please retain this guide for future reference

and then somebody said

if someone is still single at this age, it means there's something wrong with them.

i wonder if thats true....hahahaha

funny, she doesn't look druish

sometimes i wonder if getting a job is the worst thing we can do.

everyone i talk to seems to be scared to death of graduating and not working. of not being able to make money, or not being sucessful in the material sense.

there's just so much world out there.

graduate....get a job right away, sit in an office 9-5 everyday, 5 days a week. doesn't that seem like you're kind of sacrificing life for money? and sure, you could argue that money *is* life, but i'm pretty sure most of us know deep down nothings that trite.

life to me seems more the pursuit of purpose. of meaning. of doing what you were born to do, doing it well, and enjoying it.

maybe i'm just rationalizing my impending unemployed status, but i'd rather work at starbucks for a year and find what makes me tick than sit in an office for 30 years always wishing i had done more with myself.

refrigerate after opening

a scene from my upcoming feature film debut: "the sword in the stoned"

an lcd alarm clock blinks 12 as a hand reaches out to hit the snooze button. pan out to young asian female in bed, struggling to wake up in the morning. it is still not entirely bright outside

the phone rings, and she frustrantingly gropes around her desk, feeling for the phone with her hands until she at last finds it and groggily answers

*a raspy and ominous male voice appears on the line*

"hello?"
"your breakfast is burning"
"what?"
"your eggs are overcooked"
"who is this?"
"your toast is nearly black"
"what are you talking about?"

suspciously, the girl becomes more awake, sitting up as the conversation continues to confuse and frighten her

"your pancakes are soggy"
"i have to go now...."

*brief pause in conversation*

"is this allison?"
"no..."
"oh, what number is this?"
"417-9872"
"oh...i meant to dial 9782"
"oh. yea, thats not me"
"i'm so sorry about that. boy, is my face red"
"it happens"
"well, uh....good bye then"
"yup, later"

and so the plot thickens......

will the mystery caller find allison? will the girl in bed ever get up? IS SOMEONE'S BREAKFAST REALLY RUINED?

all this and more, coming summer 2005.

"I was fortunate to have the talent ... you get spoiled when you're able to do a lot of things. You see that you don't have to work at it."

vince carter

here's a familiar sight to toronto basketball fans. vince carter, rolling around on the ground, acting like a soccer player aspiring for a daytime emmy.

"next on our tour of toronto is the cn tower, situated beside the slightly dated but instantly recognizable skydome. these twin landmarks have become staples of the toronto landscape over the years, appearing in various movies and television shows.

and if you'll look to your right, there's vince carter pretending to be injured again. lets all give him a big wave folks!

now if you'll follow me, we'll soon be entering union station, where...."

watching this team over the last 5 years, i'm so used to seeing carter go down it isn't even a worrying sight anymore. usually when you see an injury during a sporting event, your first thought is is usually -- boy, i hope he's ok.

but not with vince. ohhhh no. with vince, it so gradually and frustratingly became -- again? whatever man. what a wanker.

and so, he came to resent the city. the team. the "haters" who called him soft, lazy, uninspired, and scared to step up and lead his team. instead of taking that challenge right in the face and proving his doubters wrong, he decided he wanted to run away.

this confession -- that he wasn't trying his best in toronto. it's the kind of thing that makes a fan want to run onto the court and bitch-slap a man so badly you'd think he kicked your momma.

so often people can't take the pressure of being a role model. what do you tell the kids who looked up to him? to the fans who supported him for the first oh.....four years of injury plagued half-assed effort? how do you expect your peers to respect you not only as a player -- but as a man, when you admit you're not trying your best when you're paid millions of dollars to play a game millions play for sheer love of the sport?

and then i thought -- well. isn't there a little bit of vince carter in all of us?

how often have i -- as a student, as a christian, as a boyfriend, as a son, as a friend -- not given it my all? how many times can i recall that i've made excuses, been lazy, and not put my best efforts into whats in front of me?

too many to count.

but i can't be mad at him. i can't point fingers and lay blame. all i can do is pity him, because of the moral that he teaches myself, and hopefully, so many other people in the world.

i can just look at him and think: now that -- that's everything i never want to be like.

i hope i'm sucessful.

the combination is: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

i thought maybe i'd start spring cleaning a bit early this year. hope its too everyone's liking. i've already been told my winter motif for the message board is unappreciated, haha (you know who you are!!...)

but i digress.

enjoy the update, and lets all wonder aloud whether i'm actually up this early, or if i stayed up all night. the actual answer may surprise you....

2005: where are the hover boards and auto-lacing shoes?

Try to get some rest,
count backward from ten.

You've gone too long without sleep
I know you can't rest stressed, so give up.
Don't say no to pills,
Ativin won't kill.

You said, 'My life's like a bad movie,'
I said, 'That's true of all us.'

You said, 'I've got to wake up so fucking early,'
I said, 'Maybe the director's turned on us.'

