The day

Family birthday dinner yummy veal chop with french red wine cake in shape of skis and some climbing gear and climbing book from sister and a gift certificate for a video store from other sister and toilet paper from same sister

with friends yesterday mussels mariniere mussels red curry +bread McEwans Scotch Ale German Festbock mmmmmm beeeer, friends, really fun happy came down hadn't seen some for a while, even missed grey cup to come down. Really fun bday, thanks all!

Also....

Happy birthday to me! As of 51 minutes ago I am 25 years old. The quarter century has been reached.

Being 20 seems like a long time ago, I have to say. I was still a young second year playing video games and eating fried food and 'the rastafarian cookup' at the res cafeteria (aka 'Fung'). How things have changed since then! So much has happened! I won't go and get all mushy and stuff, but I'll just say this: I'm way happier now than I was then. (this may have something to do with the fact that I don't have 10 assignments due every two weeks, as well as several major projects, thrown in with a few midterms...but not totally because of this!)

Cheers!

Funny word of the day

I believe the last funny word that I mentioned here was 'smurf'. Say it several times slowly and you will see that it is a ridiculous collection of letters.

Today's funny word is 'burgled'. What a strange sound! This word came up while discussing alarm systems, and how ours was present and not active until one day we were burglarized at which point the alarm was immediately turned on (i.e. we got off our asses and read the manual on how to set it). This made me wonder whether it is 'burglarized', or 'burgled'. As it turns out, burgle is a back formation of burglar (just as edit is a back formation of editor, or so I've heard). It means exactly the same thing as burglarize. Both of which, if you ask me, are very strange and funny sounding words, although I prefer burgle from the amusement point of view.

I know I know...simple things amuse me :-P At the very least I won't easily be bored!

Spinning

For those of you that have never heard of spinning, imagine sitting on an indoor bike that is a reasonable approximation of a real one (unlike those ridiculous fat-assed powered things you see in most gyms) with a group of between 5 and 12 other people, with good music and someone yelling instructions. It's fast paced, high intensity, very sweaty, and a lot more fun than it sounds!

Well today was my first 2 hour spin class of the season. It is pretty damn tiring! I didn't expect to be so drained afterwards, especially given that it was a fairly low intensity workout, but it's been 4.5 hours and I'm still suffering from an exercise-induced hangover (probably need to bring gatorade next time). After the class I was about 1.5 lbs lighter than usual, even though I drank a litre and a half of water. The unfortunate thing is that I have to lead another one tomorrow! And I'm attending a third class on Monday! I think I've gone crazy. Anyway, at the very least I will be in great shape by the time next spring comes around.

Sleeeeeeepy

Extra extra...

Caffeine has struck once again, dumbfounding the poor citizen of the third floor of a downtown house with hours upon hours of endless mindless tossing and turning all through last night. The event occurred after the caffeine infiltrated the citizen's bloodstream in a few seemingly harmless cups of green tea at a local restaurant. However harmless the brew looked, it certainly packed a punch!

The citizen, whom we will call George Smiley, was attacked while enjoying a wonderful sushi dinner with an old friend, followed by a great night of swing dancing. Even the extra exercise during the day (one hour of semi-intense cycling on a spin bike) was not enough to overcome the vile stimulant.

"I will be very careful from now on. You can never tell when the caffeine will be strong enough to cause such problems," says Smiley.

If you have any info on this bandit, please call 416-55S-LEEP.

AP (Aerospace Press)

)(*&&)(^%%$$HPACF!

Oy...finally got my computer set up to work from home, only now it's the computer at work that's not cooperating! ARGH! STUPID HPACF! (HPACF is the High Performance A-something Computing Facility at the place I work). This is annoying because I don't know how to fix it! And to fix it I need people from work! grrrrrrrrr

Update

Hey, if you read my last few posts, you'll notice I haven't mentioned anything about my ex...this is a good thing! I guess I did get over it, and so I don't think of her that much anymore, and thus don't feel the need to write anything about it. In fact, I think I am ready to have her as just a friend now, I think we could still get along like that.

