PSP 3.40 OEA

Aside: This is my first post on WordPress. It’s fitting that it’s got to do with looks, because I think this new page is looking pretty hot with the Blix theme (and my own header image). I can’t edit my CSS on the standard, free web version but with themes as clean and functional as these, it’s not a big deal.

I’ve been killing it on my custom firmware for the past month or so and honestly, I don’t understand how people can get by without it. I mean, yeah, the standard come-with Sony firmwares are fine and all (not to mention pretty) but there’s just so much you can do (i.e. not very much at all) in terms of customization. I mean, you can change the hue of the icons/ shadows/ text and the image used as a background but that’s about as far as it goes when it comes to the basic Sony-brand firmware. I’ve yet to install my own theme yet but I intend to once my PSP is done charging (I have a tendency to be a complete battery whore). So, did I brick up?

Why I Prefer Tuesdays

“Lucky Star” episodes are subbed (thanks yous a.f.k.!) and available for viewing (read: torrent lovin’) every Tuesday (at least, that’s what I’ve been told and I don’t bother checking on Monday night). This series, although consisting mostly of conversation between a group of teenage Japanese schoolgirls, just does it for me. I don’t know whether this is a schoolgirl-fetish in the making or just the fact that this show is so different from the other stuff I like to watch (see Mythbusters, The Colbert Report, and anything conspiracy fanatical).
Last week’s tribute to otaku and anime convention behavior was a real laugh for me because I sort of identify with that kind of stuff. Have you seen my Gundam collection? What about my Yu-Gi-Oh card collection (before they got steal-ded)? I’ve always wanted to go to Anime North and maybe I will next year if I can get veterans (Queenie and Joshua, I’m looking at you guys) to take me there so I don’t get spawn-pwn’t.
This week’s episode was also quite good (not as funny as last week’s IMO) but I simply loved the ending video that played during the credits. I even uploaded a copy (and I hope it doesn’t get taken down since it’s not my content). It’s Minoru Shiraishi, a male voice actor/minor character from the show, singing (and karate-ing) to “Hare Hare Yukai” from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (yes, the “Haruhi-Dance” song). Here’s the original song and dance from the anime too.

A "Do Whatever the Hell I Want" Badge

I went and saw Transformers the Movie today with Allen at the Famous Players/Cineplex at… I don’t know exactly, but I think it was around Yonge and something to the north. Anyway, it turned out to be a rather good movie for someone who is a fan (but not hardcore fan) of the stuff. Al had lukewarm thoughts about it all but that’s because he was more of the die hard fan. Anyway, I didn’t do anything else much today except go home afterwards and just relax in the comfort and the companionship of my trusty radiation bombarding computer set up. I chowed down on a few Bagel Bites and they weren’t half bad so I’ll have the other ones tomorrow for lunch. I’m still looking forward to practices for LoaH and retreat this Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Speaking of movies, I got around to watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week and there’s something about Emma Watson’s look that I just can’t place. She’s definitely not ugly or anything, but I just can’t decide conclusively whether she’s got a delicately amiable or ever so slightly annoying face. I mean, her character’s hair (I’m not even going to attempt spelling the actual name for you off of memory) Hermione is, by nature, quite a put-off, what with being long-ish and frizzy. But the rest of her (as in the way she looks, acts, and speaks) doesn’t really bug me all that much (I’d always imagined her character Hermione to be a real know-it-all while reading the book). At least, that’s how I felt until near the middle or so of the Goblet of Fire. That one shot of her all dressed up for the ball settled it for me: not annoying looking.
I also spent a good chunk of my evening listening to a lecture/workshop given by John Piper about living by faith in future grace. I regret to say that I had been slightly distracted while listening for the latter half of the message so I didn’t catch all the little gritty bits as I normally like doing but the general gist was quite stirring to say the least. I’m not even going to attempt paraphrasing or summarizing the message. If you’ve got the longing and craving for it, check it out for yourself here (whereas the larger set of links and pages of his work can be found here). It’s cool stuff to me, but in random bursts at best. Too much of a good thing (in this case, over-saturation with new ideas on divine matters) too fast is probably not the best–cramming such things all at once proves to be a bad way to really reflect, consider, discern, and internalize well and properly.

