Monthly Archive: March 2005

Warm weather

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Tue. March 29, 2005

Today we have a high of 15°C, which is damn decent. I chose to drive over to a fast food place for lunch today. On the way, it was refreshing to see so many people outside enjoying the sunshine. Office people were going for walks. High school people in their school uniforms were enjoying McFlurries as that walked down the sidewalk in slacks and kilts. Joggers were out in full tilt stretching their calves in between bursts of activity. It was all very great to see.

I feel like my family has been trying to hurry the warm weather along. This past weekend, my mother insisted that we barbecue some steaks, despite it being a bit chilly outside (above freezing, at least). There is absolutely nothing like grilled meat. God, how I had missed the taste of properly done steak.

I love cooler weather, no doubt. However, knowing that it’s spring again lightens my mood and lets me know that I’m still alive despite any hardships and worries that I may have.

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Still the King of Pain

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Sun. March 27, 2005

First of all, to all those who celebrate, Happy Easter!

In church, as part of today’s mass, we were asked to renew our baptismal vows. During the whole renewal, there was the kid somewhere in the crowd who chose that time to have a tantrum of some sort, yelling “NOOOOOO, mommy…NOOOOOO!”. I found in interesting because it was timed right with the priest’s incantations.

“Do you reject Satan…”
“NOOOOOO!”

I had to hold back a bit of laughter, and I could tell a few people around me were thinking the same thing because eyes were shifting around looking at the crowd surrounding them.

Anyway, it’s been a few days since I wrote my last entry. In that time, my shoulder pains have gotten a hell of a lot worse. On Friday morning, I woke up at 4 in the morning with a horrible stabbing pain in my shoulder. It was so bad that I couldn’t turn over. Wtih my other arm, I pulled the pillow from under my head in an attempt to ease the pain. However, it didn’t help at all. I was now totally flat on the bed, wanting to get up, but unable to do so, feeling almost as if something was pushing me into the bed. I think, for a few seconds, my breathing became a bit shallow. I guess I was sort of in a state of panic. Honestly, I felt totally paralyzed. I managed to calm down eventually, and with tremendous effort I managed to pull myself up.

I took an Advil in the hopes that it would go away. It didn’t help at all. I was still sleepy, so I just decided to lie back down. Lying down was just as painful as trying to get up. I made it down onto my side, still in a lot of pain, but I was tired enough to fall asleep again. Unfortunately, even as I lay still, I would wake up every few minutes because of sudden spasms in my shoulder or neck.

I swear, it was like someone was sticking big pins into my back or shoulder. Makes me think some bastard out there has some voodoo doll of sorts.

Throughout the day, it hurt to walk, it hurt to sit on the couch. Basically, it hurt to exist. Advil wasn’t helping. Neither was Tylenol. On the Tylenol bottle it says that it is dangerous to exceed 8 tablets within a 24 hour period. What kind of crap is that? If I take 2 tablets every 4 hours, that mean I’ll have met my quota in 12 hours (do the math). That’s rotten!

On Saturday, I had my usual appointment at the acupuncture clinic, but this time the focus was all on my shoulder. She was very agressive about it all. After all the needles, she performed glass cupping which involved heating glass cups and placing them on my skin, causing a great deal of suction. She left the cups on for a few minutes before removing them. I wasn’t painful (not really), but it left these large red circles all over my shoulders and neck. It’s a bit unsightly, but it’s not like I’m going around shirtless anytime soon.

The treatment helped. The pain in my shoulder was decreased a great deal. My neck was still stiff though. That help[ed me realize why Friday morning was particularly bad. My neck muscles and should muscles spasmed and contracted against each other with every movement, causing the severe pain I was feeling.

Today, the pain was pretty bad in the morning, but right now it’s tolerable. I’m in no mood to go to work tomorrow, because I’m still really stiff and feeling like crap. What a horrible way to spend Easter, eh? I’ve spent much of my time trying to get rest. What now?

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King of Pain

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Thu. March 24, 2005

I woke up this morning in a great deal of pain. Ever since that trip to Animecon 2005, my right shoulder has been a bit uncomfortable. Last night, I must have slept in some awkward position, because when I woke up the discomfort was amplified several times over into full fledged aching. It hurts to turn or bend my head. Sudden movements of my right arm cause me to wince. It’s not pleasant.

The bus ride in wasn’t too great for me pain. The drivers I got were weaving in and out of the right lane much more than was necessary. They also made jerky stops causing my body to lurch forward. The movement was painful.

Luckily, tomorrow is a holiday in Canada, so I’ll have a bit more time to rest and get my shoulder back into a less painful state.

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Take my green onions!

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Mon. March 21, 2005

Back on Friday, I was resigned to thinking that my weekend was going to be just another average one with me staying home doing very little. Luckily, I got into a chat session with Lisa before the end of the work day. By the end, my plans had totally changed. Lisa and a few of her friends were heading out to Toronto Animecon 2005. I decided to tag along.

