I just read a whole lot about the craziness of this so-called church of Scientology (in Razor Magazine of all publications). Apparently the first thing you do is sign away, well, your life. You give the church the right to hold you "against your will for an indefinite period, isolating you from friends and family, and denying you access to appropriate medical care". You also allow yourself to be lied to and destroyed (words in their "contract"). I had no idea several people have died at the hands of the practices of this church. It seems to appeal to the movie stars because you need to pay big sums of money to reach various levels of seniority (or "clarity"), in other words buying your way to salvation. Those who sue the church find they'll be harrassed to no end and members will even stalk and threaten their families. I guess it's no surprise the whole charade was invented by some greedy science fiction writer. You need some imagination to convince people they came from aliens. What a horrible mess that bastard created.

I cannot believe this could possibly happen. Necknotch, my oldest and favourite hamster yawned and from afar it appeared as though she had no upper teeth. I thought I was seeing things but then noticed she had stopped eating hard seeds and kernels and started hoarding the little seeds with soft husks. Why do freak-ass things always happen to me? Now I have to give her super special care by feeding her egg, tofu, chicken, oatmeal, fruit and small shelled seeds. How can nature be so cruel? So sad!

Until yesterday I was a virgin user of nasal spray. I remember when I was little I could not grasp the concept of how one could spray liquid in one's nose and not drown. I guess I didn't realize that it comes out a fine mist. It is the weirdest sensation. Suddenly the blockage in your nasal cavity goes away but you are still left with a drippy nose at first. Unfortunately it doesn't make the pressure behind my eyes go away and sometimes it makes me sneeze. What's worse, all Saturday night it made me feel like I had to sneeze but couldn't. I looked up at lights, rolled my eyes around, made faces, rubbed my nose... all this made me look like a coke addict (at the Mixed Elements party) but it didn't help me sneeze. That's gotta be one of the worst feelings after having to go pee really really bad.

There appears to be another case that mirrors that of Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos scientist wrongly accused of espionage and held in solitary confinement for 9 months. Race played a major factor and it appears that race plays a factor again in the case of James Yee. The lady who headed the efforts for the release of Wen Ho Lee is trying to also free James Yee. I'm meeting with her next week to help write the content for a web site dedicated to this cause.

I think the first time I saw that LG washer/dryer commercial, I only saw the end of it. Where there's a little boy and his golden retriever quietly sitting in front of a front loading washer dryer as the clothes spun round and round. I thought it was really cute. But then I caught the entire commercial beginning to end. The reason they were down there was that the kid woke up in the middle of the night and realized he wet the bed really bad. It was so gross, they show this huge wet spot and for some reason it's bubbling!? Like WTF comes out of this kid's bladder?? He whipsers to his dog, "don't tell mom". And the two of them carry the sheets downstairs to wash. The point is that the washer/dryer is so quiet it won't wake people up in the middle of the night (when you piss bubbling stuff all over the sheets and need to clean them before morning). This commercial in its entirety really grossed me out. Couldn't they have shown him spilling milk on his sheets or something instead?

just showing off two of the newest additions to my hamster family - Oreo and Poopee. I'm told they are both little boys so they can live together. However, I see boy parts on Poopee and not on Oreo. This is a problem, not just cause we don't have room for more babies, but because they have a "mottled" gene and if two mottled hamsters breed, they produce defective toothless eyeless white babies that don't survive... YUCK.

Watch what you blog fellow bloggers.

Here's another borrowed link worth reading (this time from Cec L). Lists of restaurants in Vancouver that have been forced to close due to things like cockroaches, mouse infestation, sewer back up, etc. EEEW, I can't believe how many of those I've eaten at. Here's the list.

Driving home today, I learned a new word from the traffic report - "carbeque". hahaha

Anyone who has searched for scholarships knows that they're tough to qualify for and often have really narrow restrictions e.g. blind, amputee, living in some remote region of Canada, child of slain officer etc. Others are just bizarre. This one require the entry of an original song. Here's the restrictions and instructions:

Legal residents of the U.S. or Canada
Void in Puerto Rico, Quebec and where prohibited by law
Must be 14 years of age or older
Submit an original song about duct tape from any genre of music (parodies are not permitted)

Contact Information:
Henkel Consumer Adhesives, Inc.
Web Site: www.ducktapeclub.com

I do not understand how people can live in filth. I have a box of curtains we took down from the last tenant. I've since sewn nice new curtains. The old ones were originally white/cream and are now grey and filthy...not even close to their original colour and they smell. It sickens me to even touch them.

If you can afford to put a roof over your head, you can afford to buy a few cleaning products and apply some effort to keep your place livable by human standards. The people who own a home next door to where I tutor have THE most disgusting place I have ever seen. Their front door is always wide open so you can see right in. There's dirty shag carpet and rotting boxes piled up everywhere in their living room. There's broken crap strewn all over the front lawn. And this is in Burlingame not Surrey, BC!

I just checked out the Canucks site. They are #1 in Western Conference right now. How come that doesn't happen when I'm in Vancouver with full access to CBC? And, even when they are doing well, how come they lose when I buy tickets to go watch (lose against San Jose of all teams!?!).

