Straddling the Line of Normalcy

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you've probably come to know me fairly well. You know that my life is a relatively average one that doesn't differ too drastic from other peoples' my age. As I write this, I'm simultaneously enjoying/mourning the last Pez from my Incredible Hulk dispenser, listening to Ben Folds Five's classic debut record, coaching someone through a wireless router setup, and reading an article about how scientists have created indestructible robot forearms. It's not exactly glamourous stuff, but c'est la vie. That said, sometimes chance has it that my life veers from the path of normalcy, and I get treated to unexpected pleasures. It's always nice when that happens, but the laws of averages say that if something good happens, something bad has to happen to set me back on course. The past few days illustrate the principal nicely, so why don't we just jump into a story.

After all, at the rate technology is progressing, we're going to have T-101s hunting us down in the robot apocalypse soon enough, and this will all be a moot point anyway.

The End of an Age

I got in our van and made my way down the all-too-familiar path to the sushi restaurant today, distraught yet excited at the same time. I hadn't made the decision yet, but it had been a long time coming now-- maybe I was fooling myself in thinking that the option to turn back existed at all. One rendezvous with my buddy Stefan later, I found myself seated opposite him, staring down at a wicker basket of shrimp and calamari tempura. As I deftly wielded my chopsticks with the seasoned hand that only comes from years of sushi adoration, I picked up a piece of the squid. The moment felt like an eternity, yet was over before I knew it: I took a bite of the familiar favourite, and after eleven days of fierce vegetarian competition, I had conceded to my rival Lana.

I think I should set the record straight, however. I feel like I could have gone on longer in the competition (see my previous post for details on our vegetarian challenge), but I decided to throw in the towel because it seemed like Lana had no intention of giving up any time soon. I honestly didn't mind not eating meat during my time as a vegetarian, but life seemed a little boring without it. The other factor in my decision to concede was that I really wasn't going about being a vegetarian the right way. While Lana had done her research on balancing nutrients and taking supplements, I was just eating a lot of eggs and cheese. It got to the point that I was sure that my new diet of non-meat was much more unhealthy than my old one that had meat.

We fought a good fight, but it looks like dinner's going to be on me this time. Lana was happy to hear that the challenge was over when I chatted with her earlier today (her friends thanked me for "giving them their friend back"), so it looks like things are back to normal. To my vegetarian brother-from-another-mother Steve, who placed a bet on me winning, I apologize for my resignation. We had a fun time being vegetarians together, but the dream is coming crashing down now.

But it's on to bigger and better things now anyway! After all, that picture of a rabbit for Jackie Chan's Chinese New Year contest isn't going to draw itself. Ciao for now, readers!

My Descent Into Madness

Well, the holidays are over; no surer sign of that than heading back to school and driving by the Christmas Tree graveyard in the parking lot of the mall. The snow is continuing to fall, but it somehow isn't quite as endearing as it was last month. These early winter months have a tendency to be drab due to the weather and because we get back into our routines again, so I've decided to try something new to spice up my own life. It's not a New Years resolution, more like a willing descent into madness; as of the 3rd, I've been a vegetarian.

vegetarian
- noun

A person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.

Though I prefer Urban Dictionary's definition:

vegetarian
- noun

A bad hunter. Someone who survives by consuming not food, but the stuff that food eats.

I enjoy meat. A medium-rare steak. A grilled burger. Sushi rolls. Tempura shrimp. Barbecue chicken. The list goes on. For me, it's not even so much the taste of the meat, fish or poultry; I enjoy the act of cooking itself (or more often, the act of watching cooking), and a large part of this is the variety of ways that meat can be prepared. If you strip the meat out of a meal, you are usually left with something pretty uninteresting in my opinion. For a similar reason, it's also just a lot harder to come up with meals without a central meat to base them around (trust me, as I've been doing this all week-- with the help of my adoring mom). No longer can you just choose a meat and pair some agreeable sides with it-- you have to rethink the entire process of constructing the meal.

So why am I doing this again?

My Top 50 Favourite Records of 2010

Excuse the lengthy hiatus between posts. Would you believe that I have been agonizing over putting this list together so much that the madness consumed me wholly, leaving you (my intrepid reader) entertainmentless?

No?

Well, in truth, it is a crazy time of year, and between finishing up assignments and exams for school, and getting some last-minute Christmas shopping in, my brain wasn't really feeling up to writing extracurricularly for a while. But I'm past all that now, and I have the post that you've all been waiting for: a thorough list of my favourite records from the past year.

