Getting excited...

You know when you start formulating plans in your head, and start working towards making things happen and you feel a little angst about whether its all going to work out as well as you've planned it, if you can do it all, and if its going to be as good as you planned? Well I'm happy to report that most of the angst I've been feeling about Australia specifically, but also some other plans, are dissipating away. Sometimes, I don't know whether its because its cold in the house (and I stubbornly am wearing only short and a sweatshirt) or its something else, but when I start to get excited, I almost get the shivers, short of breath a little and goosebumps (the latter most definitely being from the cold). Australia is starting to get really close, as is 2009. I'm really looking forward to 2009 simply because 2008 was so great. I learnt a lot about myself, and a lot of good things happened, and naturally some bad things happened to which is sometimes a blessing in disguise as they allow us to more appreciate the little positives. So where to start really?
I can't wait to get down to Australia and be a tourist. Sometimes, we get self-conscious living around the area's we've been around for so long, and we're so comfortable in daily routine in one place that we're almost too shy to discover some adventure that completely surrounds us in every direction. Recently at home we've gotten rid of a t.v. in the whole house minus my mom's bedroom, and there's just that foreign strangeness of your parents that makes you not want to be there. But really, I couldn't have asked for anything better. I've been forced to just sit around and read, or get off my butt and head out for a run, or just think rather then sitting in front of a box that tells you what to think. Everyone, absolutely everyone, can benefit from a little bit less t.v. I think. Actually, probably most people being as some of you have figured this out much faster than I and therefore don't waste time in front of it in the first place. So, back to being a tourist. I got to spend less than 24 hrs in Montreal with my dad before the holidays, and I really wish I would've been able to spend more. I really do just want to walk around and look at the cool buildings. And not even in Montreal (a city I'd only been to one time before that) but I wanna do this in Toronto, in Halifax, in Oakville even. Learn what these buildings used to be (in Oakville, most of the buildings used to be farmland, but not some downtown!). And that's why I can't wait for Australia. To experience new things for the first time and have the audacity to say "hey, what is this?" and not feel a little ashamed because of it.

So back to having some free time finally after the busy school schedule, I've been able to read some books, and pick up on learning the violin again. Frustrating, I don't have any masking tape so I kinda had to stop for a bit until I find some, but it feels a lot better then watching a rerun episode of some drama on t.v. And best of all without the t.v. was I got off my butt and was swimming every day, on top of doing something else (running or biking at the Y). Now, as soon as I lost access to the car, this stopped because I can't get a way down there that doesn't require me biking in negative degree weather (and even I admit for me this is a pretty weak excuse) and I've also been instructed to take it easy because of an infection I picked up from who knows where (bacteria, not cold/flu viral).

So the angst is leaving finally, and I'm just feeling blessed about everything that's coming together right now, and although I know not everything can be perfect, I've learnt to really appreciate the things that are going right rather the focus on the things that aren't.

As a side note, I wanted to put up a couple of cool pictures, one being from the drive from Halifax to Ontario where I looked in my side mirror and saw a sight that I couldn't let pass me by. I only looked at it today on the computer because I didn't think the shot turned out as spectacularly as it did. (as you may have seen before, I am just realizing now my certain affinity for sunsets and sunrises, but man, you see some colours there that you'll never seen anywhere else)

-click on the photo and it gets even better

The other photo's are of this amazing cupcake that my friend's sister made, there were tons of them but when I took mine home I decided it needed a little photo shoot of its own before it was deliciously devoured.

Christmas Overload

Its nice to get a little bit of a break after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. But only for a short while as I'm headed down to Rise Up, a conference put on by a Catholic program set on 8 or 9 universities across Canada. My expectations were really high for the conference, and now thats its nearly here are getting higher again, but I'm more anticipating the arrival of a book I ordered online, Theology for Beginners, to really understand some more of the religion and Church stuff. But enough about that, and more to what's happened in the past few weeks.

Exams went swimmingly, no real hang ups there. I've yet to check my grades in three of my classes, but I did very well on one exam so I'm expecting similar results for the other three, atleast some sort of level of accomplishment to be felt in surviving another year. This past semester was really busy with work and everything and I'm looking forward to my trip down to Australia and my next two months off school. And to help with Australia, for Christmas I got a digital camcorder to help share the experience with all the friends and family across the pond.

It was great to see family, and I really only grabbed pictures of the last of four family events on Boxing Day, so here`s the highlight for sure: His name is Duke, and he`s my uncle/cousin`s 10 week old German Shepherd:

As you can see, Duke is as cute as a button, and the best part about the night is that Duke really learned that when you bark at another dog (at one point, there were four dogs and eight people shoved into a room tinier then a standard motel room) they usually like to bark back. My dog was not impressed, but the two Golden Retrievers were loving it. I`ll add the rest of the pics of some awful looking people and a really cute guy eating pie just so you could get a feel for the whole night. Excuse Dave, he was a little fixated on Canada beating the snot out of Czech in the opening games of the World Jrs.

Training has been going great, I picked up a month membership at the Y for not cheap but not outrageous, and I`m definitely getting my full use out of that one, I`m in the pool virtually every day, if not on the treadmill or the bike. Stationary bikes suck though, you just get zero feel for even the pedals, although noone is denying the sweat it works up. I`m off to catch the newest Tom Cruise, Valkyrie, if anyone can play an American sounding German conspirator, he can. Enjoy the leftovers, because I`ll be having Turkey sandwiches til I head back to the east coast.

Good grief, good glory

Grief can be good sometimes, you know. Because once its gone, such a feeling of calm comes over you that you just feel right. That's what I've got going on right now. Not a care. Just enough time to relax and do all the things I'd like; pick up some creative Christmas gifts and start training, more and more and more. Hours beyond hours, and I couldn't be any happier. Its great to hear that so many people are doing well around the holiday season, and I only hope things continue going well. Even the Raptors have started to pick it up as of late, which is great. And Dwayne De Rosario has signed with TFC, so that's great too for this coming MLS season. It may not be much, but its the only football we have right now in our city and we can only hope they get more competitive with this move.
But lately, I've really started to enjoy the glory days, and I thought I'd push people on in the same direction;
-Music on in the background: Ray Charles, the original. Not Jamie Foxx singing like him. Ray could jam, you'll learn this quickly. And as always, my favourites, the Rat Pack - Frankie, Dean and Sammie. The tunes Michael Buble is making famous again, but sung with way more humour when you get some live tracks from the Sands in Vegas.
- TV: Mash and the Dukes of Hazard. These are how shows were meant to be made, and yes, although it happens 4 times/episode, I still get excited to see the ole General Lee take air like that.
- Movies: This year, for the first time I saw It's a Wonderful Life in full. Not cut by commercials and in the perfect setting of a classic one screen theatre. I would suggest this movie to absolutely everyone this season, something from these eras just make you think or say, they don't make movies like they used to.

Thank you Bob Rae

You may or may not have heard, and I wish I wasn't studying and had more time to dive into this, but Stephane Dion stated that he would step down, meaning that a new leader had the chance to be picked by the Liberal caucus as early as this week. Well, yesterday LeBlanc, third leading Lib leader hopefully, dropped out of the race and through his support behind my man, Michael Ignatieff. This morning I bought the Globe and Mail when I read that Dion agreed to step down (which is actually very honourable of him and I'm glad for him, he's a good sidelines guy that didn't deserve the negative press he was getting for the debauchery that was the most recent Liberal results for the elections) and I just read right now online, so it must be very recent being as it wasn't even plausible in the paper's headlines and wasn't on the CBC website earlier today, that the second most popular Liberal leader hopeful, Bob Rae, has also agreed to step aside for the sake of the party, I'm assuming (haven't even read through the article as procrastination is getting dangerously addictive), and now the Liberals have a new leader, Michael Grant Ignatieff. I read a bit of stuff on the guy already and I love what I've read so far, he's complex, a thinker, and not shy about certain opinions. 16 published novels, decades of teaching at Harvard, and international experience and unfortunately, a minor experience in Parliament, two years and two elections. But regardless, the guy is wicked and he does have some environmental bones in his body, which is great to hear. Had the Liberal party had him on the foreground 2 months ago, anything could've happened. Time to get excited about the Liberal party again folks.