I've pretty much established that not having a full time job sucks. The reasons why are pretty obvious.

People who complain about their jobs (and forget they are lucky enough to collect a pay cheque) also suck.

But there is redemption. Read about how bad some people's jobs really do suck. I hate my job dot com and I work with fools dot com . Here's a short sample:

It turns out that this is Hell- and my boss and the Gen. Mgr are the Devil and his spawn. The most high level thing I have done since I've been here is order a dam coffee pot, which they make me clean every night.. and I don't even drink coffee! I hear them everyday discussing who they will fire. I think they make it a challege. ex. GMgr-"I'll see your termination and raise you two suspensions" heheheh

I shared an office with a woman my age who only spoke baby talk when on the phone with her husband (who called minimum 4 times a day, each conversation easily lasting a half hour). If that wasn't enough, he would sometimes come to the office and spend an hour sitting in a chair between our desks, conversing in baby chatter and kissing her while I was trying complete my work.

We finally finished the first season of 24 on DVD last night at 3 in the morning. It took several sittings but we tend to watch 4 episodes in one go. I don't think I've been this hooked on a show since Law & Order. But that is a different kind of addiction. With 24, there's non-stop action, twists and turns and corruption. I couldn't even conceive of how one would begin to write the screenplay for something like that. So who wants to borrow my Season One in exchange for Season Two?

it's been about 6 weeks since I turned in my grad school applications and neither of the schools i applied to have made their selections yet. That leads me to wonder, what do admissions departments do but review applications and make selections once per quarter? I mean, you've got a team of say 3-4 people and your job consists of nothing but reviewing applications, maybe a recruiting event here and there.

One, does that make for an interesting job? Two, how can it take you more than 6 weeks to review all the applications??? It's getting frustrating not knowing what I'll be doing with my life in the next 2 years. If I dont get into either school for whatever reason, there's no job waiting for me and finding one would be near impossible. I'd basically be screwed and would probably have to move back to vancouver and get some lame ass hourly job or scrape for contract work while living with (God forbid, my parents). So it's kind of important that I find out soon. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this predicament... or maybe I am.

You know you've lost it when you find yourself getting excited about buying multi-colour metallic gel pens or dousing every fabric in your home with plum-scented linen spray.

Good lord I just saw the Halloween pics from the Element party. Some creative costumes from the guys... but, goddamn, what is it that makes the girls in that crowd mistaken Halloween for "how can I make myself look even sluttier than the next girl" day?!? It's sad and pathetic to see that the socially acceptable/desirable attire for men is something funny and outrageous. While for the women it's anything that shows your legs and/or mid-driff and/or makes your breasts look big. It's a self-imposed double standard. I wish the ladies would open their eyes and realize that. The foul odor of inflated egos, narcissism, and silicone at that party makes me ill.

I hate to think about the point at which the amount of time I've spent unemployed will surpass the amount of time I've been employed (at a real job that required a degree). I started working fulltime in '98 and have had a total of 5 years experience. I was unemployed for 9.5 months after Scale Eight and now have been out since May which makes 6 months - that's a total of 15.5 months. A little more than a year. That's really depressing. *sigh* As an amateur bum on that first go round I didnt do much but job hunt and sit at home and eat ice cream.

But I learned since then to make better use of my time. I think I've done a better job of being productive during this bout of joblessness. I've taken golf lessons, gotten contract work, tutor 2 kids, edited 6 graduate admission essays/letters (not my own, but for pay), taken officer positions with 2 clubs (NAAAP and Toastmasters), entered a public speaking contest, wrote the GRE (twice, unfortunately) and applied for grad school. On top of that applied to a shitload of jobs and interviewed with about 12 companies. Oh and now taking a fiction writing course and trying to decorate our now not-so-fancy home. I guess it doesn't seem so bad now that I capture that in writing and it fills out a whole paragraph. Now if I dont get into grad school...then I'll be in a jam. I really don't see myself finding work here right now. *sigh again* And now that I've had all this time for observation, introspection and such... I'm not sure that grinding away fulltime to make someone else rich is for me anymore. Life is certainly an adventure. I've had so little control the last 3 years, but I guess that is what makes it an adventure...

I've copied yet another link off ben's page. Alton Brown's blog. Now how cool is that. It's funny to read because he kinda blogs about whatever, not just his show. He seems like such an intelligent and interesting guy I wish I couldve made it to his book signing. He notes in his rant that he is surprised that more than 3 people at a time show up to see him haha. Anyways, check it out, I've copied the link on the right there.

Last Saturday it was about 32 degrees C. This Saturday evening was cold as a Vancouver late-Autumn day. Unbelievable how weather changes so quickly here. Tank tops and sandals to down feather coat in 7 days. Now it's pouring rain and I haven't seen my umbrella since May. There's something about rain that makes even good days seem like the end of the world is nearing. Maybe I've attached too many bad memories to rain (how can you not when it rains more often than not in Vancouver). Maybe I have an undiagnosed case of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). I should go sit in front of a lamp or something.