annual bizarre

signing off

2011-01-21T23:57:00.003-05:00

Well chaps, it's been a fun ride, one which it would seem everyone has more or less gotten off. This blog was a nice chance to vent, get to know you guys a bit better, and toss out a few ideas, but its time is over.

Over the past year I've done a lot of thinking, and have grown a lot. I can see the whiny child I've been, see the active ways I fought to stay in my state in arrested development because growth meant facing a few things I just didn't want to yet. However, I don't regret this experiment, the forever-alone posts, the pleas for attention, and the constant striving for validation and human contact, none of it. It all served its purpose in stress release, and ultimately proved very enlightening. I may start a new blog at some point, but it will assuredly have some purpose not so self-indulgent.

If anyone is actually still lurking around and reading this, adieu.

see you when I see you.

Daniel

blatant theft

2010-11-02T14:36:00.004-04:00

i still love this:

http://andrewhussie.blogspot.com/2008/12/fancy-santas-are-stupid-imposters.html

troll-face

2010-10-14T11:14:00.001-04:00

This guy never fails to make my day. Oh distance ed group-work, how you so serendipitously connect such kindred spirits.

all i see

2010-09-28T20:33:00.002-04:00

note: this doesn't mean i watch Glee, I just happen to frequent grocery stores and newsstands

bored at work

2010-09-20T14:20:00.004-04:00

if i were a book i'd be hardcover b/c i like wearing a jacket
if i were a star trek character i'd be the guy who dies in a panel explosion
if i were a toaster i'd have 4 slots, b/c two is too slow
if i were a game controller i'd be wireless b/c i'm not that demanding on people
if i were a geological formation i'd be an escarpment b/c i have trouble defining myself
if i were a typeface i'd be Lucida Fax b/c i just like the way it looks
if i were a movie director i'd be john carpenter b/c i like doing a lot with very little
if i were a wall i would be brick b/c the other types are lies
if i were a post-it note i would have a drawing of Mario being chased by a giant goomba
if i were a spreadsheet i would be hard-coded b/c i'm resistant to change
if i were an item i would be that ammo you find when you're already full but will want later
if i were a door i would be revolving b/c i'm always closed, even when i'm open
if i were a floor i would be hardwood with carpet underneath
if i were a website i would be porn b/c of statistics
if i were a video game i would be a wrpg b/c jrpg's are teh suck
if i were a pair of shoes i would be the destroyed but comfy pair you miss wearing
if i had anything interesting to say, i wouldnt have to write crap like this

2010-08-10T18:19:00.002-04:00

so... wait. If I have intrinsic value, I DON'T have to validate my existence through external means? that's just crazy talk

stalling

2010-07-10T16:31:00.003-04:00

so much work this weekend. 2 papers, one speech, and two job interviews all coming together from monday to wednesday. Stupid speech, i can't believe they slated me for the first day again, not cool. It's supposed to be an "entertaining" speech. Kind of like a comedy act, but more structured. You'd think it would be fun, and you'd be right. Except I have no ideas whatsoever that seem feasible. So nervous, what if noone laughs, that would be harsh.

anyways, in the spirit of not doing any work, lets talk about something dear to my heart: my dislike of old movies

So why do I generally not like old movies? Is it the stories? no, they generally seem to be good. Is it the actors? Partly, I'm human, and as such I like to see familiar faces, but that's not it either. Is it the black/white? Hell no, Sin City was awesome, so was Clerks and many others. It's not the score, not the length, definitely not the sound (i love those exaggerated sound effects, when they lock a door, they *mean* it), and its not the dialogue.

It's the PACING! I tell ya, they did NOT know how to direct or edit properly back then, b/c, my God! Scenes that add nothing to the narrative or character development just go on and on for no reason. I'm all for creating an atmosphere, but enough is enough. Everything just drags, it kills the mood and makes the experience tedious, even if the other parts of the movie were good.

well, back to work

twitch reflex

2010-07-05T23:46:00.001-04:00

I am a disaster magnet/rockstar.

I reluctantly went home this weekend to pick up my newly ordered ipod touch: Tatl.

On the 401 last friday, I had a bit of an experience. I was driving along quite responsibly in the fast lane. Just as I was overtaking this truck in the middle lane when a silver car came flying in from the far right and pulled ahead and left. This car was not in control. In fact, by the time he was in front of the truck, he was already perpendicular to the flow of traffic and sliding like... damn. He collided with the concrete lane barrier and bounced back into my lane. With about 20 meters at 120km/h separating this prone and driver-side car from me, I deftly swerved just barely around this guy. Now keep in mind, this whole incident from appearance and post-swerve has taken about all of 2-3 seconds. Pulled over and called 911, asked if I had to stay on the scene, and left. Apparently OPP had already sent ambulances by the time I called. Hope he's ok.

Damn, I'm kinda still shaken up about that. I could have easily killed that guy had I not swerved in time. Not to mention if I had swerved improperly, I could have gone out myself and possibly been taken out by a third driver.

so.. yeah, I'm kind of a rockstar, but may also need a hug

ohhh danny booooy

2010-07-03T01:04:00.006-04:00

farewell to my loyal ipod. It's been many years, but she's finally given out. First the screen, then physically falling apart, followed by auditory unreliability , and finally complete and utter failure. You may be unable to fulfill your primary function, but you will live on in my heart and as a mass storage device.

RIP Navi.
2006-2010
I listened.

roll for initiative

2010-06-25T00:41:00.003-04:00

so this post is mostly about two of the main awesome things I can look forward to on the weekends. This term is just kinda fading through, so it's nice when things stand out.

First up and most obvious (to me...) is of course our (sometimes) weekly DnD games. I realize I've just completely descended into complete nerd-dom, but dammit, I love it. I won't bore you with all the fineries, but it turns out 4th edition isn't the hell-spawn we've been led to believe (but you didn't hear it from me, I have a rep to protect). Say, if I learned how to DM, could I coax any of you guys back home to try a game?

Secondly: ROLLER DERBY! oh man, finally a sport i would (and do) actually pay to see. All I can say is wow. If you aren't familiar with the sport, it's basically sexy chicks rollerskating around in sexy outfits and kicking the snot out of each other for an hour. Oh, and the game itself is actually pretty cool too. The sport is still young and is still able to have fun with everything from player "names" to the awesome Suicide Seating. Who would've guessed these guys would get me into a sport, crazy.

oh, and check out the Spoony Experiment, if you haven't already. it's good stuff

rockem sockem robots (nothing to do with the post, but fun to say)

2010-05-18T16:51:00.003-04:00

...and then, just when everything looked bleakest, Dan ended his blogging hiatus. The crowd went wild.

I suppose I'll kick things off with a little status update for the fans back home who I never see anymore. So I'm back at school, yes, summer school. No, it doesn't suck, and no, its not boring. I actually really prefer it to the regular terms. The crowds have all buggered off so there are no lines anywhere or crowd navigation puzzles to get around. All the guys are here, and I'm actually busy a lot of the time with people for once. too busy. In the middle of movie nights, discovering mspaintadventures (how did i avoid this for so long?), video game playthroughs, weekly dnd games, parties, and just hanging out, I totally forgot that i'm supposed to be at school. Up to my ass in readings and assignments, not to mention the ol' jobmining. Lets go through some of the finer points in more detail.

SPCOM223. aka public speaking. aka fucking kill me now. We're supposed to give 3 formal(but still extemporized) speeches and a buttload of impromptus throughout. I've given 2 impromptus now (ungraded), and choked worse than Anna E Slessers. I don't know what happens, we get 10 minutes to prepare something, and its only a minute speech, but as soon as i get up there its all gone. All that remains is the fear, the crushing anxiety, and a million voices in my head screaming: "stop fucking this up!". but that's enough of that.