As a side note, someone reminded me of a fact that I'd never really considered before that is kinda very telling for me. Nationally, there are usually two divisions people vote, for a party with conservative or liberal ideologies. In Canada's multi-party system, we have only one national conservative party, Harper's Conservatives, but we have three separate liberal parties; Ignatieff's Liberals, Layton's New Democrats and May's Green. So what were the statistics, 40 odd voters in 100 voted for a conservative government, while the remaining sixty wished to see a liberal party in the stronghold. This is why I support the idea of a coalition government. Its not undemocratic because that is the nature of a minority government, half of the country didn't want you there, you just garnered the most support because of a lack of intra-ideal competition. So media saying that US is going left and Canada is going right, get your facts straight. Canada is still very much of the free thinking, "individual liberty and equal opportunities" (Wikipedia said it best).

Phoenix Coyotes turned Waterloo Wolves or London Lynx?

Although I love my team and they way they are, here's also something to get excited about. The possibility of these guys headed to a Waterloo-London or Hamilton or Toronto II team near my hometown.

check out the full article for a better understanding about what could go down:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081205.wspt-coyotes-shoalts-05/GSStory/GlobeSports/

Also, Liberals maybe are heading to my advice (finally!) because many are calling for Dion to step down within the week so we (am I a Liberal without his Carbon Shift/Minister of Environment leadership?) can have a new leader before Christmas. Also from a new article in the G&M.

Pirogue and trash

So, pirogue it is. Canadian parliament has just gone on hold for eight weeks, and this can equate to nothing good at all. I haven't checked out the latest feeds on the coalition government yet, but I'm hoping the Liberal party is going to take this opportunity to elect a new leader sooner then later, yet I imagine they are not. Probably too little time to be able to make such a huge decision and therefore thing won't change, and people won't necessarily be any happier having Stephane Dion as PM, but atleast I voted for the man and I'd be happy hearing all about it because maybe there can be some change for the environment?

Speaking of which, this opens up to fears and dreams. I'm actually started to get pretty worried about what jobs are gonna be available to me when I graduate school with the economy to continue to be in a form of near recession. I know this is looking down the line pretty far but its something that people should do. And I'm pretty comfortable saying that if things don't get much better in two years, I can gaurentee I'll do either my Bachelor in Engineering or a graduate degree, because things are just more secure in school then floating around jobless or doing something you don't want to be doing, i.e. working at Tim Horton's full time. So I fear that the recession will affect things so hardly that my previous plans of being a fresh young face in the environmental movement won't really be as attainable as I once thought possible.

Which leads to dreams; those that are getting me in trouble. I got into a disagreement today because I just never get to funnel my fumes about how inconsiderate and really ignorant some people can be. The health effects of smoking need no reminding or introduction here, everyone is finally realizing; smoking kills. Its not good for you. And whats even worse and more frustrating is smokers that just throw their butts onto the ground and step on them, because we all need to walk around the city seeing these little pieces that were in your mouth litter the streets. This is just so inconsiderate. Why? Just why? What gives you the right to throw your ash on the ground? I have this really cool idea that I want to do where I go to an area, pick up all the litter there, and then bring it all and (with permission) dump it inside and ask people walking by "Why is it any worse just because its inside a building?" See what kind of responses I can get there.

All things are going well, and training is certainly getting more regular, which is great because I feel alot better and I'm getting alot more regular sleep. I've starting fasting during the month of December in preparation for the upcoming Christmas holidays, nothing too serious. I initially wanted to do no eating during the sunlight hours of the day and thought this would be good to do now because its the shortest days of the year, but at the same time I didn't really prepare for that and so it would've been quite the shock to my system. So instead I'm just eating three meals/day, nothing in between and limiting the portions of my meals. Its been going pretty good because its has the extra effect of eating healthier.

New joy

I often get kind of annoyed by particular people that talk about how often they go to the gym and how much they did and how tired I am. That's not what working out should be, there's a difference about talking about it and bragging about it sort of thing. People should be getting in shape and staying healthy for health reasons. But, then something happened; I remembered what its like to not have sports be your life. When things are new, when you're just getting into running or just getting into going to the gym regularly, sometimes you can't help but talk about it because it makes you feel good that you went and you're excited about doing something new. This happened to me last night, my tri training at school has been lack luster due to being so busy, but for the past week or so I've been tackling my biggest weakness/the area where I can improve the most: the pool. I was talking with Ellen when she mentioned something to me about what one of her friends told her; there's certainly training, and triathlon is quite intensive in this, that teaches you just to keep going. Go through the tiredness/boredom/wanting to quit. While I've been in the pool the past couple weeks, the workouts have been pathetic, I've been swimming but not really doing anything of endurance, I'd not pace properly and blow a lung after 100m or even 50m. Last night I decided this will happen no more, I pumped out 3x500 and I've never been more pumped, especially because all this means is that now I know I can do that and can keep doing more. I think this is a key moment in water training for sure, just as the fixie is teaching me more and more that you don't even have to stop pedaling on a bike, always keep your feet moving.

Last night I also found out that I've been accepted to the University of Adelaide for next semester. This is gonna be an amazing trip for sure, going to little deserted Adelaide to surf, scuba, train and in my spare time, take four classes. I knew it was probably a good possibility but there was still a couple things that needed to be cleared, and now that they have I'm set to start planning all the things I'm gonna need to bring down to rock the 4-7 months I'm going to be spending down there. Regretfully, this means no planting in the summer (probably only 10% of planters would actually saddened by this) and no summer time with the boys at home, but alas, you only get chances like this once. I've never even left North America before, let alone the North or Eastern hemisphere, so I'm pumped for sure.

I'm really looking forward to the holiday season too; to get home and see some people and to just not have to work or go to class. I have a feeling with Australia approaching January is gonna fly by, and before I know it it'll be February 17th and I'll be showing up for international oreintation and two weeks later back in classes, so it won't feel like much of a two month break but it will be, and I have big plans for it.

Rage much?

This couldn't wait until dec 2nd; taken from a msn conversation of me explaining to a friend what I witnessed today:

cts says:
You won't believe what just happened. So I'm taking the bus home and I always take the number 1 to this particular street and then get off and wait for the 80 or 81 to come by right
cts says:
So I'm on the one, get off at the regular stop, and the 81 is right behind it, so I think sweet, nice. I get on the 81 and look infront of the bus and theres this car pulled over with the 4 ways on. So I thought "this guys pretty inconsiderate for parking at this spot"
cts says:
And then this guy gets out and comes up to the bus and I thought oh maybe a lights out or something dangerous and hes gonna tell the driver about it. He goes to the driver window and just says "Lets go buddy, right now" and he wanted to fight the bus driver. He musta cut him off at some point before they picked me up
cts says:
SO the driver says yeah you're really worth my job buddy.
and the guy starts lipping off, saying oh yeah, your 12$/hr job. and continues to lip off.
so the driver says just get back in your car tough guy
he lips back
get back in your car or i'm gonna hit both you and your car.
cts says:
someone the guy gets the window open and starts grabbing the driver trying to pull him out the window. So the bus starts like creeping forward, the guy somehow gets it in park, then gets back in his seat and starts going around this guys car, then blocks him in and calls the cops
cts says:
So the guy got wise to it and somehow turned around in the stalled traffic but not until after one of the passengers got his plates. I got off the bus just as the cops had showed up a few spots later and were talking to the driver. This rage-aholic is screwed haha.

