Griffyn Mirages

Compromised

2007-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

I’ve am broken. I am tarnished. I am different. I am wrong. I am unacceptable. I am a freak, pushed out for being me. Am I a discarded piece of garbage? A machine that doesn’t work? A plaything to be strewn across the ground forgotten and hated?

Yes.

I am a puppet. A hat glued to my head, bright red feather wisping proudly as the air swishes past the wood finish. My overalls of brilliant blue corduroy, and shiny buttons. I look brand new. I look unused, in excellent condition.

The child walks up. He looks, eyes glistening in awe.

“For me?” He says.
“Yes for you”

He looks, he searches, and slowly his smile fades. He gets frustrated, something unexpected is happening and he doesn’t know what to do.

“The puppets not a puppet.” He says.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not a puppet!” He replies.
“He’s a puppet dear.”
“No he’s not!” He glares.

A few more moments pass. The child reassesses. He wasn’t wrong. This puppet isn’t a puppet.

“where is It” He thinks, “Its not here and it should be.” The child looks once more. His hand can’t find it. No depression no compartment, nothing.

“Where’s the hole?” he demands.
“What hole?”
“THE hole!”
“He doesn’t have a hole.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t have a hole.”
“But he’s a puppet?
“Yes.”
“But he doesn’t have a hole?”
“No”

Disbelief. Did he hear right? Not have a hole? What kind of puppet doesn’t have a hole? He doesn’t have strings , rods, cables, there’s no remotes. What then?

“How does he work?” he asks.
“work?”
“How does he work.” He repeats.
“I don’t understand.”
“How does he work! Where’s the hole, the strings? He’s a puppet! He isn’t doing what puppets do!” he yells
“And what do puppets do?”
“They… you know.”

Silence.

“They… they’re told… told what to do. He’s not doing what I want him to do.”
“What do you want him to do?”
“I want him dance. He’s not a good puppet if he doesn’t dance.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“You don’t ask puppets things.” He retorts.
“Well he’s that kind of puppet.”
“What kind of puppet?”
“The kind of puppet who requires asking.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Why?

A broken puppet. A tarnished puppet. A different puppet. He does as he chooses. He…I am not an automaton. I am not here to cater to you and I do not do what I do because of anyone but myself. I respect those who respect. And for all your attempts to waylay my actions onto motives not my own, it is you who are the problem. You lay comfortably in your world of self-delusion, you convince yourself its not you, that its me. I laugh, and you should to. If only you could step outside of yourself, if only you could hear yourself. Those same attributes, the ones you despise, they are but a reflection of you. It does not matter that you criticize those attributes in me first, because they still exist in you. It does not matter that you feel better when you believe me a mime, a parrot only saying back to you what you said to me, because the evil you fight still exists in you. I laugh, and so should you. Hypocrites to the end, you and I.

But its okay, this the way it’s been from the dawn of days and it’s the way it will stay until the end of days. Why can’t it change? Because no one will let it, and I am done disillusioning myself into believing it will change. I am done taking it in silence, because that only serves to make it worse. I am done fighting it, because that only serves to make it worse. I am done with double standards. There is nothing I can do, because any action, even the absence of action is wrong. In your pluralistic world of hate I have no option but to be myself, because it is the only reminisce of sanity left for me.

But still you push and you push. And finally you get what you want, a monster. Because you think that if I resemble something inhuman, that something you’ve been accusing me of then perhaps you will be justified in your actions. I am but a means to and end for you, I am your refusal, your confirmation that you are the ultimate right. I don’t laugh, and neither should you. Never again shall I allow myself to subtend my ethics, my cherished morals for you. Find your answers elsewhere. Seek your selfish desires elsewhere. Delude your self-elsewhere. I gave myself to you, and you spat in my face. Don’t come near me again, don’t pretend its okay. Maybe one day I can forgive you. But only after I forgive myself.

I am sorry my puppet master, I am not you, I will not do for you, I am my own entity. You will not see it; you will refuse to see it. But…
What is a broken puppet… but a real boy?

About time I updated

2007-01-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well I figure it was about time that I updated this blog again... damn you facebook for sucking my time! But I think the one thing I have get out of the way is semestor 1 marks. Officially they're coming in friday... but I'm going to say that 2 marks, chemistry and allgeo, will be bad... philosophy and english should be good barring any last minute weird nutbar happenings. Sigh... hopefully calculess and physics will make universities actually like me. If only I didn't have the hardest english/math/chem teachers and had the alternative choices whose classes are getting much better marks.

Well thats out of the way, so onto what i'm doing with myself. I'm learning to play the guitare. Firstly because to sum up all harmonica instruction: "listen to music and try to play along, and hope you get good" (instead of spray and pray, its play and pray). Secondly, no one in this house actually likes the sound of my poor old harmonica... so Jenn shoved a guitare in my hand and told me to play it. (albiet I had asked her over Christmas and we just never got around to it). So that is going as well as can be expected, just trying to grow the calleouses on my fingers so it doesn't hurt so much. I'm also trying to play two types of songs, a strumming of the beatles, and a picking of mad world. (both of which are beyond me level, though I do recgonize and can play the madworld tune, its just to fast for my unskilled hands). Maybe if i'm lucky my friends will have some guitares out next semestor and I can royally bug the hell out of cafe kids with my incesent mediocore playing abilities >=D.

