Single And Ready To Mingle

03:07 am - I shouldn't Be Doing This Quiz.

And yet, fuck it.

200. My middle name is: James
199. I was born on: December 13th, 1985
198. I am a: man
197. My cell provider is: Verizon/Fido
196. My eye color is: blue
195. My shoe size is: 11.5
194. My ring size is: unknown to me.
193. My height is: 6'1"
192. I am allergic to: a bit of ragweed in the fall
191. I was born in: Ottawa
190. I live in: Toronto
189. The last book I read: The Dark Knight Returns
188. My bed is: in a hotel room
187. One thing I know for sure about the opposite sex: I'm not the ideal to many of them
186. I am glad I'm my sex because: I'm not really. I win very little
179. My favorite Holiday is: New Years
178. The perfect kiss is: paced well between reckless tongue-fucking abandon and tender barely-touching pecks
177. The last three cd's I bought were: Kanye West's Graduation... I can't remember anything else
176. Last song that made me cry was: The New Pornographers' "The Bleeding Heart Show"
172. My most treasured possession(s)/Thing is(are): My laptop
170. What did you do last night: Drank myself unconscious
167. My skin's reaction to the sun is (tan/burn): burn

:::::I Do (YES)/Do Not (NO) Believe In:::::

143. Santa? No
142. Love at first sight? Lust at first sight.
141. Luck? sure
140. Fate? not really
139. Hate? yes
138. Aliens? yes
137. Heaven? no
136. Hell? no
135. Ghosts? no
134. Horoscopes? they're fun to read
135. Soulmates? I wish it were true, but no.

:::::Which is Better?:::::

129. Hugs or Kisses? Kisses
128. Drunk or High: Drunk
127. Phone or Online: Online for sure
126. Red heads or Black hair: Redheads
125. Blondes or Brunettes: Brunettes
124. Hot or cold: Hot
123. Summer or winter: Summer
122. Coffee or tea: Tea
121. Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla
120. Night or Day: Night
119. Oranges or Apples: Apples
118. Curly or Straight hair: Straight

:::::Here's What I Think About:::::

116. Abortion: Unfortunate that we live in a world where it's necessary, but we do, and to deny that is a road to ruin
115. Backstabbers: Not a fan.
114. premarital sex: Sex stops once you give her a ring. Is there any other kind?
113. School: Your merits can't be defined by a piece of paper, but rather by your actions.

::::Last time I:::

103. Yelled at someone: This evening. Dumb fucks who thought they were VIP, but weren't.
102. Last time I hugged someone: Can't remember.
101. Seen someone I haven't seen in a while: Ashley and Megan on Sunday
99. Grew: Fuck off.

::::MISC::::

90. Who's the ditziest person i know: Not sure
89. Who makes you laugh the most: No one.
87. One thing I'm mad/obsessed about right now is: getting laid by a girl who deserves my dick.
83. The last movie I saw in the theater was: Rambo. Fucking Awesome
82. The thing I don't understand is: Chemistry
80. The most unsatisfactory answer I've ever received: I have that information, but I can't give it to you.
79. Some things I love about the opposite sex are: the ability to dance, and a brain.
76. This summer I am: Probably going to visit New York
75. Something I will really miss when I leave home is: I love my family, but I hate my home. Maybe the cooking.
74. The thing that I'm looking forward to the most: My boss is hellbent on getting me laid.
73. Tomorrow: Lots of accounting
72. Today: Sleep
71. Next Summer: Europe, I hope
70. Next Week: High School Girls.
67. People call me: Brian, Balki
62. The person who knows the most about me is: Me.
61. The person that can read me the best is: Daniel?
60. The most difficult thing to do is: Not quit.
59. I have gotten a speeding ticket: No, I haven't.
56. My zodiac sign is: Sagittarius
55. The first person I thought i was in love with was: I've never been in love
53. The one person who can't hide things from me: I let people keep their secrets
51. Right now I am talking to: No one, although my mother called a few minutes ago.
48. I have/will get a job at: Breakaway Tours
47. I have these pets: Gizmo and Gidget
46. I hope: this ends soon.
45. The worst sound in the world: nails on a chalkboard
44. The person that makes me cry the most is: Neko Case
39. My boy/girlfriend: Nope
35. Florida or hawaii: Hawaii
33. My favorite piece of clothing: The sport jacket
32. My favorite sport is: Hockey
31. Last time I cried: I can't recall
28. The school I go to is: York
27. Last person I got mad at: I don't really get mad anymore
26. My worst drinking experience was: A tie, between throwing up in Lawrence Station and the time I got in a car with a drunk driver.
22. The all-time best movie is: The Incredibles
21. The all-time best things are: I don't know.

