There’s always another expense…

About a year ago I fell off of my bicycle, and hurt myself quite badly.  I still have scars from when it happened on my left palm, left forearm, and right elbow.  Seriously.  Ow.  Anyway, I finally got the courage to try and repair my bike, and go out for a ride again.  I figured all I’d have to do was take the tire off of my dad’s bike (he said I could) and put it on mine, as well as adjust the handlebars.  Well after doing that (which was really quite fun, actually, and only took like 20 minutes to figure out how it worked) I also realized that I have to get one of the brake cables replaced, replace the reflector on the front, as well as replace the entire seat, as it got bent to all hell.

Furthermore, the front of the bike is kind of scratched up, and every time I get near it, I feel the pain from falling off of it again.  Ultimately, it really sucks, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it, as I’ve got no $ for a li’l while, but I needs ma’ exercise, and with Quin and Jeff having gotten longboards (yeah, they did that) it’d be nice to have some sort of… fast moving device of my own, as they always seem to want to go out on them, and they end up leaving me or Christa with the dog leash, as they claim they’re taking Cona (Quin’s dog.  Not sure about the spelling of the name.) for a walk, when in actuality, they’re having fun zooming this-and-that-a-way, whilst someone else holds a leash.

Anyway, let me get out of rant mode, and back into complaining mode, as I don’t want to replace my bike.  When we bought it at Canadian Tire a while ago, they assured us (us being me and my mom) that there’d be no problems with the bike due to my weight.  Shortly after that, we had to get a new seat, and a few other things got buggered up.  Now finally I bent the whole front rim, got a different wheel, totally scratched it up, etc…

It’s plenty ridable, but I’m not quite sure I’d want to, as I’m afraid I’m just too big for the bike.  My mom wants to buy a bike for herself now, so we can all go riding together, but mine jus’ isn’t going to work for me, so in a perfect world, I could give my mom my current bike (after she gets it adjusted for herself at a bike shop, etc) and go have a bike shop custom-build me a bike from all sorts of… “heavy duty” parts.  Parts that are designed for higher weight classes.  Wider seat, sturdier frame, etc.

But if I do that, I’m going to end up dropping $500 on a bike, and after just one fall (last time it was 3 falls, which is a new record for me) I’ll put it away for another year, and stop riding it.  That so isn’t going to work.

What to do, what to do…

April 25, 2008 · Filed Under Journal, Projects

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So that was awesome.

Yeah, so.. from Friday morning ’til Sunday morning, I hung out with at least Christa, Quin, or Jeff. For parts Quin was at work, or Christa was complaining about a headache, and sitting off in a corner.. or Jeff was pretending to sleep under a pile of cushions, pillows, and blankets, but we were all hangin’ out. But let me go back for a second.

It was unlike any other Friday morning at school. Y’see, Friday is usually a half-day for us, so we’re off at 11:30, and while today was no different in that regard, it was different.. because everyone wasn’t fooling around. There was tomfoolery afoot–don’t make the mistake that we were all model students, but me and Christa were studying since we has a Provincial Exam that day on the subject of Science.

Anyway, Christa gave up half-way through her studying, and Jeff appeared late as usual, but it was weird, since he’s not usually there on Fridays. I’d like to think it was fate that he showed up, because if he hadn’t, the weekend wouldn’t have been nearly as awesome.

Anyway, after school got out, we had an hour and a half or so ’til the Exam started, so me, Quin, Jeff, and Christa all went to The Village Restaurant for lunch. Jeff had The Village Special (breakfast.. y’know, pancakes, eggs, bacon), Christa had a bacon cheeseburger, Quin had a beef dip, and I had a grilled cheese sandwich. We all had milkshakes, we all had fries (Jeff ate some of Quin’s, and two or three of mine, as I traded them for bacon.)

Anyway, after that, Quin had to go to work, so me, Christa, and Jeff headed back to the school. Me and Christa went down to our exam, and Jeff went upstairs to wait for us to get out. Me and Christa each did our exam, left, and I ended up playing a game of Magic: The Gathering with Jeff, and it became a stalemate just ‘fore the school closed doors for the day.

Now, I’m not sure how it happened, but we all decided that we had to make cupcakes. Yes. Cupcakes. After that, we all got a ride from Quin’s mom (while Quin was at work) to his house, and we made cupcakes out of his family’s cake mix, in their kitchen, etc. Before we made cupcakes, however, we watched some TV, ate some chocolate that Christa had, and just kind of killed time.

Anyway, after the cupcakes were done, we went back to chillin’, and awaiting Quin’s return home. Once he got there, he had some cupcakes (so did his sisters, his mom and dad, etc.) as well as some of the cake we had made out of left-over cake mix.

After that.. I don’t even remember what happened. I remember at some point, we went to the corner store to rent a movie (Hitman), and then stopped by my house to get my laptop… and then went back to Quin’s, and Jeff got a ride to his house to grab his computer and a movie (Cars) as well as some ice cream. We ate some burritos, watched Cars, watched Hitman (I slept through it, even though I rented it. Ghey.) and ended up going to bed after that.