In other news, I went climbing at a new gym (Toronto Climbing Academy) last Friday with a very nice girl that I met swing dancing. It was fun! The TCA has some interesting climbs, and the company was excellent. Unfortunately it was cut a bit short as she was going salsa dancing after. Saturday was a big banquet for the mountain biking team that I'm on, at my house. I spent all day getting things ready, in particular the yearly slide show that I've volunteered to do these last two years. It, and the party, were awesome! About 30 people showed up, each bearing a specialty (it was pot luck). I also made a really yummy Sangria to get the party started, which disappeared incredibly fast. We went through nearly 4 litres of red wine! After having eaten so much there, I couldn't fall asleep that night, so I had another bad sleep. Sunday some family friends were over, we had a nice brunch (along with a leftover friend from the night before), and then wandered a bit in our area of town, followed by a yummy dinner and a game of Cranium.

The weekend was definitely amazing, only tempered by the fact that Sunday the cold I've been fighting for the last two weeks came back in force. Good thing I have Advil Cold and Sinus. That stuff is magic.

GSM

More photos...please critique

Some photos from my weekend

here are a few pics from the weekend at Southampton last week. More to follow later.

The sun was setting...liked the shadows made by the fence.

There were tons of nice beach houses, all being invaded by sand at an alarming rate...hence the wooden barriers in front of their walkways.

My footsteps

I wondered what kind of children would use such a slide.

Toronto: part trois

Hey

another great thing about Toronto: the climbing gyms! There are 3, and I've heard that's the most per capita in North America. Joe Rockheads (near King and Dufferin) is great for beginners and bouldering, Toronto Climbing Academy (TCA, near Queen and Broadview) is great for families, and also their routes are pretty interesting with lots of neat features, and the Rock Oasis (my gym, at Bathurst and Front) is by far the tallest of the three, has pretty interesting route setting (although a bit power oriented and tall), clean holds (the rocks are cleaned every time they take them off the wall), nice staff and good atmosphere (can you tell I'm a bit biased here?). I've been climbing at the Rock Oasis so long that I forget why I like it better than the other two. Cheaper, by a tiny tiny bit maybe? Convenient, it is so close to downtown, I can practically walk there from home on a nice day. Though the routes are at times pumpy and tall, they are very interesting and the turnover rate for setting new routes is quite high, so it doesn't get boring.

But, this Friday I'm going to TCA and I think I'm going to get a 10-climb pass. A bit of variety is always good, and I've got some friends from R.O. that are gonna get one too. Also, TCA is a LOT less busy.

If you live in Toronto, go climbing! It's awesome, and you've got a wide selection of places to go to!

The meaning of perfection

hola,

So I was discussing recently with a friend about life, the universe, and everything, (the answer is 42) and eventually we started talking about our love lives and ideal person we'd like to meet. This made me wonder if there is a person out there that is perfect for me, so I asked her what she thought about the topic. Is there a perfect person?

Obviously no one person is perfect in all ways. Everyone has flaws and problems. But the question is, is there a perfect person for everyone out there? I mean, does everyone have at least one person in the world that is made exactly for them? After a bit of thought, I realized I don't have enough experience to be able to answer this question very well, but I can give an opinion, and also what I would like to believe!

First I guess I have to think about what a perfect person would be, or perhaps what it means for two people to be made for each other. They would have to think in a similar way and understand each other. The ability to communicate perfectly very early on, interest in each other's habits and hobbies and openness to them, similar views on the world, physical attraction, common goals, chemistry, and similar lifestyles, are all important I think.

Many things develop as you get to know someone that makes them more or less perfect. For two people to be made for one another, they have to be able to fall in love (you need time together for that, and especially time in the same place). Sometimes two people cannot fall in love, even if many of the above criteria are met. If they do though, then they sacrifice things for each other, make compromises, and work to continue life together. When this happens and they really are made for each other, they would feel that there is noone else they would rather be with and remain happy for the rest of their lives.*

I would like to believe that there is a perfect person, maybe even more than one, out there for most people. Imagine, if there is only ONE perfect person, and they live in Australia and you in Canada, and you never met or even heard of each other!! That would be awful! (Some people I know happened to be in exactly this situation and they DID meet! And seem to be very happy together! :-D ).

