Thirteen weeks down... one to go

It's hard to believe, but in one week classes will be over and it'll be Darren vs. Finals. Oh and Darren vs. one more US law memo. But this time around I'm not too stressed. I've been getting a fair amount of studying done lately and I think I'll be all ready for it...

Except maybe for secured transactions... I need to do a lot more work for that class. And maybe commercial transactions too.... hmm....

Anyway March will be finished in about 43 minutes and then it'll officially be exam month.... and then FOUR MONTHS OFF... I should probably figure out what I'm going to do during that time. I'm still in the "ideas" stage of planning it all out, but I'll keep ya posted on how that's going. Here are some more ideas:

1. Make a lot of money playing online poker. I've haven't actually played before but it can't be that hard to win a ton of cash...
2. Write some episodes of Grey's Anatomy for next year and sell them to ABC
3. Be a mime on Granville Island

So really, even though I didn't get a job at a firm this summer, there are plenty of options out there...

Some pics from a Saturday afternoon in late March...

I was out taking some pictures last Saturday... I loaded them all in reverse order by accident and I'm too lazy to change the order so do me a favor.... go to the bottom and scroll up because that's the beginning of this post.

Ok so this is the last picture... the North Shore from Jericho Beach.

This was a bit more of a closeup.... but not much more. That shape over the water is a kite or a sail or something... I don't know actually. Getting... sick... of... writing... captions...

So in this one I went wayyyy down to Jericho Beach to take some pictures of downtown and the North Shore. It was still pretty windy and cool out so there weren't a lot of people, but there were a lot of wind catching things in the air...

West End/Yaletown, Burrard Street Bridge...

This is the dog beach, which was surprisingly emptly... dogs love the beach...

Another city shot from the Kits Beach Area...

This is an old boat... I liked it so here it is. I tried to get as much city as possible out of the picture as possible... so... with the exception of some North Shore in the far background, it looks like it could be anywhere.

Still Kits Beach, but this time we're looking at the West End over on the north side of False Creek. For the non Vancouverites, False Creek isn't really a creek... it's just an incropping of ocean (sorry I don't know geography terms) that the explorers thought was a creek at first. They eventually realized it wasn't, and that's why it's called False Creek.

Saturday, March 25, 2006 at Kits Beach. Even though it was semi warm everywhere else, there was a lot of wind blowing in off the ocean and the beach was cold. Hence the lack of people...

Questions and answers...

My cousin in law Sherry sent me one of those email question things and I seized the opportunity to turn it into something I could post. Why? Because most of the time, I have nothing interesting to say. Interview format is a lot easier. So thanks for the email question thing Sherry.

By the way, can I say cousin in law? Should I just say cousin? I don't know... anyway here it is:


62 QUESTIONS (actually 61 because there's no question 57)...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds. Big ones that I can sell and start to climb out of debt

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Brokeback Mountain… um… yeah

4. What is your favourite TV show? It’s a tie: Grey’s Anatomy and Invasion

5. What did you have for breakfast? Protein powder and some fat burners

6. What is your middle name(s)? Procrastination… As in, “procrastination is my middle name”

7. What is your favourite cuisine? Pizza with pepperoni, feta, and bacon

8. What foods do you dislike? Mushrooms and olives, which are manufactured and distributed by the devil himself

9. Your favourite Potato chip? Salt and vinegar!!

10. What is your favourite CD at the moment? CD… everything I listen to on the ‘ol iPod is kinda random. But lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Instant Funk, Barry White, and the Go-Go’s

11. What kind of car do you drive? I had a Chevy S10 but I sold it the summer before law school so I could buy this laptop…

12. Favourite sandwich? In a perfect world where I could eat anything? Sourdough bread, mayo, mustard, roast beef, onions, and cheddar. In reality… multigrain, turkey, mustard, onions and lettuce

13. What characteristics do you despise? Ignorance and a lack of compassion

14. Favourite item of clothing? Shorts, because they’re worn in SUMMER

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia!!

16. What color is your bathroom? Blue

17. Favourite brand of clothing? Favorite BRAND? I don’t know… I probably have more clothes from American Eagle and Old Navy than from anywhere else

18. Where would you want to retire to? Palm Springs, California. Countdown to retirement: 33 years, 4 months, 26 days, 19 hours and 31 minutes. That’s 12,201 days, 19 hours, and 31 minutes. It’s also 292,843 hours and 31 minutes, or, to make it simpler, 17,570,611 minutes. By the way, that’s 1,054,236,660 seconds

19. Favourite time of day? I think the 7pm hour is very underrated. The hard part of the day is over and the good part is just starting… it’s a happy happy time

20. Where were you born? Mission, BC

21. Favourite sport to watch? Hockey

22. Who do you least expect to send this back? Well, seeing this is on my blog and therefore anybody with a computer could read it I guess anyone with a computer could send me a response. But I think I’d least expect one from the Dali Lama. He’s a busy guy and I can’t see him sitting around reading blogs

23. Person you expect to send it back first? Definitely Goldie Hawn. She seems fun. I’ll let you know how that goes

24. What laundry detergent do you use? Tide with Febreze, which is the same answer Sherry put on the copy of this she sent me… what are the chances??

25. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Pepsi Lime

26. Are you a morning person or night owl? I don’t mind mornings if I’ve had enough sleep but I’m definitely the type that will stay up all night if I can get away with it… so I have to say night person

27. What size shoe do you wear? 10

28. Do you have pets? Pets?! Yeah right, I can barely keep my plants alive. Wait… do plants count?

29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Yeah, only one week of classes and four exams between me and FOUR MONTHS OFF

30. What did you want to be when you were little? When I was six I had to answer that question on a school assignment… I wrote down baseball player and cowboy. That’s interesting because I don’t remember being interested in baseball OR cowboying…

31. Favourite Candy Bar? Take Five, because it’s got caramel, chocolate and pretzels. Yeah pretzels… truly amazing

32. What is your best childhood memory? It would be hard to pick one… I think it might be the Christmas where I got four He-Man figures AND Castle Grayskull all at once. That was a great day. Oh and when we went to Disneyland when I was 9. That was good too

33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Museum and research positions, Best Western, Princess Cruises, Little Caesars, a couple video stores, a million restaurants…and maybe someday a legal career if I can make it through one more year of law school

34. What colour underwear are you wearing? Gray

35. Nicknames: I don’t think I have any…

36. Piercing? Two in my left ear. Every few years I put one in for a few weeks. For some reason they never close over…

37.Eye Color? Blue

38. Ever been to Africa? Not really… I saw it from the ship but I didn’t go ashore

39. Ever been toilet papering? D’oh! No...

40. Ever love someone so much it made you cry? Have I ever cried because I love someone a lot? I don’t think so… well, not sober anyway

41. Been in a car accident? Yeah two car accidents but no injuries

42. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons

43. Favourite day of the week? Friday… or Saturday

44. Favourite restaurant? White Spot. Don’t Laugh. Also I like the Great Wall… the one on Denman… not the one in China

45. Favourite flower? Any flower that comes early so I know winter is ending

46. Favourite ice cream? Rose flavor… yeah it sounds weird but it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted… it really tastes like roses but it’s awesome

47. Disney or Warner Brothers? Um… whoever made Back to the Future and Halloween

48. Favourite fast food restaurant? ¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!

49. What color is your bedroom carpet? Off white I think… I can’t really tell

50. How many times did you fail your driver's test? BC learners never, California learners once, road test never

51. Before this one, from whom did you get your last email? UBC… boring huh?

52. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Best Buy (plasma screen!!) or Ikea

53. What do you do most often when you are bored? Lie on the couch with my laptop on my lap and the TV on

54. Bedtime? Usually between midnight and 2… unless I have to get up early

55. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? Hmm… I’d have to say George W. Bush (if he even responds)… I’m especially interested in his answers to questions 3, 22, 25, 34, 35, 36 and 40

56. Last person you went to dinner with? Does “went” mean I actually had to leave my apartment? In that case Darren. Sushi. Last Friday.

58. What are you listening to right now? The traffic on Fir and on 12^th. This is actually one of the rare times when there’s no music playing and the TV isn’t on

59. What is your favourite color? Blue

60. Lake, Ocean or river? Hmm…. Ocean I think… but lake is good

61. How many tattoos do you have? None. I was going to but I could never decide what or where…

62. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Wikipedia calls this a causality dilemma. I can see their point. It’s like the causality loop thing where a man goes back in time and murders his father before his father meets his mother. If his father is dead then time traveler guy can’t be conceived and will never exist. But if he never exists then he can’t go back in time and kill his father. And it goes around and around like that… Okay maybe the chicken thing isn’t like that. But yeah, the question should be, what tastes better, the chicken or the egg? And I’m going to have to say chicken on that one.

Personal Touch Banking!

Long story, but today I was looking through a PDF copy of the Ubyssey from October 16, 1980. For those of you who aren't UBC students (ok and for some of you who are UBC students), the Ubyssey is one of the UBC newspapers. I found this on page 8:

All I can say is... wow. The indroduction of the common ATM machine right here on page 8. At eighteen Lower Mainland Locations. I especially like the part where they explain the "personal security code."

I miss hot dog day...

