I was taking the bus into school today. I was just crossing Kingsway heading into Joyce station when I noticed two unicyclers crossing the intersection. I figured that they were coming back from 7-11 across the street because they each had a slurpy and identical bags hanging from their sides which I assumed were candy. The first thing that struck me was their confidence unicycling across a busy street. They seemed to be chatting it up and their slurpies made the whole thing really casual. I was impressed, but thought they were a little foolish with their helmets not strapped on properly.
The hill on that street gets pretty steep after crossing Kingsway and I was wondering how they would deal with it. They already seemed so relaxed but I didn't think they'd be able to handle the steepness. They appeared to be going down fine at first. These kids couldn't have been more than 17 from what I could see. Here they are starting down this steep hill and all of a sudden one of them loses control. Their balance was thrown off momentarily. Through some fluky accident the guy starts to flail and somehow manages to fling his slurpy out into the street.
I couldn't see too clearly from where the bus was waiting but I'm pretty sure the slurp hit a car that was waiting at the light. The driver had just half opened his door and was starting to get out when the light changed and cars started honking behind him. The one unicycler had recovered his balance by then and both of them looked like they were ready to run for it. The driver didn't have any choice so he had to take off with the rest of traffic and the unicylers started back up on their single wheels and continued along their way. At this point I was quite amused and looked around and the other passengers on the bus, wearing an obvious smirk. No one else seemed to have noticed though and I was really disappointed. I consider myself very fortunate to have witnessed such a fluky event but it is sad that more people weren't able to get in on the excitement. It was great.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Having a Super Day
I'm super fried right now because I only had 3 and some hours of sleep the other night and I still need to write an essay proposal but I have to say I feel amazing. I know sleep deprivation is sometimes used as torture but I think it's only torture when you have bad company and you are locked in a cold prison cell. That hasn't been the case for me though. I feel so buzzed and really happy. I feel better than usual despite the lack of sleep. I think the only thing suffering is my problem solving skills. For one, I sucked at scrabble today. I'm not good at the game anyways, and I don't much like it, but I really had a tough time focusing on the words. Even now, sitting here and typing, I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting everything I was thinking of saying.
Possibly one of the best surprises today, and there were several I guess, was checking my emails when I got home and being informed that I had won a record. Some blog on local music had a contest and all I had to do was send an email with the contest in the subject. So I did that, and I won it. Now I've got a 12" vinyl coming in the mail. And I can't think of anything cooler to get in the mail right now. Try to beat that. I have no idea who the band is, or what it will sound like, or what I will do with the record, but I am excited about it. The lesson here is always enter contests when you have nothing to lose.
I was also really surprised when I realized I only had one meal until 10 tonight, when I got home and ravaged the beans, sausages, and asparagus that were left-over. I think my lunch meal was placed perfectly in some sweet time slot so that I was not hungry for the largest amount of time possible.
I honestly can't really think anymore right now. That is all I can do for today. I can't wait for bedtime.
Possibly one of the best surprises today, and there were several I guess, was checking my emails when I got home and being informed that I had won a record. Some blog on local music had a contest and all I had to do was send an email with the contest in the subject. So I did that, and I won it. Now I've got a 12" vinyl coming in the mail. And I can't think of anything cooler to get in the mail right now. Try to beat that. I have no idea who the band is, or what it will sound like, or what I will do with the record, but I am excited about it. The lesson here is always enter contests when you have nothing to lose.
I was also really surprised when I realized I only had one meal until 10 tonight, when I got home and ravaged the beans, sausages, and asparagus that were left-over. I think my lunch meal was placed perfectly in some sweet time slot so that I was not hungry for the largest amount of time possible.
