Aloha! Lets try to kickstart this blog off on a positive note. It seems like such a struggle sometimes to have a string of posts that aren't downers.

On the weekend, our family went to dim sum at Good Buddy with my mom's friend. My moms friends name is Francis, and her daughter is Grace. Their family just recently moved here to Edmonton. Yay!! I don't know if they've ever experienced winters before, but come December they are in for a suprise!


Here is a picture of us at our house. Isn't she cute?! Yeah, in she wouldn't smile in any of the pictures. But like all little kids (that aren't yours) her smiles would just melt you. 

Anyways, it is almost December which means finals! As the semester nears an end, I kinda look back at the courses I've taken. By the way, has anyone started studying for finals? It is so not gonna be fun. I was supposed to be catching up this week, but yeah hasn't happened yet. >=( I better change that very soon.

I had intended this blog to be longer, but the rest of what I would say wouldn't flow well. Not that it usually does, but I'm gonna post this now rather than later. (=

So when do we get to say its the holiday season!? Its almost Christmas!!!

Anyways, at the moment I feel pretty rejuvenated. Yay for Project Halo 2! It was a good time, although anytime you got stuck on the small T.V. you just had to fight the urge to complain. After all, its not like most of us brought a TV. Yes, it was a week ago that PH2 happened, but how often does it happen? Major kudos to Ryan for setting this thing up! The days that we can get that many people for events like that are slowly dwindling. It hasn't gotten to that point where back in high school everyone was writing "good luck on the rest of your life and may you reach your dreams etc..." Meaning, we haven't all yet gone completely on our own paths. But it does seem that I only see certain people whenever we have a certain event to hang out. Or if I randomly happen upon someone while taking a bus. Otherwise I wouldn’t be seeing a lot of people.

In other news, motivation has seemingly hit an all time low. I've been hitting emotional ups and downs throughout the week, being angry for a moment, then trying to play X-mas songs on the piano. Anyways, I remember Vic saying during Dev's one acts back in high school how sometimes its just a feeling of the world against you. Thats the bottom line, and its very powerful. Perhaps you should know better, but that doesn't make you feel better. Which leads me to the movie Dodgeball. Vince Vaughn's character is going to skip out on a championship dodgeball game. He's feeling down in the dumps, and is the captain of his team. Rather than turning to his teammates, he takes the easy way out ("You may not know what $50 000 looks like in real life... it sorta looks like this..") and tries to catch a flight at the airport. While there, he meets up with none other than Lance Armstrong who despite facing multiple cancers manages to win the Tour de France a record 6th time in a row! "But hey, I'm sure you've got a good reason to quit."

Yeah, that had a lot more relevance in my head than how it appears. Anyways, bottom line for me is that its okay to feel down in the dumps, everyones been there. Just don't beat yourself up for feeling that way as well. We've got a good network of friends who are definitely willing to be a shoulder to lean on. That itself is a very reassuring thing. Thanks to those that you made that very clear a month ago.

Now to end off on a more positive note. What is your favourite Christmas carol? Mine is Winter Wonderland! If you don't have one, or don't even like Christmas... well I really don't know what to say to that.

"You have lost the lead..."

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- John McCrae

Ahoy shipmates! Yeh' be travelling the dark waters of me blog now...

Another month bites the dust and onto November, the month before Christmas. So what has happened lately? Well, yet again I'm putting off reading for my midterms. Man, I'm so smart. Considering that I did relatively poorly on my last midterm, you'd think I'd just be kicking myself to get moving. Hm... I'm hungry, I should eat some chips.

Yay for Christmas! I'm actually looking forward to it this time. I've actually been feeling like a grinch for the past few years. I didn't really like Christmas past the "I get stuff" before, and I just hated the commercial aspect of it. I think I have changed my tune though. X-Mas should be the season where you don't look forward to it because you get school off, its because its the time of the year you gotta remember whats important. You could argue that it shouldn't take Christmas to do it, but its the one part of the year dedicated to making you feel a spirit of some sort. Treat Christmas right, and you'll have a good time. By the way, Delia and I broke up...