I think many people would have similar outlooks on life to me, some have similar goals, some others are interested in what I do and viceversa, some others have the same hobbies and interests, some have similar lifestyles, and some others I could fall in love with. Now getting all that in one package...there's the trick, and that would be a perfect person for me. I think you can fall in love with someone who is not perfect for you. I doubt this means that you will necessarily be unhappy with them, and I'm sure many people meet and fall in love and live perfectly happily with an imperfect person. And I think you can meet someone that matches you in every way except you can't fall in love for some reason.

From this logical approach to the question (logical to me anyway, but feel free to point out flaws that probably exist in my thinking) I think that there exist people that are perfect for each other. It's just a matter of a bunch of variables being put together in the same way in different people, and if they're fortunate enough to meet and realize what they've got, then that's awesome!

What this means I guess is that taking the time and effort to meet and get to know as many people as you can increases your odds of finding (one of) your perfect match(es). Not only that, but such a life philosophy would only serve to help you learn more about others and yourself, help you be more interesting, and make you happier even if you haven't found that perfect someone. If you are lucky enough to find them, then you have set yourself up for even greater happiness by having a large circle of friends. I can't imagine that people who close themselves in and don't open up to the world around them are very successful in finding their ideal mate.

The good part is, if that person is realy perfect for you, then it's likely that they will be involved in similar activities and probably that increases the odds that you'll meet!

Anyway, this topic has opened up many other questions in my head, but I think I'm going to stop here and go to bed. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading :-)




* : You may ask, what is the difference between this and a soul mate? I don't know what a soul mate is per se, and dictionary.com gives only a very brief description that leaves much to be desired, but since I'm not sure a soul exists I don't think I can answer this question adequately. The existence of a soul is a question for another time! In any case, I think the idea of a soul mate implies two people who are uniquely tied in some enigmatic way and if they were to meet by chance would immediately form a strong bond. I don't think this is the same thing as two people being perfect for each other. I also don't think that this kind of link between two people exists.

Wind, earth, fire and water

Ahoy.

Sleeeeeeeep...I slept last night! I had the best sleep in weeks. woohoo!
This made me very happy this morning, I haven't woken up with such a big smile on my face in ages!

On to more interesting things. Last weekend I went with my family to a town on Lake Huron called Southampton, it is southwest of Tobermory, near Port Elgin. The forecast was awful: rain all weekend. Luckily, the weather gods were with us: there was sleet there the day before we arrived, it rained all night the night we stayed there, and rained as we left, but all day both days it was beautiful (albeit very windy). Strangely enough this is normal for my family; we went to England once and had three weeks of sunshine, without a drop of rain.

We walked on the beach in the sunset, went for a hike, ate at nice restaurants, went for brunch, played Euchre...all in all a nice family weekend as we haven't had in a long time. Everyone was in a good mood (even my sister that slept most of the time). I have never seen my dad so trigger happy with his camera (he has a relatively new digital camera, and loves being able to delete delete delete). I will post some of the photos when I get a chance.

That's all for now. ciao ciao brown cow
GS

Toronto: the good, part 2 part 2

So I am feeling a bit more inspired today, as having eliminated my afternoon coffee has somewhat helped my sleeping habits. And what better than to pretend to be working by writing a blog entry? :-D I'm also beginning to think that I just like writing "Toronto: the good" a lot (even though the nickname is not quite so true anymore...what with all the gun-related murders last year! eek).

Anyway, last night I went Swing dancing with some friends at a downtown bar called the Reservoir Lounge. There was a Swing dancer there from Chicago who is staying with some other swing dancers from Toronto while he looks for a job here, and as we chatted it came up that in Chicago people rarely dance to live music. As it turns out, Toronto is pretty fortunate in that we are spoiled with lots and lots of live music all the time! And relatively cheap too! In Chicago, for a DJed dance event, they can pay up to 15$ USD, whereas last weekend we danced to a fantastic live band in a great dance hall for only $12 CAD. And this isn't the only example, there are several bars here where you can dance it up along with great music.