I joked earlier, but in a way, I have been paralyzed by this list. I began my process by ranking all of the albums I listened to this year (that were from 2010) in order from favourite to least favourite. Each new entry in the list was placed relative to other entries, and so the list grew. Instead of presenting those findings in their entirety, I narrowed the list down to a Top 50 (since all the cool kids are doing Top 50 lists anyway, right?). All of this was fairly easy to do, but placing the top ten entries (and even more so, the top five) has proven to be quite a challenge for me. Even now as I write this, I have a list whose top ten is still in flux… Only I will know its arrangement for sure when I hit the "Publish Post" button later this evening.

Why I Love Winter; Or, a Love Letter to Canada

"Is he having an identity crisis? Didn't he just write a blog post called 'Why I Hate Winter'?"

It reminds me of when Leonard Nimoy released his second autobiography, "I Am Spock." Twenty years earlier, his original book ("I Am Not Spock") came out to fan outrage because people felt as if Nimoy was somehow turning his back on the character he played on the popular television show Star Trek. This was in fact not the case at all, but to set things right, he deliberately chose a contradictory name for his second autobiography to rectify the misconception.

Now, do I hate winter? No. As a child, I loved all the pleasures that are associated with it: tobogganing, building snowmen, snowball fights, etc. Naturally, as we age, these activities become outdated, but there are still things I enjoy about the season. Things like snow days. Things like candy cane hot chocolate at Tim Horton's. Things like watching the snow collect outside from inside a warm house. Most of all though, I think I enjoy the association that snow has with Canada.

Why I Hate Winter; Or, There is No Such Thing as Altruism

Winter hit big last night.

I woke up this morning and was greeted with a good couple feet of snow on the porch and driveway. The few peers I have that are up that early on a Monday were busy flooding Facebook with questions about whether the university was having a snow day. Whispering a silent prayer, I logged on to Western's site to be greeted with the unapologetic headline, "University remains open." (Edit: Oh sure, now they cancel classes.)

Except it didn't even matter in the end, because after waiting thirty minutes at my bus stop for a late bus (after trudging through the unplowed roads and sidewalk to get there), I decided to turn back around and call it a lost cause. Upon discovering that I was now locked out of my house, and no one else was awake yet inside, I undertook the arduous task of shovelling the driveway instead.

Shovelling used to be more bearable when my brother still lived at home. Sure, his sense of what constitutes "half" of the driveway was always askew, but at least he was out there with me in that icy hell. Nowadays it's just me and my thoughts, and those thoughts are often soured by the old people at the end of our court.

It just so happens that we have a lot of retired old people populating the circle at the end of the road. While I have nothing but bile for a huge snow like we had last night, it's as if it is what those people live for. They congregate and laugh about it, and they do so much too early in the morning. They start up their snowblowers and clear their driveways. Then they begin their systematic clearing of neighbours' drives.

This is the part I hate most.

My November Playlist

I thought it would be fun to put up a monthly playlist of what I'm listening to at the moment so you can share in my enjoyment. After all, walking on campus with earbuds in is a pretty solitary experience, but listening to music doesn't have to be! I've got a good mix for you this November; you can download it here, and I'll list the tracks and a bit about them below:

1. When They Fight, They Fight by Generationals: Catchy song full of throwback instrumentation and vocal style.
2. Living in America by Dom: This is how you use synthesizer in 2010!
3. DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake by Art Brut: I've been listening to this record like crazy lately. Punchy bass punctuates witty lyrics.
4. Clawing Out at the Walls by Dominant Legs: Chill track that kind of reminds me of Talking Heads.
5. Gorgeous by Kanye West: His newest record wasn't my favourite, but this track has a hell of a hook.
6. Miami by Foals: I like this guy's voice.
7. Walking Far From Home by Iron & Wine: His first release off his upcoming 2011 record; it's a departure from his traditional style, but I really like the new direction.
8. Your Soul and Mine by Gil Scott-Heron: Industrial beat mixed with Scott-Heron's engrossing spoken lyrics.
9. Eyesore by Women: My friend Stefan raves about this record. While I'm not sure I'm sold on it yet, this track is pretty damn great. Great way to end the record, so I cribbed it to end my playlist as well!

Disclaimer: These MP3s are purely for sampling purposes, and if you like the music, you should support the artists somehow. If you own the rights to any of the music posted on my blog and want it removed, simply let me me know, and I will comply 100%.

Hope you guys dig it! More music posts to come as I begin deliberations on my Top 2010 Records list. :)