Friday, July 30, 2004 :: 10:21:00 PM

A few years ago I found the website that housed the Woodlands underground newspaper "Here Title Place". In going through my "favourites" folder I came across an article that I book marked some time ago from that site. It is entitled "The Art of Inaction". I love this article.. I'd like to pass it on to all of you and suggest that you stop, take a step back, and really evaluate your life.. You may begin to think that the "big rocks" aren't really all that big, and the little ones are probably bigger than you think... (keep reading, you'll understand.

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The Art of Inaction

This article is for everyone out there who says they have trouble paying attention to their teachers, who lecture for an eternity. It could be Quantum Physics, or Vector Algebra, or Ancient History, or any other sleep-inducing course (you don't have a clue because you're too busy dreaming to listen). At least not intently enough to discern which subject you're in. All is not lost! While you may consider this to be a huge concentration defect, it is actually a blessing to you. Consider: you can tune out almost anything, no matter how important it might be, and still act like it doesn't affect your life. That's pretty damn admirable, and you can accomplish that task without even trying! You see, many people take things too seriously to enjoy life's pleasures. If you can manage to convince yourself that certain things just aren't worth bothering with, then you already have a head-start over those idiots who are wasting their time with mere trivialities. There was a recent chain email going around: "A Jar of Rocks." It was about a big jar and bunch of different-sized rocks. You put in the large ones first, then progressively smaller ones to fill in the gaps, and finally, you pour water in to fill the jar completely. The point is to first fit the important things into your life, then later fill it up with less crucial luxuries. While it may take you a tad longer to figure out how to stuff a rock inside a jar, other people will be too busy shoving the smaller stones in that they forget about the big-ass rocks. In the end, you'll come out ahead, and with less effort! Sort of makes me regret not having picked up on this strategy earlier in my high school career. An important skill to learn is how to maximize your time and effort. Study quality, not quantity. Let's examine your courses mathematically: A typical OAC course has 30% for tests throughout the year and 10% for the ISU. Yet, I find that far too many students, myself included, work disproportionately compared to the marking scheme. You study 3 hours for a unit test worth 5%, but work 30+ hours on a simple ISU worth only 10%? Are we stupid or something? . . . This is simple mathematics! Less marks means less important, so you can procrastinate like crazy and copy the answers from your friends. More marks means more important, so you should instead copy your answers from someone who's actually smart. Next time your teacher starts lecturing, take the opportunity to get some shuteye. Instead of sitting there, expending energy to pay attention to your incoherent teacher, conserve your energy by resting, and use it to accomplish something more worthwhile. Whenever a problem arises that gives you any bit of stress, take the time to think: Is this worth my effort? If the answer is 'yes' then you'd better get cracking. But most likely, the answer is 'no' (even if the answer initially seems to be 'yes', experience has shown me that you can usually convince yourself that the real answer is 'no'). So, you can choose to not act on that issue, and it will never bother you again. The key to life is inaction. Don't be bothered by the little things because they probably don't mean squat. Learn to recognize which issues are truly important, and which ones just appear important. People who live the hard way care too damn much about everything. The slightest little disruption and they're ready to jump off a cliff. Other folks, even the roughest situations don't even elicit a flinch. That kind of ignorance is very rare . . . and should be respected. Unfortunately, the public hates that sort of attitude, even though it works (or maybe BECAUSE it works)! And in this cruel money-oriented society, it doesn't really matter how much of a slacker you are, only that you get the job done. So next time you find yourself dozing off, don't think of it as dozing off; think of it as "practising the art of inaction." Your teacher's not going to buy that explanation for one second. But what do you care about what your teacher thinks? Like I said, you can often convince yourself that some things are simply not worth your attention . . . Now that's efficient time management.

:: Eldorado ::

Wednesday, July 21, 2004 ::

Song of choice: Where Have All the Good People Gone - Sam Roberts

In my long boring days at work, I've been buying and selling. That's right, I'm a day trader on top of what I do here. I buy low, sell high. Not stock, but computer equipment and electronics.