In other news, I have completely cleaned and rearranged my room. Currently I have one completely bare wall, and my bed/"the underneath" still needs to be cleaned and moved against that wall, but i've actually managed to make something worthwhile out of my room. I figure that i'm still going to use other places to do homework, but that my room will have jenn's keyboard/guitare/my music stand set up and a drafting table (being the artsy that I am). For the most part it can become a little studio onto itself and when I leave those crazy kids (parental units) can maybe do something in it. I'm also trying to clean out the basement so mom can start jewellery (sure there are alterative motives, but in the upcoming age of first world consumerism even if all four of us had kids, it will only be 1-2 kids. Furthermore, there would be way to many goddamn toys anyways... So I'm thinking we sell stuff on ebay,since it might actually be worth something, or give it to poor needy kids. If Chirstmas was a sign of whats to come we're going to buy your kid his damn toys anyways... because fisher price/ Toys'R'Us owns your impulse buying SOUL!). But to each his own... I packrat dirty greasy things, so long as they have some type of mechanical intricasy that I find fascinating and can see myself using to build something else (has never actually materialized my plans in this way but owell). But everyone has agreed the basement needs to be cleaned, and the only way it will be done is if someone starts throwing shit away... and if I don't tell you, you won't miss it... you don't even go down there anyways. I think if we don't get rid of the lego, we should at least get rid of the 70's toys... they are really outdated. So my proposal is you compile a list of what you want to keep... and at least in that way if you can't think of something then I know it doesn't mean that much to you... and then from your priorities we can throw them into a random storage space somewhere else in the world until all of us have houses big enough to take some of it. Also, Geoff I think you can sell my Warhammer stuff. I'd like to see some money, and I never really enjoyed the playing as much as I did the painting... which is funny to say because I hated the minute detail painting =P. But I think its time that was sold and some monies refunded, because honestly you only really need to reprime them, so they shouldn't have depreciated that much. For other cleaning things... I need someone to get those clear plastic electronic drawers so I can sort out all the stupid nails and other bits into piles of like items. It shouldn't actually be hard to clean up that workbench area... just someone willing to cover their hands in copper smelling pointy things for a day or two. Jenn also offered that we do a garage sale, the only problem I see wiht that is waiting until summer/late spring to do it...Other then that i'm not sure I have anything else to say on the matter.

Mmmm, I think i'm out of exciting new things or rants to go on about so i'm going to go watch Duan Juan Demarco!

Quotation of the Day:
"A pun is the lowest form of humor -- when you don't think of it first."
~Oscar Levant

And so it Ends

2006-09-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well, to make the point of this post quite clear and circumvent my usual ramblings: Natasha and I have decided to break up.

I can honestly say that I saw it coming, and that I was planning to force some sort of conversation by next week if things hadn't turned around. For the past month and a half she seemed very distant and detached, generally acting very different around her own friends and generally refusing to spend time with me. I gave her space, and opted to allow her to use the excuse that Grade 12 really was time consuming. She started to resent my presence and nothing I did really seemed to change that. I would not consider myself star struck, being fully aware of what was happening, as I said I would of forced the decision by next week, or even sooner if I'd been allowed a private moment.

Not to my surprise we went outside today and decided to end the relationship. She reasoned that she has a lot of things on her plate, and couldn't keep a relationship going at the same time and that she herself had changed.

I do not pretend to think for one instance that those are the real reasons. Nor to I pretend to believe that she, herself, really knows why she doesn't like me. Those reasons are just what are generally accepted, no one really knows why, they just do. And for that, I don't feel the need to question her or her reasons for breaking up. I wouldn't expect an answer to my questions, so I'm not going to try. I understand that people are who they are, and do what they do; I would much rather let her go her separate way then injure us both in some futile attempt at a non-existent future.

My response today was very much like the second paragraph. I agreed with her, I saw to reason not to. I told her that she should be confident in everything she does because that is truly the one thing she lacks; and even if I were given another opportunity I would still tell her the same thing. Unfortunately I can't say this isn't going to hurt; despite being able to reason with myself, time and the universe, today, have just seemed to slow to a crawl, and my body feels numb or nervous, like If I was presenting to a crowd of 1000s.

I think that’s all I have to say on the subject and I would prefer to end this post with another Quotation.

Quote of the Day:

“Nothing is lost upon a man who is bent upon growth; nothing wasted on one who is always preparing for life. By keeping eyes, mind, and heart open to nature, men, books, experience, and what he gathers, will serve him at the most unexpected moments in life.”

~Hamilton Wright Mabie (American Writer, 1845-1916)

FINALLY! Re-Solute of the New Year!

2007-01-04T00:23:00.000-08:00

After a much and long awaited return to blogger, Alex has arrived! (thanks to elvis leaving the building... not enough room for that much ego... elvis's I mean). And finally after Geoff mentioned it! I have realized that my comment moderation has been set to soemthing funny and that I needed to okay all the comments on my posts! Well now that i'm reading some of the comments for the first time :P, thank you Gabe, thank you Jenn, thank you Colin, and Geoff. Supposedly blogger was supposed to actually send me emails telling me people had commented on things... well... I never got the memo. Anyways onto this posts not quite informative or preplanned message!

Since it is the new year, 2008... shyt... I knew I should of fixed that dial on the time machine (just one moment)... 2007 (that would of really messed up the posting of this post if it was really coming a year from now)... I think its time that we have a Re-Solute from Alex. "Resolution Is the correct term!" WRONG! Re-Solute is the right way to say it because just like most solute reactions under normal conditions you aren't going to see a great number of solute ions reverse back to aqueous form! (in other words i'm going to try and actually keep my re-solutes). Plus the Re- ovbiously comes from the previous years failed attempts (sometimes you just have to start the experiment over again). But here it goes:

1.) Make it to 220 lb... look good... feel good.... buy new clothes... look better then good... prevent early onset of heart attack... feel a lot better...be in better shape to do some physical activity... feel even better then a lot better... (notice the trends).

2.) Become and Artsy (I'll live the wonerous double life of the travelling, starving, tattered SUPER ARTI-EAST whereing once I find a hippie winnabego, as a supplement to telephone booths, i'll become a scientific quantum oriented SUPER ENGI-NERD!!)

3.) Refine #2 to Dancing (yes I'd love to learn how), Painting (learn colours), sketching perspective/humans/animals, jewellery making, harmonica/guitaire playing, singing, photographing, photoshop tinkering, and of course TABLET EXERCISES (if you don't work out those forearm drawing muscles then your going to get cramps in the crunch time).

4.) Get a job... (you lazy bumbkin! by which I mean me... not you).

5.) PAINT! (paint the drama hallway for volunteer hours! I love you Mrs. H)

6.) Write on this blog once again.

7.) Maybe find a girlfriend... I know of several interested parties... maybe I could get interested to...

8.) READ SOME OF YOUR DAMN BOOKS!!!! (read some Immanuel Velikovsky! You've only been looking at the spine for 4 months!)

9.) Find a good digital camera to for #3

10.) Play the Wii

11.) Stop making Re-Solutes before you realize that you have to much to do with your life... (CHECK).