Readings. i know i can't really complain about this, i know i brought it on myself. but goddamn, i got double readings from every single course in the first week. what the hell is that all about? I just got blitzkrieged by every one of them.

enough of that, you people didn't come here for me to complain, nor did you come for some "nothing's different" status update. You came here to be entertained! So without further ado: ... i'll get back to you on that

2010-04-15T15:47:00.003-04:00

this week's definition,

danfinition: a definition made up by dan

this week's danfinition,

piggyback song: a song on itunes that has an unreasonably high play count, not because it's particulary good, but b/c it follows a song that is.

this week's pronouncement: anybody who updates their bankbook (who does that at ALL anymore??) at the Union Staion CIBC during rush hour, with 20 some people waiting, deserves to go to the deepest level of hell.

sincerity moment: I have surprisingly bad friend retention. I meet so many people that i really get along with, at work/school/etc, but almost never see them again once the initial reason for our interaction has passed.

once again pondering opening a twitter account. i think the only thing stopping me is my lack of username and the endless banality of my general existence which doesn't seem to warrant constant updates

2010-04-09T22:03:00.005-04:00

made my very first IMDB discussion today, could it be the start of something great?

I just saw Clash of the Titans, or more accurately, Incomprehensible Clash of the Gorgons, Norse Mythology, Demigods, and Piddly-Ass Humans.

spoilers to follow, not that it really matters with this flik

I'm sad to say that, despite my fierce attempts to enjoy that movie, I found myself less than impressed. The story was paper-thin, which would have been ok if the action had been abundant or decent; it wasn't. The fights were few and far between, while carrying all the finesse of the original Transformers movie. I spent most of them just trying to figure out just what the ruddy hell was going on.
The characters spend most of their time walking around for no particular reason, they went to collect Medusa's (not a titan) head from across the river styx with absolutely no way of getting back (save one of many deus ex machinas to rear their lazy heads), even though the citizens of Argos are informed by Hades that they will all be destroyed in exactly 10 days, not one of them just leaves. These are just 3 of many plot holes large enough to sail a Kraken (Norse, not Greek) through.
So we start off rooting for Perseus, who's all pissed off at the gods because the Argosians declared war on them for some unspecified reason. After they finished pulling down a cyclopean statue of Zeus, Hades shows up to kick some blaspheming ass and Perseus's entire life winds up as collateral damage. Now here the suspension of disbelief is tried a bit as instead of blaming the morons who decided to war against the gods (look up the definition of "god" if you're unclear on why this was a shite idea), he opts to side with these wrath-incurring assholes because they're certainly the rational and morally unquestionable ones, in the way that you'd get mad at a grenade as opposed to the pillock who pulled the pin and dropped it right in the middle of your bbq. The movie eventually becomes about Hades trying to overthrow Zeus, but even though I know Zeus is the good guy from my book-learnin, I find myself straining several muscles to give a damn. Zeus has been nothing but a total douche up to this point, save his attempt to get Perseus up to Olympus so they can watch Argos be destroyed in some sort of father-son bonding ritual. They state that Zeus basically created man so that he could leech more power from them while he continually ignores their prayers and rains destruction on them for no real reason. It's also established that Zeus tricked Hades into governing the underworld at the beginning of time or something like that. I feel like the only reason I knew Hades was the bad guy was that black cloud which followed him everywhere like neon sign saying "i'm the bad guy", while Zeus of course was garbed in glowing white armor and struck a rather warrior-jesus type note.
Wow, this is dragging on, so let me sum up. The movie presents itself as a brainless and violent romp; it fulfilled half of that at least. The story is so thin that it's in danger of falling between the floorboards, the action scenes are confusing and uninspired, but overall the main problem is that it just completely failed to make me care

spoilers over

check out my MB if you feel like it (i've already been one-upped by some pro)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800320/board/thread/160718638

and you'd probly have to fight a giant robot spider too

2010-04-07T15:48:00.004-04:00

so sick of Fallout 3. so very sick, want to play a new game, but can't. bought some expansions back when i was enjoying myself. Must... get.. money's.. worth

i wish there were a steampunk-western game. You could create and design fantastical weapons/gadgetry as you go, meet characters like Crazy Scientist, Wacky Tinkerer, and Oddly Normal Dirigible Pilot. I guess I'll just have to leave Bioshock and Call of Juarez in a room and see if they mate... Wow, approximately 0% probly care or even know these games.

back to school soon. epic

2010-04-01T10:37:00.002-04:00

I don't like how used paperbacks will curve open when you lay them down, and always put something on top to make it look more "correct".

paperbacks look wrong
i will fix reality
close the open flap

2010-03-30T13:13:00.001-04:00

i hate the stage during reading a book when you're right in the middle (page-wise). I feel like i'm fake reading really poorly or am in a cartoon and just started.

2010-03-23T20:29:00.004-04:00

i have a few ideas for new video games that I'd like to see. I don't know if I'd play any of them personally, but the idea of them existing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Idea 1: Bat-shit Crazy Serial Killer Game. In this game, the "protagonist" is your basic psychotic asshole who gets it off by killing, nay, butchering teenagers down at the lake who seem to always also be getting off. You could start off by customizing your character into whatever figure you think is most likely to make people simultaneously wonder: what the hell is wrong with you, while also shitting their pants in abject terror. You could go around on "missions" generated by your twisted and mother-love deprived subconscious. Hell, later in the game you could even start hallucinating that your victims ARE your mother or various manifestations of your psychosis. There could be a gameplay mechanic like a "terror meter" which gauges how freaking out of their minds your victims have gone. If you max it out they might enter the too-scared-to-even-fight-back state which most movie heroines/sluts succumb to (do I sense a 360 achievement there?). Sure there are kinks in the idea, but when do you EVER get to be on the bad-ass side of a horror game? And just think of the boundless opportunities for humor so dark even the Coen brothers would think it tasteless.

Idea 2: Office Rampage FPS Flash Game. Think about it, what two things do office drones *acutally* spend their time doing? If you said "TPS Reports" or "synergy", nice try, but get the fuck out. Thing one: retarded flash games programmed by someone living in their mom's basement; Thing two: repainting the walls with the insufficient brains of their perceived-to-be incompetent and *definitely* socially/all around useless coworkers. This game just writes itself, and why shouldn't it. After all, obese, cheetos-fueled slobs don't get paid (unless you count restraining orders from Gillian Anderson as legal tender). One day Joe Everyman just has enough of it all. He reaches into his desk -which is stocked with bourbon, a 9mm, and shit, i dunno, paperclips- and goes to town on his little slice of taupe-coloured hell. Now as much fun as it would be to play this game myself, i would take even more enjoyment out of the extreme unease it would breed in all uppermanagement types when they catch- and must therefore berate- their disgruntled minions playing when they *should* be faxing the invoices for the goddamn Simmons account!

more ideas later, I don't want to ruin all the fun in one go that it looks like noone will read anyways. ta

tinfoil hats

2010-03-20T20:58:00.002-04:00

on the north side of the 401, just west of trafalgar, there lies a factory or some sort of industrial complex. Take a good look next time you drive by, for this place is surely evil. I don't know what it is, but something about that place makes me positive that inside those walls they are crafting the machine that destroys the world. I'm on to you, evil genius, and mark my words: I will stop you.

random encounters

2010-03-18T10:45:00.002-04:00

i run into more people i know and have more impromptu conversations at George Brown than at Waterloo. How f-ing ass-backwards is that??

also, what committee came together and decided that blue candy would be Raspberry? They're RED!

a discourse

2010-03-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

"Ugh, what's that smell?"

"I dunno, but I think I found the source."

"So what's causing it?"

"Despair."

2010-03-09T11:54:00.004-05:00

wow, lots of rage in the past little while. Lets simmer down and regain our composure. Yes, for this post we are using the Royal We, don't ask us why. ok, i'm done with that

Discovered a new webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, its pretty hilarious. Recently awarded the Dan Seal of Approval.

Jon missed a day. Its a shame, he had a good streak going there.

anyways, now for what I like to call, The DotD Zombie Continuum of Scariness!

some notes:

survival chances are based on you NOT acting like a complete moron all the time and/or being a hysterical blonde.

The 28 Days Later position is due to their massive vulnerability (not just headshots to kill), but admirably swift footspeed.