God’s Jackpot

I don’t mean to associate God with gambling or anything but today’s date is exactly all made up of sevens — 07.07.07 — and I think it’s also strangely fitting to have my 490th post on such a day (490 = 7 x 70 of course). Seeing as how seven is supposedly God’s number, I figured today would be a holy jackpot of sorts… I don’t really have anything specific I want to talk about so I suppose I’ll write about my comings and goings of late.
As mentioned before, I decided to write about one Clive Staples Lewis for a pretty big paper. To date, I’ve read all of “The Magician’s Nephew” and approximately thirty-four pages of “The Pilgrim’s Regress” which is a bit of strange book to say the least. It’s not a novel or narrative per se. It is sort of like an allegorical story but on crack where everything is very obviously representative of something else, and dabbling heavily in Christian and Biblical themes. It’s a slower read than “The Magician’s Nephew” — the likes of which I thoroughly enjoyed, mind you.
After reading just the first book of “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, I’ve grown quite fond of Lewis’ writing style and quirky humour. I’m beginning to understand why he’s so admired by so many people. It has something to do, I think, with his almost childlike demeanor in viewing, constructing, and describing his ideas.
Anyway, this coming week is looking packed with LoaH and Summer Retreat practices and I’m quite looking forward to them. IMO the best part about serving in a musical capacity is the practice and fellowship time I get to have with my peers/teammates. I mean, playing and actually leading is exhilarating too, but I don’t really take more joy in that part than one should (since it’s leading and not soaking that I’m supposed to be doing). LoaH songs are sounding pretty good for the most part after our intense practice the other day — Eric (vocals and guitar), Stephen (drums), Adwin (electric guitar), and I (bass) practiced without Melissa Kwan (second vocals) this Thursday morning for three hours. Retreat worship is also looking pretty good so far, but that is to be expected with the competent leadership of mainly Katherine and Gabriel. I think playing my bass in these kinds of settings is pretty much the best part of my summers nowadays. With no job (part-time or otherwise) in sight, I’m going to make playing my summer (pre)occupation for this year pretty much.
My aunt and uncle (Monique and Jock respectively) are over from the states with their young son, Philip. Before you go “Haha, sucker!” because of the addition of an extra young’un (my sister + Philip = 2 little and potentially annoying kids) in my vicinity, I want to sneer at you because with Philip here, my sister is officially sleeping over for the duration of their trip. And with them (my aunt, uncle, and cousin) staying with my grandparents, I am virtually un-childbearing. This means I can do all the things I couldn’t do at home (with my sister around) before, like leave my stuff out without fear of annihilation and play with my more dangerous toys (like my totally hot Zippo and… I don’t have any other violent toys actually). Of course, this liberation comes at the price of having my aunt and uncle randomly coming over to borrow my wireless Internets… That leads to me thinking “GTFO my Internets before I telegib you.” but saying “Hi, welcome! Feel free to use it as you please.”

Gotta Love It

Oh the fun times never end when you’ve got weed… Gotta heart weed. I’ve never had any myself, mostly because I’ve yet to contract a serious and extremely painful medical condition or had the urge to blast my teenage brain to hell and back in a shopping cart (why aspire to what’s already been done?).

I blurred out everything since I need creeps prying into my private life like I need aneurisms. It’s not to hide the name of a secret pen pal or anything sinister like that though.

Let the games begin!

My last exam went down not without a hitch yesterday. What can I say, Math is a beast. It wasn’t difficult for the most part, I just did not know the formula for one of the questions at all which meant I spent a lot of time recreating the formula from scratch. The rest of it was fun. Anyway, English was also pretty smooth but I’m sure Olsheski will find one or two spelling mistakes worth >25% of deduction.

I spent a good two or three (if you include the morning session both the exam) hours playing Tekken yesterday as a sort of preemptive strike on summer, getting the juices flowing early. Of course, I don’t plan on playing games all summer… Here’s my unofficial to-do list of summer 2007:

• start/do/finish insurance classes for driving
• learn to drive from an instructor
• work on my extended essay
• read up on C. S. Lewis’ life (biographies)
• read works by C. S. Lewis (novels, apologetics, etc…)
• get in contact with an English professor at Tyndale who will be speaking about exactly what I’m writing about (sweet!)
• go downtown to Burrito Boyz with some friends from school for a feeding frenzy
• get a lot of practicing done for retreat worship
• get a crackin’ on reading through Romans twenty times**
• watch each and every installment of Lucky Star to come out
• rest and relaxation
• finish off the third season of House and get caught up with Arrested Development
• make some more shirts
• (to be announced once I figure it out/think of it)