This is what cyclists have to deal with every day, and it only gets worse in the winter. How are you people so consumed with having to get somewhere that fast that you act like this, or like the guy that hit me when I was on a residential street and he was flying. Not hurt at all, swerved outta the way in time so that he only caught my handlebars, but then this guy gets out trying to tell me it was my fault and because he's also a cyclist that hitting another cyclist was the last thing he would ever want to do. Are you kidding me? First of all, any human being wouldn't want to hit a cyclist, and secondly, when a cyclist is in the middle of the street looking directly at a front door waiting for a neighbour to get out of the way before approaching, what do you think this person is doing? And apparently after waiting 30 yards down the street trying to decide what the cyclist is doing, is speeding past the guy instead of using the horn really the smartest thing to do?

Everyone, please just settle down. You're going to live for 100 years in a world that has lasted more then 4 billion years old. I'm pretty sure if you're not going to get your daughter at school on time that its not gonna be the end of the world, and most of the time when people are late thats your fault in the first place.

More writing to come on December 2nd. Sorry for the break.

Rememberance Day

I meant to actually right about this the other day but never got around to it...

It was an early morning and no students seemed to be littering campus yet, and I was walking from one building to another. It was a cool morning, very crisp in the air. Something that I wish was around all the time but instead we only get to cherish during the autumn months. The air is never the same as it is during a great autumn day where its cold but the sun is promisingly breaking over the horizon, albeit a little later in the day but never the less bringing with it the promise of a perfectly warm day. So as I was walking from one building to the other I cut through Dalhousie's quad, and low and behold I was hit with another situation where I wish I carried my camera on me at all times. There it was, the red white and red, in the all so treasured autumn air, blowing just strong enough to give it that movie-like perfection. I hope that every once and a while people in this country are blessed with a sudden unexplainable feeling of patriotism when they see either the flag waving, or maybe its something else; kids playing street hockey, a room full of faces studying not realizing there is a ridiculous mosaic of different races gathered together in the room. Some of the blessings in our country are just so common that we don't take time to properly reflect on how great this land really is. I've been across the country and although I haven't headed north yet, I can guarantee each square metre of the provinces and territories have something great to offer in amidst all the negative we often observe in our societies.

So today, I call the people of this country to not simply remember that some old guy fought for your freedom in a world that was MUCH different then ours, but remember how far we've come since those times too. Truly appreciate the lives that were lost so that I can have the ability to study the effect of coral on our oceans, the ability to walk down the street and complain about my government not pulling its weight, the ability to vote in my country's leaders. Its a shame that Dal schedules assignments and mid-terms the day following Remembrance day, yet has us go home December 13th. I would've sacrificed another day or two or more for the ability to actually take Remembrance day off and join in in the celebration of my democracy and remembering that I've grown up in a culture that didn't have to fight in a world war or virtually any war for my freedom.

Why do we fall master Bruce?

So most of the things you do when you're young and adventurous 22 yr old usually end up being a lot of fun, things that you wouldn't want to or be able to necessarily do when you're older, and every once and a while, when they're really fun and really adventurous, they hurt like heck. Take for in part, riding a fixie around the wet dark streets with no brakes (I do have a break, but the nature of braking on a fixie is not easily learnt and takes some getting used to). So I took spill on the new bike, ground my hip up a bit and learned a lesson; on a fixie you have to pull up your pant leg. You don't have a choice, because the second it gets caught in the chain, your weight is absolutely thrown off and your legs keep pedalling. The fall (avec helmet, no brain damage there) was actually kinda fun, in a sick way. So then another example of hurting but fun is this Saturday when I went surfing with Elle and my buddy Neil. First of all, surfing is not easy in the slightest. And its not even the actual surfing part of it, its the learning of where to be, which waves to try and which not to. It was kinda crappy but kinda hilarious, the first wave I tried to take I obviously bailed on and the board came around and smacked me right in the mouth. Spitting blood the rest of the day, I kept on attacking the waves and realized I was getting REALLY tired by the end of the day. Like every paddle was useless and I was just getting nowhere around our fifth hour in the water. But for all who think they know what's going on in the Canadian/Halifax surf scene, you're wrong about worrying about whether the waters cold. Wet suits are great for that. And for anyone in the scene, be more accepting of newbies, teach a brother.


Neil and I talking over us getting smashed, and me gazing into the defeating ocean, knowing I'll be back for another go round.

Long-term

So here's the plan, here's what's going on. Mind you they are in no way written in stone and this is only what I'm hoping on what will happen, but its good to write down at least I figure.

1) Get accepted into the University of Adelaide.
-I'm awaiting a reply from a prof at Dal who is just verifying one last class I have to confirm will be accepted by Dal and I'm set to send in my application. I've been in contact directly with admission who said that my GPA is certainly admissible by extenuating circumstances, which I think I mentioned before and which is the best news I could get.
2) After impending approval, I'll have to decide whether I stay in Halifax until February or if I go home and work. I still haven't really even considered this, but I do have a job here that I'm pretty positive would accommodate me for full time and I don't have that at home. But, I'm also paying for living here and wouldn't be in Oakville, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
3) Leave for Australia in February, have the time of my life and get all my upper year biology classes done, and come back in either June or August, depending on living conditions, cash flow for travel, etc. Assuming I'll be in Adelaide, I might want to try to get out to Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns or Perth, or even the interior outback. This trip will be just a trial run and if I like the place, I'll be back eventually.
4) Get a place to rent, probably a two person with a friend. Me and this guy haven't talked details yet because we're awaiting December holidays before committing to any decisions, but ideally I'd like to live north of Quinpool because I like dissociating school from my living space, but I could probably still do that if I lived south of quinpool a bit closer to school. Quinpool, for anyone not from Halifax, is about a 9 minute walk with major frequent buses going down to Dal. Places are supposed to get cheaper north of quinpool, and I'd love to live a quick five minute bike away. I can see myself giving up on this dream though simply because living closer is definitely easier for the scholastically inclined, which my buddy definitely is. Another hope for this house is that it will be pet-accommadating. I was supposed to get a dog after I was done school, but knowing that is two - five years down the road, I'm really just going for it now. Living with two this school term has made me realize 1) I definitely know what I'd be getting into and would be an excellent caregiver and 2) Its just plain old nice to have a mutt around.
I'm hoping to move to Halifax for the rest of the duration of my schooling here. This is to me is a smart move, as I can space out classes enough that I can continue to work while in school and therefore pay for the place I'm living in, and also spread out my schedule enough that I can do well in school without unneeded pressure. And the biggest reason of all is I'm really excited to have a place to call home. I feel like I'm in that point of my life where its just time to start doing my own thing.

So thats the game plan.
Short term I want to be training more, and if Australia does happen I'm gonna rock January and February so hard to make up for the last two months. I'm gonna cut my 10k time to 40 minutes atleast, and just start flowing more then I do now. I'm not gonna explain that term, but I know sometimes when I run, I just flow.

On the shortest term; I built the back wheel for the bike this weekend. Turned out well, really needs to be tuned. For the crank I think I'm going to pass it over to Nauss bike shop because I just don't have the tools and the parts, and hopefully set something up with these guys that I can get it on the road by November long-weekend. I wanna paint it soon too but gotta make sure I have a spot to do so. The colour scheme is gonna be simple and crazy good.

