can't think of a title.

um, so does anyone else feel like Harper got away with one the other day? not just me I hope?

whatever, I'm not going to get in to it. no. what's more important is the fact that I somehow managed to get my photo essay shot. all 108 pictures, exactly.

are they great? no.
are they good? probably not.
will I pass? probably. and really, isn't that what school's all about; teaching you just enough to get that first job, where you really start to learn what you need to know.

now just because most of my photo essay pictures are crap, that doesn't mean I don't know how to hold a camera and take a good picture. as proof, I submit for your approval "Nathan Phillips Square at night."

...and for those of you keeping track, that's now an album on facebook and a blog entry dedicated entirely to the promotion of my ego...err, my picture. yeah, my picture. not my ego. no, never that.

oh, and this one looks way better full size, so maybe click on it to enlarge a little. ignore the noise, I wanted it. if you don't like it then I guess we can't be friends anymore.

briefly...

Dear Mr. Harper

Just 'cause you were elected with more seats in October does not, in fact, mean that the majority of Canadians want you as their Prime Minister. I know that could be hard to grasp, but the fact is that you only had something like 36% of the vote. You know what that means? That means that 74% of Canadians didn't want you to be Prime Minister. The vast majority of Canadians didn't vote for you. Isn't that weird?

Also, Canada is a Parliamentary democracy. Now I will agree with you that it has been the case historically that the party with the most seats in Parliament will form the government. But when you screw up as badly as you did (with a minority government no less!) you should know that it is within the power of the opposition parties to approach the Governor General with a viable alternative to your government. It is not a coup d'etat, as you seem to believe. That would be illegal. This isn't. This is completely legal, and it's happened a few times in the history of this country.

You've proven in the past that you don't care one iota for the regular joe in Canada. While in office you've wanted to advance your own agenda, damn the consequences. Sometimes I wonder if you even like Canada...

I find it a little odd, and very telling, that you tried to eliminate public funding to political parties when you knew full-well that the Liberals (and perhaps the NDP) are horribly in debt after the debacle that was the last Federal election. The fact that your party is swimming in money probably had nothing to do with it...

I don't even want to get in to the ineptitude that was your "economic update." The rest of the world is reeling and you sit back with that laissez-faire attitude. Guess what...that's exactly what caused the huge collapse in the United States that you love so much. Wouldn't it be better to take action now, with a relatively small stimulus, than to sit with your thumb up your ass while fear and doubt wreaks havoc on our country? I don't know, I'm not an economist. But neither are you.

I bet you $12 you don't want to die.

I have to get this off my chest: I went to the One of a Kind Craft Show. Admittedly it wasn't entirely by choice, more by necessity, but I was there. I hope no one thinks less of me.

so yeah, for the most part it was pretty boring, but there were two booths where I spent the majority of my time taking pictures. though you'll only see pictures from one of them. I was an idiot and totally deleted half of the pictures I took yesterday (after i handed the assignment thankfully). I'm kind of upset actually. Some of those deleted pictures turned out really well. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

But I digress. The reason I'm writing this post is to put out the word. To all the (maybe) three people that read this thing. there was a dude at the show who basically stole my heart. He had the most twisted and interesting imagination of any person I've ever met.

He makes these little creatures called Nugs. Typically, he works a boring office job during the day, then once he's at home he starts playing around with his polymer based modeling clay. when he's done he comes up with creatures that almost defy description. hence the pictures. that's all you get for now, my mind is still blown.

I wish I'd bought one.

procrastination

instead of writing my big feature story that's due on monday, I'm writing this.

you should thank me. it means I still care. or rather, it means I don't care enough about writing the big story, especially since I'm not entirely sure of my angle right now.

doesn't matter. I'm here now and you probably think I should entertain you. I mean let's face it: if you're reading this blog, it probably means you should be doing something else as well, but you came here because a) you don't care b) you really don't care or c) you just need a break but are too lazy to get away from your desk.

clearly it's c.

so where does that bring us you ask? well nowhere of course. because I still have nothing interesting going on...well that's not entirely true I suppose.