HOW YOU FEEL....

18. The most annoying person you know is: There's a several-way tie.
17. I lose all respect for people who: pop their collars
16. The movies I have cried at are: Moulin Rouge, The Incredibles
15. My closest friends: I don't have any. Maybe Daniel.
14. TV show you watch: BSG, South Park
13. Favorite web site: Gmail
12. I want to be: held in high regard
11. The worst pain I was ever in: Getting my arm rebroken so they could reset the bones.
10. My favorite phrase: Frak.
9. My room has: two beds, but only one resident.
8. My favorite celebrity is: Ashton Kutcher
5. My weakness is: They're too many to list here.
4. My favorite teachers: Mrs. White, Profs. Davis and Ferris
3. Who broke your heart: No one, really
2. I filled out 200 questions because: I wanted to see how much had changed since the last time
1. What do you regret most?: Taking on more than I could handle.

02:36 am - I Wish This Didn't Still Apply To My Life

"Cameron has never been in love - at least, nobody's ever been in love with him. If things don't change for him, he's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like shit, because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won't respect him, 'cause you can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work."

I'm not a virgin by any measure, but... yeah. I'm still sufficiently concerned about my rep that I include that last sentence, although I wish that we weren't defined by what we do, but rather who we are.

09:14 pm - I'm Not Unhappy.

I'm in Texas, and all is generally great. In terms of the quality of the experience we're delivering to our customers, I can say with the utmost sincerity... it's never been better. We're whupping our competition on just about every metric there is, although they may have us beat in the "douchebags employed" department. Now, we've got a rule amongst our staff not to hit on our own clients, which makes all kinds of sense. To do it is unprofessional. But this other company's staff doesn't really have said rule, and some of their customers (coming to our parties, natch) mentioned what one of them said. I can't recall the verbatim wording, but the gist was that he was asking them if they were having allergic/chemical reactions from their bedsheets, and that he had clean sheets if they wanted to sleep in his bed. To which I can only say, wow. I mean, if your game depends on your bed linens... you've got a lot to work on. For example, everything about yourself.

Anyways, enough with the comedy and back to the depressing bit. I'm currently at a Karaoke party our company's throwing. It's not our main event for the night (that would be DJ Skribble), but it's a little toss-away thing we do up for our kids, and there's maybe 30 people here drinking and singing and partying. These people are going up in groups of a few at a time, dancing and singing and going nuts, and just about everyone's involved.

And I look at my life, and the things I do, and I come to the conclusion that I'm the only really crazy guy in my group of friends. Shit like doing the Soulja Boy on stage flanked by Go-Go dancers or on the Peel Pub stairs, jumping up on a riser and having a dance-off with some raver kid, more karaoke songs than I could ever recall... I just do those things when I'm out having a good time, I don't hold back because I don't see the point to it. What else are you going to do, sit on the sidelines and watch someone else have the fun?

For most of my friends, the answer is yes, or at least that they get sufficient fun watching me go nuts. And I'm wondering how I feel about the fact that so many of the great memories I have of my friends and I are of times when we're not interacting in any way, shape, or form. They're times when I'm performing, perhaps not intentionally for them or anyone else, but regardless of who I intend or don't intend as an audience for my antics, my friends are my audience. Are the inevitable comments on this note actual correspondence or just viewer mail I can answer in next week's installment?