Join this site

One million acts of green
http://green.cbc.ca/Default.aspx

An initiative by CBC and a bunch of other organizations to popularize going green and giving great resources to some of us that might not be able to think of all the ways we can help. Check it out, join up. Its about 1,000,000 times better than facebook.

*side note: Beckham on loan to AC Milan?!? I love this guy, always surprising me. Its actually a great move by him, and not really too much of a shot to LA. Stop trying to control your superstar, obviously playing for England is more important to him (playing in AC keeps him in shape and on the team for international comp).

I think I'll do, but not as originally planned.

So St. Mary's University, after proper research, has been ruled out as where I'll be headed next. The program they offer is actually offered precisely the same in Dal, but the prepared concurrent program isn't for me. The way they make this work is they pretty much add a year to your engineering diploma and at the same time make it attainable to get a BSc concentration in bio, which is already a three year degree in itself. I personally don't want to sacrifice anything along the lines of my biology background/degree because thats where my job is headed for sure. But, I am exploring the option of doing a proper degree (major) and a diploma concurrently. To me it makes sense if it would be possible for me to do it, but of course you've always got to check with dal officials to make sure it'll work for certain.

I got some discerning news about Australia thus far too, but am only seeing it as a step back. I'm trying to apply right now in time to be accepted and attend next semester, leave in March and be back July and continue with the regular semester at Dal. I'm obviously pumped about that because it puts Australia even closer, but what I'm finding right now is all the schools are looking for 3.0 admission GPAs for study abroad programs, and I don't have that. But, my past three semesters have been far above this so I'm enquiring about the possibility of extenuating circumstances for acceptance. I've also been talking to the professor who handles transfer credits at Dal and he's certainly being very open to the opportunity of accepting most of the classes I'm looking at taking, which is really encouraging as well.

Well, thats about how its going lately. No training to speak of other then 2hrs of basketball yesterday, which isn't training at all. I'm aware. But I've got a date with the frigid day tomorrow warranted that I get a good night's sleep tonight (a rarity lately because of the relaxing after work turning into being awake way too late).

If no one ever knew this, I thought it was really cool to hear. Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae were university roommates. That's amazing to me. I'm sure it was in upper years when they lived together, but for both men to become so successful politically, that's wicked. I'm interesting if my liberal support will extend into the new party's policies. It was policy standard for the carbon tax, so thats a good sign that it might, but also as the Green party continues to improve my loyalty can easily head in that direction. If my Gramma's reading the posts this week, maybe don't tell Babba of my affection for the cappuccino-sucking Liberals just yet. And tell him that Dalton McGuinty has no chance of becoming the next leader of the party.

The recent elections has actually made me think of one day getting into local politics, warranted that I've put my major energies into the environment first, lived life some and get some great concrete ideas of how to make Canada a continue amazing country for generations to come. But thats rather far down the road.

To do or not to do

So, what do I do?
i) Continue my studies at Kings/Dal and finish up by Dec 2010 (same time as Australia) but with a realistic maximum of a 3.0 GPA
ii) Continue on with my plans and try to make my way to Australia in July and come back to finish off at Dal in Dec 2010 with the same scenario as Dal, 3.0 GPA but a large chunk out of my pocket for paying international fees to a school not affiliated with Dal (Dal affiliates are only in Canberra, not really interested in studying 2 hrs away from the coast)
iii) Change my plans, change my school and go study at St. Mary's University, thus renewing my transcript, bumping me up to a 3.6 GPA to start with and add only 1 extra semester, graduating April 2011 with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Engineering diploma.

Now why would I care this much about my GPA? Well, I've never showed much interest in graduate school, but I also have no job opportunities come my way when I do graduate from where ever and a BSc is not necessarily a hot commodity out in the world, I've got ideas of what I want to do but nothing very concrete at all, and life without purpose is pretty detrimental for my most of the time. I'm not really someone that can stay stagnant for long.

So where do I make the decision? There is a fourth option of transferring to a school in Australia, and finishing two years over there, but where am I gonna come up with 40,000$ for tuition alone? Nowhere.

I'm looking at my options pretty hard this week, but there's been so much going on lately I should also be devoting this time to catching up in a my genetics class and in my training. I wanted to start the catch up Friday but instead I got a midterm moved and will hopefully be hitting the asphalt starting Tuesday. Just need a couple things to start going my way, but have no idea of how to go out and make the world work for me.

Quick thoughts

You know how hard it is to be a well rounded person? I've been trying that this year and so far its really not going as well as I wished it would. By well rounded, I mean, for myself, socially aware and into your own hobbies. This reminds me of an embarrassing memory of mine from when my family went to Disney World, the only time I've been further then Tennessee in the US. We were having a grand time, doing all the rides and what not and we happened upon this pirate ride that then had this souvenir shop. My parents, the suckers haha, encouraged the kids to get stuff at the conveniently located shop, where all the kids are on pirate-highs and wish nothing then to plumage and squander the rest of their known lives. Anyways, I buy this little build your own pirate ship model. At the time, I'm super excited. But as we leave the shop, I immediately regret this purchase and the pirate ship has suddenly morphed into a metaphor for my inability to commit to one thing in life (at that age, of course, I had no idea of this). Anyways, I start crying (ugh...) because the pirate ship doesn't really match anything in my room (great feeling of pathetic coming over my right now...), aka my interests were all over the place and I just wished I could be one type of person instead of trying to do everything. I'm still that kid, unfortunately and fortunately. I'm extremely thankful to my parents for letting me partake in any endeavour I wished when I was growing up, I was always encouraged to play any sport I wanted, do anything I could. This was great, but also sometimes terrible. I'm faced with the same dilemna today of thinking to myself 'Why can't you just make up your mind?'. My interests are all over the place, and its a gift and a curse. Its obvious to see why its a gift but let me elaborate on the curse part; I have no idea what I want to do when I grow older, and barely have an idea what I want to do in the next few months. Ideally, I'd do it all, I'd be scuba diving and surfing 4 days a week, I'd be training 3-4 hours/day for triathlons, I'd be an activist in my community for sustainability and becoming better educated in that and other issues facing the world, I'd atleast have my first degree by now and working on making a difference somewhere, and the list goes on and on. I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea the details of the crisis in Darfur because I simply haven't had the time to look it up. It was brought to my attention two days ago, the day before the poles open; I was pushing people to vote when I myself wasn't fully educated on all the issues. I was skewed by what I was hearing from people; for example, I thought Jack Layton to be a liar because I didn't see how his system of training more health care professionals was gonna work, but thanks to a friend (who eventually didn't vote NDP, but was just immensely more educated than I on the issues) I got an understanding that his ideas (or that one at least) really wasn't that bad. It was an embarrassing conversation to have, me trying to justify my political views when I recognized her rebuttals against them were unbreakable. Eventually, I could only chalk up my vote to gut instinct, which thankfully no one can really tell me is wrong. But alas, I have no idea the kind of person I am yet, and the worst part is, I've been this way my whole life. I had a friend from high school not long ago say 'You really haven't changed at all'. Not at all in a negative way, almost in a positive way but certainly in a truthful way. I'm still one of the most indecisive yet hard headed people I know, which is a terrible combination because besides really basketball (and I'm aware theres so many other people that could still squash me in that, I just avoid hanging out with them), I'm a amateur expert in nothing but a participant in most things... is this good or bad? The all time great plaguing question for me; is it better to be good at a number of things or great at a few things?