I honestly can't really think anymore right now. That is all I can do for today. I can't wait for bedtime.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Everything is Tainted
I walked to the library this beautiful day to pick up a couple of cds that I had on reserve. The library is super close which was useful when I had about 15 cds on reserve at once one time and had to make several trips in a row because they only let me take five out at a time. I left around 12, which I guess is lunch time. The fastest route to the library cuts through an elementary school field and because of the time all the kids were out on break playing. I always feel kind of weird going through large groups of small children because I remember when I was that size we were always cautious of older people. I'm obviously not dressed in a trench coat or anything but I still feel like maybe I shouldn't be walking through the school area when all the kids are playing mostly unsupervised. I make an effort not to pay attention to the children and walk around the large groups.
I made it to the library alright and picked up my cds. I got the new Stars album and an old White Stripes album, White Blood Cells. One of the dudes working at the library noticed and made a comment of approval about the White Stripes. I'm not really a fan of the White Stripes so I just nodded. Then I left.
I was walking back across the school field and now there were several soccer games going. I usually watch the kids play soccer while I'm walking by so that I don't get hit by the ball and also because it is sometimes entertaining. I make it through the first game without incident, witnessing an impressive goalie kick considering the size of the goalie. I'm getting closer to the second game and the action is looking like its going to intercept me on my path. I don't want to go around or wait so I just take my chance and go for it, maybe there will be a turnover or something. There isn't. I'm right in the middle of it when one of the kids makes a break for it and kicks the ball out front. He's running towards me and the ball is between us. I don't have time to get out of the way so I just dodge his kick at the last second. He kicked it pretty hard. I turn to watch the ball and right there maybe two metres behind me some small kid gets smoked in the face. The kid is down and almost immediately starts to cry. I know kids have a predisposition to cry, but to be fair it was a nasty hit.
Most of the kids nearby stop playing and wander over to watch. I had stopped walking since the kick and I'm not sure if I should just leave. On the one hand I don't want to abandon someone in pain, but then its also not my responsibility and I don't want to be a creepy stranger talking to little school children. I'm trying to figure out what to do and then I notice that most of the kids are looking at me, like its my fault or something, or maybe they're waiting for me to do something. I started feeling pretty uncomfortable. I was about to say something but then I didn't and I left. I could hear the kid still sobbing lightly as I walked away but there was nothing I could do. I'm sure he was fine, but I still feel bad about it. What could I do? I guess if it was a real emergency I could have stepped in, but it wasn't. Everything is tainted.
I made it to the library alright and picked up my cds. I got the new Stars album and an old White Stripes album, White Blood Cells. One of the dudes working at the library noticed and made a comment of approval about the White Stripes. I'm not really a fan of the White Stripes so I just nodded. Then I left.
I was walking back across the school field and now there were several soccer games going. I usually watch the kids play soccer while I'm walking by so that I don't get hit by the ball and also because it is sometimes entertaining. I make it through the first game without incident, witnessing an impressive goalie kick considering the size of the goalie. I'm getting closer to the second game and the action is looking like its going to intercept me on my path. I don't want to go around or wait so I just take my chance and go for it, maybe there will be a turnover or something. There isn't. I'm right in the middle of it when one of the kids makes a break for it and kicks the ball out front. He's running towards me and the ball is between us. I don't have time to get out of the way so I just dodge his kick at the last second. He kicked it pretty hard. I turn to watch the ball and right there maybe two metres behind me some small kid gets smoked in the face. The kid is down and almost immediately starts to cry. I know kids have a predisposition to cry, but to be fair it was a nasty hit.
Most of the kids nearby stop playing and wander over to watch. I had stopped walking since the kick and I'm not sure if I should just leave. On the one hand I don't want to abandon someone in pain, but then its also not my responsibility and I don't want to be a creepy stranger talking to little school children. I'm trying to figure out what to do and then I notice that most of the kids are looking at me, like its my fault or something, or maybe they're waiting for me to do something. I started feeling pretty uncomfortable. I was about to say something but then I didn't and I left. I could hear the kid still sobbing lightly as I walked away but there was nothing I could do. I'm sure he was fine, but I still feel bad about it. What could I do? I guess if it was a real emergency I could have stepped in, but it wasn't. Everything is tainted.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Music Store Showdown
I was at the music store. I went to look at bass amps but as usual I was browsing everything. There was some older dude with long black hair in a pony tail playing lounge-type guitar music. Those kind of guys always seem to be there, just playing and showing off and providing a good vibe for the store. Anyways, there were some kids there who must have been renting band equipment or something and they were watching the guy play. When he finished a song they clapped. I noticed a tattooed guy with a shaved head watching too. He didn't seem too impressed though.