01:00 am - Happy Haul-idays, Supplemental

God Of War -- Rated 9.8/10, IGN, Game of the Year.
Jak 3 -- Rated 9.6/10, IGN.
Prince of Persia -- Rated 9.6/10, IGN.

The fact that I can get these three games for 40 bucks game made me wonder if perhaps the 360 isn't the best console for my single-player fix. Now, I love my 360 and there's nothing like Halo 3 on Live, to be sure, but today I bit the bullet and picked up a PS2... it just has too many phenomenal games I've never played for dirt cheap.

Also, it came with Singstar... so I can now host karaoke/guitar hero/ddr parties at my new place. Which I'm not gonna lie, I'm a wee bit psyched about.

I poked my head into HMV and picked up Jackie Brown and Heat for 10 bucks. Having never seen the former, I threw it in, and while I don't want to say it's my favourite Tarantino... it's really fucking good, and not just because Pam Grier is the sex(make no mistake though, she is). It's not quite as weird as his other stuff, it doesn't have the same feel as his other movies... but I enjoyed the hell out of it. If you haven't seen it, do.

07:46 pm - Happy Haul-idays

The Inevitable What I Got For Christmas Post.

A Convection Oven (probably swapping for a microwave)
A Wireless Keyboard/Mouse (probably returning)
A Box of Green Tea
7 Bottles of Various European Beers
A Set of Sheets
3 Towels
Socks/Boxers
This Nice Mustard Which I really like, but which you can't find in Toronto
Salt/Pepper Shakers
Purell
First Aid Kit
Luggage Tags
Tide To Go
Cool Hand Luke
Pulp Fiction
Call of Duty 4
$210

All in all, a more functional holiday than past years, but still good.

08:32 pm - Holy Shit.

Aside from one online course, and assuming I pass all my courses this fall (which I'll admit is not 100% certain), I'm done university. Now what?

**checks for a similar "end of high school post"** Here's one, with updated commentary in italics.

Well, high school is over for this year, and I'm getting my diploma. Despite this, I'll be coming back first semester mornings just to get Calculus. Then it's... fuck, I don't know. This isn't a cut and dried situation like Grade 8. In Grade 8 I knew I was coming to Bell, and I despised just about everyone there... those I didn't were coming to Bell anyway.

I didn't know I was going to end up at York when I graduated. I didn't even know I'd be falling in with the whole spring break thing. Fun fact: the company that's our biggest rival in Canada organized my high school's grad trip. But that being said, I know where I'm going in the near future... I've got a job lined up to pay off my debts, and the generic early 20's find yourself world trip somewhere on the horizon in 2009.

**High School Brian does a metric fuckton of bitching about living out in the sticks... I'm not embarrassed by it, but it's not a fun read.**

This has been fixed, and I wonder if being so far away from the city growing up influenced my choice to be right in the thick of it now. I've got an apartment that's a 5 minute walk from 2 subway stations, a GO station, streetcars and a 24-hour bus that drops me 20 steps from my front door. I'm 15 minutes from work in Etobicoke or downtown. The only downside: the subway rumbles under my place. It's not oppressive, but it's definitely noticeable. And I'm certainly no longer chained by my parents' wishes... they finally started to trust me and I can pretty much do as I please because as long as I'm taking care of my shit, they know it's going to work out. Which is nice.

I don't think I'm bothering with prom. I mean, the only reason I can give myself for spending that much money is... there is no rational reason. It's illogical. It's overinflated in price due to fabricated importance. No, on the night of prom, I'm going to go try out for insight. It's something where I can actually make a difference in the lives of people, and I don't need to get all dressy and shit. I was going to go to the Vox afterwards, but then I found out Scott Boogie's gonna be DJing... so fuck that.