Next morning, I remember getting up, and Jeff making us all french toast. It was like the best french toast I’ve ever had. I then remember us setting up computers, etc, but it’s all a bit of a blur. The days seemed to mesh together. At one point I spent nearly an hour trying to find out why Jeff’s sound wouldn’t work, when he finally realized that he had to plug the speakers/microphone/headset into the front of his computer, rather than the back, which was uber-ghey, but it was fine.

We ended up playing World of Warcraft for a while (I started again a day or two before, after 72 days without it.) and after a bit we all ran the Botanica on Heroic together, with one of Jeff’s online-friends. It took a while (at one point, Quin went into town to get his paintball gun’s air canister.. tank.. thing refilled) and during the instance Christa’s computer started to overheat and make an awful noise, and so did my laptop at the end (minus the awful noise), and I didn’t even get any of the gear we had went for, or any of the [Large Prismatic Shard]s that I needed to get [Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower] for my [Gloves of the Aldor].

Anyways, after a bit more playing, dinner, and Christa lying down due to a headache or some other ailment, me and Quin went to watch the first disc of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Jeff stayed on to run Karazhan with some n00bs.

I fell asleep during “Inca Mummy Girl“, and didn’t wake up ’til the middle of the night, when I realized Jeff had taken the couch I like, and nearly all of the blankets and pillows I had had (I hate “had had”, wtf?) were gone. I was cold, and sore, but I made due. I kept waking up all night to different noises, such as Jeff mumbling something about the word “primal”, but eventually woke up around 9 AM, when Quin and Jeff were rushing off to work after having slept in. Me and Christa sat around for a while, eventually cleaned up the mess from the previous night, and played a bit of WoW, ‘fore she went to get lunch, and I headed home.

I showered, did laundry, cleaned up my room, got my bag ready for school the next day, ate an entire pizza for lunch, watched a lot of Buffy, etc, as well as set up Mjolnir again. I ate tacos for dinner, watched more Buffy, and now I’m writing this post. But it’s getting late, and I’m really really tired, so I’mm’a have to go to bed now.

April 20, 2008 · Filed Under Uncatagorized

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Mid-April Update: 2008 Edition

I just figured that it has been quite some time since I updated ma’ blog (9 days to be exact) so I decided I’d do so. I don’t really have a formula when it comes to posting on ze blog, but when I have nothing to write about, I find that if I have an intro that just sort of… rambles on, people don’t get their hopes up for an awesome life-changing post.

Let’s get started then, shall we?

eBay sucks.

I was bidding on a faceplate for my 360 on eBay, but it wasn’t just any faceplate, it was the one I’ve wanted since I first saw the 360 (and said faceplate) on Kotaku, during their live-blogging of E305 (everyone was doing it.. I’m not sure if Kotaku’s was live-blogging, or what, but it was E305 coverage.) and while I didn’t so much care about the ‘360 back then, I was obsessed with that faceplate. I knew if I ever got a 360, I would want that faceplate.

Well I got a 360 (as most people who read this blog should know) in 2006 (really late 2006, just ‘fore 2007) and love(d) it. I even tried to buy the faceplate on eBay a few times, but was never successful. I got bored of the 360 (as I’m currently bored of the PSP and Wii) for a while, and just ended up not using it much ’til I got other games, etc.

I then got the Halo 3 Legendary Edition on Launch Day, and was happy as hell. I kept playing it and playing it, etc, and I still play it once and a while. (Frequently right now, but that could change in a week.) Shortly after that, I had no cash, but was just browsing eBay anyway, and I saw the faceplate again. I cried, knowing I couldn’t afford it, and went back to Halo 3’s awesome campaign.

I stopped using the 360 for QUITE some time after that, several months even, because I was stuck playing World of Warcraft for a while. (I really wanted to hit 70.) But after I stopped playing WoW, I went onto Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on the PC, and other games just kept coming up, ’til I finally got back into Halo 3 and my 360 again.

Well, three or four days ago, I was just browsin’ eBay as usual, and BAM! I saw the faceplate. The E305 Limited Edition “Ring of Light” (green concentric circles) faceplate, and I bid like hell, since I actually had cash.

Sadly, within the last 11 seconds (for some reason my ISP decided to just screw me bandwidth-wise as the auction ended, since it was taking like 8 seconds to reload the page) someone out-bid me by one dollar. And I’ll never have that recipe again.–er, I didn’t win. Anyway, the auctioneer (seller) told me that he had another one, and that he’d be listing it again soon if I didn’t win, but I’ve been checking his for sale items every day, and he hasn’t sent me a message through eBay or anything, so I dunno. There’s a change he e-mailed my mom’s e-mail address (it’s her eBay account) but I asked her to keep a look out, and she hasn’t forwarded me any messages, so… who knows.