Okay so with that out of the way... lets see things that I haven't talked about for at least a few months. Philosophy: 88 on my essay, 92 on my presentation. Philosophy of Language comparing Noam Chomsky and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Reccomend the former... and possibly the latter if your insane or I don't like you. English: He also loved my presnetations but haven't gotten the marks for my essay or for my presentation (expect them to be low 90s to). It compared Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein and Hominids by Robert Sawyer (my major shared them was that both authors had the first name Robert and both had won almost every literary fiction award possible... I suspect there was some fudging of names and they both got to keep them anways :P). Chemistry: DIE YOU ------TEACHER... SAME FOR MATH!!! Ahem! Drama: Well for obvsious reasons my play didn't make it to searsfest... and I scratched from the musical auditions (though i'm sure I could get a choir spot if I really wanted, but I really would enjoy the acting not choir motif). I could probaly even get a backup dancer spot if I was merely willing, as a guy, to do it. Well its 4:00 AM I'm going to go to bed because I have homework to do tommorow... today... so i'll sign off with 2007's first quotation. This quotation has been my msn name for almost 4 months and I told everyone i'd retire it in the new year. The reason I kept it around for so long is its obvious relvance to myself and I grew fond of it. Secondly, I must have recieved 30 odd comments (by different people) telling me that the quotation helped them put things in perspective (or something constructive). I'm alsot going to put the quotation I wrote for my grad message up here because I like it to:

Quotation of the Day:

Retire:
"If you wish to be loved, love. For to never stretch out your hand, for fear of it being bitten, is to never be proved wrong." ~Me

Grad Message:
“Life: appreciate it; it is ever changing and so are you. Truth: do not rely on it; it is merely a singular idea, which restrains and detains. Create: create yourself and don’t be content to idle by, stuck in limbo. Love: love who you will as you will and never be afraid to fall. Be: be all you can, then be more then you can, then be who you are. Live; live life, live it for you, live it for me, live it for all those who cannot. Growth: in everything, in anything but only when you look. And Serenity: the beauty of knowing…” ~Me"

I love DRAMA!

2006-11-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

(lol this was in the memory bank.... should of been posted about 2 months ago?)

In short... I love drama. This week was an amazing dramatic week. First and foremost Student Wrights went well (at least for me). One of the two adjudicators essentially cut the other one off to say: "I'm sorry... I have to say this... you were really good" [while looking at me, of course]. I also got my share of compliments from other school's drama kids/teachers. Unfortunetly the script, which is student written, is going to need a face lift. It needs to do away with repitition and give the characters justifications. The writer/director is working with her actors (thats good), but she has said many times that she has no idea how to develop my character... SO I get to run wild with it and include all the cynical sarcasim I want *ye won't know what happens*! Unfortunetly... the day we're presenting it is the same day as Mcmaster's fiddling session so i'm going to miss out on that and there probaly won't be any parental units.

The second great dramatic experience this week is thanks to the multitude of drama trips I signed myself up for. On Thursday we went to see "The Babysitter" by Eric Woolfe. It was REALLY good. In short the play was a 18+ (Adult) horror/puppet play that was the telling of "the babysitter" but included over 15 segments or stories of other 'bad babysitters' that all culminated to the "last babysitter." It took parts from 50 different urban legends, horror films, and fairy tales to compose the "legend" of the "last babysitter". The play was very funny but "scary" at the same time... ooooooooooo. I had adult themes (yes that means SEX), but it was definetly funny... ow the cliche boyfriend and girlfriend making out when a murderer comes in... >=). Not only was it funny but it was so theatrically good! The lighting was especially good; for example at one point they made a door glow in an errie blue light. How I wish our lighting kids were good enough to set up gels/filters (has a technical name)/chase sequences to do that (but don't tell them I said that...). Even better then that was the puppetry. When I say that it sounds like it would be a low quality show, but the puppets were handled by proffessional puppeters. There were also a wide variety of puppets, from large 7 foot puppets to table top puppets to hand puppets to shadow puppets. The puppets, I found, made the show just that more realistic... it seemed like the characters were just more believeable because I had to "suspend my disblief" in the beginning (takes about 2 minutes for the puppeters to fade out of your awareness). Then to top that day off! We stayed around for a 30 minute Puppet workshop. It was definetly intresting, not enough to make me want to take up puppeting, but definetly fun. I encourage everyone to go see it, and if you do it on the right day I'll come back with ya! Heres the website: http://www.slasherpuppetplay.com/

However to dispell whatever happy notions I had... I got my report card. My average is about 80-81... not good by my standards. I managed to get ever single HARD teacher. It's just annoying... people in any other class have averages that are at least 5-10% higher then mine. For example the other english class had about 90% of it's students with a 95% or higher... thats bullshit. The other Allgeo class has a general "low" mark of 85%. Hell even my chem teacher, who doesn't give us any marks back, suddenly gives me a less then 80%, no reason or justification... no marks from which we can refute it. As I said BULLSHIT.

Well i'm going to sign off... the week wasn't a total loss but as always i'll leave you with a quote (today i'll give you two, one because it's a quote I picked for philosophy class a long time ago and now that we've started religion it's come up again, and the other because I feel the need to display my inner most deepest desires and dreams!)

Quote of the Day:
"If God did not exist, It would be nessicary to invent him."

Rhetorical Questions

2006-11-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

From: Dictionary.com

Rhetorical Questions
1.) A question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply
2.) A question, to which no answer is expected, often used for rhetorical effect.
3.) A question asked without expecting an answer but for the sake of emphasis or effect.
4.) A statement that is formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered

Rhetoric:
1.) (in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.
2.) The art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech.
3.) The art of making persuasive speeches; oratory.
4.)(in classical oratory) the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience.

It should only be after thorough reading and comprehension of the above terms and definitions that one should continue to the rest of this reply. I would however like to further define a "Rhetorical Question" as that which has no answer, as this definition is what is commonly taught and verbalized. In response to boisterous laughter last night to my comment, "They are rhetorical questions," I will explore one such question purposed to me, so as to help clarify what it is I obviously wasn't able to articulate.