I couldn't really think of another way to put it out or let it be known. Ah well. I do miss her and feel sad, but it seems for a while this was where we were going. At times, I wonder if we should have tried harder or not, but I think this is the best decision for now. We've been a lot friendlier in the times we've talked in a very long time. We did agree though, at the very beginning when we went out, that no matter what, we would at the very least stay friends. I'm happy to say that that has happened. There are no ill feelings (although she's keeping one of my sweaters... :S). Yeah, she does have a part of me for life now, we spent too much time together. For me, it doesn't hurt to look back at our memories, I like to remind myself of our time. She'll always mean a lot to me and I hope she knows that.

Great holiday y'know... *Steals more candy from stash.... and from Keith* One of my faves! (=

An excerpt from Phil Esposito's book "Thunder and Lighting"...

For the rest of my life I would have to satisfy myself by playing in Old-Timers games. The first Old-tmers game I played in was in Stamford, Connecticut, at the Dorothy Hamill Arena. Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, and I all played. Gordie was fifty-two and Hull forty-two. We were playing against college guys who could skate pretty well, young guys, lawyers and stockbrokers in their twenties and thirties.
I mean, these guys were flying. Gordie and I were sitting on the bench, and Gordie said, "Jesus, these guys can skate."
"I know," I said. "goddamn, they are getting a little too serious."
Gordie said, "Yeah, they are. We've got to talk to them."
Gordie and I went out onto the ice, and I heard him say to one of the young guys, "Hey take it easy son. Slow down. You don't want to embarrass us old guys."
The guy said, "What's the matter, old timer? Can't keep up?"
The puck dropped, and I sent it over to Bobby, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Gordie whacking the guy who had taunted him.
Whack! Smack! Boom! Bang! The guy went down and he started moaning, "Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus."
Gordie said, "Get up, you fucking suck. Get up. I didn't hit you that hard."
I skated over and said, "Gordie, what happened?"
"I speared him in the balls, " Gordie said.
"You're kidding me, "I said.
"No, " Gordie said. "That will slow him down."
Gordie skated over to their bench, and he said "Does anybody else here want to try to embarrass me?" He then repeated the question to drive home the point.
No one said a word.
I said, "Gordie, you are fucking nuts."
"No way they are going to embarrass me," he said. "I won't let them."
I love Gordie. Gordie is one tough son of a bitch.

Aloha!

So why haven't I been blogging lately? I haven't had any exams...

Anyhoo, for the most part, its all quiet on the western front. Just some internal ups and downs that are pretty similar to the other things that have been said in other blogs. Wow, I really have nothing to talk about. I could talk about how the burglary...burger...bur.... some frickin alarm went off at CAB on Saturday. But really, where would the point be in that?

One thing I have been wondering is how much control do we have of our lives? The courses of Sociology and Psychology have gotten me thinking. Lately I've been introduced to how we develop, and I just wonder how different things could be for all of us. At first, its things that are influenced by society. How would differences in the TV shows, or how our parents treated us change us? Again, along the developmental line. Then my line of thought changed into our actions. How would our situation be different had we done certain things differently at certain points?

Is there anything you wished you could go back and change? Or is this question pointless, because none of us can go back in time. If anybody asked me if I in my short 18 years of life had any regrets, I would say yes. I wish I had put myself on the line more. Meaning, I wished I had taken certain risks or more control of a situation. But hey, as much as there were regrets, there were also some good decisions. Heres to hoping the good outnumber the bad.

Why am I up? Well, apperently blogging beats sleeping.

Anyways, I'm going to the Thanksgiving Day football game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Montreal Alouettes. The Esk's are on a three game losing streak, and facing the best team in the CFL. Hopefully they'll come out like the Grey Cup team that they are. GO ESKS GO!

Edmonton is certainly rich in sports history. I believe that the Eskimos came to fruition because 50, 000 "investors" each invested a dollar to create the football team. That is some really strong community spirit! Anyways, for some reason I've been really able to watch football now.