Not only that, there are quite often music festivals here: Downtown Jazz Festival, Beaches Jazz Festival, African Drum Festival...all summer long there are things to do, and great bars like The Rex or Montreal Bistro to go see as well. There are a fair amount of musicals to go to as well, with many great ones getting their start here (I think a really successful Show Boat started here, and that new one based on the Lord of the Rings started here, and I do remember the first time Les Miserables came out that the Toronto one had a great reputation). From what I've heard, we also have a really good Hip Hop and RnB music scene as well. The only things missing are good opera, and a world class symphony orchestra...and I don't think the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is that great.

Toronto is definitely a good place for music.

I think I'll go make some tea now.

ciaociao brown cow.
GS

Toronto: the good, part 2

okie dokie here we go, part 2 of the good stuff about this wonderful city I live in.

hmm...well I don't feel really inspired at the moment. Maybe I will leave this til later...I'm so sleepy tonight. blugha.

sorry, false alarm. Instead I will rant about my stupid sleeping problems. This is really starting to piss me off. It is ruining my health and life. 3 nights out of 4 I don't really sleep ALL night, and the entire next day I am unable to do anything properly. Tomorrow I am going to the doctor about my knee, and I will ask him for a reference to a normal family doctor who will hopefully be able to refer me to a sleep doctor...yes, kinda circuitous, but I really do need a regular checkup. It's been about 3 years since I've been to one!

In the mean time, here is a picture I took at the Bruce Peninsula.

Maybe looking at this will make me fall asleep...I am getting sleeeeepy..I am getting sleeepy...

not working.

see you later, gonna watch Lost
GS

interlude

Miraculously my dancing injury from last Saturday healed itself overnight last night. Pretty amazing, considering I was having trouble walking yesterday. As a result I went climbing tonight, and while recounting my injury story to my friend some random dude laughed at me!! That guy doesn't know!! He doesn't know how strenuous and high energy Swing dancing can be, or that my knee cap already has a tendency to fall off.

The climbing was pretty crappy, my arms were still tired from Saturday and I'm still a bit low on sleep, but I managed to do a couple of 5.10ds and a 5.10a and lead my first climb in months (okok, it was only a 5.6 but it's a start).

That's it for now, time for bed. ciao ciao brown cow.
GS

Toronto: the good, part 1

Ahh...the best part: dessert!

So what is good about Toronto? Tons of stuff! Since I really have a lot of work to do right now (and it's almost dinner time!) I will just write about one thing today.

The most characteristic and oft-quoted thing about the T-dot is its multiculturality (is that a word? well it is now). After enough people say it it starts to sound a bit like a cliche, however I assure you it is true! There is a village of every kind in Toronto: Korea town, Greek town, China Town, Little India, Little Italy, Little Portugal, the Ukrainian area (i.e. Bloor West Village), the Jewish area (all along Bathurst and Forest Hill)....and the list goes on! Here is a picture that I took a few years back that demonstrates this:


Here you can see a young man of African-North American descent walking with a young lady of some unknown but generally European descent through a very Asian (Korean specifically) area. Behind them is a man of Asian descent. Not only that, but they are walking by walnut cake stores, which as everyone knows are delicious! Speaking of which, each little area has its own flavour. Greek town is YUMMY! Little Italy has great gelato as well as a variety of interesting restaurants (not all Italian but they are still good). Little India (and Indian restaurants around the entire city) are quite good. And don't get me started on China town...there are SOOO many good restaurants there (on which I am quite the expert I might add. After years of experimentation, my favourite is called King's Noodle, which is just north of Dundas on the west side of Spadina Avenue. Their BBQed meat and its sauce are delicious, and the ambiance seems very authentic...never having been to China I can't say for sure, but it is one of the restaurants I found that seems to be more populated by Chinese than some of the other ones, which is why I went there in the first place as that is usually a good indication of good food!...or at least good value). In addition, Thai restaurants are scattered liberally throughout the city.