Example: "Why do you always feel the need to destroy things that aren't yours"

Reasoning: As to why such a comment is rhetorical we must break down the question in such a way that the fallacious thinking is exposed and demonstrated.

1.)"Why do you always":
The word always is a "universal". By which I mean to say that it implies that x is ALWAYS the case. Uses of such words are fallacies because they almost all universal statements are wrong. You most probably will not be able to substantiate such a claim as "x always happens" hence making such a claim is improper because their will most likely be an exception to the universal statement.

2.) "you always feel the need":
This statement is, using Neuro-Linguistical terminology, considered an example of "mind reading". It is improper for one individual to make a comment as to the motivations, desires, thoughts, etc of another individual, unless that person is able to conclusively express how it is they came to possess that knowledge. Hence this statement is also a presupposition in that it implies that the action I was exhibiting was due to me feeling a "need" towards doing it.

3.) "need":
This word is a nominalization. It is an emotion or feeling and hence has no quantifiable quality. Therefore in the context of a discussion, or argument as the case may of been, it has to legitimate use because it is purely a subjective idea.

4.)"destroy":
Similar to the case of "need", the word, "destroy" has no specific reference to the severity of such destruction. Hence is the destruction a micro fissure caused through metal fatigue, or is it burning down the house (it is unknown because it is undefined through the question).

5.) "Things": Again, what “things” are you specifically referencing to. It is presumptuous to assume that a person treats all things in the exact same manner, all the time.

6.) "aren't yours":
Then whose are they? You can't mean to say that a person treats all things that aren't his, even things which he's never come into contact with (such as the Dali Lama's Relics, or perhaps a mountain goat's territory) in the exact same way. Again there is no reference to what the person is speaking of.

In response to the 'obvious' question to the above discussion, context, I argue that such presumptuous ideas on my part lead to miscommunications for both parties. This trend has consistently been shown in history were minor or subjective interpretations have led to wars or other grave consequences. Hence sentences such as the one above are completely subjective leaving no possible purpose beyond me reiterating, for myself, my own subjective interpretation, which could be very different from what the questioner was attempting to infer due to the inherent inspecificity of the sentence.

Therefore in reference to my personal definition of rhetorical questions (a question with no answer), such a question as above qualifies because their is no significant (to the argument) nor truly correct answer (in light that because their are so many right answers, even answers that contradict themselves, that their is no true answer). I will then reference you to the definition of rhetorical questions, 1.) and 3.), whereby the purpose of such a question is purely for emotive response. In this situation the question was most likely used as an intellectual trap, where upon being answered another fallacious analogy or example not encompassed in the answer would be used to 'sufficiently' show the answerer to be wrong. However, again, the lack of specific references makes such an answer impossible, therefore it would be more pertinent for a questioner to qualify his or her statements before making them.

Furthermore in reference to the definitions of Rhetoric, 1.), 2.), 3.), and 4.) the above statement meets all four definitions in that it:
1.) Was exaggeratory by lack of reference, "oh why do you ALWAYS do this";
2.) Used significant forms of sophistry and fallacious thinking (refer to above break down);
3.) Was persuasive in that such a question cannot be answered, leaving in the mind of the questioner and others that the answerer has no answer, hence he or she is wrong;
4.) It sufficiently influenced the group enough such that they themselves did not critically analyze the question.

In conclusion, I hope that was a sufficient summary and definition of "Rhetorical Questions". If you happen to have any questions on which you would like to clarify then I would be happy to discuss it with you in the appropriate setting. Thank you for reading.

Survival of the Fittest...

2006-11-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

So it's coming down to the wire. Kids seem to be dropping classes left and right. Mid terms are next week and people are hoping to get a no mark and not a zero in the class. It also seems to be the teacher's last push to demoralize students who 'shouldn't' be there (according to the teachers that is). Last week brought many tests... and a few of them were meant to shake you up. For example in chemistry the teacher purposefully made 3/4 of the multiple-choice questions wrong. He'd make impossible questions like what atom is represented by 1s^2 2s^2 2p^7 3s^2 3p^4 (where of course a p orbital cannot have 7 electrons, especially not when their are unfilled valence electrons, and where it was stated the atom was in ground state) or he'd make multiple right answers (i.e. A and E would be the same, yet, correct answer). So for me, it wasn't that difficult, I have the confidence to tell the teacher their wrong... but many people are either unable to or second guess themselves at every turn. It also seems to be that 'epiphany' time where people get the idea that they can't do something, that things are just getting to hard. I don't know about them but I’ve been staying up until 2:00 every night to make sure I do things right and up to par. I can't speak for others but I’m sure many don't go that far, or simply don't approach these things effectively. I don't think I’ve ever had that 'feeling' that I couldn't achieve or do something if I just didn't work hard enough at it (don't get me wrong, I don't have enormous "natural talent" I just have hard headed perseverance and a thirst for knowledge). I guess I could say 'languages', they seem above and beyond me... but I’m trying to remedy that as well. I understand were everyone is coming from though, it's not like grade 12 is easy and I realize that the marks they receive determine the university they get into. But at the same time doing badly on one test, or one assignment isn't going to kill you, if anything it'll humble and humanize you.

On another note next week I get to go do two interesting things. One, I have a field trip for drama =D, and two, I have another field trip for drama because the play I’m acting in is part of sears fest, I get to go and run the script in front of an adjudicator and they'll tell us if the student written script has any merit or not. It's an interesting concept... I'm not sure how my play will do, but I need to memorize the entire thing by wed so I can perform it.

On another another note... I had to write a narrative essay for English... but it turned out to be much more fun then I realized, so I’m going to post what I have here (it's 2nd draftish, so it's not perfecto):

Lucid Reality
The first time a person puts on his glasses his eyes water with a child like awe, he rediscovers the world in which he’s contently idled by, he does a double take and realizes how distorted and twisted his construct of reality really is.

Sitting on the daily bus ride to and from school, I began to spend my time by listening. Listening to people, listening to the world, but on this particular day, listening to a book.

“This realization that you’re going to have will most easily teach you to learn and discover and develop yourself more than anything else in this tape.”