It's great! I've taken on a fake company name which gives me access to wholesalers who sell *at cost*.. it's great! I've never seen things so cheap.. And the best part about working with so many guys around here is that if you drop once or twice that you can get cheap computer equipment and electronics, they start banging the door down trying to get a piece of the pie! Ahh...

"Marge, after all the years of failed get rich quick schemes, I've finally found a way to get rich............quick!!"

I was rifting through employee files today, and came across a guy's resume.. He's a driver here now.. really nice guy. Used to work in a correctional facility for god knows how many years, until it closed down recently. After that he was (and still is), get this, a "fully qualified and licensed" Private Investigator.. that's so cool, and so weird all at the same time...

Play the damn game in my last post!

Until next time.......
*fade to black*

:: Eldorado ::

Monday, July 19, 2004 ::

got an idea...
Everyone has heard of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. That's where you form a string of actors who starred together to eventually end up at Kevin Bacon using no more than six actors. For example Ewan McGreggor was Starwars Ep. 1 with Liam Neeson, who was in "The Haunting" with Catherine Zeta Jones, who was in "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks, who was in "Apollo 13" with Kevin Bacon. 4 degrees. But here's the deal, we're going to step it up a notch...

Now that I've successfully completed a chain, I have to give the new name of an actor, and have someone link the last actor in my chain (kevin bacon) to the new name that I've given... get it? got it? good.

I'm bored, leave me alone.. and this could be fun, if PEOPLE would PARTICIPATE. =P

next: Kevin Bacon to Eddie Murphy.

:: Eldorado ::

Sunday, July 18, 2004 ::

I notice a lot of you aren't signing my guestbook..
shame on you.... come on, make mama proud..

:: Eldorado ::

Song of choice: Immigrant Song - Led Zepplin

Just thought this cartoon was hilarious..... and oh so fitting...

:: Eldorado ::

Sunday, July 11, 2004 ::

alright... christa had an interesting post about spam email subject lines... here's a couple sitting in my inbox right now...

Sender: Fritz Buckner
"labyrinth toothaches living with 8"

Sender: Isaac Sawyer
"parking lot 1432 stalactites"

Sender: Lloyd Mcrae
"chicago need dolt"

Sender: Meredith Valdez
"grain of sand stalactites near 5548"

Sender: Barton Drake
"power drill cups toward 4766"

Email spammers are starting to get creative...
What about you? if you were an Email Spammer, what subjects would you use? Post in the comment section. =)

Until next time......
*fade to black*

:: Eldorado ::

Thursday, July 08, 2004 ::

where the HELL is everyone?

:: Eldorado ::

Tuesday, July 06, 2004 ::

Spiderman 2

Alright, this is the first movie that I've seen in a long time that I felt deserves a review.. Basically just things I liked about it, and things that I thought could use some work. Here goes:

Spiderman 2 is in my biased opinion, awesome. It's just like X2 wherin it's better than it's original. Spidey 2 and X2 share similarities too. Both push similar themes through the screen and slap you in the face with them. Both have blaitant foreshadowing into what is to come in the next release. Both hit the action hard and early.

If you like spoilers, continue on. If not, then STOP. I wont give the story away, but I may say a thing or two that you might want to save yourself from knowing until you're sittin' in a theater.

Spiderman 2 continues a couple years after the first one left off. The backbone of the story is that Peter Parker's life is falling apart. Spiderman is taking up too much of his time, and it's taking it's toll on this poor photographer from New York. He's at risk from getting fired from his job, risk from failing out of school, and in a nutshell, his life just plain sucks. He feels he is obligated to be Spiderman, until a conversation he has with another character convinces him that he does, in fact, have a choice.

The antagonist in this movie is Dr. Octaveous, or "Dok Ock", a physisist. We really feel for Dok in this movie because he's not an evil man, instead his intentions are quite sincere. A freak accident leaves him in the control of another... umm.. well, you'll have to watch the movie for that.

Anyway, the rest of the movie goes on as you would imagine. Peter wonders if he made the right decision. Obviously, because there are other movies slated to be in production, he decides that he can juggle a personal life and Spiderman at the same time and good triumphs over evil.

