I think one of the best things about Waterloo is the lack of stuff to do. Half the time I spend surfing the internet and reading magazines is used looking for things to do in Toronto. Just today, I found Hiromi’s coming to town, there’s a new Trivia-themed play, and I can’t wait for the Scarborough Ribfest.
In Waterloo, there just isn’t stuff like that. The best stuff are career talks at the campus, and occasionally someone neat like Douglas Coupland comes to chat (see his new Canadiana exhibit at the DX). I think that’s why I’m semi-excited about this upcoming term, where I’ll be working for a professor as a research assistant. I got this ‘prestigious’ research award to pay me, and the job seems a lot more to my liking than my past jobs. All this and living a 12-minute walk from my office means I’ll have a lot of free time (the lack of social-life is inferred, ain’t it?).
This site is pretty temporary, and it’s just a placeholder so that I have a place to jot down thoughts when I’m killing time. But given the free-time provided by the workterm means I can stay up late coding and tweaking stylesheets to get just the right look. It’s nice to not have to worry about the distractions of city-life, but I know I’ll be singing a different song a few weeks from now. Gotta spill these thoughts now.
k-os and Melanie Durant make me happy. The rain today cheered me up a bit too. I always picture big grins on the plants when it rains. It’s hard to avoid the draining gloom of Waterloo, it’s even killer on optimism; we all do what we can.
Something’s happened to Fefe. Scarborough’s own Ms. Dobson has undergone an extreme transformation (seeminly heavily influenced by Duff’s Stuff). Don’t go - watch video. She’s critically lauded for being more geniune an artist - more Avril than Avril. I thought she had fully embraced the rockstar image. She was tough, didn’t give a crap about pink or being pretty, or so we were led to believe. We don’t really need her to become a girly pop act, do we? I thought you were something new Fefefefe. What the heck happened?
I’m not sure Usher really feels bad in Confessions. For a guy who’s sort of projected as a real man, one that’s totally connected to his emotions, it seems unfitting that the dude doesn’t even cry when he finds out one of his chicks on the side has got one on the way, and he perceives his life as being changed forever. Not quite sure how I feel about that.
Grumble grumble… Bike stolen from campus…
Coming out from studying on campus for a couple hours, only to find the bike was missing. So I trodded out to campus police and filed a report. The system is actually somewhat sophisticated. If you know your bike’s serial number, the number goes into the local area’s police records… so if someone tries to sell the bike to say a cash and carry, the police and ID the bike, the store will have kept a record of who sold the bike, and hopefully justice gets served.
I think that’s more likely a scenario than the bugger having taken the bike for personal use. But if that’s the case, and he parks it anywhere on campus, campus police just may identify the bike from the description I gave and get it back to me. I’m being a little too optimistic right now, but it’s better than thinking about where I’m going to get the cash to get a new bike.
Two and a half months ago, I did a very silly thing. Getting my gear ready for Waterloo, I decided that I’d opt disk-space for videos rather than mp3s. So, whoosh went about 15 Gigs of sounds which I would use to drown out the white noise of the rest of the day.
For someone as dependent on a constant stream music as me… it was a deadly hard thing to do. But you know what? I thought I could manage. Afterall, I had minidiscs, and the greatest gift the internet can offer: Internet Radio.
My internet radio stations of choice? iTunes Radio and the stream from flow935.com. I really thought I’d be set. I guess I sorta assumed I’d have internet access…
Fast forward to today, where I’ve probably listened to a couple hours of music over the past several weeks, when I’d normally have clocked hundreds! It’s been different… and I’m not enjoying it…
Desperation! I have a radio coming in the mail. Set me back quite a bit… imported electronics and all.
I would have blended into the streets of Manhattan so well… the urban chatter would have been drowned out by the always on iPod, and I’d look like every other New Yorker. The signature white headphones worn by all, ages 15 to 50.
How did I go from being the most wired, to living like this? I can’t wait for my radio to get here… I’ll even listen to 91.5 KW’s The Beat…
I hope this blog doesn’t end with me churning out self-pity day after day… This isn’t where this was supposed to go.
I don’t want to count the days anymore. Worn down, worn out.
Breakups aren’t easy, but I’m certainly not helping things out by trying to hold on to what I had, and laughing off things that are eating away at me. Worry is a terrible feeling that you don’t want lingering around when you’re in the state of self-destruction. I know that when everything feels like it’s falling apart, you’re going to feel weak, whether you want to or not. But I’ve spent all this time, this transition period, trying to be as strong as I can for others, helping out so many with their issues and problems, I’ve totally neglected myself along the way. I haven’t been taking care of myself at all, and I’m eroding away… I’ve lost weight without having changed my eating patterns… if anything I’ve been eating more. The stress can get to you.
I’m not selfish much regularly, but it’s about time I start learning how, otherwise there won’t be much of a person to post here. Posting my random thoughts has been the one thing I’ve missed the most on my one month hiatus.
I really hope no one is worrying about me though. It really adds to my stress. I miss my life.
Spoilers! Why oh why did I read that Slate article?
Spidey Agonistes
I knew too much! Punch-lines, sight-gags, quoteable quotes! It was all there, in a very concise, well organized page! Spidey-surprises that only avid spidey-ologists could understand: spoiled by spoilers! Perhaps the coolest part of the movie (opening credits), spoiled (by spoilers).
What the hey happened to the disclaimer? Why the heck did I let myself read the whole thing after avoiding all Spidey press for months? Sure, I watched the Spidey trailer several thousand times… but the marketers (marketeers?) were thoughtful enough to not reveal anything really important… I didn’t even know the origin of Doc Ock.
My attachment to my friendly neighbourhood webhead is a little more deep and complex than most of my other relationships. I think I may need to see a councillor.
Please see this film. And cry your heart away. Cry and love Spidey too. I won’t spoil any more.
Coffee tonight at Williams. I’ll need to prepare to debate. Apparently the case on Jerky Dudes has nothing on Cray-cray Chicas. What can I say, she’d better bring her rubber-soled sneaks, because the floor is being wiped clean tonight.
hiyo.org is going through some wacky spam antics and will probably be no more. Perhaps one day, I’ll feel it’s worth my effort to resurrect it, but for now I think I need my own space.
A new website (which will get a major design overhaul), fully dedicated to my weblog. Welcome to .:bennymoto.com - the new bennybox.
A lot of changes, and my life has been a whirlwind. The major news is that for the first time in five good years, I am a single man. I’ve been getting all sorts of advice on how to proceed, and understand what’s going on… in most cases conflicting with my gut feeling. Everyone expects me to be cold and distant and cut off any contact with her, even if we miss each other. I’ve been told to be mad, upset, and generally a lot less pleasant than I’ve been this past month. But, I’m just not that kind of guy.
If posting this at 4AM on Canada Day is any indication, I’m a lonely kid. It’s going to be a long, long-weekend.