Thanksgiving weekend

Man, what a great weekend. Specifically, and I know there was so much that went on this weekend and how great it all was, but the run I went for on Saturday was heavenly. The weather in PEI this weekend wasn't all that great but not all that bad either. Mostly overcast. But just for the hour and 15 minutes that I was out running down the straight, hilly Newton road the weather was inexplicably perfect. The sun was shinning, warming my face while the breeze was just enough that you didn't overheat too much but certainly stayed warm and muscles good. Its hard to think that there's not some greater power responsible for days like that day, minutes like those minutes. It was great to finally get on the road and I was amazed at the fact that after you've ran a 1/2 marathon, 10 k (I probably ran 12-13 we figure) seems like nothing. It was great! Super pumped.

But now back to reality, two midterms on Friday and not much time to study for them because of the work schedule. I put in a lot of work at Tim's the past three weeks and then when I ask them to not book me a shift on Thursday anymore, guess what they do. So, when they called today to ask if I could come in, I said nope and it felt good. I have a hard time not wanting to be really dependable and I certainly enjoy money from working for it, so I usually try to take on too much. Well, I've got to stop that and look in better perspective of school first. I worked hard studying last week and it really paid off so that's enough inspiration to get me through these next two this week hopefully. Special thanks to my grandfather and uncle too, this weekend they finished the basement in my house (wish I was there to lend a hand) and because of the stupid set up of the house, it was much more work then it would've needed to be. Also Veli and the Mick, I'm waiting on a couple more pics to help you smile. And to those of you looking for your own shout outs, it will come soon enough.

Step one: find frame

YESSSSS! Frame found for the fixie or single speed I'm gonna be making. Construction will start on Tuesday most likely (which is terrible because I've got two midterms on friday haha). But this is great, this is some good news I've been needing. After my race high I've been so busy that I haven't been able to find time to do any excercise and that probably won't stop until next week, but I'm gonna try to find time this weekend to go for a 10 or 12 k just for the hell of it. I miss the road. Last time I ran in PEI though (going to PEI for thanksgiving), it started raining almost immediately as my feet hit the asphalt and with the howling winds that are always coming and going on the island, it was a chilly one. Have to bring out the tights (I secretly [not so secretly after this statement] LOVE rocking the spandex, it just makes you feel faster). I've still gotta check out the frame but it should be wicked, I've had Al from Nauss Bikes (GREAT bike shop, best in Halifax by far) looking for frames my size for a while now. The problem is I can't fit onto a frame the size of my current bike because older frames had the seat tube and the top tube perpindicular while newer bikes have that at a angle so that the frames longer with a smaller measurement. Older frames are shorter while being equally as tall (not good for lanky ol' me).

Well, quick update of a moment of excitment, back to studying.

University of the road, Rimouski campus

Above all that experience was extremely humbling. Being a better then average athlete, I always looked at long distance endeavours as something that was easily achievable with the proper training and nothing more then that. Well, let me tip my hat to anyone that every competes in long distance. There are different challenges other then physical that you simply don't experience in any other sport. I can confirm now that I can definitely compete long distance events, but wow, was it ever harder then I thought it'd be. I've never in my life that I can remember felt so drained from a single experience. I mean, I felt hungover for being as dehydrated as I was, I was starving but didn't have the energy to even think about eating(immediately after the race that is, after getting about 4 litres of water in me in 1 hour, I was ready to go). And the one factor I'd never considered, staying mentally focused the whole time. This is something I've never really experienced before, because most of the sports I play are very intense, high energy, go go go sports, but running this half was slow and steady, don't push yourself too hard. At the beginning, I was passing everyone I was running up beside, and few were passing me. In the end, I was in near desperation while people were just running causually by me, looking nearly effortless in comparison to my labour. But now that I've done it, I can learn from it and look forward to the next.

A lot of other positives came out too; 1) My 10k time - 51minutes. Certainly not overly impressive but for someone who was knowingly holding back and still did 10 near 50, I was really pumped about that. 2) My overall time - 1h55m36s - the fact that I achieved my goal of wanting to break 2hrs on my first race is huge because it keeps me motivated. Sometimes a win is that little extra push you need. 3) my overall time again, because here's how I can look at it. I ran this race when I was sick and without proper training. the race itself was 50% more then I'd ever run consecutively in my life, which is obviously dangerous for the body, and I'd run maybe 3 times in all of september. so not I can look at my time and say I could probably shave a good chunk of time off just being better prepared for my next race.

As for when that will be, there's absolutely no telling. It all depends on the summer really and if I treeplant or not, so we'll see what happens. This whole experience has definitely been motivational though, and after watching the ease in which some of these guys/girls were running, I know what I've got to work on for sure.

As for the rest of the experience, Rimouski leaves something to be desired as a town I think. The run was amazing for sights because you run along the water pretty much the whole time (who knew tide changed so drastically on the St. Lawerence) but this also caused the weather to go from gorgeous, windless and sunny to freezing cold with the wind coming off the water. On the positive of our expérience française on the drive through we did stop off in Amqui and happened upon the best pizza place I've ever been to, period. They had a seafood pizza, why has someone never thought of this before? Shrimp, scallops, lobster, bechemel sauce. Amazing. And extremely filling. And sorta really expensive. But worth every penny.

Suzuki and sustainability

So Thursday when I was standing in line at Tim's waiting to get some food and some guy approached me about signing my name on a petition for government responsibility for our country's sustainability, I thought 'well ya, I'll sign, this stuff is what I'm all about'. Then the guy told me to go to a little meet they were gonna have, and David Suzuki was gonna be guest speaking. He dropped this casually, but how does Dal not let more students know about this stuff? I mean; David Suzuki at Dal at a promto-rally for Students for Sustainability and nobody cares to really publicize this besides the day of (and believe me, I'm all over the LSC (life science centre - dal's bio and oceanography buildings) so I would've seen a poster or something along those lines). Special thanks, though you'll probably never hear of this, to Brendan Brazier (pro triathlete did a speech about the importance of sustainable approach to diet), Maude Barlow and David Suzuki, and all the students involved with the CFS (Can. Federation of Students), Sierra Club and Suzuki Foundation that made it possible for me and about 300+ others hear from some of the world's experts about the problems our species are currently facing.

What really gets me is that why is sustainability suddenly become the trend that people veer away from publicly. You really break it down and think about it, and people sit by and say how great being green is and its really starting to get popular, but then what do these people actually do for sustainability (the root of being green)? Not buy bags in the grocery stores? Use reusable thermoses for coffee/tea? Is that all students can really contribute to the whole movement? I mean, we're students here, and the growing trend now with the federal election coming is that students have a voice now, so why doesn't someone use it. I know I should catch a lot of flack for saying this because people can ask me what I do, why aren't I out there contributing and starting rallies and all that jazz. Well listen, I don't have the time. That's the facts, but I do do my best in everyday life to reuse, recycle, reduce my carbon footprint (a phrase that the papers have picked up but the public veers away from). Let me first talk more about what I mean that people are veering away - you start talking about sustainability and being green, and people almost feel uneasy about it. Or they talk but they don't do. I mean, people in biology and life science courses I see everyday and just as bad, and these people should be the most concerned. This is your field you're studying...is it really unsubstantial? I know this is a lot of ranting and it may be hard to take something from this, but it comes down to stop the talk. Start doing.

1) All you people spending 30$/month on bottled water - are you kidding me? "It tastes better", "there's chemicals in the city water". Well, here's news for you, there's chemicals in all the water, including the water that hydrates the plants you eat and quenches the thirst of the animals you eat, so this shit is unavoidable. Admittedly, I didn't know about the negative effect on the environment of the bottle of water, but this is because I didn't think critically about it. Plastics are made of huge compounds that are not broken down. And although encouraged compared to waste, the recycling process of water bottles is not "good" for the environment, its the lesser of the two evils. So stop it, drink water from your house. Wanna grab a Brita for the taste, sure, I mean to look into the effects of these little carbon suckers on the environment soon.
1b) still on the water subject, I know some people think its gross but stop flushing the toilet every time you tinkle. I'm embarrassed to be included in the North American demographic of water wasters while looking at us compared to Euro counterparts. Don't fill the sink when you wash the dishes, you don't need that much water...just be responsible.