Kenton Knepper, Neuro-Linguistic Programming teacher to the unknowing, had, on the last CD of his 12 part series, set aside 20 minutes to discuss an idea so profound in it’s implications yet so glaringly obvious that people gloss over it constantly. In only a few seconds a deeper understanding of the world was to hit me like a wall, to shake the foundations of everything I had and was to perceive. It took my hand, leading me up the cave’s passage to a world my eyes had never seen, to a world filled with the shadows of my former but a world in which I was not bound to that singular dimension.

“Think about this, know it, understand it, and live with it. Practically ALL words and ideas are in an of themselves Presuppositions and nearly any word or idea ALSO implies the opposite of that word or idea.”

After 15 years of learning, 15 years of paving my own path, 15 years of attempting to free myself from this world’s influence, there it was. So cleverly hidden, so ingeniously simple: suggestion. It only took one moment of insight to realize how deeply influenced I had been by everything that surrounded me. What things I focus on when I look into crowd, what clothes I wear, what colour the stop sign is, what words I use to describe things. Indeed, it was obvious now that everything carried an unspoken, implicit suggestion and that each and every suggestion is a reflection of me, the person who has been conditioned by this world to be exactly who he is at this specific moment in time.

My head slowly rose, I turned off the tape and peered out past the hand drawn !PLEH on the window. The world: what a beautiful place, what an ugly place, expansive, yet isolated, colourful but rift with black and white. A world of contradictions and distinctions, a world by definition: Taoist. Was I shocked? No, I was in awe. How misspent my life had been, to spend so long a time not appreciating reality in this fuller conception. How ironically funny, to live for so long and neither see or be able to imagine the sheep’s wool.

Life, it is filled with these ideas, these philosophical epiphanies, but even these philosophies will change with time, with me; everyone receives new prescriptions and will once again be able see a reality composed of new dimensions. However, it is these moments, these realizations that are defining and paramount in one’s journey of life, “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.” (Anais Nin).

---------------------------------------------------

So I'll end this post with another QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Quote of the Day:
"Whenever man comes up with a better mousetrap, nature immediately comes up with a better mouse."
~James Carswell

I got the blues... buh bun nuh buh

2006-10-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

If you didn't notice... my last post was really about 2 weeks overdue. I wrote it and never acutally published it... But that happens sometimes. So what is new with me this week! Well first of all every night this week i've been up to at least 2:00AM (sometimes 3:30AM) doing homework (so i'm just a little exhausted). Lets see... I had 2 essays to edit and revise into a second draft, and essay to write, a debate in philosophy, a test in math, a test in philosophy, philosophy ISU confrences (a lot of reading of linguitical diaherra to actually understand the philosophies), and almost an english presentation (THANKFULLY was put off until tuesday next week). So needless to say it was busy... that and I had to read multiple plays, for school and for drama.

BUT that brings me to the excitement of this week! I got a part in the up coming theatre shorts drama production. Essentially it's a complimation of 10 or so 1 act plays, possibly playing over 2 nights (not sure of the legistics yet). I was promised a part (since i'm such a magnifico! actor)... but I think I got something that will be fun to play. It's not a humour ridden part, like Sir Toby in 12th night, but it definetly filled with enough cynicism to keep me happy. So my play is a student written and directed play, and I get to play the "hobo". The plot is that this guy was bet x amount of money that he couldn't stay out on the streets with a hobo for 24 hours... so of course he takes a seat at my side. It will require some added theatrical touches (student written and all), but overall it looks like a lot of fun and the rest of the cast looks like they can stomach my sense of humour >=D.

That ALSO brings me to my next cool thing! On wednesday I went to Stratford to see 'Oliver'. Let me just say it was an amazing play. their were at least 7 or 8 children actors as well as the compliment of adults and they were all really good. They all had voices to 'die' for, and the play was just hilarious (oh how I love the comedic relief of london's lower class... inneudo!). But even more interesting and pertinent to my role as a hobo (though I didn't do it for that reason). I bought myself a harmonica from a music shop in Stratford. It's so much fun to actually play an instrument again... i'm not even that half bad... but my goal is to learn to play one jazzy blues song so that I can do it in my role as the hobo (see how my divergent impulsive thinking actually has practical applications!).

However also on the topic of drama... we're looking to get some drama club sweaters... but since a lot of us have been in drama for a while we have the standard one already... so we were thinking about new designs and I of course said we could do an ambigram. So i've unofficially been creating ideas that might possibly go onto a sweater for drama club, which I think would be really cool. So far I'm still trying to come up with a 5-6 letter word that means something to Drama. Which means that the idea behind it is that it says drama to people looking at it but to you who reads it downwards it says some funny phrase or word, like an inside drama joke. So I'm enlisting anyone and everyone to think of drama associated words... the word has to be 5-6 letters (for the word drama) but Drama Club, or Dramatic Arts can also be used. Essentially it shouldn't be more then 1 letter longer or if it's a larger phrase 2 letters.

I think that concludes my week. So like always I will end with a quote of the day.

Quote of the Day:
"I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the ordeal of meeting me is another matter. "
~Winston Churchill

Stupid Colds...

2006-10-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back again... still sick (Damn you Jenn!), when mom says play nice and share, she doesn't mean the damn cold! Owell, I manged to survive this week; Two tests, an english presentation, and getting to school for 7:00 am. I found myself napping 4 of the 5 days. I even managed to do it once in my computer chair.

Even with this disease I did go to the university fair last friday. The whole experience seemed geared towards gathering pamphlets and university propaganda. All the information is on the internet if I really want to see it so I found myself asking questions I already knew the anwsers too. No one could even tell me a straight anwser to the difference between Engineering and Engineering Sciences. Overall my impressions on universities has remained unchanged. Mac and Queens are still my top choices... but I also think that if I were to do a co-op program that I would do it at waterloo. They seem to have everything really worked out nicely, and I didn't really pick up on the arrogance they're famed for. We'll just see what marks I have. Currently i'm pulling a 81 in philosophy. It WILL go up, if I have anything to say about it. It'll just mean I'll need people's help to really pick out grammatical errors in my essays. Of every english oriented teacher in the school I get both the latvians for english and philosophy... as i've been told latvian has about 14 different verb tenses... like past, present, future, etc. I don't even know how you remember that many things?

