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Pops and I went to Raq-n-Waq on Friday night (as The Charlotte Room was taken over by a party) and much to my disappointment the place had changed ownership! Also, the tables were in a sad state -- chipped pieces, tables squished together, broken triangles. End of an era. It seems the transition to The Charlotte Room is complete. Pity, that. I spent much of this evening trying to figure out how to transfer SMS text messages from my Sony Ericcson W200 to my computer. Of course, the packaged install that comes with the phone was useless bloatware -- 75 MB of drivers so that I can explore my phone slower than Window's default USB explorer? I think not. And of course, the uninstall blew up a torrent of error messages, complaining that it couldn't find files I didn't install, leaving my system nigh-useless until after two reboots. Thankfully, I finally found an excellent piece of freeware, MyPhoneExplorer . It makes backup and restore a joy. That life can be so kind! Satur...

So it seems that I am drunk and here I sit like a sad punk. Words I have or rather have not to describe my state of gridlock. Oh these rhymes they are so lame for they come from my very sloshed brain. Tequila it was that sour gold turned me up a velvet fold. More than this I will not say for tonight was not my day. Why is it that wherever I go there I am yet ne'er my goal? i plan to sleep in most joyous of joys to be under the sheets escaping morning noise soon I must end this most silly endeavor for my mental faculties are becoming less clever strange how imbibing can draw out my words normally my typing is nothing but burps wait no that's not right! that's not what I meant! it's just that i haven't any sense this moment bonne nuit, dear reader with ears so patient to the morning i travel my pillow adjacent Oh, and looking back now, those DAHS episodes aren't nearly so regrettable as I made them out to be.

Not bad at all. I got to hear Michael Geist speak about the state of copyright in Canada, a state that's gotten considerably worse with Bill C-61. Then I got to meet and talk with my local MP, Peggy Nash. That was pretty cool. Energizes me to want to do something about the bill. It has been suggested that the only way to make politicians take notice of it is if copyright becomes a deciding factor in an election, but how that will happen I haven't the faintest. I must admit I felt a bit like a phony, sitting there, listening mostly but not really thinking. Or maybe that's silly, some kind of Torontonian malaise that causes people to feel awkward if they show enthusiasm for something.

I got my confirmation today -- I will be meditating at the Vipassana center this August 13th through to the 24th. Excited, yes. At the same time I don't want to put all my hope into it, that it will provide answers to the holes in my life. Perhaps it will make no difference at all, and so I need to accept that possibility. Certainly it will be an experience worth having. Three scant weeks away.... Sleep, it escapes me again. My fault this time for having gone to bed around 5 AM Sunday morning, getting caught in that awful humidity and rain. Shot a third episode, am not exactly thrilled with the results. I feel like the more we shoot, the more apologies I'll have to submit! Oh dear. Why can I not merely enjoy the pablums of life? I had given thought to a 24-hour hwan.com journal-writing marathon. Just the keyboard and my blurst of time thoughts. Well.. perhaps that's something for when I tire of civilized life. Which might not be too far away, the road being so long and ...

Lo my brothers I bring great tidings from the other side! There I have seen the truth and the way, and it is good. A golden age has come upon us, and its name is The Dark Knight. Long I have waited for its arrival, and my patience has been well rewarded. Nay, such riches beyond my imagination: such acting, action, story, drama! All in great measure, all to great effect. Heath Ledger's Joker is surely the villain of the year, a complex, intelligent, dangerous, eloquent, unpredictable animal with a charm that fills every scene. I mean, superb acting all around but Ledger is just a dynamo, a catalyst -- he makes the movie the satisfying experience that it is. And of course, as with all films I recommend, this one has an excellent ending which I shan't otherwise comment on. Go forth and enjoy! Hmmm while I'm here I'll also quickly write my thoughts on Attack the Gas Station ("Juyuso seubgyuksageun"), a Korean comedy from 1999. Four ne'er-do-well punks attem...

Holy jim-jiminy is it ever humid outside. Gross, disgustingly so. I walked down the street to get a burger and I scurried back to the office, overheating. I am thankful I have this desk fan here, it is such a comfort, ready to cool me down when I arrive from my morning ride. Oh, I bought tickets to see Batman and did not want to do the ride home and ride back, as pleasing the prospect of a shower may be. I will be leaving shortly to line-up, though I sincerely hope there will be little call for it. I wonder if it's the heat that has made me so very antsy of late. Certainly I am a troll if not fed on time, but that has always been the case. No, there's something more to it than that. A form of middle-aged boredom? What exactly is this unscratchable itch? Why am I not content to merely enjoy life? Upsetting experiences this week? I've had two: one, finding a dead house caterpillar the size of my forefinger in a bowl I left overnight in the sink and two, taking a bite of a...