2)When its avoidable and unnecessary (as often is) stop printing notes off the computer. Not every class needs 7 colour pages of slides when you sit and write notes and it takes a total of a page and a half.

3) Vote. Please vote. I don't give a shit (excuse the language) if you think your vote doesn't count, because you are one of the 50-60% of students that think their votes don't count. MORE THEN HALF! I'd say there's a reason your vote doesn't mean crap, because you're infecting your peers to think that theirs don't and that's just not true. Urge your parents to vote, and preferably, urge your parents to consider to vote on your and your children's considerations in hand. This is bold to put out there but; Canadians: Stop bitching about taxes. I want a government to tax me more because they don't, contrary to popular belief, piss all of this money away (only a portion). The reality of life is that our our quality of living costs money, and in my opinion just in the span of my teenage years the quality of our country has gone down, much down. I want free health care to continue with a proper amount of capable doctors, I want free education for students of a respectable calibre (I say this because no, it shouldn't be free for everyone because some people are just too lazy to take the responsibility of their education seriously and you shouldn't be born with this right, but work towards it, ex. make third/fourth year free so you have to survive the first two to be applicable. If you aren't smart enough to complete a university degree [hey, sorry, its a fact of life sometimes] then make trade college free for students who meet requirements), I want to see greener cities, a clean water system. Suzuki talked of a simpler time just in his life when you could drink from any lake or stream and know it was safe, that was less then 50 years ago. The human existence of thousands of years was erased in a simple 50-100 yrs. I want to be an independent nation! I don't want to be mini-America. I want our products produced here to be a desire around the world, or ATLEAST a desire in our own company. And Harper - you're an idiot for backing out of Kyoto. That's a whole other issue.
Our quality of living is a privilege, not a necessity or a given birth right. VOTING IS A PRIVILEGE. Yes, believe it or not there are countries out there that are not democratic. You all know this but you still aren't hit home on the subject. If someone took away your right to vote, which you already don't exercise, you would be in an uproar, but right now you don't use it anyways. That friends is a wasted vote. So, newly appointed government, tax me more as long as the quality of living goes up. Quality of living; my friends and family are and remain healthy, my great expanse of Canadian ecosystems recover and are protected, I live happily knowing a portion of my pay is going to support the family down there road where the mother can't work because she has to stay home with four children, are these things really bad? I don't need the newest clothes on my back that will quickly fade, I need the memory of times where economic prosperity meant stronger cultural programs and better paid teachers and doctors, not higher paid lawyers and boardroom tycoons and the newest gadgets. If you disagree with me, let me hear about it, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I just hope these are educated opinions.

There are a lot more things I could wish to add to this list (I got really sidetracked by the rant about voting), but people will hopefully change over time, think about things I've never thought about, prove me wrong. I welcome it, because what I think of the future of the nation I would welcome being wrong.

On a less ranting note, I took the train up to Rimouski to meet with my dad for a half-marathon along the bay. Rimouski is really nice, but a lot different then I thought it would be. I really liked the look of Amqui on the train and hope to visit it one day. I do wish I spoke French though, always have but up here especially and if anyone has got any tips about how to improve it other then continuing taking courses at uni I'd be welcome to them. Last I thought of was to start reading lower level French novels, which sounds like a plan to me.

"We have created the illusion that everything is alright by using up the rightful legacy of our children and grandchildren" - David Suzuki, an amazing public speaker, if you have the chance to go see him do it.

One other great point he made that I won't elabore on; Ecology and economy come from the same root word, greek oikos meaning home or household. Ecology being the study and understanding of the home and economy being the management. You can't have an economy without the ecology. In these terms, you look at the tree; Economy standards if its in the ground, the tree is useless, only once removed and sold is it worth anything. In ecology, this tree is vital to life, provides oxygen to the world (kinda important for humans...), affects climate and weather systems with evaporation of water out of its system, supplying ecosystems with homes for biodiversity and many other reasons. The services that nature provides are seen as an extranality, economics for useless, of no worth. That tree in the ground sounds important enough to me to keep it there, no matter the dollar that it produces dead.

Weekends tend to be a waste...

A weekend has passed, and the overall productivity rate of such is not very high. Friday night we all went out for a birthday weekend, and that pretty much wrote off a good portion of my Saturday, I didn't start feeling human again until about 6h00pm. The night out was a lot of fun though, and because of alcohol and a shaver, I'm sporting a mohawk until Remembrance Day. It doesn't look all that ridiculous, I even had one in high school so I knew it wouldn't turn out too bad.

So of the productive things that happened this weekend, I bought a cheap used computer that I can use for school, my Dell laptop is so old that you have to have it plugged in for it to turn on, and once you do plug it in, then it takes probably about four or five minutes to completely load up to where its usable. So I found one of kijiji and picked it up on Sunday after going down to see it Saturday night. Its actually alot faster then my current computer, plus I won't be downloading anything on it at all so it'll just stay how it is right now. I was gonna fill in a little bit more about my weekend, a big clean of the house and a switch up for my room so I've got a desk in here that I can work on now and write the blog, but I won't get into the details. Its been too long since I've played the violin so I'm gonna go rock that for a while.

Janet's birthday today

I know, back-to-back craziness. But not really because these two people are probably the most studious of anyone I've ever met. Maybe I could learn a thing or two. But I just wanted to send out a quick shout out to Janet because she's wicked. For a moustache update; its a '60s style sans handlebars now, but still not gone. Maybe on Thursday it will cease to exist, by the way people have been looking at me I think that would be what the general public prefers. And remember, days only get shorter from here, so get out in the sun as much as you can. And also, keep your fingers crossed for me because I'm trying to snatch a frame off of ebay for the singlespeed.

Jeff Wagner's anniversary of birth

So its my good friend Jeff Wagner's birthday, and this is my present to him: A memorable moustache and some stellar side burns. Jeff's a good guy, he's far too smart for his own good and because of that, we often argue about how much smarter then him I am. He thinks its a lot closer then it is, but today I let it go and asked him one or two questions in class just because it makes him feel good to answer them, even if I know he's not right. The great thing about Jeff is that he's already promised to give me a streamlined trailer once he becomes a radiologist. These are the most important people to find, those with longterm goals and future large pockets to support you when you inevitably will be jobless and homeless with need of a good meal. But in all seriousness, Jeff's a great guy. Ladies, go easy on him, he just doesn't know how to act sometimes.

As promised, I've also got a picture of Red up finally on the web page. Darby, the other dog who's half german-half beagle, was around with Jenn, her owner, but they went out to visit Darby's cousin Charlie, a hilariously hyper and notoriously slow-witted dog. I should be studying right now, but as I'm sure everyone remembers, its just not a priority until 8pm the night before, which is fast approaching.

Tim Horton's started last night, and it was actually great. I think I'm really going to like working there. Its so consistently busy that shifts go by really quickly. The last 2 hrs are kind of slow with their sporadic huge lines of students and others coming for a late night fix, but thats usually only after classes get let out. The staff is all really friendly, the pays good and the benefits of free coffee and donuts can't be ignored. I only took home a muffin and a tea biscuit for myself, so no worries there. It won't be my be all, end all source of food. For instance, this is trivial but I'm really excited about it, because I'm able to pay for groceries now with the money coming in from Tim's, I went out and bought some lettuce, tomato, aspargus for a salad topped off with a decently sized salmon steak that I'll do on the barbeque off the back deck. Well, I better get studying but it was great to here feedback from some people about the site, special thanks to Terrilynn! I'll get back to your email soon. Everyone else can get a shout out too if I just hear from you.