This Week in School: I had a math test monday... which was moved to tuesday because the teacher didn't show up. It was a test specifically desinged to not let us finish in time... so when we came wednesday she gave us a speach about not quiting and gave us 30 extra minutes. I also got some kudos points when I gave her a quote I recently commited to memory:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to go on that counts"

I also had it in my head because for some strange reason (damn my father's english pride) we picked Winston Churchill as our platonic "Philosohper King". so we needed a quote... and that seemed like a really good one. I also had to do a chemistry test; It wasn't nearly as hard as I made myself to believe, but I didn't quite get perfect. Then I had to do my english presentation on the format and structure of a Review Essay. It was a pain in the ass, but fun. Took all my energy to do the test 2nd period and be completely eccentric and dramatic for 3rd period english... I also got to school at 7:00 AM to practice that damn thing. But being that our group was me + 3 other drama kids... we did a fashion show (a review is like dressing up)... I got to be william shakespeare and got interviewd (core reading essay in text), and we even did a skit for them and had them review it on the spot... again lots of fun =P).

Today: Well I essentially spend all of saturday at the art show. In fact, it was a really good art show... Lots of great talent there. If only I had 10,000 dollars... I did get 10 business cards though! Custom Leather (Hide and Seek), Michael Pape (www.theartofmichaelpape.com , havn'et visited yet), Zoran Designs (jewellery), woodburning, etc, etc. It was all really good stuff... i'll continue my search for jewellery, I don't know... for some reason I can't take my mind off this one ring (thats well out of my price range). Other then that It was a good day; I got to talk to a friend who I haven't seen since Grade 8 (didn't go to woodlands) and is now living in B.C. I haven't talked to her since grade 10 and she seems to be doing really well for herself. I even talked to someone who went away to university this year and haven't gotten to speak with them for a couple months. All in all I survived this week, it was no better or worse then 2 weeks ago... I guess grade 12 is just going to be a pain in my ass. Owell with that i'll leave you fellows with another quote (even though you got a winston one!):

Quote of the Day:
"An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is, and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be."
~ Rober A. Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land pg 323

3 weeks of school...when's it gonna be summer again?

2006-09-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

So I've managed to get out of doing this post for 3 weeks, and I had some spare time just now, so I figured I might as well fill it with something. I think it'll be best to do a timeline... because my long term memory isn't what it used to be when I was 16... =D.

Camping Trip: As per tradition, my family and I, always go on a last minute "It can't be school yet" camping trip. This year it turned out that we'd be going to the Algonquin National Park and got a campsite in our traditional "quiet" zone. The quotation marks are for those loud obnoxious young adults who played their old music on their old car stereos... or were they A-Track? Anyways, beside those guys I'd have to say it was a really good trip. I got to sit and read 2 non-fiction books (ironically my first ones of the summer). I entered into a pipe-whittling contest with Gab and Geoff (I should finish it and actually take a picture of it... it's obviously the best of the lot). We even tried to canoe... but as always "3" is the magic number where the canoe suddenly becomes more buoyant and more tipsy. It's always funny laughing at people with no sea legs (especially when their worse then me... and I’m a landlubber!). Unfortunately we got rained out on our last day and decided to save our Monday for some final R&R before hitting the school year.

First Week of School: I have to laugh; the first day of school was filled with zombies. Of course there are always a few chronically happy people who bounce from friends to friends but it looked like everyone had absolutely no purpose in life and would collapse on the spot. Luckily that Monday back from camping left me with some extra sleep, unlike other people, so I wasn't too worse for wear. Unfortunately that didn't make my day better. I had to sit in the cafe for 2 hours waiting for my number to be called (I was only 23, and the numbers went above 100). It seems that when the administration gave me a single locker, they didn't give me the locker number of locker combo... therefore of course they had to give it away to someone else. So to my surprise my single was gone and I got stuck with some kid I don't even know... I think his name is john or lee or something like that... long story short I’m using my girlfriends locker.

Second Week of School: Well it was a good week all in all. I got shanked with a philosophy essay already and now I know I don't know anything about the English language, sigh. All this semester’s work was laid out for me... I foresee having to write 20+ essays between philosophy and English, do many hours of proofs in Algebra and Geometry, and spend my nights taking notes and trying to understand my chemistry teacher's lessons. On top of that I’m going to have to read 2 ISU books, 3 different plays, a book on essay writing, probably a book on the English grammatical language, and countless philosophy books for my ISU (hopefully it'll be on semantics/language). There were some highlights though; my teachers look like a good lot. In chemistry I got suckered into arm-wrestling my teacher (weird story), and even though he cheated he still couldn't beat me, and we resigned to a tie. My philosophy teacher looks like someone who’s going to make me really research things before I step into that class. English looks like in-class write off and out of class work. Math... well it's with "Satan" so god only knows what’s in store for me there.

Third Week of School: Had a philosophy/math test... Math was interesting. Philosophy I believe went well, but I won't know until she hands it back. Friday was AWEFUL. For some reason the teachers felt the need to start a Grade 9 orientation week. So I was suckered into doing Drama's orientation on Friday for the last 3 periods of the day. By the end of it I was ready to kill someone. We literally got the worst group of kids of the entire bunch. 2/3 were fighting each other, One girl went postal on everyone (even teachers), one said he was going to faint, one wouldn't be quiet, and on and on. Class from hell and I think the only reason Natasha and me got stuck with them is because the actual drama class was being marked on it and we weren't (since we got voluntold to do it).

Other Interesting Things: I've started a new interesting hobby. I think I’m going to start trying to make ambigrams. I can't really say how this interest sparked, but I’ve already bought a book on it, and I’ve also purchased two books on Calligraphy (one is supposed to come with a proper pen). I've already created a really good one using the word Serenity, and if I get time i'll try to get a picture of it and post it. I've also started drawing a little more because it means I can put my artwork to an ambigram. Also I think my English ISU will turn out great. I finally decided to do "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein and "Hominids" by Robert Sawyer (or whatever is the first book in that series). Other then that I can't think of anything more to say. I will try my best to do a little better on posting up to date information. I like that my hit counter went from 42 to 67 since my last post (because I know it wasn't me). Anyways that’s all folks. Here's a website on ambigrams and my quote of the day (from a new quote book I bought):

http://www.johnlangdon.net/ (John Langdon, made the ambigrams for Dan brown who named the main character after him)

Quote of the Day:
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
~(Socrates 469-399 BCE: Plato, Apology)

Eh Zoom Zoom!