The event was being held out at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. No one wanted to drive downtown, so we parked at Don Mills station and took the subway down to Union. Along with Lisa were Dave and JP, both of whom I got along with really well. When we got off, we started walking towards the place. The big tip off that we were headed in the right direction was when we spotted some people in costume. Also taking place at the Centre were and Art Expo as well as a get together for the Church of Scientology. I think there may be a punch line somewhere in there, but I’m not feeling creative enough to reach for it.

On the way in, we spotted a teen dressed up as a moogle. I wanted to pat her red pom-pom, which was attached with a spring, making it really cool. I also saw a character from Yu Yu Hakusho. Some guy was dressed up as Mario. There were lots of Naruto characters. I saw a trio of Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis. A pair went as the Nurse and Police Officer from Pokemon. There was also some guy as Ash. I saw two Squalls. One was alright, while the other was slinging his belts way too low, making him look a bit ridiculous. There was a pair of Yunas that went together. One was the summoning Yuna, while the other was the gunner Yuna. I think a Tonberry was travelling with them as well. Oh, and there was a Witch Hunter Robin person, who looked pretty cool. There was an Utena somewhere in the crowd, too.

Overall, I was surprised at how few people were cosplaying. Somehow I was expecting seas and seas of people in ill-fitting costumes. That wasn’t the case though. I was also expecting a larger dealer room. When the four of us saw the room, we were a bit shocked. The room wasn’t tiny, but we were just expecting to see so much more stuff. That’s not to say that I didn’t get much. I ended up spending a lot of cash in there. I bought the DVD set for Excel Saga, as well as Volumes 1-5 of the Utena manga. I bought them at the beginning of the day, so by day’s end my shoulders were aching.

There was a room that was showing a few episodes from several anime series. First we saw was Cromartie High School. The four of us were in agreement that the series was pretty unfunny. Maybe something got lost in translation? Dunno. We saw the series Gantz, which was pretty odd, but cool. When we walked into the room, we came in to a scene were a dog was trying to lick a naked female. Don’t ask me. I have no clue. I’m intrigued by the series. I’m curious to see what exploding people, students getting hit by subway trains, and aliens that are crying “take my green onions!” all have to do with each other. The series Peace Maker was shown next. I became very interested in the series from the three episodes we saw. It may find its way onto my acquisition list soon enough. Mezzo – DSA was shown after Peace Maker. I’ve seen Mezzo Forte in the past, which was an OVA, so I know the characters somewhat. The TV series seemed…a bit disjoint. There was a small undeveloped plot that seemed to tie the two episodes I saw together, but nothing is driving me to want to see the rest of the episodes to see how the plot plays out. Lastly, we saw Fighting Spirit, which is a boxing anime. The series does a good job of making the character very endearing right from the beginning. You can’t help but cheer for the kid being bullied. I’m interested in seeing the rest of the series, but JP tells me there are about 70+ episodes. That’d take a lot of effort.

Day ended with “Cosplay Idol” which allowed people to show off their costumes. It was cringe worhty at best. There was one guy who started singing like it was American Idol. Hey organizers, way to explain the concept.

Overall, a good time was had by all. I’m glad I had a chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m appreciative that I’ve met new friendly faces. Most of all, I’m glad that this past weekend didn’t consist of just sitting on my ass at home.

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Canadensis Hadeanus

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Thu. March 17, 2005

Canadensis Hadeanus

Over at the Genvid and Dies Gaudii Forums that I frequent, Ian, who knows Latin rather well, has been making avatars out of images that people have been making using eLouai’s Candybar Doll Maker. Upon seeing other people’s creations, I decided to join in. Below is my attempt at creating a doll with my likeness.

Meh. In particular, I think the leather jacket and gloves is a good match for myself. Other than that, I kind of don’t like how it’s so bloody skinny. I’ve got more bulk than this thing that looks like it’s in desperate need of a sandwich.

Anyway, on a whim, I guess Ian decided to make avatars out of the images with Latin titles pertaining to the person. I wasn’t going to ask for one, but he created one for me anyway, which was unexpected, but cool nonetheless.

The title he gave me was “Canadensis Hadeanus” or, the Canadian Hadean. It comes from my forum handle, Hades Impact (duh!) and the fact I’m Canadian (DUH!).

Anyway, just thought I’d post it all here. I might add the avatar to the rotation of images I have on the right…which reminds me, I should take more pictures so I can add to the rotating avatar set.

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The path has been laid

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Tue. March 15, 2005

My online enrollment appointment started yesterday at about 3pm. As soon as time rolled around, I jumped onto the enrollment site and started putting in my choices. I’ve been in a dilemma ever since exams finished last term over which 4A ECE courses I want to take. In my previous entry I listed the following:

ECE 309 Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
ECE 411 Digital Communications
ECE 413 Digital Signal Processing
ECE 418 Communication Networks
ECE 431 Radio Frequency Microelectronics
ECE 438 Digital Integrated Circuits
ECE 454 Distributed and Network Computing
ECE 457 Applied Artificial Intelligence
ECE 488 Multivariable Control Systems

It’s been tough, but I was able to narrow down my choices.