The new Hellboy movie is not too shabby! I don't know if I really am in the mood to do a full review (if you can call what I say about films to be reviews). I enjoyed it, yes. Action? Lots. Humor? Quite a bit! I guess the one problem I have is that there's no closure with these comic-book films -- the ending is more of an end of a chapter rather than the end of a book. Also, the characters are still fairly shallow and simple. I saw it at the Varsity, so there were plenty of seats and no need to rub elbows with strangers. Friday after work I went with some friends to the Outdoor Art Exhibition, held at Nathan Phillips. I guess it was alright. Some of the pieces were very mundane, of the "arts and crafts" variety, and some were pretty damn impressive, priced accordingly. Saturday I did my Korean thing, had a huge Greek meal, played some go, ate two Big Macs and shot an episode of a webisode of ... well, I'm not exactly sure what the show is. I guess it's just...

Today a family of tourists asked me where they could find a Chinese buffet. I gave them directions to Chinatown, but I fear that they will not find what they were looking for. I almost turned back to let them know that Indian buffet was far more popular in Toronto's downtown. Should I be worried about their culinary welfare? Even now I hope they found gastronomic satisfaction, if only so that they don't curse that squinty-eyed, long-haired guy with a bicycle on his shoulder. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure they asked me because of my squinty-ness. I spent most of the evening playing and watching backgammon. I still derive great pleasure (both auditory and tactile) from the manipulation of the cup, dice and checkers. Perhaps I should get into the habit of playing with the fellows at work, though I would like to raise my game a few notches.

Strangely enough, I went to a cottage this weekend . I mean, I'm not exactly the cottage-going type -- few amenities, lots of bugs, zero computers. Still, I managed to enjoy myself with good company, lots of exercise, and plenty of food. The cottage was located right beside Sandy Lake (north-east of Peterborough), which you can see in this Google Maps link is incredibly clear and clean. The warm weather combined with the bright yet mild sunlight allowed us to spend hours canoeing, paddle-boating, and swimming. In the evening we fiddled and prodded and poked with a campfire, a definite case of too many chefs in the kitchen ("They said it couldn't catch fire..."). There's definitely something to cooking and eating your own food over a wood flame, even if it is just a hotdog or marshmallow. I'm still not a cottage person, but I guess I have more of a tolerance to them. An open-mindedness, if you will. Thursday night I saw that new Wanted film. Ehhhhhh... wha...

I had a dream Sunday morning wherein I.. no, now I'm mixing it up entirely with Wall-E . No! Ok, I was supposed to take a test or exam (yes, in my dreams I'm often back in school, make what you will of that) and I wasn't prepared. It's funny, I haven't really had many stressful situations like that since school or university. When it comes to work you just need to surround yourself with resources -- people, internet, files and numbers. Rarely do you have to memorize a bunch of stuff and be prepared to demonstrate your skills. Except maybe in interviews. Anyway, the wall-e bit was.. hmm.. there was this kind of shuffling shelf unit, like where wall-e stores things he finds interesting. Eh, I did remember more at the time but it's all gone now, to a better place outside my head. In a not so guilty way, I played several hours of Call of Duty 4 Sunday and yesterday. I was lightly upset that I had to tone down the graphics quite a bit for it to run on my machine, b...

When you use the bathroom to wash your hands, do you often find that your bladder decides to, er, chime in? Is it because I know I'm in a bathroom, or is it maybe the smell that triggers some response? If I enter a room that I don't think is a bathroom but has all the trappings of one upon entering, will my peeing instinct kick in? Just got back from riding around that Humber Bay Park East area , sticking around the bridge to watch the sunset -- pastel purples, pinks and blue. I could barely perceive the shadows moving across the Toronto skyline, which I'd not seen before. A bit of exercise to take advantage of the lovely, very reasonable weather. Miracle fruit tasting I did go to work today, an otherwise pretty quiet day. Nice to be able to tinker on long put-off side projects, without the constant grind all up in mah grill. Yeah. We did have strawberries and champagne, which was nice. OH! Last Wednesday my miracle fruit delivery finally came in, and on Friday w...

Whoo, I just saw The Garage Door episode of Freaks and Geeks and it was.. oh man I just can't get over how much I love this show! I mean, sure, I loved The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm , but Freaks is just so.. I dunno, all the characters are special and precious and authentic and wonderful. And it's set in the early 80s, which does have some meaning for me. Some, not a lot, but some. I mean hey, this episode featured Atari's! Oh man seeing those boxes and that black 2600 console with those blocky joysticks, does that ever take me back. Speaking of taking things back, Diablo 3 . Oh dear.