| Hisashiburi.... |
[Nov. 21st, 2007|05:35 am] |
Hello, Journal. I'm sorry I haven't paid any attention to you in almost 2 months. Don't take it personally. I'm not seeing another journal. I promise. I just don't feel that we're as close as we used to be. I think we need some time apart, you and I -- to figure out where we're going on this whole journaling thing. I mean sure, we've had some good times, LJ. But do we have any sort of future together?
And don't read too much into this entry. It doesn't mean I've come back to write in you again. I'm just letting you know where we stand right now because I'm tired of you pestering me.
And what whole thing where you crashed my browser the other day out of spite? That is totally not helping me feel like you can be mature about this situation. And please stop emailing people on my friends list and asking them if they've seen me. No one likes a stalker. I just need some time away. Please understand.
I just need to find myself.
Rich. Yes... I just need to find myself rich. And powerful. And living on a remote hollowed-out volcano island with an army of colour-coded henchmen/ninjas all helping to carry out my nefarious plans.
Don't make this any harder than it is. |
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| And now the bad news.... |
[Sep. 4th, 2007|01:24 pm] |
While I was going to post earlier that my aunt had been diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, I didn't get around to it. It was incredibly sudden, as ovarian cancer is VERY fast-paced, and often by the time anyone notices anything (especially in women past menopause), it's well past the early stages.
She just retired, and was looking forward to some time off, but ended up being on chemotherapy instead.
Unfortunately, to make matters speedier, she died yesterday from a blood clot... really far sooner than any of us expected.
I just heard from my cousin (her daughter) about it this afternoon and we're trying to get in touch with my mother who's off somewhere in Europe and pretty close to unreachable (they were in Hungary, but left and went to Vienna, then decided that they didn't want to go back to Hungary, so they went on to somewhere remote in Italy -- not sure WHERE they are now).
Humans are incredibly fragile creatures. How we ever dominated this planet is still somewhat of a mystery. I'm guessing relative longevity coupled with massive breeding. |
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| 10 years ago today.... |
[Aug. 31st, 2007|09:42 am] |
Today, 10 years ago, I was moving into my first apartment of my own.
Allen, Scott Ruff 'n' Co, and Heather #2 were all there to help.
Mid-way through the afternoon, we heard word that Diana had died, and it just ripped me apart.
Having grown up with the monarchy, it's always had a very important place in my heart. I knew the words to "God Save the Queen" long before I think I'd ever heard the Star Spangled Banner. Before I even knew what a president was, the Queen was, to me, a rich and powerful symbol. I can findly remember the joy and wonder at the year of festivities in 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and how my school and our village celebrated.
Not long after, for the marriage of the century, between Charles and Diana, I was glued to the television, watching in awe. While Charles looked handsome and dapper in his uniform, Diana was simply radiance incarnate. Beautiful. Perfect in every way. She was, very much, everything a princess was supposed to be, and in my head, she was very much my princess.
While, over the years, the marriage between the two crumbled and fell, Diana's power and grace as a symbol never faltered. Next to the Queen, Diana was easily the most recognised figure in Britain. And when she died, in such a senseless accident, it genuinely hurt.
And it still does. |
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| First the good news.... |
[Aug. 27th, 2007|01:33 pm] |
The results are in!
My father won a gold at the World Games in Hungary, and broke 3 world records! Yay dad! |
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| The Future.... |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|07:53 am] |
In the future, all our jobs will be done either by robots madein Asia or by cheap software from India.
This bodes well for the Asian/Indian economy. The rest of us are screwed. |
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| Too much Doom |
[Aug. 20th, 2007|09:27 am] |
The fluourescent lights above one of the stalls in the restrooms on this floor are dying -- dimmed and occasionally flickering brightly.
I find myself looking for the secret door or the inevitable opening to waiting imps. |
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| I don't log in much anymore |
[Aug. 17th, 2007|10:31 am] |
If anyone's been noticing I don't comment much anymore (does anyone notice that sort of thing), it's because I don't log in much anymore.
LJ just hasn't had any draw for me of late. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 10th, 2007|10:02 am] |
Dinner and a movie tonight. Stardust doesn't seem to be getting the play in theatres that I expected. Was a fantastic book... but I'm somewhat wary of a screen adaptation.
Tomorrow, I begin teaching Wing Chun to Stephen. Should give me someone new to roll with eventually. While I can't arrogantly claim to be able to beat all my classmates, I HAVE rolled with all of them enough to have a beginning sensitivity to their motions. But as Sifu says, the more people you roll with, the better. |
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| 9 years... then and now.... |
[Jul. 31st, 2007|01:27 pm] |
It's been nine years as of today, and though it's not always been some storybook crazy love, I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything. She is and has been my dearest friend and partner, my drive to excel, and my motivation to better myself at every opportunity.
Here's to nine years. :)
( Then and now )
She just gets more and more beautiful every year. |
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| Rue D'Auteuil at Sunset Toward the Northwest |
[Jul. 24th, 2007|09:46 am] |
http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=173
Dusk is, by far, my favourite time of the day... seeing the world around me after the harsh glare of daylight had faded, and there is nothing left but the quiet of night.