2006-08-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

I think I have finally managed to get "the" parents over the "Driving with their kid hump". Now being the last in the line I finally got to drive the godamn Concorde! Mom seemed to think I'd turn out to be a good driver... but that also might of been her attempts to instill temporary confidence so she didn't die (I'd lay my bets on the first option). I'm not sure what you people are complaining about, the damn car isn't that bad to drive? It's actually very smooth. Granted the steering could be a little more responsive, but what are you going to do? It'll just mean that if I ever skid i'll have to spin the wheel 10x faster then other people. I'm looking forward to trying to park it... that'll be... intresting. At least the extended front and back make for a really big crumple zone (don't worry mom I'm not going to crash it). Other then that I love the acceleration, doesn't feel like anything at all. I say power to the concorde! and down with all you haters who own smaller cars...*cough* corolla *cough*. That's my blurp on today's experience... but I guess in other news Colin is coming! Hooah! Brothers from afar! I also guess my girlfriend might be coming home soon. If I hadn't told anyone she left to go on a cruise (she really gets around =P) down to mexico, and I think up through the panhandle. I wasn't really given a date but she said around the 20th, and I predict her father needs to come back monday to work. I'll cross my fingers...toes...and all other appendiges (that I have 2 of). That's all I got! Until the near future, Adios Amegos!

The Anwser to Life, the Universe, and Everything

2006-08-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

Before I spit out my day's update I just have to point out that I’ve reached 42 visitors (about 16 were me). As all you Douglas Adam's fans know, that’s how many roads a man must walk down throughout his life. Too those who haven't been introduced to this fine author then you'd better read "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". If you don't... well I can't be responsible for the catastrophic horrible things that will happen to you...mark my words!

On a lighter note, today I helped my brother out. Went back to the coal mine in his basement and helped him manufacture some diamonds... by which I mean I helped him nail, screw, and cut pieces of wood so he could be 1 step closer to butting up jip rock and insulation! Just wait when I buy a house in... 5-6 years time!! ooo I’m gonna get you! Even got to break some boards; it's actually a really good stress reliever. Some guys even make it into a hobby:

Of course some guys make it into a profession. This guy has at least 4 Guinness world records for breaking concrete and bricks:

Well that's it for today's news update. Tune in later for more of my wacky eccentricisms! Aloha people!

Who Likes Short Shorts? Really? (Part 2)

2006-08-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

aaaaand we're back! Now here's 'Le Page' to share with you the 2nd part to our story!

Thank you 'The Page'. Now how could something like this happen? Well I of course blame such blatant advertisements as this:

Look at that... like it's okay to drink beer at the beach! What is this world coming to!

Luckily for us there is one select group of people who are cut out to handle such an ordeal. I cannot mention their names, as they chose to remain anonymous. On Sunday August 14 our four heroes; Gabe, Jenn, Sarah, and Alex... crap (oh they won't mind will they?). Anyways they went to Wasaga to assess the damage. They too felt the embarrassment but instead of retreating they instead moved forward. In only a few short minutes they turned that above... into this below...

Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of these heroes scrubbing the oil out of seagull's feathers shamelessly promoting Dawn dish detergent. I guess we'll just have to take their word on it. Despite the delay on this post, Griffyn Mirages is still your blog for all the up to date information connecting you all around the world. Until next week...day...month? (well it'll be on a need-to-know-basis) this is yours truly... signing off!

Who Likes Short Shorts? Really? (Part 1)

2006-08-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

This is "The Page" reporting in at Griffyn Mirages control center. We have a breaking news story straight from the frontlines, I cannot delay any longer, and I will let you listen to our local correspondent, "Le Pagè".

That’s right "The Page", today I, "Le Pagè", took the first steps into Canada's most recent war zone, ground zero I prefer to call it. "But what war could that be?” you ask? I dare not speak it's name, I fear it might curse us all, just like screaming Macbeth from up-stage right. What I will say is that it's horrific, the carnage... it's... it's... everywhere! I don't know what kinds of people to do this... what’s that? We have some incoming images...

These are just a few images of the suspects arrested for questioning in connection with... this!

Do you not see what the world is coming to? Do these hooligans really think long weekends are a reason to do this? Unfortunately... yes. What you see here is the complete and utter destruction of Ontario's only party beach...Wasaga. Oh it pains me to see this horrendous site, how could such a pristine site turn into "this" after only a few days of hardcore drinking, bonfires, mass bikini sales, and melanoma.

... what’s that? Oh sorry viewers, I guess it's time for a commercial from our sponsors…

The 4th Dimension

2006-08-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

I was perusing the Internet and came upon something REALLY cool. I was later informed that what I found was a long lost pop-culture icon. So for those who are in their late 20’s early 30’s what comes to mind when I say “Shepherd’s Watch”? Nope, not a rendition of “Little Bo Peep Lost her Sheep”, what’s your next thought? Nope, sorry Firefly fans, he died in Serenity, next thought? Ooo, that’s naughty…better keep that one to yourself. What you should be thinking about is that infamous maker of esoteric sundial jewellery.

“Waa?”

Yep, that’s exactly what I mean! For some re-clarification I think you should just go to the website:

http://www.shepherdswatch.com/

Do you not agree that these are cool? “Rings, Bracelets, Pendants, oh my!” They all look interesting, something that would start conversations, and their fully functional. If I don’t get one of these I’d be surprised. Unfortunately that’s all my exciting news for today… Happy Birthday Geoff! Aloha!

Mmm Mmm Good!

2006-08-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday night I ventured into unknown territory... I finally BBQ'd something. Took my first to slabs of steak, defrosted them, forked them, marinated them in Diane's sauce, and marvelously grilled them. Luckly it turned out amazingingly well and I got a pefect medium-rare peice of meat. I'm also going to assume that because I haven't keeled over and died that the mean was cooked properly. Thats all the news I can report for now, but if your reading this Geoff your going to have to come over and teach me how (and what) to properly marinate meat in... and how to indirectly grill some bigger catches.