I don't entirely regret this decision. I never told Caitlin how I felt about her despite going to the afterparty. I was horribly underdressed (this has been a big change. I'm definitely a more snappy dresser now.) Scott Boogie has to some extent resurfaced in my life, as has Studio 44, the company which employed him to throw that crappy party at that crappy club. Yeah, I have no prom photos (hell, I don't have a portrait of myself taken in 8 years! It's still my Grade 9 photo on my mom's mantle), but I don't especially feel like I've lost out for not having them. I've never understood the need to celebrate milestones with parties... Good Times and hard drinking shouldn't be confined to only a few times a year!

I'll spend my final high school moments as I spent all my other high school moments, as an outsider looking in, disgusted by what he sees, and staying outside while trying to change it for the better. Wow. I just did a pretty good job of describing my entire high school career in one sentence there.

This kind of applied until this past fall... I still don't know if I fit in, but people look to me for answers on how to run a pub since I guess I did an alright job of it a few times this fall. I don't think I'd go so far as to say I'm disgusted by university life, although if we're being crass, it's kinda shocking that a moderately attractive guy at Glendon, who hasn't pursued any serious relationships, could only have slept with one girl at this college (I'll never say who and you'd never guess anyway). Anyways, it's done and I don't think I'm going to terribly miss it, although there's certainly the few people I'm going to keep in touch with and sill hang out with. And if the number of those people going up is a measure of success, then I think I succeeded. I care about more people and more people care about me. Which is nice.

So, that's not everything I wanted to say about my university career, but it's an interesting lens to see it through. I think I've grown a lot the past 4 years.

Now, to work in spring break and make my fortune on titties and beer!

Brian Out.

01:24 am - So, Holy Shit Big Changes.

Okay, maybe not big changes. I haven't had a sex change or anything that rambunctious... but suffice it to say that how I had planned out the next year or so of my life got turned on its ear yesterday.

With apologies to the Dropkick Murphy's, I am not shipping up to Boston. What StudentCity was able to offer me wasn't quite what I was looking for, so I won't be in the States come January. I'll still be doing some part-time stuff for them, and it's more than likely I'll be going back to Texas for the month of March, but I won't be going to the TD Garden for Bruins games or living in close proximity to my relatives anytime soon.

What I will be doing, at least for the foreseeable future, is working at Breakaway, which is cool, because I think I've really found a good niche there where I can help out and do a lot of good. And once my studies finish up in a month or so, I'll be there full-time. Add in the part-time stuff from StudentCity and I'll be able to start chipping away at my loans pretty substantially. Which is good.

Of course, with the end of my studies comes the end of my tenure in residence. I know it's not common to still be in res when you're graduating, but I am, and this means I'm now looking for an apartment for the first time.

And I have no fucking clue what I'm doing.

I don't know how I'm going to go about balancing an affordable rent($800 is the absolute highest I want to go), cool roommates/lame roommates/no roommates, proximity to work vs. proximity to downtown, having a place that's presentable vs. a cheap place to crash(I just need a bed, an ethernet cable, and a couple electrical outlets, but if I'm ever having someone over I don't want them to think I'm a slob), and these weird feelings I get that I'm following in my biodad's footsteps if I get a basement apt.

So, any tips/tricks/suggestions are welcome. If you know me, and know Toronto, and think there's a fit to be found, I'm all ears. Currently I'm thinking Queen West, Liberty Village, or anywhere along Bloor West.

02:04 am - On Circa

Okay, so on the one hand, it's the best club I've ever set foot in. The extent to which the environment engaged me both mentally and physically was goddamned spectacular. It's something that, if it were open during the day just as an art gallery, I'd have been happy to spend the 20$ cover just to see what they had in there.