It's a nostalgic feeling. Crickets, frogs, warm tungsten lights in the window of a house set against the darkness.... it all creates a feeling of magic and warmth. It reminds me of my childhood.... sitting in the cold spring and winter evenings, looking out across the dark farm fields toward the lights in the village down the lane -- wondering what sort of warmth and life lay just beyong my reach.
With fewer people outdoors, and the white noise of life dying down, individual noises seem to travel forever, and you can sit in the quiet and listen to occasional sounds from the lives of people all around: The dog barking two miles away in the distance; the neighbor a mile away calling out to her cat to come in for the night; the clink of dishes as someone washes up after dinner. It all creates a sense of home that no other time of the day seems to have. |
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| Finished. |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|12:44 am] |
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Okay.... I finished Harry Potter. I can now officially do other stuff this weekend besides just reading. |
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| Canton Cooks as the 'In' Spot |
[Jul. 16th, 2007|08:35 am] |
Some friends were in from LA this past week. One friend of mine called me up Thursday night and wanted me to meet her at Canton Cooks for lunch on Friday. Two other friends called me up on Friday afternoon and wanted me to meet them at Canton Cooks for lunch on Saturday.
Good thing it's the best Cantonese cuisine around.
Finally saw the Harry Potter movie this weekend. Absolutely incredible. It ranks up there as the best of the lot. I very much enjoyed movie number 4 because of its skilled editing, allowing them to tell a majority of the story in a short time slot. This movie does an even better job. Comparitively, movie number 3 was the worst of the lot with bad directing, horrible editing, and a focus on all the wrong aspects of the storyline.
Very full weekend overall and quite enjoyable. |
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| Rue du Petit-Champlain at Night |
[Jul. 13th, 2007|07:38 am] |
http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=171
Rue du Petit-Champlain is Quebec city's tourist zone. While the Old City is considered the touristy area, in reality, it's much more just a collection of boutique shops and overpriced restaurants, surrounded by old buildings and lovely architecture. It's about as tourist-focused as Manhattan... which is to say, it's a big draw for the non-locals, but it's not specifically catered to them.
Rue du Petit-Champlain, on the other hand, has pretty much NOTHING but tourist souvenir shops. Dozens of them, all lined up in a row by the water. Native Canadian art, art shops, craft shops, crappy t-shirt shops galore, etc. She wanted to go to check it out, but when we got there, we rapidly discovered there wasn't much to see (this isn't to say we didn't look ANYway, as we're both avid shopping fanatics).
To GET to Rue du Petit-Champlain from the Old City, you have to either take a cable car or walk down an ungodly number of stairs, as it's a good 70-100 feet below the rest of the town. We opted for the free route (stairs), which wasn't so bad going down.
On the way back UP we saw some old guy who just didn't seem to be able to complete the climb. We sat and discussed for a bit over whether or not we should go down and help him -- not wanting him to feel pitied, but not wanting someone who genuinely needed help to go without. Before we got a chance, though, he got back up and huffed it up the rest of the stairs.
Quebec city was quite lovely for an afternoon/evening/morning sort of visit. Arriving mid afternoon and leaving just after lunch the following day. I can't imagine what people would do there for days at a time, but I suppose I've never been one much for cities. Nice restaurants. Some nice shopping. But life... life is out there in the hills and along the coastline villages. THAT'S where the excitement happens. |
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| Cthulhu fishies. |
[Jul. 12th, 2007|02:38 pm] |
I found a supply of Cthulhu fishies to replace the one that went AWOL. It's the old style like I had (not the cheezy new one).
I ordered four silver ones, and they send me two silver and two gold. I think they did it to be nice, so I won't pester them about it, but I abhor gold coloured things.
SO... I have two gold cthulhu fish magnets for the cars of the first two people to express genuine interest. :) |
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| Avalon |
[Jul. 12th, 2007|09:14 am] |
http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=170
The title of this one comes from the first impressions of my friend Sarah, who looked at this picture and simply said "Avalon!" It does have that sort of feel to it. The island across the mists.
Sometimes, there is such striking beauty in isolation. |
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| Toronto vacation and Quebec at mach 4. |
[Jul. 9th, 2007|11:12 am] |
9 day trip to Canada.
5 day trip through Quebec:
48 hours in the car (actual driving -- 52 hours in the car total). 2200 miles.
Qeubec City, Charlevoix, ferry to Gaspesie, circuit around peninsula, Percé, car nonstop from 10am to 4:30am back to Toronto.
"Wait... I don't speak French. Don't you?"
She has severe bronchitis bordering on pneumonia. No sleep every night with the coughing. Cough medicines didn't help. Codeine didn't help. Antibiotics didn't help. Tore an abdominal muscle from coughing. Saturday night/Sunday morning in the emergency room from hell (can someone please move the bleeding man, and mop the floor? Which part of Isolation means 'allow coughing/vomiting patient to wander the halls, spreading cheer and diseases' ?).
I have a broken wrist.
Problems worked on during trip: 3 hack attempts, 4 credit card fraud issues (Egyptian again), 2 server failures, 4-day email outage.
Cat misses me.
Returning to home feels very unfamiliar. Walking into the apartment felt like walking into a hotel in a foreign city. Uncomfortable.
2 hours sleep. Work.
One of these days, I'm going to have to have a vacation where I don't end up feeling like I've just spent a week in boot camp. |
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