I was over in the PA section of the store when I heard it start. The bald dude had plugged in a guitar and was starting to shred pretty hard and was drowning out ponytail's lounge garbage. I thought that was pretty sweet, though I'm not really a fan of shredding. Then I hear a second guitar start shredding. I look over and there's ponytail fighting back with some licks of his own. Apparently he was a master of several styles. Both of them are being reasonably loud and many of the other shoppers are wandering over to watch. I'm wondering if the employees are going to say anything but I notice a few of them standing to the side grinning and watching contentedly.
The battle is getting pretty good, baldy and ponytail are kind of taking turns now trying to show each other up as soon as they get a chance. Then one employee comes marching in and I think he's going to shut them down. But he doesn't. He grabs a guitar too and plugs it in. Now there's three of them going at it. I think it was baldy that first turned up his volume to try to come out on top of the sonic battle field. The other two follow and the show is suddenly really loud. Some people watching start plugging their ears and moving away a bit. The employee is killing the other two. He's one of those heavy metal dudes that never made it and decided to sell guitars instead. In the field of shredding he is unmatched. The other guys can't be serious about shredding in the same way.
Baldy realizes he's being shown up and cranks up his amp a bit to compensate. Things are getting intense and ponytail can admit that he can't compete and he bows out, literally. The employee has to boost his amp now to keep up. He made the mistake of choosing a smaller amp, so he really has to max out to keep up with baldy's huge amp. So they're going for a few bars and baldy is choking bad. Suddenly there are some crackling noises. The employee's amp is sparking and starts to smoke. He notices pretty quickly and pops the power off. Baldy seems kind of sheepish now and turns off his amp too. Now there's just the employee guy there looking at his smoking amp. It seemed like a good time to wander over to another part of the store to look at something else. The show was over.
I was over in the PA section of the store when I heard it start. The bald dude had plugged in a guitar and was starting to shred pretty hard and was drowning out ponytail's lounge garbage. I thought that was pretty sweet, though I'm not really a fan of shredding. Then I hear a second guitar start shredding. I look over and there's ponytail fighting back with some licks of his own. Apparently he was a master of several styles. Both of them are being reasonably loud and many of the other shoppers are wandering over to watch. I'm wondering if the employees are going to say anything but I notice a few of them standing to the side grinning and watching contentedly.
The battle is getting pretty good, baldy and ponytail are kind of taking turns now trying to show each other up as soon as they get a chance. Then one employee comes marching in and I think he's going to shut them down. But he doesn't. He grabs a guitar too and plugs it in. Now there's three of them going at it. I think it was baldy that first turned up his volume to try to come out on top of the sonic battle field. The other two follow and the show is suddenly really loud. Some people watching start plugging their ears and moving away a bit. The employee is killing the other two. He's one of those heavy metal dudes that never made it and decided to sell guitars instead. In the field of shredding he is unmatched. The other guys can't be serious about shredding in the same way.
Baldy realizes he's being shown up and cranks up his amp a bit to compensate. Things are getting intense and ponytail can admit that he can't compete and he bows out, literally. The employee has to boost his amp now to keep up. He made the mistake of choosing a smaller amp, so he really has to max out to keep up with baldy's huge amp. So they're going for a few bars and baldy is choking bad. Suddenly there are some crackling noises. The employee's amp is sparking and starts to smoke. He notices pretty quickly and pops the power off. Baldy seems kind of sheepish now and turns off his amp too. Now there's just the employee guy there looking at his smoking amp. It seemed like a good time to wander over to another part of the store to look at something else. The show was over.
