2005
Well, so far the first day of the new year has been uneventful. Given the hour, I do not really expect there to be any new problems either. In fact, the only problems look to be those experienced on the road, as we have a freezing rain advisory right now. I cannot fathom why everytime I come back to this state, I cannot get enough snow to just go snowmobiling. Actually, it is getting kind of annoying. Just once, I would like to be able to enjoy winter sports while I am down here. I am dismayed at seeing my break swiftly fly through my fingers. I already have to leave in a week. I have no idea how I am going to sneak my computer on the plane back to Edmonton, either. I am hoping (praying) to get something done this week before I go back. Heaven knows nothing will get done when the second semester starts... I need a job and good grades, and all other concerns must be secondary.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I spent today chilling out at the Rivertown Crossings mall over in Grandville. It is actually relatively close to me now that the Six has finally been finished. The Six (for those of you not living in Southwest Michigan) is an east/west freeway connecting the southern areas of Grand Rapids. I picked up there a pack of planner pages and a stylus for my PDA, as well as a new pair of cords. I know it isn't very exciting, but hey, it's functional. Right now I am relaxing at a LAN party in Lowell with some old friends of mine from high school. Not the greatest place to spend a holiday, but not bad so far. I have had much worse. I am hoping to get into the next game that we play, but we'll see about that. Hopefully, I will have a better year financially this year. Heck, I turn 21 later this year. I walked through my old place of employment tonight; it was rather pathetic. To those of you reading this, my best wishes for you and yours in a happy new year.
SO MUCH TO DO - SO LITTLE TIME
The end of 2004 is approaching, and so I had high hopes that I could finish off my old business and start afresh in the new year. However, due to my sloth, this looks increasingly unlikely. It isn't impossible, but it sure seems improbable. As I get on in life, it irks me that I seem to have the speed settings of a lawn mower: slow or all-out balls to the wall frenzy. When I come off a crazy period like finals, the throttle gets stuck somewhere between lazy and unbelievably lazy, and I have the darndest time trying to ease myself into a pattern that allows some kind of productivity. Tomorrow for New Year's Eve, it pains me to say that I will most likely spend the time at the LAN party over at a friend of mine's place. I don't mind doing the occasional LAN party, but soemthing feels wrong about spending such a momentous time of reflection and insight yelling across the room about pointless trivialities - like who just fragged who. I suppose, when you get down to it, the New Year is just another day, albeit an arbitrary one designed to change the year. But despite that knowledge, it still feels like one should get on with it off the right foot, as it were. My deep seated preference leads me to want something more meaningful, whatever that may be. I suppose that each day is a new day, a time to set aside past problems and begin anew the challenges of the future. This sounds nice, but if you're stuck in a rut, it sure doesn't feel like a new day. The new year is something 120,000 some odd people will not be experiencing. I am saddened by the photographs and destruction written about in Asia lately. The desolation is hard to miss, with boats buried in the sand, and bodies burning everywhere. Tragedy strikes sometimes with a blunt instrument, smouldering out the flames of human perseverance and other times just a deftly, it delicately swats at a single soul. This can be hard to take, and though I know not a soul over there, I believe that they need our compassion and our aid now. If I could, I would spend the rest of the break helping out over there, but it is not to be. As the death of this year comes around, given the circumstances, I think it only right to pass some time dwelling on the problems this world faces now, and what our role can be in the future to alleviate them.
AT HOME
I flew into Grand Rapids last night around 10 PM. The flights were fairly decent and the weather was great, which always helps. The de-icing procedure in Edmonton was kind of interesting. We sat in the plane while they sprayed it down with some weird red goo. I have to say, it was kinda different, but it worked. When I got in Minneapolis, I had a 5 hour layover, so I took their brand new Hiawatha LRT line to the Mall of America. The mall was great, if a little busy the time I was there. Personally, I liked their shop selection better than that of WestEd, but both are great malls. I finished up the last of my Christmas shopping there. Three cheers for a Procrastinator's Christmas! Tonight was my Mom's birthday, and of course, I find out that the leather gloves I picked up at Wilson's were the wrong size. Rather disappointing. I also gave a mug to my Grandma and Grandpa which lasted about 2 or 3 minutes before Tom dropped it on the coffee table by accident. I have never seen a mug split so evenly before... The mug was pretty funny (at least, I thought so). I am happy to be home, but no less than a raft of problems followed me here. Despite the fact that I have no job, a raft of work seems to be waiting for me here. Despite that, I managed to spend a good bit of the day playing XBox with Dan. Life is only so long.
LAST 2004 EXAM AND QUANTUM LEAP
So there is a picture of the fire damage I took yesterday. And for those of you that want to take a look at what the Edmonton Sun had to say about it, there you have it. Be forewarned, they were far from complimentary to Listerites. There will be a letter to the editor when I am done with my exam tomorrow. I have my last exam tomorrow, though I am far from being completely ready for it. This much I must say, it is awfully hard to pull together any motivation for what is the last exam right before Christmas. I am just looking forward to being done with all of this so I can fly back to Michigan. I am looking forward to a fun Christmas season, and I hope -- a snowmobile. Spent the night watching Quantum Leap, should probably hit the sack...