** I did 1 Peter until around… seventeen times before I chickened out.

info @ the P.Pole 06.20.07

I don’t know why I need to stay up so late but I don’t have anything tomorrow (actually it’s today since it’s 1:30 am).
When I was small, I watched one too many vampire movies and a Discovery Channel special that either disproved or confirmed various urban legends. Their final chilling piece was about vampires and, calling all other urban legends false, the program actually cited real, unexplained cases of what seemed to be vampires roaming the night, hospitals, and whatnot. Needless to say, I was mortified at the thought that a reliable source would confirm my greatest fear, that something out there was out to get me (specifically, get at my neck) and had sharp teeth to boot. Perhaps that explained why for the subsequent years of my life I could not walk through a dark hallway or room without first pausing to weigh the risks and flipping on the light switch whenever possible. I seriously could not take myself around even remotely dark or shadowy places.
I remember one habit of mine was to look over my shoulder every so often and especially right before starting to brush my teeth to check for said vampires. As a foolish child I would look intently at the mirror as I brushed at the spot just above my right shoulder, waiting for something to jump at me from behind. I have since then grown up and I no longer check in the mirror for vampires. Want to know my secret? Well, as one grows up, one learns to overcome one’s own fears, gaining wisdom and rationality. In my case, I grew up and learned that vampires don’t appear in mirrors, which is why it is futile to look for them in mirrors. What a fool I was.
If one were to come at me today, I’d be ready with my beloved wooden Katana (which serves as a stake of sorts I imagine) and my mostly fit physical stature (don’t look at my hips, they really don’t lie). I’ve been preparing mentally for just such an encounter all my life, practically, ever since I decided years ago that I would not allow myself to be run by my fears of something I’ve yet to meet. I’m totally prepared for an attack by a vampire. Either I kick his ass or he bites mine. What’s the worst that could happen? So I get bitten and turn into a vampire, big deal. Now I’ve got an eternity to get revenge and scope out the wicked-awesome fempires lurking around… It’s either bragging rights or undead superpowers. This is what we call a win-win situation.
Of course, I never much bothered thinking on the possibility that the one to attack me might turn out to be a fempire to start… Now that’s an interesting one. Would I even bother fighting back? I mean, winning a fight like that would be like beating up a girl (something I’d readily do in Tekken but not in real life… not again anyway). And I mean, if she wants to bite me that badly I ought to be a gentleman about it and let her have her way with me. A woman’s got to satisfy her cravings right? It’s the only noble thing to do when you think about it.
Now I’m off to bed before my insane nocturnal patterns make you suspicious of my secret night-prowling life… Blah! I vant to suck your blood!

info @ the P.Pole 05.27.07

Today I woke up with a sharp pain in my right wrist. It felt like the tendon was off or something (like a cracked knuckle gone wrong, if you know what that feels like). I thought it was nothing but I soon found out my grandfather had actually fallen and broken–i.e. completely snapped–his wrist. i think the radius was what snapped. Anyway, this was, without a doubt, many times worse than my fractured wrist in grade eight. I think it was sympathy pains that I was feeling.
The whole family headed for Scarborough Grace Hospital and had him admitted. During the time that I would’ve otherwise spent at church, I kept my grandfather company as he went through the normal paces of a hospital patient. It was particularly sickening (yet undeniably cool) to watch the doctor and nurse literally pull my grandfather’s wrist apart (lengthwise, don’t be scared) and put it back together. What was awesome was that my grandfather took it like a man and never made a sound. Or maybe the localized freezing was just that good… Either way, it looked Fing painful. Cool and painful.
That was my morning. I’m sure my grandfather’s going to be okay (he’s home now, probably watching TV). What was awesome was that moments after getting it wrapped in a cast my he started swinging his arm around exclaiming “Hey! It doesn’t hurt anymore. Let’s go home.” I think that doctor did too good of a job freezing the arm.

French SL Papers 1 and 2

It’s been almost twelve hours since I finished my last IB exam paper for this year and I’m still pretty exuberant about it all.

Paper 1
Section A

• There were a whole slew of short readings. The first one was about Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Quebec and their various populations of francophones. The second had to do with some crackpot lady’s trip to the capital of Niger. The third one had to do with a woman who crossed the ocean in a single-person boat–how did she go to bathroom (not a perv-question btw)? And the last had to do with plastic bags and their effects on the appearance of the countryside, wildlife, and future waste management problems.
• There were also corresponding short answer type questions, including matching the correct endings to beginnings of sentences, matching the right synonym to vocab words taken from the text, and true/false + justification from the text type questions. Those were mostly easy and I’m sure I killed them all (with the exception of one tricky vocab word that I couldn’t place until after I handed the paper in). “There’s only one real answer and you can find it in there.”