Monday, March 3, 2008
The Dump
I went to the dump the other day. I was helping someone move a bunch of construction garbage from their backyard. So the dump is actually really gross. We drove into the big dumping room which is basically a warehouse with a pit at the centre where everyone piles their garbage. They actually tell you to stay 6 feet away from the edge and just drop your stuff right there. They have a small bulldozer type thing that pushes everything down into the pit afterwards. There is also a giant bulldozer that drives around in the pit and moves stuff and crushes it. The whole place smelled terrible and the ground was coated in muddy garbage scum. Imagine living in your garbage can, that is what it was like, although I got used to the smell after a while which was kind of scary.
We're pulling all these pieces of wood and stuff out of the car and throwing it down and we have a huge pile going. There was a glass window near the bottom of the pile in the back of the car and when we tried to pull it out it was already cracked. The whole thing just crashed to pieces when we tried to lift it. There were bits of glass everywhere. Fortunately many pieces of sharp broken glass are not a problem in that place. No one said anything so we just threw all the pieces out of the car and onto the ground, breaking them even more. It was a mess.
Then we had some large flat sheets of wood at the bottom of the pile. They were really light. I was trying to throw them to the side because the pile we had right in front of us was starting to slide towards us. The sheets that I threw would almost glide for a few seconds when they were thrown and I was kind of worried that they might fly over the edge into the pit. Then that was exactly what happened. I threw a big sheet and the angle that I projected it at caused it to shoot up a bit and it drifted right down to the pit. It probably wouldn't have been a problem except for that the big bulldozer happened to be driving by right there at that moment. The sheet of wood hit the top of it. I was pretty nervous about it. One of the attendants came over quickly and told me to be more careful. I apologized and went back to emptying the car.
That was about everything that happened at the dump. Pretty uneventful now that I think about it. It would be a horrible place to work in my opinion.
We're pulling all these pieces of wood and stuff out of the car and throwing it down and we have a huge pile going. There was a glass window near the bottom of the pile in the back of the car and when we tried to pull it out it was already cracked. The whole thing just crashed to pieces when we tried to lift it. There were bits of glass everywhere. Fortunately many pieces of sharp broken glass are not a problem in that place. No one said anything so we just threw all the pieces out of the car and onto the ground, breaking them even more. It was a mess.
Then we had some large flat sheets of wood at the bottom of the pile. They were really light. I was trying to throw them to the side because the pile we had right in front of us was starting to slide towards us. The sheets that I threw would almost glide for a few seconds when they were thrown and I was kind of worried that they might fly over the edge into the pit. Then that was exactly what happened. I threw a big sheet and the angle that I projected it at caused it to shoot up a bit and it drifted right down to the pit. It probably wouldn't have been a problem except for that the big bulldozer happened to be driving by right there at that moment. The sheet of wood hit the top of it. I was pretty nervous about it. One of the attendants came over quickly and told me to be more careful. I apologized and went back to emptying the car.
That was about everything that happened at the dump. Pretty uneventful now that I think about it. It would be a horrible place to work in my opinion.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Even Better Than the Movie
Last night I was walking to the video rental place. I was going through a forested path and then I suddenly saw a raccoon up ahead. I didn't want to walk right into it so I stopped and waited to see what it would do. I was far enough away that it didn't notice me. Then I noticed some dude off to the side that was offering the raccoon something. I thought it must have been food. The raccoon was getting pretty close to him and I was thinking how stupid this guy must be to be feeding the raccoon by hand. Then the dude just stood up super fast and kicked the raccoon as hard as he could. I couldn't believe it. The raccoon couldn't either. It took the kick fully in the underside but because the kick was so fast it didn't have too much power. That was the guy's mistake. The raccoon was kind of rolling back but it looked like one of its claws had managed to snag the guy's pant leg. It wouldn't let go. The guy was trying to shake it off but his efforts were pretty sloppy because I think by that point he realized that he was in a very bad situation and he was panicking.