- minus the bear

~

5 songs that demand your best air drumming performance:

1) weezer - only in dreams
2) nirvana - lithium
3) foo fighters - everlong
4) the get up kids - i'm a loner dottie, a rebel
5) jimi hendrix - fire

~

- site update to come soon. hopefully before i have to start getting work to do this term

- i'm going to be making some cd's for those of you whom i haven't yet given a cd (meaning everyone. and cam, if you want you can have another)

fan participation

i will need the following things from you via email if you were part of the cd exchange:

- your 3 favourite songs
- your mailing address if i don't already have it

self-imposed censorship

the tragic consequences of an overly exposed web journal -- everyone reads it. is "everyone" really the audience we want? even if it limits our outlet for creative and emotional catharsis?

christmas time is upon us once again, and i must say i don't feel particularly festive at the moment. i just feel....tired. i have things i have to do, errands to run, people to see. but all i want to do is sleep. and that's saying a lot considering i slept 9 hours already last night.

yet, there's nothing more depressing then having nothing going on.

i can honestly say that's my biggest fear in life -- to have nothing of significance in my life, to not have anything to live for, no reason to wake up in the morning (afternoon).

ok, time to run some errands. the days are too short, the nights are too long. that's what happens when you wake up at 2 in the afteroon.

the new......yau

i have no idea what kind of dog s/he is. but my brother says the name is bailey. soooo, i assume it's a boy. i want to play with him, but i'm too lazy to visit them. oh the dillema.

i wonder if they named him or got him with a name already, apparently they drove all the way down to the states to pick him up. he looks like this little porcelain dog my mom used to have in the basement of our house.

the "evil" dog from the old didomi kung-fu movie we made, hahahaha

moon river, wider than a mile

describing lebron james' performance so far this season:

"'It's like he is playing ahead of everyone else,' says Cavaliers point guard Jeff McInnis. 'He sees everything and knows what to do. It's like, you play PlayStation against him on the plane, and he is the same way. He knows what is coming, and he beats you.'"

that's HILLARIOUS, hahahaha

anyways, i'm free, and i'm going to play some ball to start the day.

mmmmm....christmas....

t-minus: 1 day....

i don't actually know what i'll do when i get home.

but boy am i going to enjoy it.

2 down, 1 to go

in one week i'll be back in toronto.

one.....more......week.....

in other news, i wonder if thinking of and giving gift ideas is a skill?

are there GOOD gift givers and BAD gift givers?

i wonder what people consider me.

don't answer that.

1 down, 2 to go

whoever invented the term paper should be shot.

internal dialogues: part duex

welcome to another episode of identity crisis simon. full of memorable moments like:

- the time he forgot he taped his glasses up
- the time his parents dressed him up as a girl
- the time he said he'd be a good student

in today's installment, the plot thicken as simon weighs the pros and cons of taking a nap in the midst of his heavy end of term work load.

i want to take a nap...but i shouldn't, because i know when i wake up it's going to be friday morning.

i guess i could set my alarm...

ah, who am i kidding, that never works. stay awake and work it is. but boy, i sure don't wanna work. i'm not even all that sure what it is i'm suppose to do, except i know it's already late. hmmmm....maybe it's time to drop out and start that band i've always wanted to start.....

maybe i'll eat something. or maybe i'll play some games. maybe i'll watch a bit of tv.....i did four pages of reading, i deserve a break.

i wonder how my basketball pool's doing....hm....

i wonder if other people spend as much time online as me. people need to update their blogs more often. i'm getting bored of reading the same thing hour after hour waiting for comments so i can show how clever and witty i am with my little quirky jabs.

i wonder why no one has commented on my new picture.

i wonder how often people actually visit my site. wouldn't it be strange if someone read my site as often as i read everyone elses?

man, i should get back to work. but there's so many gift ideas to share my input about. but i'm too lazy to post in all the forums. man. this gift thing is hard. we should all give each other a nice slap on the behind and be done with it.

why aren't i working? if i work for the next 4 hours, i'll be able to space it out pretty well after my dinner break and hopefully get this thing done by tomorrow afternoon. hm...or i might fall asleep. i bet i'm gonna fall asleep.

crap, i better not fall asleep.

man, i'm sleepy.

i should blog, i haven't blogged in a while.

la da di, la da da, la da di di da da da

there are some things where you see it, and you think

"this....is what the internet was invented for"

come clean

blissfully ignorant

so to continue dustin's blog chain....

(A) First, recommend to me:
1. a movie:
2. a book:
3. a musical artist, song, or album:

(B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.

(C) Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything.

go banana!

ESPN.com - NBA - Fists, objects fly near end of Pacers-Pistons

clearly, the hi-lite of the still young 04/05 NBA season. simply...AWESOME.

as for the ramifications. well.....i have none of these players in my pool, but -- suspensions = big minutes for jamal tinsley! woohoo!

eau de source

Project Foil

this. is. hillarious.

dolphins and peas both travel in pods

Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Benjamin Disraeli

sometimes i wonder if we don't sell ourselves short with pre-concieved notions of who we are to be -- ignoring all the way, who we really are, and who we could be if we let ourselves.

achoo.

so...i'm sniffling and coughing and sneezing and stuffed up.

but hey -- today's a good day. why? because....i got the penny out of my steering wheel!

stupid things to do: play with coins near the gaps in your steering wheel.

consequences: penny falls between airbag and steering column

result: embaressing jingly noise every time the wheel is turned, as well as as unfortunate side effect of coin-initiated horn activation.

everywhere i drive my horn spontaneously goes off. for no reason. and i can't turn it off.

but yes. this afternoon i managed to pull the blasted penny out of my steering wheel with a little help from a pen, and some resourcefulness from my inner macguyver.

score: simon 1, sherman's passat 0

weeeeeekend

i've decided to just suggest an album for people to look into. why? because i think we all need to expand our musical horizons.

so if you want me to suggest something i think you might like, just post a comment and i'll reply with my personalized suggestions for you.

also, i swear my cd is done. i just need to burn them. it's constantly evolving as well.....so if i give people a cd two weeks apart, they'll probably be a bit different.

here's a sample of what's been on my playlist the past few days:
(not that anyone cares)

[artist] - [album]

\ And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart
\ Brian Wilson - Smile
\ Radio Dept - Lesser Matters
\ Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song
\ Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
\ Owen - I Do Perceive
\ The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
\ The Appleseed Cast - Two Conversations

so who wants to play "suggest me a cd"? it's tons of fun!