Section B

• A short writing task of at least 100 words where one had to write an article or argumentative essay that would go into the school newspaper citing the problems associated with using plastic bags for many daily purposes (NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES IN CONSUMPTION!).
• I remembered reading over the format/structure (worth a third of the mark for writing assignments for IB) of “les discours” in particular (I just had a gut feeling it’d be handy) and so I was well versed in how to write in this style. You’re supposed to use exaggeration (OMG t3h b49s 4r3 4tt4ck1n9!), emotion (think of the dolphins and turtles!), and humour (plastic bags are like people with disgusting perfumes, they’re grossness lingers even after they’re gone) to prove/argue my points. So I did. I even came up with the title “L’attaque des sacs!” for my “discours” and I’m actually pretty proud of coming up with that on the spot (and in French, no less).
• I also used (and slightly abused) idiomatic expressions which score big style points with IB. I’m such a nerd.

Paper 2
For paper 2 we were to choose one task from the 4 (or so) given and carry it out writing at least 250 words and using the writing style appropriate to the task (eg: essay, official letter, informal letter, guide, report, journal entry, etc…). Obviously each type of writing has its own quirks, pros, and cons. I took on the first task.
Question 1
Write a page of your personal journal describing your decision to move in with three of your friends and the difficulties of living together.

• I wrote down on my scrap piece of paper all the things I could remember about each of the different styles needed in the tasks mentioned, and I just ended up knowing more (than nothing!) about journal entries than the rest of the formats. I also didn’t feel like writing another essay.
• So I started out by drafting my introduction on scrap (I had 1 hour and 30 minutes to write >250 words so I took my time), mentioning how much I regretted my decision to move in with the three friends.
• In my first body paragraph I talked about Joe. Joe is my imaginary friend from grade school and he’s a big social butterfly. He also likes to bring home strangers and leave them all over the place without warning, so I wrote about how nervous it made me to come home to a random “inconnu” in my room. Perhaps an agreeable stranger (there’s only one way to find out!), but a stranger nonetheless.
• Then I talked about Tina, the studious Chinese (implied, not directly mentioned) immigrant who is a complete slacker at home. I complained about how she did all her work from school but never bothered to clean stuff. Frustrating!
• Last was Gordo. With a name like that, you can’t be surprised that he’s the one who eats all the food. I whined about him eating the food I put in the “frigo” (I hope they like slang in journal entries). “DAMNIT GORDO!” I actually ended this paragraph off with the sentence “ZUT!” which, FYI, means “DAMN!” and not “F*CK!”
• In my conclusion I pined on and on about how I’ve got to be more understanding of people (not entirely untrue for my real life friends/acquaintances) and less impatient. I also mentioned, in a rather emo fashion, that no one would like to be my friend otherwise…

And that was my IB French SL exam! Done within a total of almost 4 hours (7:30 – ~11:30 am). I’m really glad I went to Shivon’s place yesterday to review. I also really don’t think I would’ve done as well if his father, during the ride they gave me back home, hadn’t challenged me by telling me to think of “someone with average intelligence” as my model to follow. He’s a wise guy. “Expect the unexpected. You never know what will happen the next day. No one knows who will die tomorrow.” And so I went home and frantically reviewed (but not too frantically) and rested up. Now I’m dead tired and totally satisfied with my performance in the past few days.

Note: You might be wondering why I chose to remember these details from my exams and write them up. It’s not because I think most people with find it interesting. It’s my way of being done with the anxiety of these exams for good and recording them for future reference/nostalgia. IB exams come once in a lifetime. Savour the nerdiness.

info @ the P.Pole 04.05.07

Click for a funny comic my friend from school sent me, titled “Free Your Mind.”
Today Oscar De La Hoya faced off against Floyd Mayweather in what was supposed to be the fight of all fights. I’m not a boxing fan but I got all hyped up from watching the pre-match banter on TSN. Either way, I’m kinda wishing I had pay-per-view so I could’ve watched it…

In other news, I went to see my doctor today to get a physical and to get some medical advice. I don’t know if you know (which you probably should unless you’re blind) but I’ve got quite the acne problem. At first my doctor thought it had to do mainly with stress and relatives thought it had to do with diet. My mom thought it was because I have busy (and I guess bacteria-infested) hands that pick and claw at my face. It turns out, from my doctor’s medical opinion, that my skin problems are a result of firstly, lots of testosterone in my system and reinforced by poor sleeping habits–to be interpreted as “Carl, you’ve got bad skin because you’re just too man.” Sweet deal, doc. I get to have a cool excuse for having really nasty skin… Does this count as making lemonade from life’s lemons? And who doesn’t want to just crush those lemons?

EDIT: It turns out TSN might actually broadcast the fight, meaning I’ll get my fill of violence tonight apart from raping the computer characters in Tekken with Kazuya.