Parle [par-ley]

2006-08-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

If the title didn't slightly confuse you, it should of at least forced a long since repressed memory of French class to surface; that is if your a true blue bilingual Canadian (by which I mean one who speaks 98% English, 1.9% bad English, and .1% Québécois). Or if you were one of the lucky ones, spared from reliving that traumatic experience (until reading the 2nd half of that sentence) you may of instead remembered "the code". That’s right! The "VERY" serious set of rules/regulations to which every pirate must abide by......... unless:
-It endangers your life
-It endangers your ship
-It endangers your booty...bounty
-It endangers your parrot or monkey
-OR (this ones important) it endangers your big hat (Without which being a rum running, thieving, swashbuckling, bandito of the sea is impossible).

NOW! If the title didn't confuse you, that must of! What am I alluding to you ask?

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN (2)!!!

Or so aptly named, "The Dead Man's Chest!". I still think they should of taken a page out of Spaceballs and called it "The search for more money" (better yet, give it a pirate themed motif), "The hunt fer more o'yer buried treasure! Aaargh". What can I say?

So this is now the second time I've seen this movie (first on my birthday, and the second with my girlfriend or yesterday). This is one of those movies that will have you screaming and yelling at the ending. Don't get me wrong it's a GREAT ending, but... they have already filmed the 3rd movie (as if "the search for money" "wasn't" suggesting something). Just as X-men 3 left a wide open gap for a 4th movie, or worse, a spin-off movie... so to does the "The Dead Man's Chest". Don't confuse this with not tying up lose ends, you do know where everyone stands at the end of it, but if they didn't make a sequel you'd have millions of viewers march on Hollywood. Soon they'd turn to riots, then to mobs with pitchforks and torches (they might even get lucky and find the old Frankenstein costumes), the internet would be littered with homebrewn "Blair Witch" quality movies, the Chinese marketplace would be selling the "pirated" 5th movie... the world as WE (yes you and I) know it... would... end!

Well maybe not in such a melodramatic way but I have to say one of the best feelings of watching the ending, was watching it with my girlfriend, and watching her cringe and say "noooo! I want to know what happens!". (try it, it's fun)

As I don't want to ruin the movie, all I can say is the action scenes are really good, the plot is pretty good, and the costumes are excellent. All in all stop reading this... and go watch it!

The Prince and the Magician

2006-08-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a young price who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, and he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.

But then, one day, the prince rand away from his palace and came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.
"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.
"Of course they are real islands," said the man in the evening dress.
"And those strange and troubling creatures?"
"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."
"Then God must also exist!" cried the prince.
"I am God," replied the man in the evening dress, with a bow.
The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.
"So, you are back," said his father, the king.
"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
"Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God exist."
"I saw them!"
"Tell me how God was dressed."
"God was in a full evening dress."
"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"
The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.
"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."
At this, the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in the full evening dress.
"My father, the king, has told me who you are," said the prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled.
"It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom, there are many islands and many princesses. but you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them."
The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father he looked him in the eye.
"Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
"Yes, my son, I'm only a magician."
"Then the man on the other shore was God."
"The man on the other shore was another magician."
"I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was full of sadness. He said, "I will kill myself"

The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
"Very well," he said, "I can bear it."
"You see, my son," said the king, "you, too, now begin to be a magician."

The Magus, by John Fowles,
Dell Publishing Co., Inc.; pp. 499-500

The Winds of Change!

2006-07-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well today marks a momentus occasion... well not really. My only news to report is that I've finally finished reading Passages by Gail Sheehy (took me a damn long time too). If you ever want to learn about the very predictable human crisis patterns (including midlife crisis's) from the years 20 to 50 then I reccommend you read the above mentioned book. It makes me wonder if what i'm doing right now is really just a meaningless venture. If all the knowledge, morals, and forged pathways i'm to make are really going to be regretted, taken back and completely revamped later in life, then simply, whats the point? Well I guess life has to have some rhyme and reason; we can't really all become masters on the route to personal growth because we'd just become bored with the that level of mastery an continue our everlasting search for "more". It's just a good book if you want some food for thought, and you older people out their will probaly find it more diconcerning then I do because your probaly one of "those" who fits snuggly into a category of human development.

On an entirely unrelated note I would like to point out that finally, for the first time in countless games, I won at Settlers of Catan. I'm going to say it's because I finally put a settlement on an 8 (6 just doesn't role). Well it's mostly because Gabe and Jenn completley blocked each other off from everything, but Jenn almost won so they didn't do to badly. I now feel the need to post a link to Mayfair Games. They have so many damn games/expansions/novelties that I can't help myself. Hell they even have a starfarer edition placed centuries into the future. (just click on the "Catan Games" on the left side of the page)

http://www.mayfairgames.com/

I think I'm going to put this into my favourite links, just because if everyone has the game... well then I won't ever need to buy one... isn't freeloading fun?

Other then that I have nothing new to report... Over and out?

Finally

2006-07-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

Finally I have gotten around to writing in this damn thing. I've been putting it off since mid May. Usually because of school but also for a lack of really intresting events to talk about. Well have no worries! I still suffer from the later but I've decided to hell with it!

First up on my agenda is to cover some of the interesting things i've done this year:

1.) Woodshop adventures!
This year I built numerous fun things, amongst them was this lovely muskoka chair:

As you can see (from far away) I looks amazing! The truth is that anyone who builds something always knows it's flaws. Who can really tell that one of the armchair supports is covering up a really nasty chip from an overzealous driller. A tip to everyone, if your countersink isn't deep enough and you over shoot it... don't try to reverse the screw (it tends to take the wood with it).

From the first person perspective! As you can see we've sealed all the knotts in the pine to prevent water damage later.

Hey! It takes my weight! That is definetly a good sign. I have to admit, the chair could of been wider, but it's hard to tell just how well everything will fit together.

2.) I have a girlfriend. Yes it's true. Don't worry, i'll find some way to make it through. I don't have many pictures but I do have this one (for those of you who don't know what she looks like yet). Luckily she's finally coming back after going to Australia for 3 weeks, so I can finally spend some of my free summer with her.

Thats all for now, I might get around to posting some articles or other things i've written in the past year, it depends on their quality, and how the "public bloggers" might percieve them. Anways so long for now and I look forward to actually writing things in here.