Brain Dead is also called "Dead Alive" by americans (must be a metric-imperial conversion error or something). TOTALLY watch it, it's like Evil Dead but in new zealand

Just b/c I rate the fast zombies high on the terror scale, does NOT mean i prefer them, quite to the contrary in fact. There's something about that unstoppable hoard, slowly but surely honing in on your position that just chills me to the bone.

Other note: for the last time, Fed does not claim exclusive rights to be the zombie fan in our friend group! He hasnt even read the survival guide yet, pfft. amateur. love you man.

i didnt include zombieland b/c, well just mentioning it cheapens my post

rage Rage RAGE (warning: gratuitous profanities ahead)

2010-03-08T20:16:00.004-05:00

question: Hey, why don't we just jog to work/train station/bus stop instead of driving? Then we wouldn't have to do it later on!

dumbass answer: Wow, great idea! Why would those chumps do that anyways, driving that short distance and then jogging later, such tools. Lets do it tomorrow!

self-aware answer: Uh, no thanks. I don't really feel like showing up at work all sweaty and gross. Not to mention I need to bring stuff with me to work.

socially conscious answer: No thanks. I'd rather not run all over the road during BOTH rush hours. Not to mention being the smelly guy at the office or on the bus, gross.

smart answer: No way. What if it rains later on? What if I need to go and pick something up after work? I definitely don't want my backpack bouncing all the way to the bus stop either.

appropriate answer: *slap to the face*

ATTN Joggers: get off the fucking road during morning and evening rush hours! Actually, screw that, get off the fucking road PERIOD! don't give me that bullshit about asphalt "having more spring". Its pavement! The "spring" is negligible. You know what would work a lot better? Get better fucking shoes or a new goddamn exercise routine!

also, to all the squat, ugly, and pissed-off looking women in and around the TTC/GO, stop cutting me off and learn some manners! i'm serious, you can't just skip the line and nose your way in. well, you can, but everyone hates you. seriously, cut it out or i'll cut YOU out.

why i should open a twitter account

2010-03-04T10:37:00.002-05:00

ok, not really, but now you're interested right?

I'm finding myself with far more random and entertaining (to me) thoughts these days. Most are too short to really blog about, but would make pretty bitchin tweets. I also have a great (size, not value judgement) list in my phone of random thoughts I have had over the past, year? So in what shall henceforth be known as The Great Phone-Space Reclamation of 2010, I'm going to upload all these delightful non-sequiturs to the eternal interweb. Ahem

Zombie continuum - Thought this up on the train this morning, will actually become a blog-post. Do try to contain your anticipation

Is anybody there- i think i wrote this down at Jon's party. Either its something I was supposed to check out on the internet, or a desperate cry for help from the great electrical abyss, you decide.

Mwe ashton 2 bucks - would be self explanatory were it not for the typo. Obviously its about mine and ahston's soon-to-be-annual hunting trip. For deer tho, not Man, do we look like stephen harper?

metalocalypse to jon -- www.watchmetalocalypse.com. there, you happy? are you?

submarine train - the wait is over! All behold its actualized glory

push it to the limit - na na na na naaaa. I have no idea. I think this *may* have something to do with my personal philosophy about alarm clock snoozing.

the oak and crozier - name popped into my mind one day with no internet, and behold: its a pub from Oblivion! Pub from Oblivion eh, sounds like an episode of the twilight zone

competing subway stations - idea for a sketch/awesome ad campaign. Play the subway stations off eachother for business. Fuck Spadina, Union has a mcdonalds!

Scarknight - either a movie i have to rent, or just an awesome awesome idea

alright, thats about half. perhaps more to follow, perhaps not

2010-03-02T18:21:00.001-05:00

the world would be a great place if everywhere i went it wasn't so FUCKING CROWDED!!!!!

that is all

submarine train

2010-03-01T20:28:00.003-05:00

so, yeah. this has been gracing my desk at work for a couple weeks now, and if the quality is anything like it was before uploading, you should be able to make out math from the other side. If you'll hearken back to a facebook status, i've already explained the origin of this. If you don't know, well thats too bad.

Those cunning linguists among you will note that its actually more of a train-submarine. well, screw you, its my imagination and i'll name it whatever i please

2010-02-22T21:43:00.002-05:00

i'm starting to read the webcom Questionable Content, and its really starting to make me HATE the entire idea of indie music. The whole obscurer = holier than thou bullshit. They realize that yes, a lot of popular music is garbage, and get it in their warped pretentious minds that therefore, the more popular something is, the worse it is. sounds like some people need to take a stats course or two. The whole notion just ruins music and turns it into a gigantic dick measuring contest [heh, ambiguous sentences]. They can't just enjoy music for what it is and how it speaks to them, regardless of how well known it is or how much "indie cred" it carries. ugh, can't they see its just conformity and social pressure with a different face.

anyways, on a less angry note, i was thinking about my old dog the other day and I remembered something, he never slept on any of my scattered clothes be they clean or dirty. Maybe he was weirded out about chilling out on my... whatever he thought of them. I wonder what animals, at least the intelligent ones, think about our clothes. probly just like shed skin or fur.

i saw a grown man, at least 45 or 5O, eating an ice cream cone in union station while waiting for his train. That guy is all kinds of awesome.

2010-02-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

some people are so stupid i'd rather stab myself in the face than try to teach them math

2010-02-05T11:17:00.002-05:00

i was totally synced up with a guy while washing our hands in the bathroom. But then he had to go and blow it by leaving before his hands were dry. Lame.

I have one of those stampy cards for coffee in the cafeteria downstairs (I'm 5/10 currently). It just dawned on me, though, that I never actually read the card. Wouldn't it be awesome just to make one of those, and never actually write on it that you could get anything for completing it? I wonder how many people would religiously fill them up out of normative expectations, only to discover that all their work was for naught!

part of the problem

2010-02-01T19:14:00.002-05:00

we were grocery shopping at Costco the other day when I had a bit of a run in that i'm not proud of. I was struggling to bring the oversized and over stuffed cart to our car, and just about to cross the "street". I was well on a crosswalk marked area, and this SUV was slowing down to go over a speed bump right before it. I seized the opportunity and started across the way. I had not gotten far before this motorist honked at me. Already in a foul mood bc i wanted to go home, bc it was cold as hell, and bc parking lots just do that to me, I snapped. How dare he honk at me when i clearly have the right of way, what a dick! So i shot him the dirtiest look I could muster and flipped him the bird [an act which has always kind of confused me] I don't know why i went there, i never give people the finger, a lot of the time i WISH i had... but this time i whipped it out like nobody's business. So the guy rolls down his window and shouts at me. Here's what he said "Hey, asshole! I'm just trying to tell you your toiled paper fell out! God, no need to be suck a dick!" There it was. I was already in this, so I kind of explained myself while still yelling and being very pissed off at him. I mean, honking is generally a "get the f out of my way" or "f you" sort of thing. I've been thinking about this. I never used to go right to the flying off the handle stage, and certainly i wouldn't have been so confrontational about it. Whats happening to me. A guy tries to do me a favour, but in a slightly ambiguous manner, and I automatically assume he's trying to be an asshole to me. And what do I do, I flip out. I treat him like a dick for trying to help me. Not only that, but what if that affects him. Maybe next time he'll be more hesitant to do the decent thing. Maybe he'll take that negative energy and ruin someone else's altruistic aims. I haven't felt this bad about something i've done in a long long time. Well driver, if you're out there, I'm truly and deeply sorry.

corpy

2010-01-27T14:02:00.002-05:00

blogging from work today.

so it turns out even though i have quite a few responsibilites, I spend most of my work day doing jack. Already burned through Ctrl Alt Del, and most of the way through XKCD. Theres also a neat game on armourgames where you try to balance different shapes and things. So.. yeah. Probly gonna bring in my DS pretty soon.

so lets see, updates...

playing through Dragon Age when i'm not too tired or strapped for time. I know i'm a few months behind, but screw you, I'll play it when i want to, dammit! Mass Effect 2 on my horizons, should be more good times from Bioware (best company ever!).

i really wanna buy a cheap desktop computer and teach myself all those ins and outs. Learn how to install components, "overclock" stuff, tweak my systems, and all that fun stuff that will act as an impenetrable sheild for my eternal bachelorhood.