What did I like about this movie? well:

- the animation in this movie is smooth. They really learned from their mistakes made in the first movie to bring quality graphics to the screen. Spiderman no longer looks rubbery and non-human. Lighting on spidey in this movie as he's web-slinging is a little questionable, like it was in the first movie. And his costume during these instances looks to be too vibrant to me... But that's just me being picky.

- The fight on the Subway train is amazing. Critics are saying "oh, there's a fight on top of a train.. like we haven't seen THAT before." but you wanna know something? You haven't seen a fight like this before. Just because it's on top of a train is secondary. It's a great fight. Obviously computer generated, but you quickly forget that. You really think you're watching a guy do most of these stunts. Now, that's not to say that there isn't the odd reminder that it's not real, but for the most part it really is a convincing battle.

- This scene ends with Spidey passing out and being "body surfed" by passengers on the train to a safe place to lay on the floor, all while a slowish orchestral piece with a patriotic and heroic theme hums in the background. Cheesy, but it is a good way to show that the people of New York no longer see Spiderman as a menace or criminal.

- There were a few comic relief moments in this movie, too. Watch for the scene in the elevator. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time... I was bent over in the theater chair holding my gut.

- Willem Dafoe makes a cameo appearance.... God he's an awesome "evil guy" actor.

Ok, now what's my beef?

- The first time you see Spiderman web-slinging around the city and come in for a landing, while he's standing on the ground, if you look just up and to the right of his right shoulder, you can see a clear fishing line type rope that grabs the sunlight. I guess they forgot to edit it out. It wasn't the only time it happened in the movie, but this was the first of the two times that I caught. Oops!

- Another beef? I think Dok Ock's change of heart happens too easily. That's all I'm gonna say about that..

- My final beef comes from Maguire's interpretation of Peter Parker. I think he makes Peter *too* nerdy and *too*.. umm... "golly gee shucks", if you know what I mean.. It's like he's playing a kid from the 50s - it's just too much, but that's just me.

- The question mark shaped scar / line / dimple / whatever on Maguire's right cheek is annoying.

but that's about it for beef! not much beef when it comes to this movie.

In watching the final scenes of the movie, you're introduced to the villian which will appear in the upcoming Spiderman 3. If you've watched any of the cartoons, you can probably guess who this is by this journal entry alone.

Anyway, the movie wasn't perfect by any means, but you dont go to a Comic movie to see perfection. I must say, I'm really impressed so far with the X-Men and Spiderman movie adaptations of the old cartoons / comics. They stay (for the most part) fairly true to the look and feel of the old series, as well as providing a great source of entertainment leaving you begging for the next movie in the series.

I give this movie an 7.5 out of a possible 10 voids.

Until next time.......
*fade to black*

:: Eldorado ::

Song of Choice: Miss You - The Rolling Stones (have I used that one already? meh..

WOOOOO

Tuesday morning, 8am, and I'm feelin'.. well, like Alice just got sucked back through the rabbit hole with the aid of a 747 jet turbine. It all began Thursday.

I came to work on Thursday the 1st to closed office doors, rows and rows of tankers that haven't moved, not a car in the parking lot, and a security guy asleep in his booth. It was a holiday, but I didn't let that stop me because I came to work anyway! 'Why on earth would you come to work on a holiday??' well firstly, I didn't have anything better to do. Secondly, I want the money (and if they're fair, they should give me double time and a half for working on the stat holiday)... so my 10.5 hrs is really closer to 26.5 hrs... But I really came in to work so that I could take Monday the 5th off.

Friday came around and I got to work, rushed through everything I had to do and was outta here early afternoon. I went home to pack for my weekend. Did I mention that I spent it in Port Elgin? I dont think so....

I spent it in Port Elgin.