If you've ever heard a raccoon fight before you will know that they sound really eerie. I was still locked in my place a distance away and all I could do was mutter profanity under my breath. The raccoon was still holding on with its one hand and the other 3 legs were scrabbling all over the guy's leg. The guy tried hitting the raccoon with his hand a few times which didn't really phase it and then it started trying to bite his hand when he brought it down so he quickly stopped that. The guy had been shouting and swearing since the animal had latched itself to him and he was still going. Time seemed to have slowed down for me watching the whole thing but it must have been only 6 seconds or so. The guy started spinning around in a circle as fast as he could which actually seemed to take some effect. Raccoons are heavy, so the centrifugal force from the spinning was kind of pulling the raccoon back a bit. It stopped trying to scratch the guy and just kind of held on.
It was the funniest thing to see. The guy is spinning around screaming his head off and the raccoon is just clinging to his leg trying not to fall off. This obviously couldn't last for very long. The dude started getting dizzy or something and stopped and started to stumble around a bit. The raccoon must have been a bit dizzy too because it didn't make a move right away. The guy reached for his belt buckle and had his pants down around his ankles in no time at all. The pants fell over the raccoon's head and it was temporarily tangled up in the confusion. Then it must have thought that it had had enough so it shot off of the guy's leg and ran bouncing into the trees on the other side of the guy.
So here's this guy standing alone now with his pants down, panting, swearing and probably bleeding quite a bit too, (it was hard to see how badly in the dark). The dude pulls his pants back up and staggers around a few seconds before starting down the path away from me. I then realized that I was lucky that he didn't start walking in my direction. That would have been incredibly awkward to say the least. I was kind of hidden in the shadows but I'm not sure if I would have been able to leave without being noticed. I ended up back-tracking and going a different route just because I didn't want to risk seeing the guy again as I probably would have cracked up laughing. I still can't believe how stupid he was. He must have been drunk or something. It was such a crazy sight, even better than the movie I ended up renting.
If there's any moral to this story it's don't fuck with raccoons.
If you've ever heard a raccoon fight before you will know that they sound really eerie. I was still locked in my place a distance away and all I could do was mutter profanity under my breath. The raccoon was still holding on with its one hand and the other 3 legs were scrabbling all over the guy's leg. The guy tried hitting the raccoon with his hand a few times which didn't really phase it and then it started trying to bite his hand when he brought it down so he quickly stopped that. The guy had been shouting and swearing since the animal had latched itself to him and he was still going. Time seemed to have slowed down for me watching the whole thing but it must have been only 6 seconds or so. The guy started spinning around in a circle as fast as he could which actually seemed to take some effect. Raccoons are heavy, so the centrifugal force from the spinning was kind of pulling the raccoon back a bit. It stopped trying to scratch the guy and just kind of held on.
It was the funniest thing to see. The guy is spinning around screaming his head off and the raccoon is just clinging to his leg trying not to fall off. This obviously couldn't last for very long. The dude started getting dizzy or something and stopped and started to stumble around a bit. The raccoon must have been a bit dizzy too because it didn't make a move right away. The guy reached for his belt buckle and had his pants down around his ankles in no time at all. The pants fell over the raccoon's head and it was temporarily tangled up in the confusion. Then it must have thought that it had had enough so it shot off of the guy's leg and ran bouncing into the trees on the other side of the guy.
So here's this guy standing alone now with his pants down, panting, swearing and probably bleeding quite a bit too, (it was hard to see how badly in the dark). The dude pulls his pants back up and staggers around a few seconds before starting down the path away from me. I then realized that I was lucky that he didn't start walking in my direction. That would have been incredibly awkward to say the least. I was kind of hidden in the shadows but I'm not sure if I would have been able to leave without being noticed. I ended up back-tracking and going a different route just because I didn't want to risk seeing the guy again as I probably would have cracked up laughing. I still can't believe how stupid he was. He must have been drunk or something. It was such a crazy sight, even better than the movie I ended up renting.