getting along with people at work. this "human contact" thing might just be possible after all.

wish the decemberists would release a new album,. i can only listen to the ones they have so much before i'll eventually tire, if thats possible

reading a lot of HG Wells. Warning to potential victims: War of the Worlds sucks! The Time Machine is about a million times better. The Invisible Man remains yet to be seen (heh).

updates completed, please restart computer

musings from very very late

2010-01-09T04:56:00.004-05:00

It's interesting how our extremely dominant sense, sight, is located right next to the brain. We do, at least i know i do, identify the head as our basic control center and the most accurate description of "where I am". But is that because it is the origin and home of our cognitive power, or the location of our primary means of input. I think its due to the eyes. I guess it makes sense in a darwinist sense. As the dominant sense is sight, we would be adamant in protecting our eyes over just about anything else. With the eyes next to the brain, that would protect our very existence from most danger. I mean, if our brain was located in our knees or something, we'd probly have a much shorter life expectancy, since we'd protect our eyes over our knees without question. ==== Sidebar, I've been starting to question and notice the little things, for better or worse, over the past few months. Its kind of fun, but people have a habit of making me feel like an idiot for doing so. ==== I've been reading War of the Worlds over the past few days. The aliens intrigue me in that they are basically gigantic brains and little more on their own. They utilize complex and sophisticated machinery to make their existence and conquest possible. In a way, thats kind of what we do. Our bodies are basically just machines for our brains, the only part of ourselves that really matter, to relate to the physical aspect of our world. It's kind of interesting to think of your own body as not really a part of yourself, but merely a tool for your higher being. ===== I reeeaaalllyyy need to get my keyboard fixed. augh. If anyone has been noticing my absence from the wide world of msn [which i doubt anyone really has], its because of this goddaman keyboard. If only it wasn't so fucking expensive to fix. pardon my language, but without the emotive capabilities of RL human speech, it is the only real way to convey my frustration. ===== Its so late, its more worth it to pull an all nighter at this point. Hopefully start to put my circadian rhythm back on track tomorrow night. ===== Some people grow up to disappoint their parents when they grow up. The only one I've disappointed so far is myself. ==== Wow, i'm really all over the place, its like Dan's ADD sans Ritalin blog. No offense to ADDers, I happen to love Robin Williams. ==== if you're wondering about the equals signs, its because of the keyboard, no Return key. Just use your imagination or something.

y2k + 10 = ?

2010-01-03T14:07:00.003-05:00

ok, new year. sweet, awesome, we passed the arbitrary date at which we reset the calendar. still, it does give one pause to reflect on the past year.. or decade. Its a new decade for the world, and for me [being twenty and all now], its as good a time as any to take a step back and reevaluate myself for who I am, who I was, and finally who I really want to be. With the obligatory shpiel out of the way, I suppose I'll segue into dan's super awesome resolution list.
I know I won't follow all of them, maybe even none, with any degree of success, but at least they'll provide a rough outline of ideas to keep in mind when going about my affairs. I know you're all on the edge of your seats for this, so without further ado, the list.

In no particular order

Learn how to *actually* play guitar
Go to bed much earlier, even when I don't have to
Stop "killing" time, and instead find something productive or at least interesting to do
Built off the last one, stop rewatching, rereading, and replaying the same media over and over
Drink less, way way less, and never for the sole purpose of getting drunk [god, what am I in, high school!]
Stop riding other people down just so I can feel a little better about myself
Stop talking just to hear my own voice, listen more
Stop pretending I know everything about everything and accept my normalcy
Stop dwelling on all the negative, especially about myself
Work on stupid little projects as much as possible, avoid big ones that i'll never finish
Actually give my opinion on things I care about, and not weasel around it in case someone doesn't agree

And that's all I have to say about that.

2009-12-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

i think i may be out of interesting things to say. i need different friends

2009-12-08T15:23:00.002-05:00

dan's study mix

complete LotR

The Fountain OST

Sunshine OST

misc classical music

theme from the good the bad and the ugly

clapton's classical gas and instrumental Danny Boy

happy cramming, everyone

gainfully employed

2009-11-27T17:38:00.003-05:00

finally landed a job. woot. I'm a tutor coordinator at george brown. its a pretty sweet job cuz I get to be the boss man, but it kinda sucks that I have to move back home. Geeze, the ONE time I actually want to stay in UW i can't. oh well.

btw, take THAT you assholes who said I suck at interviewing. I got Offered this job, AND i got Ranked for another job that even I didn't think I was qualified for.

so yeah, should be fun. I'm gonna have to learn how all that transit madness works together. Theres a GO train station right by my house, so i'll be damned if i'm gonna drive through rush hour twice a day.

now back to work. 3 papers to write this weekend, totaling to about 60% of a course. ugh.

living room box office

2009-11-15T23:10:00.004-05:00

we made the movie schedule for movie night (which is every night)

Sunday- Something New to Everyone. expand your mind

Monday- Comedy. it has to be, mondays just suck that hard otherwise

Tuesday- Bad Movie Night. just because

Wednesday- Thriller/Horror. because we must prove our manly braveitutde

Thursday- Action/Arnold. violence=good. bad dialogue+violence=better

friday/saturday nights are the only nights off. Movies are still allowed, but not mandatory

**By the by, The Thing is a kick awesome movie and kurt russell is the man.

2009-11-06T15:12:00.002-05:00

little things i've learned on my own

-never let bran particles dry in the bowl

-dont refrigerate bananas

-cheap toilet paper actually DOES make sense

-missing garbage day 3 weeks in a row is easier than you'd think

-if you leave a dish in the living room, it stays there for weeks, and noone actually cares

-potatoes get really funky if you let them sit around for a couple months

-home cooking is easy

-making up recipes and methods as you go along is fun and delicious

-you only need one of every utensil, bowl, cup, etc

-stealing internet signal from idiot neighbors kicks ass for downloading

-movie night with the house rocks face

-bathrooms w/out fans fog up really fast

air! sweet air!

2009-11-02T22:48:00.002-05:00

finally, light at the end of the tunnel. just finished reading, interpreting and my essay on The prince, and not a moment too soon as my keyboard just gave out again. not to mention midterm this afternoon. just one more midterm this thursday and i'm in the clear for a whole week or so. Now I just have to worry about finding a frigging coop job. bastards from my last interview commented to my coop advisor saying i was "too nervous". Well they failed to mention that they kept me waiting an extra forty minutes without explanation before my interview. Why dont YOU try to keep cool after that. assholes

2009-10-19T17:51:00.002-04:00

why are the only halloween costume ideas i can think of INCREDIBLY dorky???

oh yeah, now i remember

2009-10-16T15:50:00.002-04:00

my keyboard keeps fluctuating between working and not working. Its incredibly irritating having to copy+paste in any p's, ;'s /'s or Return's when writing papers. ugh.

just had an interview for a coop job. think did ok, not great, but not bad either. I messed up the ending handshake with one of the interviewers, no good. I had to really make the other guy's count. It was beautiful. Poetry in handshake form.

fingers crossed

2009-10-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

supplies low

eating jam with a spoon. mmmmm raspberries

2009-10-07T00:47:00.003-04:00

keyboard baditude. lost many imortant keys for now articular reason. I'm very issed off. stuid everything. i articularly mourn the lost of my Return key, along with his brother the .

2009-10-02T21:58:00.002-04:00

i got a kick ass gps for my birthday. it had a lifetime service, traffic, bluetooth, you name it. I used it twice.

i just dropped it from 2 feet. It has ceased to be.

i hate everything right now

hi-ho

2009-09-29T23:41:00.002-04:00

well, its that magical time of year again. A time for self reflection, and then exaggerating what you find and throwing it on a resume. Thats right, its time to hit the ol' Jobmine© once again and find me a coop job.