went to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (that's all capitals people, that's how important it was) and did an assignment for imaging. 2 (or two, CP style rules I guess) assignments rather. it was a little interesting. especially when some french farmers (read: country hicks) were making fun of me (and mike I suppose) for being tourists. okay, I know taking 36 pictures of a dude shaving a moo-cow is a little odd, but do you honestly think a tourist would care that much? come on people. I see moo-cows every day. hell, I went to Moo U, I practically shared classes with 'em.

anyway, it doesn't matter. but enjoy the picture nonetheless.

it's odd, this dude shaves the moos professionally. like, farms pay him to come in and style the moos so they look all pretty before they're auctioned off to the highest bidder.

and before you ask, the cow's name is Ballerine. she's competing(?) in the senior calf category. she didn't have much to say to me though. and again before you ask, she isn't being eaten unless she can't get knocked up. that's the point of the auction. to get cows laid.

so really, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is like one giant whore-house.

(maybe I should give back the media pass before I make fun...?)

nothing to report

seriously. nothing new to report.

but I haven't forgotten about you. here's a picture. random, has nothing to do with anything, but it made me laugh pretty hard.

my super original costume idea

so here it is, easily the best costume idea for hallowe'en this year (or any other year in the history of hallowe'en). no one else could possibly pull this one off, even if they do manage to think of it. so get ready folks, 'cause this year I'm going as Heath Ledger's Joker!

damn right. I bet I'll be the only one clever enough to think of this costume, what with Batman being such an overlooked and under-appreciated film...

you know, I honestly didn't expect to see that many Jokers on hallowe'en because I figured most people would be like me and assume that 84 million other dudes would have a similar idea. but nope. that wasn't the case. we had an over-under set at 6, and I actually thought I'd only see 4 jokers all night (and that's after seeing 5 at the UC for trick-or-eat). well I was off.


waaaaaaaay off.

I'm pretty sure that at no point in the entire evening was there NOT a joker in my field of vision. we'd walk around a corner and BAM! there's a joker. walk away from that dude and KA-PLOW! another one. in every line, at every bar, there were at least 3 separate and distinct joker costumes. some were good, some were bad, most were at least okay, but I'm sure they all felt like total dinks when they saw 84 million dudes in the same outfit.

and since it's probably wrong of me to make fun of other people's costumes while sit on my high horse, I did in fact dress up. it wasn't my idea, but at least I was the only version.

for the record, I was a contestant on the price is right. if I find a picture, I'll put it up so you can all bask in my glory.





(or make fun of me, I really don't care either way.)

the decline of western society?

what the hell is with the (american) media's obsession of giving every celebrity couple a two syllable nickname? and more importantly...why the hell can't I have one? I mean sure, I'm not famous or anything (outside of my own delusional mind anyway), but what the hell makes TomKat or HayLo so special? yeah, that second one I just learned watching heroes. so what? wouldn't life be way cooler if we all had two syllable nicknames? I think so.

so with that in mind (and knowing full well that giving oneself one's own nickname is the lamest of the lame), I'd like to christen myself (and kaiser...)...


...


...I'm not sure you guys are ready for this one yet...


...prepare to be rocked...

...


killsy. yup. that's kaya + willsy = killsy. pretty sweet eh?

ps. Ignore my shit-eating grin. I'm sitting second row. It's well placed.

pps. I'm bored and this is what you get when I'm bored. deal with it.

aw crap

made spaghetti for dinner tonight. I'll be honest, I was having a good time in the kitchen just generally cleaning up and getting dinner ready. so what if the spaghetti took longer than it should have? no big deal, I wasn't in a hurry. and in the end, it gave me more time to get all my dishes washed from yesterday (that's how I work, do dishes while cooking dinner the next day...).

so yeah, kitchen was nice and clean, spaghetti was done, so I strained it in my veg steamer (I don't have a strainer yet, whatever) and threw it on my plate.

did you know spaghetti is slippery when it's hot? 'cause it is. very slippery. basically, when you're holding your plate, you should really use two hands, not one like I did. before I could react I felt the plate get lighter in my hand and heard a wet thud-like sound. looked down and there was a pile of sauce and spaghetti on my little rug and pretty much every other square cm in my kitchen.

now if you know me, you can probably imagine what words were going through my head, but I somehow managed to bite my tongue and ended up laughing at the whole thing.

