Hair!

I did it!
I said two weeks ago that I felt like getting rid of all my hair -- low and behold, I held true to that and buzzed most of it off.
I go through phases of hairstyles every couple of years. I found my high school student IDs the other day and spent five minutes laughing at my skater kid locks and my poofy adolescent nonsense. Lately I have been doing the simple push over -- but it feels a little preppy and unnecessary. What's the point in having hair up there anyways when modern technology gives us hats? Hair just gets in the way, it requires constant maintenance and never looks good. I get a major cowlick every now and then that just embarrasses the hell out of me.
So...
Off with it!

And there it is, my buzzcut. And it's nostalgic! I used get that when I was 4 feet tall -- you know, to avoid lice and all. Damned public school!

And I'm sure you're wondering...

What the hell is a Socker Bopper? I always knew them as Sockem Boppers too. Apparently the name has changed, and so has the price! Two dollars at Walmart! We couldn't pass that up -- bought many!

And just a quick update...

I have one more week of classes of my first ever university semester! Then a week and a half to study for finals. Ahh, it's the life up here!

How To Fix An iPod

The iPod keep getting stronger and more durable with each new model. I remember when the 3rd, 4th, and 5th gen. iPods would break quite regularly due to wiggly parts and erm... hard drives.
These days, unibody construction and the fact that the batteries are bigger than the logic board contribute to a rigid and sturdy iPod.
Unfortunately, I don't have one of those. In fact, I have a 5th generation iPod Video that I bought way back in high school. It was my second ever mp3 player. I had a raddy 526mb sony atrac thing that was sufficient -- but all the cool kids had iPods.
I was so excited to get this thing. My excitement was crushed when I received the thing and well, you guessed it -- broken.
So I sent it back and apple promptly gave me a new one which I've had for four years now.
I love this thing. Thirty gigabytes, awesome battery life, sexy design, and nowadays it instills a nostalgic sense compared to the new iPods.
So I was mortified one day when it fell subject to a falling ink plot. I was rearranging books on my shelf when I knocked over some Quink that landed on the LCD and shattered it. I felt empty, lost -- seriously! I was really attached to this thing.
Thinking it was over I began browsing for a new iPod -- only to realize that my student budget has no room for one.
So I went to www.ifixit.com which is a website offering instructions and parts to repair electronics.
For only $24 I bought a brand new LCD for my iPod.
It came within 2 weeks and I was ready to install it. Hands shaking I carefully placed it in its frame and reset the precious ribbon cables. I snapped the iPod back together and prayed that it would still work.
After a minute of agony...
YES! It turned on and synced successfully with a beautifully bright display! I'm now back to using this iPod regularly -- and treating it with even more appreciation after resuscitating it from a traumatic coma.
Back to using it regularly? Yeah. I have more than one iPod. An iPod Touch and a Shuffle. Why not use the Touch you ask? Well...I don't think its that great for music. It is more of an app driven iPod -- which is exactly why I bought it -- Flight Sim in my pocket! And the Shuffle? Well it found its exact purpose -- an emergency backup iPod. I'm not one of those people who can't go anywhere without their music. I just think that time passes much faster with music (especially on the way to class.) Oh yeah, and shuffles are great for running!

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed the story of my iPod revival.
It meant a lot to me, hopefully its inspired someone to rescue their electronic instead of blowing money on a new one.
:D

Mansfield's Gun - A failure.

Here's what I think about Mansfield's use of Chekhov's Gun in The Garden Party.
I wrote this for my literature course and thought it was entertaining enough to post online.
I really hope they don't do a plagiarism search and find this bad boy!

What I would have really liked to say, but didn't because it defeats the purpose of the assignment; She probably didn't even consider using Chekhov's technique because she clearly butchered it. However, if she did think about it; how dare she abuse such an amazing mechanism.

Here goes...

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov — The most prolific short story author ever — developed the brilliant rule of thumb to cut the crap and illuminate portentous images and symbols. Having read the better part of Chekhov’s entire anthology — I’m rather keen on his “Gun” for it is prevalent in such plays as A Marriage Proposal and Uncle Vanya. (He wrote way more than just four.) Furthermore, Chekhov’s Gun is frequent in The Lady With The Little Dog. (Hint: It’s not the dog.)
Chekhov’s Gun is easy to spot if you are reading with tuned senses. I was once told to read a story with my antennas up. Those wise words motivate the exact technique required to spot Gun motifs in The Garden Party. For example, have you ever watched the beginning of a movie where the camera pans around to specific articles that become important later on? The director is utilizing Chekhov’s policy that, “One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” A poor example of this can be observed at the beginning of the film version of Steven King’s Hearts In Atlantis — don’t pay attention to that part, it’s useless.
And I digress.
The important part to remember is that while reading Mansfield’s The Garden Party we must systematically scan for peculiar descriptions or great detail of otherwise unimportant items. While I read this fantastic short story I was struck by a fervent description of the freckled worker. His eyes that were “such a dark blue!” and his sweet disposition altered Laura's initial opinions on the insignificant lower class. Reading this story so carefully, and having experienced Chekhov’s Gun before, I swept up this knowledge of the worker because I was sure it would become important later.
While I am still confident the freckled worker is the Gun, I think Mansfield misfired it. Personally, I think she made a critical mistake by choosing an equivocal lower class person as the dead man. While it is certainly a barbarous thought, I would rather the freckled worker killed. I think that because Laura had obtained a familiarization with the lower class through the freckled worker — the ending revealing him as the one who died would BANG, invoke serious emotional convictions towards the lower class. The ambiguous man just did not do it for me. I was frustrated that Mansfield could have used the freckled man for it was lined up so perfectly. She even went as far as to describe the eyes again, “his eyes were closed; they were blind under his closed eyelids.” By just adding the word blue to that sentence, Mansfield’s bullet would have been straight and true.
So yes, Mansfield does utilize Chekhov’s Gun. And yes, the Gun is a lower class worker that fires. However, Mansfield’s execution does not do all that it can for the reader. Just like in Hearts Of Atlantis it appears that Mansfield picked up a gun that she had never fired before and hit me in the leg, rather than the heart. While I will still likely bleed to death over realizing what she is trying to achieve, it is hardly as sudden an effective as a fatal blow.