On the other hand, all they play is house music and that gets so old so fast. Not to be a dick, but after twenty minutes of "ungh-ts ungh-ts ungh-ts" I want to hear something else, and by something else I don't mean the remix which goes "unghtsunghtsunghts"

So, in summation, absolutely amazing venue, terrible music. Fortunately, the music is easier to change and should a DJ who doesn't play house ever visit(I'm looking at you, AM...) I'll be first in line for tickets. If that doesn't happen... I'll be perfectly content to never go again.

02:46 am - Oh Dear.

So, if you google my biological father's name, the first hit that comes up is the Wikipedia article for one John Turmel.

...I'm not sure how I should feel about this.

05:22 am - It ain't as specific as it ought to be.

Some cool stuff that happened tonight:

Met Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent.
Did Jager Shots with a Canadian Idol finalist.
Had large margaritas.
Saw not one, not two, but three cool bars I'd never before visited.
Got profoundly hammered.

Not so cool, but with potential for cool:

Went to a shady after hours.
Witnessed coke consumption first hand.
Got kinda pissy at a girl who sounded like she wanted to change for the better: told her if she really wanted to improve her lot in life, which I could help with, to call me. I then walked away after paying more than my share of the cab ride thus far.

I spent a ton of money tonight. Do I care? Ask me in a week, if this girl ever calls me back.

01:59 am - Okay...

...going out on a limb and presuming this is true... holy fucking shit. Hot damn. Simon Pegg as Scotty? FUCK YES.

07:21 pm - Brianomics -- On MMP

So, a whole bunch of people seem to be behind MMP. The rough idea is that in our current first-past-the-post system, parties can win a majority of seats without winning a majority of votes. Proportional Representation (every party gets seats alloted based solely on their total proportion of the popular vote) is all well and good, but often results in minority governments that get little done. MMP is a cross between both methods, and tries to strike a balance between the stable and effective majority gov'ts of first-past-the-post, and the more-reflective Proportional Representation side. People are hailing this as a brilliant change that will usher in a new era of light and responsible gov't and finally, the people are being listened to.

But who's making these statements, and are these the people who are going to be best served by the changes of MMP? I admit I'm a little biased since I go to University, but I hear nothing but great things about MMP from my student government, when really, I think they have very good reason to be opposed.

The gaming of first-past-the-post politics works thusly: strategic voting and catering to special interest groups in key areas can have a massive payoff and result in a majority gov't despite having nowhere near the 50% plus one that makes for winning the majority vote. And that's not inherently a bad thing: it might be the kick in the ass gov't needs to make progress on things like accepting foreign accreditations, increasing student aid, etc. I actually live in John Tory's riding, along with ~500 other students on Glendon's campus. If there's big promises made to students, we're going to have incentive to vote and we're concentrated enough that we might have an impact. Therefore, politicians have an incentive to make promises to us that they may not otherwise make. If it carries a few close ridings into the red, McGuinty might make a deal to freeze tuition fees. Things like that.

In MMP, there's less incentive to win those ridings with measures that might cost votes with the masses. This means less incentive to help students. Less incentive to help recent immigrants. Less incentive to help the disabled. As a moderately well-off white male, this doesn't particularly bother me... but if you're an MMP supporter and you haven't considered this, you might want to reconsider.

And that's not to say that MMP is a bad idea, or that it's an improvement... it's just that changing the way our politicians are elected does absolutely nothing to change the character of the people we elect, it just changes the way they're elected. If someone's cheating at Scrabble, you don't try to switch to Monopoly... they'll just figure out how to cheat at Monopoly. However, ifyou call them out for being a cheater and act accordingly... if we as a people believe that our politicians are corrupt, irresponsible, and undeserving of your vote, changing the way you vote is fixing the wrong problem.

07:12 pm - Solution?

And then I read this and felt better.

01:32 am - Shall We Resurrect The Parti Rhinoceros?

Me: "And in summation, Canada has pretty much completely sold out our people by pursuing fast development over smart development, and the governance structures we currently have in place ensure that that's going to continue until Canada is no more. That's not to say that we are powerless to stop this process or change how things are done, but because we'd rather maintain the 'good-enough' status quo than make the sacrifices necessary to genuinely improve, it's just not going to happen."