Right now I'm starving. Well, not actually starving, but really hungry. It's at times like this that I think about hot dog day. When I was in elementary school we had hot dog day every so often and I don't remember there being a lot of choice: It was all about hot dogs, donuts, and milk. I think with the milk we could have regular or chocolate. Whatever, it doesn't matter. The point is, I've never come accross another hot dog that tastes as good as the ones they sold on hot dog day.

As I sit here in secured transactions at 12:08, with only two minutes til the end of class, I can't help but wish today was hot dog day.

Top 10 Earth Wind & Fire Songs

1. September
2. After The Love Has Gone
3. Boogie Wonderland
4. Let's Groove
5. Saturday Night
6. Fantasy
7. Shining Star
8. Got To Get You Into My Life
9. Sing A Song
10. Getaway

The birthday card safety zone...

I noticed something funny when I was out looking for a birthday card for my brother Rick today. Well, actually the thing I noticed isn't funny, but that's the point and the fact that it's not funny is, in itself, funny. Generally, if the person you're buying a card for has made it through their mid 20s, birthday cards provide an easy opportunity to make fun of their age. Take, for example, the card I bought my brother for his 37th birthday: Something to the effect of being careful about laughing because one false move at that age and the bladder will give out. Ok ok yeah not so funny when you read it here, but if I could remember the words on the card it would be a lot better. Anyway that's not the point...

The point is, you can find a card making fun of someone's age whether they're turning 25 or 55. I mean, I don't really think Rick is old... I would have bought him the same card if he'd been turning 32, 28, whatever. And the fact is, if you get a card bugging you about your age, you're still within what I like to call the birthday card safety zone. Because there comes a time when you're so old that even birthday cards stop making fun of you. That's when you have to take a step back and say yeah, ok, now I'm old. Seriously. On the front of one card I saw, it said: "God has a special birthday message for you inside this card!" so I open the card and it says "See you soon!" Funny enough, sure, and you can give a card like that to someone who is in good health and turning 40, 50, 60, etc. But you just don't give it to someone who's turning 90 because by then the time for jokes has passed.

After making this initial observation, I decided to go through the cards with ages printed on them to try and determine when being old stops being funny. 60? Funny. 65? 70? Funny and still funny. 75? The magic number! No longer funny. 80, 85, 90, 95, 100.... not funny at all. If the selection in the store I was at is a reliable example of the standard birthday card selection, they stop making cards at 100, so if you make it past there, not only will you cease to get funny cards but you will also cease to get store printed cards with your age on them. It's either going to be generic or hand made. What kind of message does that send to someone who has lasted on this planet for more than a century? Certainly not a humorous one.

So the moral of the story is, if you're still getting cards that make fun of your age, you're within the safety zone. It's when things get serious that you need to watch out.

My friend Matt recently took this picture... I think it was in Pennsylvania but I can't really remember. Anyway, it's funny. 

Summer is coming... and I have nothing to do

Ok, March 15. Three weeks of classes after this week followed by 4 exams spread out over another three weeks after that. All said, the pressure isn't like it was last term, mostly because last term I had 3 papers to write and this term I don't have any. Well... I have one memo but it won't take too long to write. Memos are better than research papers. Less sources... and Lexis makes it a lot easier. So the memo is scheduled for the weekend after next, and aside from that I just have to study for finals and try to go to my classes (which is harder than it sounds).

My last final is on April 27 and after that... well... I really have nothing to do til classes start again in September. An old old old friend is visiting from Italy between April 26 and May 15... aaaaaand that's about it. No summer job to speak of at this point. My plan is pretty much to go to the gym, hang out at the beach if the weather's decent, and do some reading. I might work on restoring a trunk I bought a couple years ago at an estate sale... and I might organize some pictures that I've been trying to scan since 1996.

I do have a nagging feeling that it would be good to make some money.... at least enough so I don't have to put my rent on the line of credit. With that in mind, I thought of some options:

1. Join a band and go on tour
2. Enter contests until I win enough to pay rent
3. Write a best selling novel
4. Pull a "Secret of my Success" type switch and take on a high level executive position for the summer

But if none of those things work out, I'm going to stick with my original plan of doing nothing. It'll be my last chance to do nothing until I retire in the late 30s, which is a long time from now. 2039 to be exact... maybe sooner if I make good money. I did try the contest thing when I had some down time in 1999, but as it turns out, entering all those contests was too much work. But I'm a lot more motivated these days.

March: The November of Spring

March is the November of the spring term. Papers are coming due, volunteer stuff is winding down, the social life is grinding to a halt... all in preparation for finals. Because April is coming, and April is the December of the spring term. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'm saying it now: I don't know how time goes so fast. What the hell happened to January and February?