I mean, I made waaaaaay too much anyway...

and I'm thinking now that I really should've taken a picture. Instead you get a picture of the rug soaking in my tub.

I swear on everything holy...

that when I'm rich and famous (or rich, or famous...or just gainfully employed for that matter) that I'm going to start up a column in which I will completely destroy any idiot who somehow manages to publish something in something with the words or phrase "revert back." you can't revert back people. that's redundant. when you revert, you go back to something. you don't revert back. that's like me saying that I'm not never going to eat pie. you know what that means? it mean's I'm going to eat pie. it's a double negative...

now maybe "revert back" isn't quite the same thing (well, it's entirely different), but it's still a stupid grammar error and it drives me crazy when I see it in books or newspapers.

god, between reverting back and making mute points, I'm pretty sure I have my career set right there. and don't even get me started on the way people mix up their, there and they're.

so it's been awhile.

unfortunately, that appears to be how I operate in this online world...

so my first official publication has been posted online, but good luck reading the little bastard. for some reason (probably fate and luck) the centennial webmasters don't understand the internet, and they can't really run a stable and easy to navigate webpage. but if you want to check it out, you can try typing in www.torontoobserver.ca and see what happens. if the page shows up then you're in the minority. after that it's a crapshoot as to what you need to do to access my little article, but if you just do a search for my name it'll probably turn up sooner or later.

...if you have to ask my name, you probably shouldn't be reading this blog...

so yeah. the article is about election night last tuesday. let me say...really busy night for this intrepid reporter (read: imitation reporter). got to interview the Liberal candidate in Toronto-Danforth, then I had to hop in a taxi and book it downtown to Kool Haus where Jack Layton and his NDP were charging outrageous (and perhaps even unethical) prices to media members who wanted to cover the event. joke's on them though, I just stood near a speaker with my recorder and camera and got everything I needed.

not too much else to report really. had the first ever on-camera interview in class today. that was interesting, and thank god that no one outside of my classmates is ever going to see the footage. I'm sure we all looked like a bunch of n00bs (to borrow a gaming term).

I'll edit this post with some pictures later but I don't have them on the laptop yet. also, forgive the noise in the shots (this is mainly for Marcus) as I was shooting at ISO 1600 becuase I'm an idiot and forgot to change it to something with less noise. so there that is.

interesting.

alright, lesson learned. no more serious posts from now on. that is, unless I decide to do another one, then yeah...there'll be another serious post won't there?

but truthishly (it's a word today, so you can forget trying to correct me. I don't care), there hasn't been too much going on lately. page design kicked my ass today, as I created/erased no fewer than 4 different page layouts before I found one with which I was satisfied. had to sweep under the table when I was done because of all the eraser bones. so there that is.

oh, and did you know that when typing something in CP style, you don't put two spaces at the end of a sentence? do you have any idea how hard it is to type a sentence, hit the '.' and only hit the spacebar once? when you've been typing essays (essaies?) since grade 9 with two spaces, it's pretty damn hard to limit yourself to just one. of course, in this blog it's practically an orgy of spaces 'cause I can put in however many I want. that was three, for example.

I know what you're thinking...








I am that cool.

edit: apparently blogger auto formats spacing after sentences to just the one...those dinks.

getting a little serious here...

Precious Yutangco
Staff Reporter

Motorists are in for a shock as the price of regular gasoline in the GTA is expected to rise at least 12.9 cents per litre at midnight tonight, according to Liberal MP Dan McTeague

The veteran gas-price watcher says the price hike will bring the average cost of fuelling up in the GTA to an all-time high of $1.36.6 cents per litre.

McTeague predicts similar increases for Ottawa, Calgary and Kelowna, B.C., while he expects prices in Montreal to go up nine cents.

Another gas price watcher, Jason Toews of GasBuddy.com, isn't making predictions.

But he says fear over the damage that hurricane Ike could cause to refineries in Texas may have a ripple effect in Canada – U.S. gasoline wholesale prices jumped to unprecedented levels today.

The last time gas increased in anticipation of weather was when Category 5 Hurricane Katrina hit and gas jumped to 1.25.

Forecasters said today that Hurricane Ike was likely to come ashore in Texas late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3, with winds up to 210 km/k.