Well, I grabbed me a shovel and a pick and went about the business of sifting through hundreds of jobs, only to find that I'm not qualified to do jack. Hopefully the interviewers will see things a little differently.

on another note, my life is starting to resemble a television show; and knowing me, you can bet its not Keys to the VIP. If you'll recall an earlier blog entry, it will come as no surprise that i seem to find myself in The Big Bang Theory. We sit around and play video games, we talk endlessly about sci-fi, and i'm probably going to play Dungeons and Dragons this weekend (apparently this one guy is a really good Dungeonmaster). Needless to say, i'm having a kick-ass time.

live long and prosper

2009-09-23T21:21:00.003-04:00

jon's blog got me thinking about old friends.

-- IF YOU HAVENT YET, GO READ JON'S BLOG!!--

-and comment on it-

-and be funny or insightful-

there we go, jon, if you're reading this, this is my "comment" on your blog, but its kind of a tangent as you got me thinking and i didnt want to bogart and skew your board in my direction. that would be rude.

Anyways, as was pointed out, memories of old friends are a funny thing. You can forget them for ages and then all of the sudden they'll be back in a flash. Our family moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I've left more than my share of friends behind. Memories of them are never on mind, but when recalled they're so vivid and detailed. I feel kinda bad keeping them out of mind and in essence, forgotten, but I guess that's just part of life (sidebar: keep on your toes Current Friends, you never know if/when you'll join the ranks of The Damned, as i like to call them).

I've got all these memories filed way back of these kids I used to run around with and all that kid stuff, but I guess they're not kids anymore. In my memory they'll always stay that same age, but they just kept on growing up without me to witness it. I wonder if they ever think about that Faber kid that moved away.

2009-09-17T22:02:00.003-04:00

things to stall with when i cant think of anything to say

-check time (watch)

-yawn

-stretch

-yawn and stretch

-check phone for time or text, its not really important

-lick teeth

-crack neck/knuckles

-sigh

-agree with something not vocalized

-think of something funny and laugh to self and refuse to explain in a mumbly sort of way with lots of hand shaking

-grunt

-sip of drink

-clack teeth together

-look around, but not for or at really anything in particular

-make eye contact and then raise eyebrows in an attempt to... i dont really know

-drum fingers

-pray to some sort of deity to make me less excruciatingly awkward

-repeat

2009-09-14T20:37:00.002-04:00

i listened to my old barenaked ladies album (Gordon) in my car yesterday. It was my first ever cd. I must have been no older than 7 or 8 when my dad bought it for me.

I know they're not the most professional or genius band out there, but they'll always be a part of me now. I cant explain it, but hearing the song "if i had a million dollars" just makes me feel... home.

the case is under the deck in ballinafad somewhere, the bottom of the disk is all scratched, but I still have it, and i'm never lettting it go.

here i go again on my own

2009-09-10T21:01:00.002-04:00

back out into the apartment life. with a well seasoned piece of grade x beef and a very large green pepper/lettuce salad in my stomach, Transmission downloading merrily away on stolen internet, and all my stuff crammed into every nook and cranny of a single room, i am once again out on my own.

I seem to have inadvertently found the polar opposite of my last place. apartment, house. Almost the exact distance to campus, but on the west instead of east. In the place of my shallow, philandering, and french roommate, i have an awkward, WOW-playing, housemate from northern ontario.

its going to be interesting.

thinking of joining a club or two, more updates on that when theres actually news.

oh. i'm getting tired of video games and havent really played in a couple weeks. could i finally be growing up?.... probly not, but we'll see what happens

crisis mode

2009-08-27T00:34:00.002-04:00

torrents.to is all f-ed up. plus, something is seriously wrong with Transmission and it wont download anything at all. I can't go back to streaming!! augh. goddam you youku for never loading, megavideo for never being synced, pandora.tv for not even working, hulu for being racist, and so on. i cant take this shit for much longer

all work and no play makes jack a dull boy

2009-08-24T22:14:00.002-04:00

it used to be i'd wake up and find bruises or scrapes that i didnt remember earning. today i discovered a huge scar on my already crazy marked up arms. it looks like a burn. wtf!?!?!

hope its not skin cancer or anything. that would suck

2009-08-19T13:36:00.002-04:00

i was driving and saw a Range Rover with the "n" missing. I thought that was pretty funny. especially in rush hour traffic

2009-08-09T22:06:00.001-04:00

gotta pack everything tomorrow, movers coming on tues. I should go to bed so i have a longer day to work with.... but i'd much rather watch Bladerunner again. you win yet again, id.

2009-08-05T21:47:00.002-04:00

thoughts

and possible answers:

i wonder what the world would look like in an alternate world where humans were blind, but with other compensating senses.

probly really tacky. very fun on acid

if people didnt die of old age, i wonder how our life structure would be arranged and what kinds of goals we'd have.

probly less war, since death wouldnt be inevitable anymore. probly less people trying to leave a legacy in every way possible since you'd still be around anyways. longer term goals, REAL goals and achievements.

the guy whose idea it was to put rubber on the bottom of shoes deserves a nobel prize

yup

2009-07-26T13:26:00.002-04:00

on campus now between apartment showings.

define "apartment": incredibly sketchy place you get shown around and pretend to be interested in while trying everything to get the hell out of there.

hopefully next one will be a bit better.

no food b/c i couldnt find my watcard before leaving, i really hope i find it cuz they're about 20 bucks to replace.

only one bar of internet here but its still faster than at home with full. go figure.

campus is a ghost town, being on a summer term must be kinda cool, totally different atmosphere.

mom back from honeymoon finally, got me a new watch, its pretty sweet. its got just about everything, time, date, day of week, military time. but no glow in the dark...... yeah...

2009-07-22T22:06:00.000-04:00

dave

2009-06-30T17:07:00.003-04:00

i made a summer To Do list, its safe to say that i won't accomplish most of it, especially the Summer Reading List section.

i basically do nothing after work, and thats really starting to bother me. Especially this weekend, which i had as a 3 day cuz of Can-day bumped up. I got so bored, and for the life of me i wanted to do something productive or remotely hobby-like, but i really couldnt think of anything at all, so i just videogamed and tv showed the time away. How is it possible that i have drifted through life and never picked up any real hobbies or interests. blah.

new worst part of my job: cobwebs. i must take down about 50 spiderwebs with my face every damn day. Not the beautiful, visible ones, i mean like the guy wire, out in the middle of freaking nowhere, why the hell do they keep putting these back up, kind of spiderwebs, ALWAYS at face level. And if you're anything at all like me, you'll stop whatever you're doing, and i do mean "whatever", i dont care if i'm in the last km of a marathon/juggling competition/don't touch your face competition, i'm dropping everything to claw that damn thing off.

my mom's getting married this friday to a french canadien dude named Richard, he's a really awesome guy and i'm really happy for her. Of course, i would be lying if i didnt mention that one of the reasons i really like him is b/c he can cook like... oh man.

but something is troubling me, lets see if we can work it out.

wedding = open bar

open bar + Dan = not overdrinking ?

something doesnt add up right. oh well, i guess i'll just keep it civil and drink light, but really expensive.

update: nothing new

2009-06-11T18:47:00.002-04:00

officially got into program. woot. i cant remember if i mentioned that previously, i dont feel like checking

went to the gym with jer = very embarrassing and painful for the next few days

LANing halo 2 is still the most fun i have all week

i'm starting to realize the breadth of which most people i know are more intelligent than most other people. Only one person on my crew knew what a QWERTY keyboard meant. Most of them have lots of trouble adding fractions. I can go on, but wont.

its too bad mitch hedberg is dead.

i'm so beat down after work these days i lack the drive to do pretty much anything afterwards. I just sit at my laptop conveniently placed in the kitchen so that i dont have to go far for food. I can't even work up the drive to go downstairs to go play xbox, how sad is that? Every day is blending into all the other ones, God let summer be over soon so i can go back to the other monotony for a while.