Halloween Weekend

Hey Kids,

Been a few days, not bad eh?

A quick note to get things started; No, my use of english has not degraded. I swear more often in my posts simply because university has transformed me into a surly, aggressive person. Also, reading student publications from Waterloo and other universities helped me realize, when you swear, people really fucking listen to you.
Try it some time.

Let's see, the back problems -- they are cured! It took a few days of painkillers and T.L.C. but I am finally alleviated from that terrible burden. I can now do kartwheels, crabwalks, and "the robot." (For a private viewing, please email.)

To celebrate, I happily marched on to something that would subsequently make my back feel like shit again. Megabus! It was mega alright; a two story bus-o-the-future with wifi, 12v power, and panoramic windows! So the big thing with Megabus trips in between Toronto and Montreal is that you can get fares starting at only $1. Cough, bullshit. They are out there, but you'd have to take a bus on a tuesday at 3:00am and wear a funny hat. Okay, so the hat thing is a lie -- in all seriousness, despite the poor abundance of uno dollar fares -- Megabus is still the cheapest out there at around $55. You get this price by subjecting yourself to an eight hour ride stopping in Scarborough, Whitby, Kingston, Cornwall, the West Island, the list goes on. However, the bus is damn comfortable, and the view up top is great.
I got to Montreal and we climbed all the way up Mont Royal, what a sweet view!
The next day, we toured old Montreal, the waterfront (saw a huge boat) and got some killer poutine before walking in a rainstorm and checking out the hilarious sites and sounds on Saint-Laurent.
Bus ride home? I told myself I'd study. I slept, and it was magical.
Here are some scarce, and very random photos from Montreal.


Moving right along, in the 20 some hours I've been back in the Woo I've noticed little change to this place. For example, IT'S STILL RAINING. Getting sick of this rain, either my choice of attire (Sperry Topsiders) is mediating the weather (whenever I wear them, it pours) or mother nature and I need to have a really serious conversation.
We're out of food, seriously. I'm going grocery shopping at t-minus 20 minutes. But seriously, my fridge looks like fucking Siberia -- empty, white, and sad.

Bad news? The other day tragedy struck my desktop; As I was moving a book on my shelf (the stubborn thing shifted out of place) I knocked over an ink plot. The plot fell off the shelf and landed 2 feet down on the screen of my beloved iPod. This is my very very first iPod. Unlike many people, I've taken care of my iPod for the last four years of possession. It was still in immaculate condition when my ink plot crushed the L.C.D. screen inside. It shattered along with my heart. I could only feel a numbing sadness more so because its life had ended in such a pathetic manner.
Then I realized that I can fix it.
Stay tuned, because I've ordered a brand new screen for ol' Stockholm ( I nickname my electronics after Scandinavian cities) It should be coming in the mail this week and I'll be performing reconstructive surgery. Stockholm shall play music once again! Hopefully this doesn't happen again and my iPod will live long as a progressively obsolete p.m.p.

THEY FIXED MY LOCK!
At some point the tumbler lock on my door came apart making it impossible to lock from the inside. After telling my don, somebody mysteriously came while I was away and repaired it! I have no idea how the found the parts for I think they were in a drawer somewhere. So strange having the feeling that somebody was in my room while I was away! :S

Now if only my roommate would do his damn chores.

What's with midterms anyways?
I've got seven of them. I take 5 classes. Can somebody explain that to me? I mean, technically I can say I'm done midterms as this week I only have midterm styled "term tests" which require very little studying. But hey, come on.
(Side note, my back just started hurting again)
Last week I wrote Psychology which I had been studying for an entire week. Greatest feeling after a test; knowing you did well because you forced yourself to know the material and it paid off. This was brought to me by the entertaining professor, and the fact that Psychology is actually entertaining and worth while in life -- rather than that Sociology or Anthropology bullshit. I can receive my marks in a few days, I can't wait.
Tomorrow is another Sociology term test (speak of the devil) and we're going to pull the same 9:00pm coffee fuelled shenanigans that we did last time that helped me get a 92%. It's an online test :D

Does anybody know the song Roxanne by The Police? I'd look in to it.

Can I tell the future? Let's see...
I really really really want to go to the Steve Aoki concert in Woo next month. Pending whether it's cheap/all ages. I'm poor, and not of age. I hear this guy can seriously rock a crowd -- I just need to find somebody who doesn't hate pounding electro.
Who is Steve Aoki? This Guy --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvP6yeVmAp0

Is short hair a good idea? Like really short hair? Cause I've been thinking about it. I'm talking David Beckham short. Might I say buzz cut? This isn't for aesthetics; I really just want to know what short hair is like, and I kind of want to carve some crazy design in my head in the process. We'll see in December when my locks get longer.

Fish is a great cheap eat. Did you know you can buy ocean perch filets at the super market at like, $1.20 a filet? One filet fried in batter is good enough for lunch or a light dinner if you have it with a side.
This is the most important food revolution to happen to me since microwave bagel bites! I'm stalking up!

Man, I have to get to sleep...