ANOTHER FIRE!
I absolutely can't believe it! I went to bed around 3 AM or so, and since it is a Friday night I didn't think much of it. Around 4:20 AM I heard this loud buzzing sound. I must have been in Stage 4 sleep because I was so confused, almost everyone was going down the fire escape by the time I was pulling on some pants. Now, a fire alarm for me was an aggravation, but at least my last exam isn't until Monday. Many people have theirs today. I got outside, and when you looked back at our tower, to my shock, you could actually see flames on the floor above mine. So we waited out in the snow for a while while the fire department did their work. Being curious, a bunch of us went up to 10 Mac when they cleared us to go back in the building. There was still a huge fire in the kitchen! One of the guys on that floor had his cell phone and was trying to tell the 911 operator that there was indeed still a fire on our floor. We broke the glass over the fire alarm and tried to pull it, no dice. Lisa (old FC) said to clear out of the tower again, and given that there was actually a fire, I complied. A few minutes later the alarms came on again. I grabbed a coffee across the street at the convenience store and waited to get back onto the floor. When I finally did get back, I waited till they cleared most of the smoke out and then went up to have a peek. There was little left of the garbage and it looks like they are out a fridge. Now, the thing that scares me here is that the fire department actually cleared hundreds of people to enter the building while there was still a raging inferno in the kitchen. I hope the Fire Department gets lambasted in the media for their sheer incompetence. Needless to say, I am cooking on about an hour or so of sleep. I think I am going to take a nice long nap this afternoon...
FINAL EXAMS AND COMMENT SPAM
This website is still getting a bit of comment spam, I received seven today. I have banned the worst offenders as best as I am able. Apparently, others have been not so fortunate and are getting thousands per minute, which is causing their web hosts to drop them. I can't afford to move everything over if 1 & 1 drops me, so if that means that I have to turn off commenting for a while, that may happen. I am looking forward to the day that I don't have to wade through umpteen craptacular messages for cialis and viagra... I haven't posted of late due to my final exam goodness. I just finished my English and Math exams today. After finishing them, I went out to the Plant to have a drink with one of the guys from my class. Unfortunately, coming off all the stress and the fact that I had had solely one donut and a 16 oz coffee for breakfast led me to become a bit buzzed. I was 3/4 of the way through a pint of Honey Brown, and I kinda thought, "Man, this is quite the beer...". I can't wait to be done with the semester. I am heading home for Christmas in less than a week. I am ecstatic. I am truly, if nothing else, really looking forward to the relaxation and the hot tub. Still got a bit of Christmas shopping to do...
CLASSES COMPLETE
I am happy to announce that the Fall Semester is complete at the University of Alberta. I finished up at 1 PM today, and have been loafing around ever since. I was up til 5 AM this morning, and thus got about 2½ hours of sleep. Luckily, I did finally manage to complete my term paper, despite how late it was turned in. There is nothing like an overdose of coffee and European Trance to keep one going all night long. I am looking forward to a fitful slumber this evening. I have much to prepare for if I wish to do well on my final exams, so that will be my focus over the next few days. I also plan to play a little Christmas music. Unlike last year, I haven't done any decorating thus far. The only Christmas decorations are out in the lounge. Fortunately, it was -21° C here today and snowing, which makes it feel like it is the holiday season. I will try to play a little Christmas music to compensate. I don't leave Lister until the 22nd, so when I get home, it will be a matter of days before Christmas Day itself. I can't hardly believe that... I think I am going to play Rallisport Challenge for a few minutes and then turn in... My eyes are starting to close in spite of myself now.
BOSTON PICTURE
My Psych final is over and I have turned in my French composition. I have five items left to go...
OK, LET'S FOCUS
I still maintain, that of all the necessary traits one can have, self control is one of the most important traits we can have. Sadly, it is certainly one of the traits that I have yet to master. Good self discipline is crucial to achieve any kind of success in life. Unfortunately, I am still awake and typing this and my French essay because I do not know how to focus my intelligence on one pursuit. This savoir-faire still eludes me. God help me if I can't figure this out better than I have currently. Of course, I am a big fan of Steven Covey's flagship book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I went over that book and learned a lot from it. He suggests that we focus our energies on what he refers to as Quadrant 2 -- that being important, non-urgent tasks. To say this and to understand the value of this is common sense. That facility does not carry over into its implementation sadly. I still far too much time in Quadrant 4, non-urgent and non-important pursuits despite my efforts (feeble and increasingly futile) to do otherwise. Priez que je passe plus de temps avec les choses importants, s'il vous plait.