Anyway, the point is, Toronto is very diverse, and that helps make it an incredibly interesting place to live in. You can meet people that have been living here for years and not speak much english at all. Or the opposite: one day I sat down beside a little old chinese lady on the subway who I expected not to speak much english, then she started making fun of all the other passengers on the subway to me in perfect english! (I think there were some Goth kids on the train at the time, and people with piercings everywhere, which she evidently disapproved of and, and although I don't mind them it was pretty amusing to listen to, especially when she started saying that she thought I would never do such things to myself, because she could obviously tell that I was a much more proper young man :-P)

Notes on something else

Went swing dancing tonight, it was great until my knee cap popped out of place, and while trying to put it back I hurt my knee quite a bit...booo. I hope I can still move it tomorrow morning. Once before I hurt it climbing slightly (I could still walk fine and didn't feel much pain) but the next morning I couldn't bend it whatsoever. I hope this doesn't happen again, because it took months to heal! On the plus side, there were a bunch of cute girls there that I danced/chatted with a bit. Swing dancing is great because everyone is there just to dance and have fun and then go home and sleep, and repeat the next week. It's just a social event like going to a bar, only you happen to be dancing with nice girls (or boys if you're a girl), along to really good music! I met a guy there that I recognized from climbing whose name is Umesh I think. We have lots in common too apparently, he mountain bikes, climbs, swing dances and is a mechanical engineer working for atomic energy of canada or something. Weird...he's like a brown version of me.

For some reason I will start signing off as GS. I think it's a totally appropriate acronym for who I am, that is a Goofy Scientist (who also happens to really like sports!).. Hmm, maybe it should be SS (sporty scientist) orrr...SGS (sporty goofy scientist...also school of graduate studies..hm, maybe not).

Anyway, my contacts are drying out, so time for bed.
ciaociao
GS

Toronto eh?

Someone asked me recently to write a blog about Toronto, and I thought, how do I do this? What would people be interested in knowing about this city, and why? And how do I make it good? I have no clue! I guess I will just start writing something and see where it goes.

So without further ado:

TORONTO: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

When I am eating a nice meal, I really like to eat what I like the least first (frozen veggies, brussel sprouts, asparagus, etc.) and keep the really yummy parts (juicy piece of steak, piece of pie vs the ice cream, the better of the two flavours of gelato that I am eating, etc.) for the end. So in the same way I will tell you first about the bad and the ugly and finish off with the good.

The Bad and the Ugly

There are definitely some bad things to be told about Toronto. The first thing that comes to mind is the transit system known as the TTC (i.e. Toronto Transit Commission). The extent of the subway is ridiculously small (see map here). There are only three lines, one of which isn't bad because it goes along the main street of Toronto from all the way west to all the way east. The yellow one's layout doesn't seem to make too much sense, and the purple line is so ridiculously short it's virtually pointless. Also, in general the schedule that they give for buses is completely meaningless, with buses sometimes arriving exactly between two scheduled departures (e.g. 15 minutes late given a 30 minute departure interval). Finally, the TTC must be the only public transportation system I've heard of whose monthly pass doesn't actually reduce the cost of riding it if you take it 5 days per week twice a day. They worked it out so that you have to use it 6 times per week at least to break even! (it is a bit better now, since they increased the cost of a regular fare :-S ). I believe we can blame the provincial government of Mike Harris a few years back for this sad state of affairs, since I believe he was the one that majorly reduced funding to public transit.

Next bad thing: smog. With the combination of warm temps during the summer, the big big lake Ontario, and such parking lots as Highway 401, the air gets pretty thick and soupy. As an avid cyclist, I have personally experienced the effects of smog, which manifest themselves as very sore lungs and particulate matter collecting in your mouth as you ride. Not very pleasant! Check this link at around rush hour, and you'll see part of the problem. I don't exactly know who to blame for this, if anyone, but I'm sure that all these rich yuppies driving SUVs all by themselves to work aren't helping, the crappy transit, as well as the massive urban sprawl that we have here. There is an amusement park north of Toronto that was once out in open fields...it felt so far away back when I was little. Now it is surrounded on all sides by monopoly houses. :-(

What else is bad? A few small things, the dirty streets on Spadina Avenue, Scarborough is not great, and Mississauga is boring. There are a few rough neighbourhoods like Regent Park that you should avoid.