I've finished my main midterms which were Psych, Sociology, and Biopsychology. Next midterm will be at the 20th, but I shouldn't let up on reading/thinking. About every weekend at least one of the days I will head to the University and just read/study. It seems my marks are usually in the range of 80% to 90%. I'm not sure why I can't push myself to break that 90% barrier. I'll always be in the B --> A- range, not quite cracking an A or A+. I guess it just shows in the exams that extra little time that was taken to THINK about a subject, not just stare at a random diagram. I still have to recieve my midterm marks for Biopsych and Sociology.

Lets see, what else can I complain about. Oh yeah! My willpower! I just don't have the motivation to get out to exercise. Most of the time, I'll just be bored and get Keith to throw the football with me and thats it. But all of a sudden, what? The Apprentice is on?!!? Then I scramble toward the TV. TV has sure made a comeback in my battle to be efficient.

Okay, this is stupid, I'm going to sleep. For the questions, the answer to the first question was fruit loops. The answer to the second question was pushups. Both Larry and Joey get a point. Yay!!

**Chris' third question of the situation** (Yes this is a cheap way to get comments, but also another way to tell stuff to you)

What career am I most thinking of heading into?

a) Pharmacy
b) Business
c) Accounting
d) Occupational Therapy
e) Psychology

By the way, if anyone remembers those 10 question quizzes about themselves, I will never put up a stupid random question like "What color do my stuffed bunnies like to pick out for socks on their left paw?"

Aloha

Why am I still up?? It makes no sense to still be up. I should be heading to sleep. But since when have I proven to be an avid practicer of rationalism? Anyways, I had gathered some quotes by various people and here are some of them. Some words of inspiration and humor is a decent kick in the butt to get you moving sometimes.

*I don't actually know if these are all real quotes or what context they are in*

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
- Mother Teresa


I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.
George S. Patton


I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.
Winston Churchill


I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
-Thomas Jefferson

If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters

-Michael Owen

My wife made me a millionaire. I used to have three million.

-Bobby Hull

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
~ Warren Buffett


** Chris question of the moment #2**

What is the first thing I gave Delia?

a) A bracelet
b) flowers
c) pushups
d) a card
e) a movie coupon

Well, I'm going to be using this time to blog. Why? Well, because it beats studying and doing homework. I really hate homework. Especially the type that involves thinking. Yeah... I'm just really lazy. I wish I wasn't lazy. I can't remember who it was (either Dev or Ryan) that had the theory that you blog when you should really be using that time for other things and everything else is too much of a time waster. Plus Maggie told me to in the other comment. And you always listen to Maggie. Why? ...elephant!

I've been finding it difficult to stay motivated to set aside time to study and stick with it. In fact, I'm always thinking in the midst of creating a schedule so I can stick to it instead of relying on a mental plan. I'm really in a rut in terms of studying, with most of it consisting of reading material over and over again, something that I'm not really a fan of. Although, I try to actually read and make sure something is going into my head. You know those "thought" questions at the end of a chapter that asks a question, I'm actually thinking about those! Those sections at the end of a chapter with questions can be useful...

I've always thought of myself as being somewhat lackadaisical if not mostly (if you don't know what it means, look it up!) but with brief moments of high concentration (yay! you've been given context). Something really needs to and is going to change. I'm not sure what it is, but its not the most positive situation. Well, things could be worse. Time to suck it up.

I should really be getting back to reading, or finishing my assignment. I'm probably making it harder than it seems...

**Chris question of the moment**
Although I don't eat cereal all too much, when given a choice, my cereal preference is:

a) Rice Crispies
b) Lucky Charms
c) Fruit Loops
d) Cap'n Crunch
e) Frosted Flakes

Aloha! Time for a quickie blog...

So the first week of University is over! For the most part, the thing that determines my mark is mainly exams. It'll be time for lots of reading now...

Well, it seems like I'll need another bag to carry the laptop in. I just need some kind of compartment to protect the laptop from getting scratched and crap. Bleh, I have so many other school bags that are just going to take up space. I guess its time to figure out how to get rid of them...