I left Mississauga at about 3:30 on Friday and headed northward. I arrived sometime between 6:30 and 7:00 just in time to miss dinner, which was alright because I never actually told Beth that I was coming for dinner. They were still nice enough to pull things back out again and make me a plate to re-heat. It was nice to be up there again. The last time I was there was back in March. I like going up and getting away from the city. And I'd compare this visit to my last, however, it was a very different trip. I liked it in the winter, and I liked it (the town) again in the summer, but for completely different reasons. I'm just not sure exactly what those reasons are. It was less of a culture shock for me this time, I guess. Me being the city boy that I am and always have been, it was very nice to see the different way of life. And it is very different. People actually WALK places! weiiiiiiird *insert Twilight Zone theme*.

Anyway, the plan for the night was to just chillllll and at some point in time head out to try to find Erin. She was camping in a provincial park nearby and I was to spend the night there. We found her campsite, but no Erin. Oh well, I left a note saying I was there and alive, and Beth and I headed out to the beach. We weren't dressed for it by any means, but it was nice to just sit on the (what we thought was, but turned out not to be) dry sand and wait for the sun to set. We couldn't wait that long, though, because we had to be in South Hampton at dusk for fireworks. It was a great show.. It exceeded my expectations, really. I thought 'small town, free show, this is going to be like those fireworks when I was a kid.. One goes off, then wait for the next....' that wasn't the case at all, it was a nice little show they had going with an impressively quick pace. Again, being on the beach sitting on my blanket in what actually was dry sand this time, we kicked off our shoes, cuddled, and watched the fireworks. I crammed 7 people into my mom's lil Pontiac.. Beth's brother and sister, and their friends... and drove 'em all home. I then took Beth home and I headed over to find Erin. I slept then woke up to the sounds of birds.. *shakes fist* stupid morning birds...

Saturday came and went.. Andrew (Erin's brother) and I went for a bike ride.. My knees ached immediately afterwards, but I was quite surprised to feel that they never once *hurt* me. yay them! I went back to the campsite where Erin's family was ready to head to the beach. Ahhh, more beach.. I couldn't get enough of it. Between laying on the beach, the weather, bonding with Erin's sister Lindsay over a tiny stick and rock shrine I was building in the sand, Erin's dog frantically digging holes in the sand thinking there was a squirrel under there somewhere.... it was sooooooooooooo relaxing.

Erin and I went to dinner at her place that night. Steaks (yummy). And when Erin left, Beth and I decided to head out to the beach again. The sun was down, but that didn't matter. I brought a sheet to lay on, and a blanket to keep us warm. It wasn't cold by any means, but the blanket just made things more comfy. We layed under the stars, watched different fireworks go off in the distance and just took in the perfectness (whether or not that's even a word, I dont care..)

Sunday rolled on through. God it was muggy.. (I love those Ikea commercials.. "Ikea, it makes you not hate the muggy heat so much.") I had already had a cold shower to cool off, but that didn't last long. Beth and I walked down to the beach where we went for a dip. it was freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing... Weather charts say the water was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 58 degrees. OUCH! That cooled us down and we made our way home. Dinner came and went. Roast Pork (yummy again). And we headed to Owen Sound for a movie. This is were it gets funny - go get yourself a bowl of popcorn so you can finish reading..

We had a choice of either Spiderman 2, Dodgeball, The Terminal, and F911. We were stuck between Spiderman 2 and Dodgeball. I suggested both, and she agreed. So firstly we went to see Spiderman. She had really wanted to see it (as did I) so we got tickets and found seats. About a half hour in Beth leaned over and said something to me. About an hour in Beth realized that she hadn't seen the first one. All I could do was laugh. After the movie we decided that a second movie wasn't really what we wanted to do, so we grabbed some frozen yogurt and headed back to her house where we watched Duplex. I fell asleep in the couch... the end of the movie I woke up and we said our goodnights and we both went to bed.

I headed back into town on Monday and that was my weekend! It was so nice to get away for a few days... however exhausting it was. lol

So anyway, I'm sorry. no profound insights in this entry (as if there ever are in any of my writings). Just a report on my weekend away.... I've gotta get back to work, it's now almost 9:30!

Until next time.......
*fade to black*

:: Eldorado ::