Also, as a relatively new city, there are no real monuments to go and visit as they have in older cities around the world, even cities like Montreal. This can make Toronto a pretty boring place for tourists. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) isn't all that impressive, and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) isn't great either (although the new architecture they're adding is interesting to say the least). Once you've been to the CN tower there's really nothing to see. However, if you are a smart tourist and you really know how to explore a city's lifestyle, or you know someone here, it can be great (but more on this later).

That's it for today. Stay tuned for 'Toronto: the good'. I may even add some photos in the next post! After I figure out how to do it.

NOOOO!!!

I took the drugs. A small red pill like Neo took in the Matrix.

I slept like a baby. It was great.

Must...not...get addicted! :-S

PS: will write a better entry tomorrow, not feeling inspired right now.

To Sleep! Perchance to...Sleep!!

HA! I finally slept well last night! At last. And that without the sleeping aid!! I will only use that in really hard cases in which after 1 or 2 hours I am still awake. I think there are two things I need to do to sleep well...actually three...no wait, four, but the fourth one is not likely any time soon. First of all, take a hot shower before bed. Hot showers are nice anyway, so might as well make sure I take one every day. Second, wake up early and go to bed early, and as a result not sleep as much! Third, and this was actually the fourth that I thought of but I'm changing the order for effect, is to get a nice massage before sleeping...I need to resolve that issue some time, but for now I will have to live without it. Fourth, I need to read the Smurfs comic books. Nothing is quite as silly and amusing as the Smurfs, especially the ones that are just a collection of short stories, because then you don't feel like you have to read to the end of the book. Even the word Smurf, if you think about it long enough, will make you laugh...smurf smurf smuuuuurf. What an odd collection of letters.

Anyway, that is my Road Map to Sleep. I hope it works, and if not I can always take the drugs.

In other news, I just found out in the paper that the Big Three car manufacturers just went below the 50% market share in Canada. Where they lost was in the area of compact cars. From my vague understanding of it they didn't realize that this was where the car market was headed and didn't put any research in that area. Umm...can you say DUH!? Ok, maybe this is a somewhat simplifed view of it, but still, the only place where they still have most of the market share are big trucks and SUVs and light trucks, and even there sales are dropping. It boggles my mind that they couldn't predict this and prevent it...it is fairly obvious that people are GOING to start driving smaller cars, since fuel prices are probably only going to go up from now on, and not only that their efficiency and cleanliness is way better.

Overall, this doesn't really bother me too much. I ride my bike or take public transit as much as I can, and hopefully won't need to buy a car for a while still. When I do it will be small and efficient.

Well, I think that's enough writing for one day. I had no idea what to write about before I started, so I think that's not bad!

Ciaociao

Caution: Stupid when tired

For about the 4th night in a row last night I was unable to sleep soundly, for no apparent reason. I can't stop thinking, and about really really stupid things. This is going to sound really dumb, but when I try going to sleep, I start imagining that my brain is like a computer program that I have to finish before I try compiling it in case there's a bug...so I have to set my brain in perfect order or something before it will fall asleep. Sometimes I'm thinking about what my brain feels like on a night when I DO fall asleep easily, and trying to get it there, only that doesn't work because as soon as you work on relaxing then you can't.

Anyway, the result of all this is that I've becoming a complete idiot, in that I do really dumb things when I'm not paying attention. A small example occurred today, as I was exiting the subway at Spadina station on the west side near the Tim Horton's I went to the revolving door and started pushing where it said push. Only after a minute of frustration at being unable to leave, and when a bunch of people exited normally, did I realize that I was trying to exit through the IN revolving doors, which are very obviously different from the OUT revolving doors (Maybe I went to the Midvale school for the gifted :-P). I felt very stupid and felt like saying to those other people 'really, I'm not THAT dumb!! really!!! just very tired'.

Another side effect is that I am unable to form coherent sentences in normal conversation...my words become jumbled and mumbled...(I guess that makes what I say mumbo jumbo! :-P).

I went and bought some kind of sleeping aid at the pharmacy today. I hope it helps when I get into one of my non-sleeping active brain modes.

That's it for now, ciaociao.