If there's any moral to this story it's don't fuck with raccoons.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Mixing-Up the Format
I'm going to try something different today. I'm not sure what it is yet but I'm hoping that if I just keep on typing good things will happen.
Technology has transformed me into a very dependent and useless animal. Within the world of technology and consequently most of society I have some very useful skills but if technology were to suddenly give out and I had to live like people lived even half a century ago I would be in trouble. Obviously I'm relying on technology to not completely give out any time soon. Essentially all of my usefulness to the specialized job market is in computers, which I think is an important area to be knowledgeable in right now, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing all my eggs into one basket. My knowledge in the basics of simple survival skills are probably not enough to keep me alive on my own in a difficult situation.
Should I be concerned about retaining these older 'animal' skills or do they actually only carry a value prescribed by idealized ideas of human ability. It does seem sad to think that many humans have become part computer simply by the fact that they would not be able to live like they do without technology as it is. I can recognize this, but is my wariness of technology causing me to doubt my investments in skills? Would my life be better if I was confident that I could live in the wild on my own? I doubt it would hurt.
If I think about it rationally I think the skills that are most important to have are those that can provide me with the most happiness. I don't need to be self-sufficient in the wild to be happy, at least as long as I'm not trying to live in the wild. Even so, I think computers have taught me one skill that applies to everything and that is how to teach myself quickly and effectively with the tools I have been given. At least I hope this skill translates into other aspects of life. Maybe I'm in better shape here than I think. Humans can be surprisingly resilient. Writing everything out now actually makes me feel better about it all.
I'm not sure if everything I wrote is completely cohesive or if I included every point that I should have. I could be making the necessary logical links in my head instead of having them occur in writing like they should. I am fired tired so I'm just warning it could be a rant. I had to write something. I should stop defending what I'm writing. I just going to stop writing this post now. This entire paragraph was unnecessary but I'll leave it so my thought process is visible.
Technology has transformed me into a very dependent and useless animal. Within the world of technology and consequently most of society I have some very useful skills but if technology were to suddenly give out and I had to live like people lived even half a century ago I would be in trouble. Obviously I'm relying on technology to not completely give out any time soon. Essentially all of my usefulness to the specialized job market is in computers, which I think is an important area to be knowledgeable in right now, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing all my eggs into one basket. My knowledge in the basics of simple survival skills are probably not enough to keep me alive on my own in a difficult situation.
Should I be concerned about retaining these older 'animal' skills or do they actually only carry a value prescribed by idealized ideas of human ability. It does seem sad to think that many humans have become part computer simply by the fact that they would not be able to live like they do without technology as it is. I can recognize this, but is my wariness of technology causing me to doubt my investments in skills? Would my life be better if I was confident that I could live in the wild on my own? I doubt it would hurt.
If I think about it rationally I think the skills that are most important to have are those that can provide me with the most happiness. I don't need to be self-sufficient in the wild to be happy, at least as long as I'm not trying to live in the wild. Even so, I think computers have taught me one skill that applies to everything and that is how to teach myself quickly and effectively with the tools I have been given. At least I hope this skill translates into other aspects of life. Maybe I'm in better shape here than I think. Humans can be surprisingly resilient. Writing everything out now actually makes me feel better about it all.
I'm not sure if everything I wrote is completely cohesive or if I included every point that I should have. I could be making the necessary logical links in my head instead of having them occur in writing like they should. I am fired tired so I'm just warning it could be a rant. I had to write something. I should stop defending what I'm writing. I just going to stop writing this post now. This entire paragraph was unnecessary but I'll leave it so my thought process is visible.
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