I’m in my apartment realising that we’re all out of time, an explosion in the distance, far enough away, the windows shatter, some doors are blown open as the force of the weak shockwave goes by. The next thing I remember is talking to Andrew, still from our 2nd or 3rd story apartment, he’s at his car — I distinctly remember considering jumping, in my judgement the ground being close enough. I can’t recall if I end up going with Andrew or not, I remember contemplating taking another car, as it comes to the end — it’s surprising you remember less and less — I drive, and then make up a meeting place with the friends who I’d told earlier, I consider more of where would we go and then…

Nothing, I wake up, one of those awakenings where a moment before you were asleep — and then you are totally awake, eyes open and as if you weren’t even lying in bed. Seconds later, the speakers come to life, the morning song comes on, and it’s the time where I’d normally wake up, the day begins, and you really thought you have weird dreams?