-with files from The Canadian Press

this article is from the Toronto Star tonight. (emphasis mine)

let me get this straight...gas prices are going to go up because a hurricane might cause some damage in the gulf of mexico on its way to texas. nevermind that the oil that made this gas was bought at a lower price and that the companies are going to make a killing by jacking up the prices when there's no justification.

honestly though, shouldn't this be illegal?

F U or A Letter to Rogers

god. where to start. well, I guess at the beginning would make the most sense wouldn't it...

so yeah...as some of you are aware (though of the three people that I know read this thing, perhaps only Marcus is unaware of my move to toronto...so Marcus, I now live in toronto if you didn't know), I now live in toronto. this past weekend was my crazy move in day. and by crazy, I mean 3 trips between st. catharines and toronto in less than 24 hours with a grand total of 2 (that's 2, including yours truly) people moving all my stuff.

I'm here for school. journalism to be exact, hence my resurrection of this long forgotten and much maligned blog...

anyway, none of this really matters except to say that I had to order phone, cable (because seriously, I can't live without tv), and internet. having delt with Rogers in the past, I decided to go with them again. not entirely sure why now, but we'll get to that soon enough. being the clever and effecient guy that I am -insert sarcastic response here- I set up all my stuff last week while staying at my aunt and uncle's. dude on the phone was actually really friendly (and not in India!) and gave me a good price on all three services, and told me that on monday the 8th there'd be a dude at my place between 230-5pm to set everything up for me.

fast forward to monday 8 september...

dude showed up at around 430 ('cause i'm pretty sure it's against the law for a tech dude to arrive at the beginning of a service window), and proceeded to set up my tv and phone. then he told me he was finished. the detective in me noticed one glaring omission in my apartment. that is, no cable modem for the internet. I asked the guy about it and he proceeded to tell me (in broken english obviously) that he didn't have any modems with him and that he'd be back on tuesday "hopefully" with a modem so that I could get online.

fast forward to tuesday 9 september ~530pm...

I call rogers to make sure that A)they have modems and, B)the tech guy was planning on stopping by to drop it off so that I can get online. Lady at Rogers just sits (I assume she was sitting) there silently for a solid 30 seconds before she says something along the lines of, 'um, I'm sorry sir, but it says here that you aren't signed up for internet service with Rogers and that no one is scheduled to make a service call to your address.'

*silence*

willsy: "um, okay...but I set everything up last week and was supposed to have all three services installed yesterday afternoon. the only reason that didn't happen is because the dude didn't have any modems. he told me he'd be back today..."

rogers chick gave me the run around but it eventually ended in me signing up for highspeed lite for the second time and then being told that they couldn't get anyone to come by until the 15th. I was annoyed but went along with it.

to my surprize though, the tech dude did actually show up and give me my modem, but nothing worked. so I called rogers again. this was at 615pm.

by 830pm I was still on the phone holding after 4 previous transfers. at 845 I finally got through to someone who could help me and it took all of 5 minutes to get my internet activated.

go figure.

f u rogers for wasting my entire evening.

(the story is actually a lot longer than that but I realize that most of you probably lost interest after the second paragraph. that and I'm lazy. lazy as hell.)

9 months is nothing.

prof. today told us we should all blog to get those creative juices flowing. I thought to myself, "hey, that's a good idea. I should create a blog." then I thought, "wait a minute...don't I have a blog that I've abandoned no fewer than 3 times already?" then I thought, "yup. I sure do."

so here I am. it's pretty exciting, I know.

so let's have a bit of an update then shall we?

uh, where to start...not a butcher anymore, quit that last august. pretty much spent the last year retired (hard to retire without a career they all told me...) and loafing around the house with my roomies (read: parents). they didn't like it. I didn't like it. we all decided I needed to do something with my life. went to the career counselor who mentioned journalism in passing and now I'm back in school for exactly that. 2 years from now I'll be (rich and famous(is there no strike-through option on blogger?)) working (hopefully) in a career I enjoy.

clearly I did more in 9 months, but that's really all I have to say for now. maybe I'll stick with this if for no other reason than it gives me somewhere to practice writing.

though I'm really just talking to myself.