2009-05-12T19:15:00.002-04:00

working a lot. its getting easier now that i'm used to it and they're letting me use the big machines (maniacal laughter).

today the boss's son (who was off on a "migraine day") came by at lunch to switch a shop truck for "his" truck. Problem was that the trailer full of all the equipment was attached to it. Just this monday we had a safety meeting outlining that we should never unhook the trailers away from the shop, but... what the hell right? hes the boss's son. So he puts the trailer up on a jack while he moves his rimmed out and ridiculously oversized truck away. The laden trailer snaps the jack like a dry twig. The son is surprisingly unfazed, untroubled, and unapologetic. its almost as if he has no sense of accountability whatsoever. So everyone starts getting all riled up and talking about buying some more jacks, getting a tow truck, or whatever. Dan springs to the rescue in dashing third person omniscient. He brilliantly uses physics and common sense to suggest that they move all the heavy equipment to the back of the trailer so that using the wheels as a fulcrum they could raise the trailer into loading position. and what do you know, dan was right, as always.

spending money like a drunken sailor trying to get all my shit finally sorted out. broken laptop, broken rockband, broken headphones, car maintenance, mothers day.... ugh.

allergy season once again, so naturally i feel like crap. my nose and eyes are permanently stuffy and itchy in whatever order you want, and my throat is so sore that i cant even swallow very well anymore.

i'm starting to get irrationally angry with my family over trivial issues. that worries me.

i reheheaally need to get drunk some time soon. i never really had a post-exam madness. sure, pauls party was a blast, but i feel like i could have done better.

also, really in need of people aside from coworkers and family. friends: "rally and plan something. anything."

that is all

2009-05-01T21:43:00.003-04:00

making friends at work. good times. had some beers with the crew after work today, it really takes the edge off (whatever that means)

almost passed out from tiredness at about 9pm tonight, what the hell is happening to me

finally went on xbox live marketplace. got a whackload of songs for RB2 and some extra content for Fable II and Fallout3. i'm pretty stoked about that

i think we all need to band together and force kris to get a cell phone.

its nice to have money to spread around again. really nice

hell of a time, and i really mean HELL of a time moving out of my apartment, more on that when i have more energy

my...back...

2009-04-24T18:10:00.002-04:00

finished first day of landscaping today. which apparently means raking a lot and cultivating hedge and tree beds. sidenote-apparently i was previously misusing the word "cultivate", and it actually means to flip over dirt which takes a shitload of effort with all the roots/clay/rocks, and accomplish completely nothing all day.

my hands are all messed up. i forsaw blisters, but i didnt forsee the spade-semicircle thing warping my hand into a twisted up claw which hurts when i foolishly attempt to uncurl my fingers. oh, and my back hurts.

got really dehydrated, felt like clint eastwood about midway through the good the bad and the ugly. ...none of the other slaves laughed either...

its gonna be a long summer

2009-04-21T11:30:00.001-04:00

spilled water on my keyboard. the only keys that work now are the l and ;. i'm less than pleased. i'm typing this out on a usb kb i borrowed from an apartmentmate.

i hope its not too expensive to fix.

2009-04-15T21:16:00.003-04:00

i think my laziness has reached a point where it should be classified as a disability. first thing i'm doing is getting the sticker for my windshield

so hungry, out of food. too lazy and swamped to buy more. pizza place next door is gonna see a lot of me. and after a week of pizza theres gonna be a lot more of me to see

finally got around to watching 30 Rock. wow, its seriously hilarious. alec baldwin is a god.

i can smell soggy cereal, i hope thats coming from my roommates and not somewhere in my room or the result of a stroke

need work for summer. oh man, this is bad

2009-04-09T18:04:00.001-04:00

i just watched a homeless guy pour the residual beer from many empties from the recycling bins into one big jug. then i watched him drink that jug.

wtf

2009-03-30T01:43:00.003-04:00

2009-03-25T15:53:00.002-04:00

2 days without coffee due to pervasive sore throat. so tired, so very tired

pretty sure i have bed sores on my butt from playing fallout too much, time for a breather methinks.

watched The Matador again last night, reminded myself to remind all of you to watch it. so good. so unseen.

dwelling on all the well documented depressing stuff, no need to report in detail until theres something new to report

fell in love with and bought some Hamburger/Tuna Helper. then i read the health info on the side. bought my last box of hamburger/tuna helper

3 little words

2009-03-22T03:44:00.002-04:00

as you might remember, i earlier ragged on Fallout 3 and claimed it was a piece of crap. I spewed out this tripe from ignorance, and i'll say it:

i was wrong

i know. drink it in. i, dan, was wrong, and i gladly admit it.

Fallout 3 is the greatest video game experience to happen to me since KOTOR. everything about it is just so... ah. from the gorgeous graphics to completely open-ended gameplay, the massive character creation freedom to the unfolding storyline. i'm already a good 18 hours in and theres no end even remotely in sight.

cant...stop...playing

feel social life... dying......but...not...caring..

morning after reflections

2009-03-18T14:36:00.002-04:00

i got pulled into the back of the bar and two large gentlemen told me that if i didnt stop drinking they'd kick me out and they were going to "watch me like a hawk". the strange thing is that i wasnt even that drunk, i just went to the bathroom a couple times and thats how they gauge you. total bs

phones should have a breathalizer on them to allow you to text/call people

i need a lot more kahones when talking to these female types. according to pierre and my own hindsight, i was getting a fair amount of I.O.I.'s, (which in Keys To the HIV talk is Indicator of Interest), oh well.

had a dream last night that i was in a horror movie. it was all dark and there was a house and one of those creepy freaked out girls like from the Ring or the Grudge(which i never saw, but the previews did enough). George Clooney was there, i think he was the father character or something. We tried to kill the demon spawn girl, but one by one our family members kept being spirited away and the child laughed at us. then it was just me in this dank closed in room with pipes and lots of corners for her to be hiding in. spooky. then i woke up (in the dream) and was in a hospital bed. it turned out i was testing some sort of drug and had to explain my dream dream to some doctor person while they wrote down unrelated things on a clipboard. then they left and i tried to inject myself with something for some reason. then i woke up for real.

gonna sell Assassins Creed (what a crappy game) to EB, they're doing a thing where they give more money for certain games depending on the demand. i dont know who's demanding AC, but they can have it. gonna buy fallout 3

now i gotta catch up on work ugh

without internet, noone can hear you scream

2009-03-12T23:54:00.003-04:00

for the last two days, it happened. we were without internet at our apartment. initially i thought it wouldnt be a big deal and it would all blow over. i laughed at the concept of how reliant we are on it and reveled in my "roughing it".

the charm in it quickly faded. obviously i knew i wouldnt be able to download or facebook or anything like that, but the little things started getting to me. I had to make lists of things to wikipedia when the internet got back, such as who the hell was "leonard burnstein" from REM's The End of the World As We Know It. I was afraid to go outside b/c i couldnt check the temperature or weather forecast. i even had to go to campus computer labs just so that i could keep up with schoolwork and updates.

thats when i realized. its not my fault that i'm so heavily dependent on the internet. nowadays, they just assume you have it, so thats really the only way to get most information, such as the econ midterm i have tomorrow that i didnt know about b/c i dont go to class.

thank goodness its back, my world makes sense again.

2009-03-08T18:13:00.002-04:00

why is my so called "psychology" course pretty much exclusively about the brain's physiology. if i wanted to take biology i'd be doing that.

i'm against the idea of tipping, but i think its still a pretty good idea to tip your hairdresser, just in case you get the same one twice

dave, i think you and i are the only ones left here. its like being in a big empty building, we can yell and scream all we want, but it seems kinda futile doesnt it? i look forward to your (and probly only your) thoughts on this.

i still need to find a hobby or some kind of defining characteristic

Healthtronics

2009-03-06T14:55:00.002-05:00

jason segel was on the dean blundell show(which i now podcast) with paul rudd to talk about I Love You, Man. During the course of this, Jason unveiled his personal religion that he made up after a terrible break-up.

its a 3 prong system

-be kind

-exercise

-pursue a passion with vigor

sounds like a good system to me

2009-03-05T00:49:00.003-05:00

does your roommate have the hots for you?

absolutely not.

absolutely not!

absolutely hot.

very, very hot.

damn, she's hot!

oh lord, what a show

2009-03-02T18:50:00.003-05:00

i just realized i have 200 pages of built up psych readings to do for my midterm next tuesday. that should be fun...

we re-heally need to start going out or doing something when we party at guelph. this whole rampant substance abuse for its own sake thing is starting to get old. i mean, how many times am i gonna have the same conversations, even when i'm drunk i realize we're jsut going through the motions.

as the astute among you may have noticed, the secondary title of my blog is subject to change whenever i feel like it. hopefully you'll get the same small thrills out of it that i do.

