the day the music died (or had a heart attack, anyway)
Date: Wednesday, January 28th 2004
Feeling...: a little restless. I enjoy snow but when I'm actually outside, not sitting inside just looking at it.
Listening to: "I Try" by Macy Gray...and remembering sitting on our cabin porch belting this out in our raspiest voices (much to the dismay of our hangover-afflicted neighbors)
Excitement brewing over: Montreal, baby...especially after going to this website
Concerned about: erm..how about..sleep-deprivation due to excitement over Montreal? (it's becoming a legitimate concern..)
People/things that made me smile: my dog, grovelling because he shat on the mat in front of his bed last night. wait wait...let me rephrase that. It's not the fact that he shat that made me smile, it's just really cute the way he apologizes when he knows he's done something wrong
New thing(s) I�ve learned: the way Americans go about choosing their Democratic presidential candidate seems so unnecessarily complicated...I can't even really explain it here, cause half the process doesn't make sense to me. Trust Canada to have simplified everything (or at least to copy a country who has).
On My Mind:nothing particularly interesting right now. I think I'm spending too much time indoors. I need some cold, fresh (relatively speaking) air to get those neurons working again.
Additional witty comments (heh heh heh): First things first, I have officially conquered the calculus exam (moohoohahaahaahaaahaaaahaaaaaa!!) I got a 74% on the exam, which made my overall mark a 77%, which in turn made me very, very happy :) I could've probably done even better had I not been working so much throughout December, but in the end it doesn't count for anything, just my own personal satisfaction and I'm quite content with a 77%. It sure as hell beats the 30-something I was getting at A.Y.

Regarding the title for this entry, I received some rather sad news from Carly the other day...Mr. Albert, our strings teacher at Zion Heights, had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. I suppose, given the facts that he was rather old and frail, and in a perpetual state of motion, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It just...spoils the whole mystery surrounding the guy. He was like the father in "Big Fish" - never gave you any credible details about his family or his life outside of school, but was always ready with a fantastic story about some point in his self-proclaimed century of living. An unremarkable man to look at, always dressed in the same over-sized navy blue shirt and grey pants, completed by black running shoes from Honest Ed's (he once told us about how he would go there every year, buy six pairs of the same shoes dirt cheap, and they'd last him 'till the next year). Skinny, scruffy, some people thought he was dirty but I remember the day he was showing us how to hold a violin properly and I noticed his hands and nails were well-manicured. To most students he was just eccentric, old Mr. Albert, but to me he was one of the most fascinating people I'd ever met. You could ask him anything - anything at all - and if he didn't know the answer he'd make up something so believable and wonderful you wouldn't know the difference, or care either because this was way more interesting. I only had him as a teacher for house unit in grade 9 (15 minutes at the beginning of every day, to take attendance etc.) but of the very few things I've ever regretted, not taking strings was one of them. Instead for two years I was stuck in the band room playing that stupid, smelly clarinet with mean Ms. Fung (never liked her, but thought it was the ultimate poetic justice when I found out a couple of years later that she was going deaf). I just can't imagine him in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV with his family standing around, deciding he should stop teaching finally and stay home, the occasional cleaning lady stopping by to vacuum and make him a sandwich. It simply seems too ordinary for him...

happy belated New Year, faithful Pandywaffers :)
Date: Wednesday, January 15th
Feeling...: stretchy, after 11 hours of much-needed sleep last night...I think my spine is actually elongated, I feel *taller*
Listening to: "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" by the Beatles
Excitement brewing over: travelling...I don't have any substantial details on anything, but it looks like the next few months will be filled with trips to the moon (or at least Montreal, anyway)
Concerned about: money, money, money...I suddenly realized just how much I've spent since I started working and now I'm counting every penny
People/things that made me smile: my dog's new oufit (more on that in a bit)
New thing(s) I�ve learned: you know how everyone says salmon is so good for you? Well apparently they're just now realizing that most of the salmon available in the supermarket doesn't come from the ocean, but rather from farms in which the fish are bred in overcrowded tanks and pumped full off antibiotics to fend of disease - which we then consume along with the actual meat. They estimate that it's only safe for us to eat farmed salmon about once a month - which is also about as often as one would probably enjoy fresh Atlantic salmon, given the average cost of the stuff...
On My Mind:I've been thinking a lot about homelessness, because I have to go downtown twice a week for night school and because it's been so bitterly cold recently. The odd thing is that so often, given the choice between spending a night freezing outdoors and staying at a shelter, the obvious choice isn't necessarily the shelter. I'm not going to rant about how the rich should valiantly give up everything they've worked for (yes, worked, because I do believe that most of the time - Paris Hilton is a blatant exception - the status of your wealth is directly proportionate to how much of your life you put into your labour)and write a couple of big fat cheques to the United Way...but every time I hear that they've issued another "extreme cold weather" warning I wonder how many of those poor folks out there won't make it...
Additional witty comments (heh heh heh): Okay so...now that that last bit has put a damper on things...back to Budd's new outfit heh heh heh. Up until recently it hadn't been that cold so it wasn't such a big deal, but I knew eventually it would freeze up and then he'd be in trouble. All through last winter whenever I took him out, after about two minutes he'd suddenly go really still and he'd lift one paw up and start to cry because the cold hurt him so much...it was truly pathetic. So this year we decided something had to be done, and after being tipped off about a sale at PJ's Pet Center by Rocko the Pug and his owner, we bought him a pair of MuttLuks - or rather, two pairs heh heh heh. (Isn't that an adorable name for dog booties...see the Inuit wear super-insulated snow shoes which they call mukluks, so this is like Inuit shoes - for mutts :D ) They're quite possibly the best thing we've ever bought him...they're quite stylish - they come complete with a reflective strip on the top...as if anyone could possibly see his feet that low down lol - and it took him a couple of wears to get used to them but now he gets so excited whenever he sees them cause it means he's going frolicking in the snow. He gallops around the house after we've put them on and outside he clip-clops like a horse as his padded little paws hit the pavement. It's just the cutest thing...and it's good for him, not so much like when I dressed him up as the Phantom of the Opera for a grade 6 project on Andrew Lloyd Webber heh heh heh...

In other news...my calc exam is rapidly approaching (5 days including today *eek*) and I just can't wait to get it over with. I've gotten to that point again where I'm just so incredibly sick of trudging down there twice a week for marks which I might not even really need...though at least I'm not working as much anymore cause it was definitely worse when I'd leave the house at 8:30, be at Resto from 9-5, then go to night school, and not get home 'till 10:45 at night. Not that I'm complaining or anything...

One last thing, which I found rather amusing...I was watching "The Majestic" with my family the other night (great movie, by the way...similar to "Man on the Moon" in that Jim Carey exhibited his phenomenal acting ability without having to contort his face into wild grimaces every five minutes)and in one pivotal scene, where the father is laying on his death bed (I didn't ruin anything, don't worry...the point of the movie is far beyond who ends up dying) I noticed something in the background which I hadn't been expecting...As he uttered his last words and tears could be seen in Carey's eyes, I exclaimed: "That's our lamp! We sell that lamp at Restoration - it's called the Mika Beanpot. Isn't it adorable?" For some reason my family didn't seem to find it as exciting as I did...