At the moment, I'm listening to George Carlin on Winamp radio... hehehe.. thats a funny guy.. aww damn it ended...

Anyways, not a whole lot to say... except GOO CANADA!! Canada takes on the Czech Republic for their semifinal, and the winner takes on Finland in the Gold Medal game. Go Canada!

Time to go eat some grapes...

;lasdkhjashn

Testing 

Well, yesterday was a good day. Canada beat Russia in the World Cup of Hockey 3-1, and we played Mario Kart Double Dash until our eyes and brains were tapping out.

However, I just feel like mentioning the terrorist incident in Beslan, Russia. I won't elaborate or talk about any political ramifications of this act. Its a terrible day in history when children are actually targetted. Again, I'm not going to talk about the ins and outs of this act, but it makes you think. People will be writing their opinions everywhere, with huge columns devoted to this story.

Its sad because I almost wasn't fazed to hear about another terrorist attack...

I can't get to sleep, too many nights where I've stayed up for no good reason. Can anyone remember the last time they went to bed before 12 am?

So I guess I never did get to blogging about Universal Studios. Oh well!

Alright now sportsfans, lets get a quick update on whats been going on since I haven't blogged in a while:

1. Quit 7-Eleven, it was a good work environment and very close to home but the hours may have been too much.

2. Had a job interview recently at Edmonton General hospital, we'll see how it goes. I only need to work 6 times a month, although 2 outta every 4 weekends.

3. Our family has been going a little technology nuts, getting a new desktop computer, and me getting a new laptop. Also, we're going to keep our old comp running, so we are getting a router to set up a network. We'll have up to 3 comps running. Plus we got this new printer, photocopier, scanner all in one to come with the comp. Its kind of funny beacuse we have three seperate machines that do all those, but they just got replaced!

**NEWSFLASH**

Its going to be Delia's birthday on Sept 2nd, sooo everyone wish her a happy birthday! We'll be going out to eat at Japanese village, which should be awesome! I can't wait to see the chef go ninja bezerk on the food! Soo a big shout to Delia saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

There is actually a small birthday parade in September... so heres the people I can remember off the top of my head

Happy Birthday Anita! Happy Birthday Kev! Happy Birthday Ant! Happy Birthday *insert your name here*!

Thats all for now, thanks for tuning in.

Stupid refresh button!! Ugh! From now on I'm using Microsoft word to update, first typing stuff up then copying and pasting it. Damn it all...

I just typed about Universal Studios, but I'm not in the mood to retype it. I'll do it later. It rocked. Okay lets move on.

So in todays news, I worked at the Whyte ave. 7-11. Yeah its just a little far, but eh I made it there and back. It was an alright experience, but I'm only noting it because I had to go far. Monterey Jack taquitos = good! 7-11 pricing = bad!

I also just recently got my GDL in the mail! For those scratching their heads, thats graduated drivers license. Yay, I graduated! I want a party! No, I just want to drive to the theater and watch Collateral. Anyways, my mom took me to All State where I got my insurance right away but we still need to see how long it takes for my parents to build faith in me that I can drive on my own.

Well, I can't remember what else I was going to say. I'm feeling really tired right now, so peace out!

YAY DELIA IS BACK! Or at least in Calgary because that is where her flight lands...

In other news, I'm about to head off to the ever glorious night cleaning shift! Yay! Monday is gonna be a fun day because half that day is actually going to be at work. Yay! Ah well, I can tough it out.

It seems I'm never going to get to the blog about Universal Studios and so on. I will though, trust me on that! Oh yeah, while in LA I saw White Castle!! ... its not really a castle, but it is white. They were selling free burgers because the movie had just come out.

Well not much to say here, but I'm just on Satire wire, and if you feel like having a laugh check out http://www.satirewire.com/news/july02/viagra.shtml.

Blah, I still feel sick but just had to quickly blog about today. Did my road test and passed! Weeee! Still need insurance and to change class 7 to class 5 but meh, its all good.

I'll eventually blog about Universal Studios and also nearly getting strip searched on the way back to Canada.

I'm feeling sick right now, so no blog tonight.