2009-02-26T16:17:00.002-05:00

three things i'm pretty sure of

i'm pretty sure i've lost the ability to be sincere, sarcasm is all i have

i'm also pretty sure that if i met a younger version of me, he'd wanna kick my ass big time

if i was an accountant for 2 weeks i'd end up shooting everyone in my office and maybe a couple passers by

dan's journey in imaginationland

2009-02-23T01:10:00.003-05:00

as you know, i went on a cruise over the reading week, and i know you must all be *itching* for news about how it was. so without further ado, time for the highlights of my exciting and exotic travels. the decimals are from additions i make later on, as this is somewhat in chronological order

1)- yelling at my mom because of her terrifying driving habits

1.5)- watching the temperature go up as we drove

2)- many, many jokes about Horatio while we were in Miami

3)- beating my GBA version of Super Mario from SNES several times over

3.5)- learning that west virginia LOVES porn

3.75)- stopping at a gas station in W.V. which was adjacent to the "Hot Spot" pay-by-the-hour motel

4)- getting VIP boarding priority and skipping a 2 hour line

4.5)- our ship was the Carnival: IMAGINATION. imaginaaaation. imaginatioooooon.

5)- 24 hour buffet, delhi, and frozen yogurt, and yes, coffee. all free

6)- our assigned dinner table mates, the family from Boston with children Lauren and Daniel. The daughter was hot. that was nice. the son looked like Harold Ramis. that was cool

7)- judging the older women who wish they were cougars and are disgustingly tanned and plastic surgeried

8)- watching Discovery Channel with Gord b/c we were tired

9)- drinking buckets of Sol beer with Gord on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

10)- Carlos & Charlie's restaurant in Cozumel. They have a whole extra staff of people who go around and mess with you while you eat. This includes doing that shoulder touch thing, popping balloons behind your head, and yes, ripping your chair out, throwing a bib on you, and making you chug Sangria until you can't anymore.

11)- almost winning the Comedy Movie Trivia Contest. 23/25, and there were a LOT of older movies on there

12)- duty

13)- free

lowlights of the trip

0.5)- my mom's crazy ass driving taking 5 years off my life

1)- 21 year old drinking age on the ship

2)- sunburns, and my mom lying about having aloe vera

3)- crappy crappy pool on the boat

4)- haggling with mexicans

5)- watching the temperature go down on the way back

all in all, good trip. dont think i got much colour off it tho. back to the real world.

btw, i KNEW hugh jackman would be awesome as an oscar host.

2009-02-13T23:51:00.002-05:00

done my friggin accounting assignment and with 4 minutes to spare. thats why they call me when they need the best. that is, if they ever called, it would be b/c i'm the best.

as of 6:30 tomorrow morning, i. am. so. outta. here. . . .......periods..puntuation is fun..> (`

i told pierre that we were driving down to florida, he couldnt believe that anyone would ever drive that far and not fly. different cultures, huh'uh?(thats the american "eh", i think)

totally thrashed midterms, looks like i may just fit in Arts after all.

i love it when you listen to a really old album you have kicking around (on itunes) and you discover a song on it that you never seemed to like before. you're just in total awe that you could have not picked up on its awesomitude earlier....i love that, even when the album/song is embarrassingly old to the nth degree.

well, i'm out. everyone enjoy your reading week, and if you dont have one yet... to baaaaad

2009-02-12T23:17:00.000-05:00

big news, new blog title. inspired first by Tim Bisleys workplace the Fantasy Bazaar, which then warped in my head into this.

trial basis only

i wont change the page url to save you guys any complications, how considerate of me

2009-02-10T16:21:00.002-05:00

i had a dream last night that i was skydiving. it was totally awesome. then i woke up which was a total drag.

then i fell asleep and had a dream where i became the owner of a city. And not like the realistic kind of owner like real life, i was the kind of owner where i just went around getting free stuff and pushing people around. it was weird, it started out as if i were playing a video game and this happened, then it kinda morphed into it actually being me, as dreams tend to do. again i woke up, which was also a drag.

now i have to study all day. except now... this is my break.

gotta earn the reading week. theres no "I" in Success. there's a "u", but its followed by 2 "c"'s, so nuff said.

2009-02-06T14:36:00.002-05:00

sometimes i just wanna give up on life. drop out of school, sleep all day, collect unemployment or whatever from the government, MAYBE get a part time job on the side of my video games binge drinking/eating.

man, that would be the life. no stress, no worries. hell, i'd probly live till 124.

but then i realize how much i would resent myself if i did that. theres always been some voice in the back of my head telling me that i have to be SOMEBODY...i think thats my mom, or kid shows.

i guess i gotta just keep at it and wait for the off chance that opportunity will present itself, and the even more off chance that i'll recognize it.

2009-02-04T21:47:00.001-05:00

one of the usb ports on my macbook pro is all f-ed up and doesnt work anymore. if only i knew how warranties worked. i've probably violated it 57 times without realize it, not to mention i forgot where i put the receipt.

...damn

and i'm way too lazy to fight for it. not to mention getting it fixed. ah well

2009-02-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

totally just bombed my psych midterm. fucking prof, i swear we never learned half that shit

2009-02-01T00:17:00.001-05:00

you know when i said i'd kill you last...

2009-01-28T15:15:00.002-05:00

little things i love

-fresh sheets on my bed

-cream in my coffee instead of milk

-the crunching sound of slowly driving over gravel

-those little onions on a mcdonalds cheeseburger

-sitting down after a long day

-actually having money in my wallet, rather than debiting everything

thats about all i can think of for now

2009-01-26T17:14:00.003-05:00

went to the gym today. holy moses was it crowded. you had to like, wait in line to use any of the cardio machines.

3 people in line, average person spends, what, 20 minutes minimun on one? screw that shit

what a waste of time, i'll come back at midnight or something when its a little more sedated

2009-01-24T20:11:00.003-05:00

so bored. what a crappy weekend, i havent done shit.

i really need to meet more people around here

guess its another night of playing xbox in my room, all alone

hooray for university life...

2009-01-19T16:53:00.002-05:00

a little part of me just died. actually, i think it was more of a moderately sized portion.

it looks pretty official, they're making a new installment in the greatest video game franchise of all time, KOtOR. seems like a good thing, no?

WRONG

they're making it an MMO.

fuck

this is going to ruin the whole dynamic and flow of the game.

so now if i want to play it i'll

a) have to buy a windows computer or upgrade to Leopard so i can use bootcamp

b) pay a memebership fee (GAAAAAAYYYY)

c) become one of those guys that plays MMO's

fuck. they just couldnt do it right leave the format alone. goddamn lucasarts/bioware

2009-01-15T22:31:00.003-05:00

i've started to make footnotes in class about things i either think of or that the prof will say that i think are amusing. Said footnotes have included my previous mention of accounting elevator music.

according to my soc deviance prof, groupwork is a form of communism

from econ god larry smith, "and one day you're just walking down the street and you realize... i'm stupid"

in guelph the other day i realized that i have watched more movies than is probably normal and/or healthy in a physiological or social way. its time to give something back

Top Five Uses of Music In Movies in no particular order

(note: i am limiting this to popular music, so awesome kickass score like from LOtR and Star Wars are not game, nor are showtunes)

movie: The Departed, song: Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones.

this song was playing during the opening to the flik, and i dont know what they did, but this song never rocked so hard in rockband, and it sure as hell got me pumped up for the music when paired up with jack nicholson's genius

The Matador, All These Things That I've Done, The Killers

from the ending, i'm not gonna give it away. kickass movie, kickasser song. this bit actually is what first began my unhealthy love affair with this song and subsequently the killers.