The 10s series courses (like 411, 413) tend to be heavy on the math aspects. I took ECE 318 (Communications Systems) last term and didn’t enjoy it all that much. There was a lot of mathematical clutter that my mind just didn’t want to take in. When I took the time to sit down and read through things, I realized that there were really only a few key concepts that I needed to know how to do, and the rest of it was just there for deeper understanding. By then though, I had a full dislike of the course. If I wanted to go into cell phone and wireless communication fields after graduating, the 10s courses would be essential. In my case, I hadn’t given those fields all that much thought. So, that’s that.

The 30s series courses deal heavily with hardware related details. In the past, I chose to take ECE 231, and ECE 332. I learned about transistors, semiconductors and other really low level components and concepts. I have to say that the courses were a bit interesting, if only because of the hands on labs that accompanied the courses. The thing is, my marks were low in both courses. I barely made it out of 332. So, perhaps it’s a sign that it’s just not something I’m meant to do, you know? I was seriously considering taking the DIgital IC course, ECE 438. The fact that I work in a semiconductor company right now was pushing that idea. The thing is, it’s a lab course, and that doesn’t sit well with me.

There are two lab courses in the list above: ECE 457, and ECE 438. I’m fully intending on taking the AI course (one of the few sure picks I had). As such, I didn’t feel like taking on the only other lab course. Labs are generally overly time consuming. I didn’t want to add more stress than I needed to in this upcoming term.

That leaves 454, and 488. I’m not considering 309 because a heat dynamics course doesn’t interest me–I hear it’s heavy on Calculus, which is BAD. I hear that Distributed Networks is a relatively easy course, except for the fact that it has too many programming assignments. Meh, I don’t mind programming all that much. 488 is a controls course. My last controls course, ECE 380, was tough for me. My lowest mark for last term was from that course. So, why would I take another controls course? Well, from what I hear, the prof teaching it is an excellent teacher. He reportedly reteaches everything in 380 within the first two weeks, all while making the material much easier to understand. That all sounds extremely promising.

So that’s that. My last non-ECE elective was chosen to be PSYCH 101. I’ve been interested in taking the course for a while, and since the other courses I wanted aren’t going to be available during the spring term, I chose to take this one now.

I hear that this term will be easy. Hope people are right.

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Gone before I get home

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Mon. March 14, 2005

My mother and aunt will be leaving this evening on a Greyhound bound for New York City. I guess I failed to explain, but my grandmother isn’t an immediate relative. She was my mother’s father’s sister. Nonetheless, she was really the only grandmother I ever knew. I don’t know much about my father’s parents, and my mother’s mother died before I was born. So, that left her as the elderly female figure in my life. Being that she lived in New York/New Jersey, I didn’t get to see her all that often. Before this past year, the last time I saw her was when I went to Cape Cod, which was…1998? I think? It’s been a while.

She was still strong back then. On my last visit, it kind of hurt to see her bedridden. Her children–my aunts and uncles–took very good care of her. She was loved right to very last moment.

Now that I think about it, the last time I talked to her, or saw her with my own eyes was right after the New Year’s Day ball dropped in New York. We were all greeting each other when we decided to go up as a group. Relatives behind me were warning my not to slip and crush her under my weight. I know it was in jest…but…that kind of hurt. I kissed her on her forehead wishing her a happy new year.

By next morning, she was being wheeled away on a stretcher to the ER because of dangerously low blood sugar levels.

So, I’m here at work, thinking about her, and wishing I could go with my mom and aunt to see the rest of the family. However, as a co-op I’m in no position to leave. By the time I get home, my mom will most likely be gone and won’t be back for a week. I hope they have a safe trip.

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Memories of a life now passed

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Sun. March 13, 2005

I consider myself fortunate in that I haven’t had to deal with many deaths of close relatives. In fact, the only death of someone close that I’ve had to deal with was my grandfather’s death in 1997. My uncle had gone back home from Libya to the Philippines prior to that day to celebrate with the rest of the family there. When he arrived, my grandfather was happy to have him home and was said to have said something cryptic to the effect of “Now I can go home, too”. He died shortly after. It happened on Christmas Day, at 3 pm.

It hit us rough because we got the call in Brampton early in the morning, just before we were about to head out for Christmas morning mass. All I can remember upon hearing the news was looking at myself in the mirror starting to tear up. Since that was my first death in the family, I wasn’t sure how to act. Lord, I can only imagine how my mother was feeling at the time.

So, it’s been years since I’ve had to deal with such feelings. Today, I received a phone call from one of my aunts in New York. She informed us that my grandmother passed away earlier today. I wrote a while back that I was happy to see her when I visited earlier this year. She still remembered me clearly. When I heard of her passing, I immediately thought back to when she grabbed onto my hand firmly, telling me how I had grown so big. The last time she had seen me was when I was in my mid teens. Indeed, it was a long time.

All in the past now.

I’m comforted a bit by the fact that it wasn’t sudden. I hear she was already at peace with the fact that she was nearing the end. I wonder how her immediate family are dealing with it all. I wish I was there to comfort and be comforted.

I need sleep.

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