Prof: "I'm a little disappointed, because I agree with you, and now I have to try and present the positive argument to that which I really don't think is a valid point of view."

Somehow, despite getting rather cynical of late, I'm really quite happy with my life, all things considered.

11:11 am - A Thought

I think it might be best to sleep with or pursue a relationship with musicians or comedians, because they would probably have better timing than the average joe, and good timing is really the most important thing when it comes to making a kickass breakfast.

04:48 am - On Guy Movies

But first, a gripe. What's up with this new thing where movies premiere at 8pm the night before they come out? I understand(and dig the hell out of) midnight premieres, and have been to my fair share. But now it's getting all bent out of shape. I mean, there used to be a time when movies premiered on Wednesdays or Fridays. But shit, you've got Transformers scheduled for Wednesday, then you push it back to Tuesday, and then it becomes Monday at 8pm... it's frustrating. Mostly because I couldn't get into an 8pm showing tonight as it was sold out.

Anyways, the great thing about midnight movies is they never really sell out. You've got a more or less empty multiplex, so if the midnight show is packed and you still got crowds, you can throw down a 12:15, a 12:30, or double up with more theatres, whatever. I really don't give a fuck how it's handled, but I know there were something like 5 or 6 screenings within 20 minutes of midnight last July when I went to see Pirates 2: Davy Jones' Boogaloo.

Transformers did not afford me that luxury.

Anyways, some good did come out of it. I swung by Blockbuster to pick up a couple DVDs... and had a realisation: I want to hold guy movie nights on campus this fall, perhaps a triple-bill every Friday afternoon where guys can get drunk and watch guy movies. But this is where I kinda need some help. I don't want shitty guy movies, I want awesome ones. Here's my current list... suggestions are welcome.

Dirty Harry
Hard Boiled
The Road Warrior
Aliens
Die Hard
Goodfellas
True Lies
Caddyshack
Full Metal Jacket
Enter The Dragon
Layer Cake
Raiders of The Lost Ark
Raging Bull
The Big Lebowski
Fletch

Now, for added fun if you're so inclined, guess which 3 of that list I haven't seen!

04:00 am - A Little Brianomics For Your Ass.

Now, I'd write about what's been up with me, but I've come to the conclusion that it's just not good for me to do that, and it's somewhat ironic that making the conscious decision to stop writing about myself has led to a number of things happening that would make for good writing. I'm going to stick with the philosophy that, forced to choose between enjoying myself and documenting my attempts at enjoying myself, the former is probably far better for me.

Now then... we've got this major doctor shortage in Northern Ontario, right? And we've got all these foreign-trained doctors who aren't qualified to work here, right? And we've got this massive concentration of immigrants that doesn't really lend itself to sharing cultures so much as maintaining insular divides, right? Although, Bramladesh is a rather awesome name for a suburb.

Why don't we offer to recognize these foreign-doctors(and hell, all foreign professionals) on the condition that they agree to work in remote areas where their skills are desperately needed? Admittedly there's a sense that it might be casting off those who aren't good enough for South/Eastern Ontario, but if the alternative is nothing within hundreds of miles, I can't help but think that even Theodoric of York might be welcomed in Kapuskasing.

02:30 pm

I am smarter than 99.34% of the rest of the world.
Find out how smart you are.

05:17 pm - On Shrek 3

Wow. I actually really liked it. Just about everything I disliked about the second one was... fixed. The stuff in the trailers that looked like it was going to kill the franchise... didn't(mercifully, the shrek and donkey baby stuff is kept to a minimum, and only in service of the plot). It wasn't perfect, Eric Idle was wasted and the girl-power bit was a little dumb, but otherwise... really, really good. Quite highly recommended.

02:18 am - Farewell Falwell

Credit Where It's Due