Reservoir Dogs, Stuck In The Middle, Steve Miller Band

this was obligatory but in no way forced. The happy and campy music playing while mr blond dances around and cuts off a cops ear while pouring gasoline on him is just hysterical.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Staralfur, Sigur Ros

this beautiful song perfectly accentuates the emotional climax of this movie with its haunting beauty. i have no f-ing clue what the song is actually about as its in icelandic or some other fake language, but its a perfect fit for the scene which is so triumphant and yet tragic simultaneously.

Shawn of the Dead, Dont Stop Me Now, Queen

if anyone here is aware of my obsession with both zombie movies and Simon Pegg, this one should come as no surprise. Beating down a zombie with pool cues while dancing jumping around to this upbeat tune... awesome. Especially the dramatic change in tone as soon as the music cuts out. brilliant.

honorable mentions---

Risky Business, Rock and Roll, ... i forget

this was not exempt for the fact that it is overused to the extremes, nor the inclusion of tom cruise(who i think has been treated unfairly by the media, but thats not the point), but the dancing around of a teenage male in his tighty whiteys. gross

Lord of War, For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield

anti war hippie song played over the american production of arms that will eventually find their way into the hands of african children. dark, ironic, hilarious

other suggestions more than welcome.

2009-01-14T17:36:00.002-05:00

my accounting classroom is the theatre... ironic much?

theres also elevator music in there before the class starts, today it was some spanish sounding guitar

it turns out waterloo just plain sucks for meeting people. i had previously racked it up to the fact that i was in engineering, so.... yeah. but no, even in arts classes, hell, even moreso in arts classes people are incredibly cliquey and/or antisocial.

i guess no lifelong "buddy from university" for me, no fond memories of the wild antics i got into with my classmates... big surprise.

i probly shouldnt blame my school for everything. hell, most if not all of this isolation i bring on myself by just being to fucking shy and insecure. everyone else here seems to have a gaggle of friends, so i guess the buck rests with me.

-prepare yourself highschool friends, i'm never letting go of you, you're all i have-

wow this post has gone in a seriously different direction than i had planned.

2009-01-13T10:27:00.002-05:00

why is the bus always late whenever its snowing like crazy and/or its cold as hell out?

why do i keep drinking so much when every time i feel like a complete tool for every conversation/encounter i can remember from the episode?

i need to start going to the gym. we're going on a cruise during reading week, and i wanna be in shape for all the shirtlessness that is to come. on that note i also need to start eating better and less erratically and go to bed earlier.

price chopper kicks ass. nuff said.

cream was an excellent choice

war, war never changes

2009-01-04T16:05:00.003-05:00

new video game. i am absolutely dumbfounded and completely intimidated

fallout 2

i'm no noob, i dont make a habit of getting pwnd (of fwnd for that matter), but this game is too much for me. and its over a decade old for crying out loud

it doesnt help that i downloaded it (OMG!) and have no instruction manual, but even if i did... my goodness its complicated and absolutely massive.

i guess its true that you have to be careful what you wish for... damn

A night for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind

2008-12-24T22:42:00.002-05:00

its christmas eve. we've just finished opening our massive hoard of presents from beneath the tree. It truly was a great christmas. Everyone got and gave all sorts of gifts un-asked for but very very welcome. I seem to be the only one who stuck to our "budget", and i feel a little guilty, as i made out like a bandit.

Some highlights were some earmuffs/headphones (finally! omg i hate hats), a personalized keychain from my little sister and co-HIMYM fan which read "Suit Up!", a new and more stable dance pad, a ticket to We Will Rock You, and of course Jumanji: the board game circa 1995!!!

but i would be amiss if i didnt acknowledge the thrill of surprising my mom with some new ski poles, cleverly disguised as a snow shovel.

last but not least, merry christmas to all of you, truly. now i have to go and play Things with my family, courtesy of my older sisters gift pile

2008-12-16T03:35:00.001-05:00

tried to google my blog, realized how cliched and overused the title is.

i'm too lazy to change it

also googled my name, realized just how common it is

screw you, other daniel fabers

whoa

2008-12-12T23:44:00.003-05:00

i'm watching daily planet.

apparently they are almost finished a video game you play with your mind.

you have a headset and you just think about what you want to do, and it happens.

holy

crap

2008-12-11T17:37:00.002-05:00

i'm fucked

after all the work i've put into my schedule for next semester, i contacted the Arts advisor for a final check. She referred me to someone else who she had never mentioned in all of the previous discussions we'd had.

turns out i need a completely different schedule. all the classes are full now. and apparently i have to choose a major RIGHT NOW, when students coming in from highschool dont have to pick one till their second year... thats fair.

i'm fucked

2008-12-11T02:55:00.002-05:00

so much time off, so little accomplished.

sigh

2008-12-08T16:43:00.001-05:00

picked up "Why We Suck" by Dennis Leary on a whim

hilarious so far, further updates pending

2008-12-06T20:02:00.001-05:00

i was playing Oblivion (a video game), and after creating my character and playing for a bit, i came out of the training cave and the daylight showed me i had made my characters skin dark enough to look ethnic

now i'm starting a new game.... does that make me a bad person

39.5' pole

2008-12-05T17:55:00.002-05:00

christmas is back. ugh. another year of frantically trying to find gifts for those i love, but unfortunately dont really know anything about.

It gets harder every year as lists get shorter and people inevitably become simpler as we lose touch with our interests and hobbies one by one. another year of getting better and more imaginative gifts than the crap i end up giving, and feeling like a piece of shit. and lets not forget the gifts i'll end up "giving" my mom, which entail me co-financing the gift my sister thought of because she's actually a decent person.

on a less of a "bah, humbug" sort of note, i did have a rather pleasant experience at the Starbucks today.

-i had to get off the bus early, someone obviously and recently blew their christmas cookies in the back, and the scent took over the whole vessel. although, it was rather hilarious to watch people get on, go to the back, and immediately turn around and sit in the front. so i retreated from the bus and rewarded my good sense with a latte-

anyways, i ended up talking to this gentleman b/c he had two of those huge coffee boxes. jokes were exchanged, and it turns out he was getting hot chocolate for the cast of a childrens play. awww :). i ended up helping him out the door as he was also laden with a gaggle of cups, i like to think he appreciated that.

its weird how just one conversation and slight good deedish thing can make me feel so good. maybe i'm not quite as jaded as i think... hopefully.

2008-11-28T04:03:00.003-05:00

think i might be bipolar

is it normal to feel like you're basically God's gift to the world one day, and the next hate every single thing about the way you are and what you do?

limbo

2008-11-25T16:40:00.003-05:00

so right now, as you should all know, i'm not in classes, and i'm getting ready for my next term. The problem is, i can't even enjoy my time off, cuz i'm continually being screwed by my university when it comes to class registration.

first, even getting all the forms to get out of Eng were a major pain in the ass, and i had to use all of my cunning and wiles to get my tuition back. Then i had to fill out another form, IDENTICAL to one i did before, cuz apparently the faculties are unable to email or fax eachother information.

Problem now is, after i painstakingly planned out my courseload for next semester, making sure there was space in each class for me, by the time all my forms went through (which had my classes on them), all the courses were filled up.

so now i have to either get class size overrides filled out by all the profs, or choose between the reject classes that remain open.

so i got some overrides signed, ONE, to be exact. The other is probably lost in the bureaucracy. The others, i personally talked to the profs, and they all said the same thing: "check [online] as often as you can, in case someone drops out, it happens more than you think". so now i find myself compulsively trying to enroll in classes about 10 times a day, always unsuccessfully. if anyone is monitoring me (which they do on that site, apparently) they're gonna think i'm nuts.

So now i'm in the spot where i dont know whether i should keep trying, or cut my losses and try to figure out another schedule. and now every second i take to do what i want is tainted by that horrible feeling that usually accompanies putting off homework.

augh, time off sucks. now if you'll excuse me, i have some classes to enroll in.

disaster strikes!

2008-11-20T16:48:00.002-05:00

my beloved cell phone battery, the life source of my mobile social life has left me. I dont know how it happened, cuz i still have the back casing, its like the battery was just spirited away... oooOOooo. without my cell, how will i ever know what time it is!!

on the bright side, now i have a real incentive to get a new, non-crap phone. any suggestions?