Here's a couple of photos of the house, specifically the front and back, and my room, I know I should have cleaned up before the photo but hours are in short demand right now, and a look from the TV room to the sitting room and the downstairs dining table. You can click on them for a better look, and hopefully the closer look won't reveal anything in my room I didn't know about. The house is really nice, and the guys, Myles and Terry have worked hard to get it that way. If anyone wants to invest there is a place two houses down, 3 bedroom for 218,000$ that I would love to fix up myself! By the way, I've been in the pool the past two days and these antibiotics are really working well and my strengths starting to come back which is great.

Don't count me out yet.

His name is Justin Daerr, and after I read his article on slowtwitch.com, a pretty fantastic triathlon site, he has become some inspiration. Since school is getting busier I've been having a harder and harder time trying to fit in training and stay on top of everything, and after looking over my schedule today I know its only going to get tougher as well. I just found out I have, starting this Wednesday 8 midterms in as many weeks. And I'm starting at Tim's which will only complicate things more I suppose. But back to this guy. Here's a guy who went to Texas A&M, was a baseball player his whole life, and only got into tris his first year of uni. Granted that's about 4 years ago for me, he is now a professional on the circuit of the Ironman distances, an Elite athlete after two seasons of Age Group racing (AGer). So all hope is not lost in starting late, it just requires discipline and some hard work. Something I'm gonna be telling myself when I hope in the pool or on the bike this week. The sickness seems to be doing better already, so I'm doubtful about the ENT doctor, although I would've loved my family doctor at home to have given me this stuff the first appt I had because 5 appts for a proper fix is just too much for me. Best of luck to everyone else starting up their midterms. I'm counting down to Thanksgiving already. Some good news, the weather this week looks great again, so that'll be something to enjoy throughout the week to keep the spirits up.

Pile up

So when things started to feel like they were getting just too boring and just too slow moving around here, now all of a sudden i'm swamped and have beyond enough work to do to last me a while. A midterm mid-week that sort of snuck up on me, a larger lab report that i wouldn't have preferred to get assigned this week was, and a good thing and bad is that i just got hired at tim horton's so they want me to pick up more then normal amount of hours so that i get a hang of the job right away, which makes sense. I made sure that it wasn't going to be too much and that i'd have good time to study but it'll still be 18 hours in the first week, which also means i can buy groceries too and the book bag that i've been needing to get for a while. So good and bad things coming from that.

I had a talk with one of my first year teachers at dal that came over from australia to ask him what advice if any he could give me about going to uni there and it was more helpfully then i think he thought he was going to be. Most countries other then US and Canada seem to prescribe to a different idea about the university experience. Dalhousie, for example, is about 20,000 students, to me quite a big school. But, most of the international countries that i've looked at, i'm hard pressed to find a school that has less then 30,000 students. But here's what the professor said to me that kind of struck a chord. He never saw the point, when looking at schools, of trying to find a smaller school. This could have culture reasons between it but it also is very true that upper-year classes are going to be small whereever you go, and smaller schools just don't have enough money for the proper research facilities and you make other sacrifices as well. So after considering this advice, i now am not afraid of the big schools, which unfortunately and fortunately opens up even more options if i wanted them. But then whilest in class i considered something else; the place i go to for the first 4 months isn't neccessarily the same place i have to go the second. So after worrying about seeing the country, i decided i'll hit up the east or south side of aus first and then find work, and after 8 months i'm going to go to some classes in perth on the west coast. So now to consider where to apply to first; university of queensland? sydney uni? unsw (also in Sydney)? or a mix of big and small and going to the hometown of my favourite tennis player lleyton hewitt; adelaide? Uadelaide is small in consideration to the other group of 8 universities (aus' ivy league-esque; adelaide, anu, umelbourne, monash, unsw, uq, usydney, uwa) and on the coast, but adelaide as a city is quite isolated from the rest of it all. I think i'm going to stick to either queensland or new south wales, or in uadelaide consideration, south aus. melbourne has appeal but is also a decent distance from the coast, and when you go to australia, where do you really wanna be? And in cost considerations, i'm going to look at anu in canberra, 2 hrs from the coast in the ottawa of australia (political capital, that kind of feel from what i hear) but it might be a good spot to finished their winter and move into summer). Lots of decisions to make soon but not too much time to make them. Great.

the plan, the dream

So this is what i learnt today; i cannot go home immediately after i'm done classes for the day. I did this today, and it was by far the least productive day since i've been out in halifax. This is the biggest reason why i've been looking for a job lately, atop from the money i just appreciate something filling my time. I'm still in the last stages of the sickness, so sometimes i have the energy for whichever, and sometimes not. Its also all the biking around the city is really hitting me on the legs. I think its just a matter of good diet and sleep that'll get my legs into the routine. The race is alot closer then i thought it was, and i'm kinda only now starting to feel crappy about getting sick right before it because i would've really liked to put down a serious time but right now i'm feeling really uneasy about it. I'm hoping i could atleast do a sub-2hr race, and i'll know in the next coming weeks how much further down the scale i can go.

So i applied for another job today at the trail shop, an outdoor equipment store that would've been great to work at because the stuff they have there is amazing but also super expensive, so it would've been cool to even have the discount to get some cool stuff. But unfortunately they are only looking for full-time, so i'm hoping they'll change their mind about that but its pretty unlikely. So i think its gonna be tim hortons, but thats alright. Should be fun working with some people i know there. School routine is coming in full bend now and so its a great time to get my training started full stream. I haven't come out and said this yet on here because i was cautious about almost committing too much or what not, but before i got sick i was well devoted to triathlon training and that has dipped a little bit so i think i need another committment to really solidify me backing up what i'm shooting for. Anyways, my three year goal, i'll explain it in stages: for the next year and a half, or in an undetermined time, i'm going to be doing base training. This means that before i go down to australia, which i'm still hoping to do so in july this coming summer for a year, i should be in the best shape of my life. And to me this is great news because from my experience, australia and new zealand seem to be two of the most elite countries in the sport. My training would continue down there, and my main goal is to qualify for the 2011 national championships, in canada and be considered an elite level athlete by triathlon canada. Hopefully, this could possibly lead to a trip down to 2012 london as either a training partner/team member down there or in the wildest dreams an active racer in london. So anyways, for the 3-odd people that read this, there's my goal. I gotta really focus and buckle down and make sure school gets done too, so wish me luck.

cts

bike time

I would love to start taking donations from anyone wishing to help me build a bike, singe speed hopefully aluminium frame road bike. Now, most of you that know me well enough are probably saying "you need another bike like you need a hole in the head", well, this is why I'd like one. My road bike right now is too good of a bike to be riding around downtown and leaving it anywhere and everywhere, already the front wheel needs to be trued. My mountain bike is simply too heavy to be riding around such a hilly city all day and all night long. The tires are way too serious for the road, and right now I'm pretty sure the disk brakes are rubbing while I ride, so instead I want to build one. I recently applied at cyclesmith in Halifax, although it didn't sound like they were really looking so instead I'm gonna apply at all the other bike shops in the city, for the experience, money and the use of their tools. I considered selling my mountain bike, but I just have too much fun jumping over sewer grates and I want to get into more single track when I have the chance. So this leaves me with only one option; new bike. I wanted a car so already this is quite the step down I'd say.

Other then that things have been going pretty good, I finally got sheets to fit my bed, which is the first step to fixing up my room and making it feel more like home. Classes are getting normal and in the routine, gonna already have alot of reading to catch up on this weekend though. Halifax Film Festival is in town and apparently the first show tonight was a huge hit, I talked to a guy outside of the theatre and he said that Blindness, with Julianne Moore, was much worth seeing. I'm starting to love the biking around the city too, just not at 8h00 in the morning when old people in cars almost hit me or people don't give me enough space to pass them at a red light (how can you be that jealous that a bike is passing you in rush hour traffic) and I end up falling on my butt onto the grass. And this all happened in one day too, so you drivers out there share the road will yah. Politicians are making their way down the east coast now too, Dion was in St. John's today so maybe Halifax by the weekend. Maybe worth seeing the guy speak and try to explain how with a minority gov't (if they get elected at all) they would possibly get his carbon tax to pass through, or maybe he could explain how those who need to drive a truck, agriculture and construction, will be differentiated from those soccer moms in the SUVs. Weekend starts after 1h30 tomorrow, and on request some pictures of Red and the house will be coming soon, just let me get the room tidy first.

Also, training has officially started again, with 4.5 miles around the track on Wednesday, and a swim and run maybe tomorrow.

what to do with time dilemma

after the anniversary trip it ottawa, which was great, i'm slowly trying to make my way into a routine in halifax. its a hard thing to start because i wasn't sure about the details of three of my classes, missing the first two classes of the year because of the anniversary party. in retrospect i should have gone to them friday and give 'er for driving, but elle hadn't seen her best friend (Uottawa attendee) since she left for new zealand in the summer, so we needed to get into ottawa sooner then later. so now that i'm getting to sit down and recognize how the year is going to go, with a four course semester, the work isn't swamped but its not light either. the sickness has all but cleared, and so any training i wish i was doing i'm not sure i should be, because i'd much rather get this stuff out of my system then have it stick around any longer. i've still got about a month to train for the race in rimouski, so hopefully that'll be enough time to get in good enough shape for sub-2h. and then i'll just have to go from there.

its been really weird as of late because this year there are so many little transitions that i never had really anticipated before. i knew living apart and further away from elle was going to be a change, but i never thought it would feel so strange being out of residence. you take for granted all the little things like regularly running into friends just walking up the hall and the regular meals at the cafeteria and the like. i've really got to figure out a plan for eating because trying to be cost-concious while still not going to the superstore and getting the major purchases, i'm just really eating a lot of food from the stands, hot dogs, pitas, etc. and sometimes its a deal, most of the time its not. never thought how new this year would really be, and probably should have gotten out of residence a long time ago so i wouldn't have felt so lost whilst in my fourth year of university.

i've got some great news in regards to that though. it appears after looking over my schedule and my completed courses yesterday that i may very well have the opportunity to graduate at the end of next year. i've been thinking that this degree would take me six years to complete for incompetence in my first two years, but after this full year i'll have fourteen classes left. this leaves me with two chances; 1) continue attending dal or go home, but take four courses in the summer and then come back for a full course load in the 2009-2010 school year. or 2) go to australia, do the full course load there, and then come back and finish in the fall of 2010, which if i started in 2005 and finish 2010, i still consider it to be only 5 years. its a tough call. last night with this realization also came another, because of said incompetence, my GPA is not really a true representation of my real grades. i have 12 courses at B+ or above and only 3 in the C range, but because of three previous F's, my overall GPA is only a 2.42, and given that the semester will not be complete before i apply to aussie schools, its very debatable to say whether or not they'll accept me with something so low. how are my real grades misrepresented? omit the fails and my gpa is a 3.0, omit my first "year" (first complete 10 courses and attempted courses in between) and my GPA is a 3.71. looking over this stuff yesterday made me realize how much harder i'd have to work to continue to have the 2.42 rise, and theres really no other option then that. hopefully someone down at the admissions dept in NSW will have enough sense to see that i'm not as dumb as my GPA shows.

applying for a wicked job today and seeing the doctor to get rid of this suffering.

cts

back to normal? election?

no need to worry, homelessness for cris seaton lasted a total of a few hours. i ended up finding a grand place up on dutch village road, a house with four other residents, and better yet two dogs, one extremely social and one not so much. i made sure when i moved into the place that i wasn't expected to be a ghost in the house, in and out, and although i'm not sure how often i'll be able to hang out at home with a hopefully busy schedule. (hopefully because i like to keep busy anyways, and i think its gonna be imperative to keep my sanity). so 3728 Dutch Village Road, probably way too far for anyone to come by and visit, but good to keep notice. its good to have all my stuff in one place at least though. but theres a real issue thats been on my mind lately, and i hope its on alot of other people's minds; the upcoming proposed federal election. there's no set date yet besides Oct 19, 2009, and anyone paying a little bit of attention knows that current PM stephen harper is being pressured and would be stupid not to call an election right now. the reason its been on my mind is my general lack of education on the subject. i'm not at all going to get into whom i feel should gain the good people's supports, but certainly i'm urging everyone to get educated and vote when the time comes. its not hard at all. and anyone that does happen to read this (i'm not sure theres too many of you out there but i'm pushing it out there) and is educated on the subject, find me and talk to me. you can read anything you want to on the internet but thats exactly what people want you to read. i'd like to know what others are actually thinking about this. or send me an email, leave a comment, give me a call. do whichever, but please help educate a friend.

and, when you have time; watch roger federer vs novak djokovic in one semis and rafa vs andy murray in the other. all i would've needed is for lleyton hewitt to have beat roger in the quarters (he didnt have the chance because of need of an orthoscopic hip surgery putting him out of the season after the olympics) because those five guys are my favourite players by far. check it out.

cts

homeless again

so after spending a couple days in that "apartment" i got on south and edward, and i just decided that it wasn't for me. it didn't take much deciding, thats for sure. ever since i've been out here in halifax, i can't help but feeling really homesick. this has rarely ever happened with me. and its strange for it to happen now but also i can understand it a bit. i'm not busy at all, which doesn't help, and i didn't really get a proper chance to spend too much time at home either. usually, especially in the busier months, as i was saying a couple days ago, i absolutely crave the alone time. but its one of those give and take things, because as soon as that time is presented to you without your choice in the matter, of course its the furthest thing you wanna be around. first of all, i should be in ontario rocking it out with that guy. Phil Bonham, human being extraordinaire. i've know this kid since he was about a year old, maybe even earlier. you know that one person you've known all your life, well thats him. different schools didn't keep us apart for long, and with everyone growing up and doing there own thing, theres my buddy phil at mcmaster university doing big things. this isn't to say theres an entire list of other people that i miss just as much, but tough for you people that today, its all about phil. if you happened to be rocking around the coast of newfoundland this summer, you might have rolled into him, or if your in the hammer going rock climbing or getting saved by the mac first response team, you might see him. well, it won't take long to know he's wicked. in actuality i could go on and on about how much of a hero he is to me, but i'll let you all figure it out for yourself.

back to the update. i'm back training again, gonna move into it slow and do a load of running just to get ready for the half-marathon in rimouski, and thats a good distraction but being as you can only run once a day 4-5x/week (gotta watch out for over training), its not distraction enough. so i got a guy, good engineering folk (why didnt i know about BEng in high school?) to sublet the place for the entire school year. i think we've got it arrange that he'll just sign a lease and i'll rip mine up, which is great. but now i'm out on the search. there was one place i had my eye on but judging from how fast i got rid of my place <1hr, this really nice upscale furnished victorian is probably long gone. so now i'll just wait it out, here from other people and check my options. i'm sure all my great friends will allow me to couch surf in the meanwhile. tomorrow i'm headed back out to ontario for the anniversary party, although we aren't allowed to call it that. then classes begin and we're ready for a start. thank goodness.