Anyway, I’m sure it’ll come up again some time.

Proving there is no such thing as society.

I pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto IV for the 360 (special edition, w00t) at the local … place. I don’t really know what to call it, as they rent movies and games as a main thing, but also seem to sell video games, and accessories. I’ll just call it a movie rental place. Anyway, I was put on the list of people who want ze game (not really a pre-order, no cash is exchanged, but they call you as soon as they have it… it’s almost SEARSesque.) and as far as I know, I’m the first on the list (unlike Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where I was 30th on the list) which probably doesn’t matter, as the lady there told me that she was ordering in 25 different copies from 3 different warehouses, etc, just to ensure that she had some on the 29th.

I’ve been considering taking the 29th off from school, but then again, I didn’t for Brawl, and GTA IV is not more on the same level with Halo 3 than Brawl. (Was that even a sentence? — To clear things up, I took a day off from school to buy/play Halo 3, but didn’t for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for which I was also quite excited. I’m not all that excited about GTA IV. I mean, I want it, but I’m not going to die if I don’t get it or anything.)

Anyway, when it gets here, I’ll be like $100 – $110 poorer, so I can’t afford Mario Kart Wii this month. (Not that I’m really interested in Mario Kart Wii anyway.)

Twitter

I signed up for Twitter after watching Diggnation the other day, (One of the hosts wanted people to follow him on Twitter so he could win a contest with a friend, so I figured: “Why not?”) and have thus far enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s pretty cool having li’l micro-updates on the side of my blog, as well as being able to post updates from my phone (I’ve sent two SMSes in the last two days. My new personal best, as before that I had sent a total of three separated by several months in total. — I never use SMS or “txting.”) and I’m looking forward to using it more after I get a new phone in May. (zomg segue)

Research in Motion

I plan on getting myself a Blackberry of some sort when I get ma’ new phone in May. Either a Pearl, a Curve, or one of the bigger and more unseemly smartphones they offer. I’m currently leaning towards a pink Pearl, as TELUS has a special deal on them, and they donate $ to breast cancer research with each purchase, which is pretty cool, but I’m still not entirely sure which phone I’ll go with.

Outtro

For now, I’m going to keep using these li’l mini-headings when I post an update post like this, as it really makes it easier to tell what the hell I’m talking about. I’ll try and remember to actually make full posts that aren’t a mish-mash of everything I’ve done over the last couple of weeks in the future, but I can’t make any promises. I tend to put things off. Procrastination for the win.

April 13, 2008 · Filed Under Uncatagorized

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Happy Birthday to me.

So tomorrow (April 5th) is my birthday. I’ve thus far gotten a renewal for my Xbox LIVE account, which should last me ’til next May. I plan on playing some more of Mass Effect, and enjoying new Halo 3 maps. I’m also torn between buying either Rock Band or pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto IV… or going an entirely different route, and buying myself a small point-and-shoot camera, or something.

Anyway, I’m going to be celebrating my birthday with my parents tomorrow by eating a home-made breakfast and some birthday cake with them, as well as maybe playing some Scratch and Win tickets, and getting a lottery ticket in the 649. That’d be cool.

My friends and I had plans to go eat at the Beach Buoy (best onion rings ever) on Sunday, but Quin doesn’t know if he has the day off from work, Jeff claims that both he and Quin do have the day off, and that Quin is just incorrectly reading the schedule (they both work at a local grocery store), Ty said he had no problems with it, and I don’t quite know about Ben. (Christa’ll go if Quin goes, so… no problem there either.)

I suppose I’ll just call everyone Sunday morning or something, to see what they’re up to. Maybe get everyone on Skype and we’ll have a conference call to decide what to do.

Other than that… I don’t have any real other plans. Birthdays have never been that big for me. Cake, money, gifts, eat a meal out with friends, eat a meal in with family. I don’t have parties or anything.

I hope you post a comment wishing me a happy birthday, as you know I’d do the same for you.

April 4, 2008 · Filed Under Announcements, Journal, Projects, Ullr

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In Memoriam

Our cat, Teava (also spelled Tiva, which is short for Sativa, as she was named by my cousin Chris) passed away last night. She was shaking oddly since Monday, and while I told my mom about it a couple of times, and even suggested that we take her to the vet, she didn’t believe me. At least not at first. According to her, she was going to take her this morning (since tomorrow is my parents’ pay day, when they’d actually be able to afford care for the cat) but instead was awoken by my dad, who told her that Teava had passed away.

We had her for quite a few years, but I honestly can’t remember how many.. I’d say two to three years before we moved to Sechelt (which was in 2003), so perhaps as long as 8 years. We got her from my aunt Jean along with another cat, Fido, who was given to my cousin Sean. Shortly after Sean moved out, and we moved to Sechelt, I found out that Fido had passed away. I guess Teava is with him now.

She was a purebred Seal-Point Siamese cat (without papers) and was loved by our entire family, even though she had a few annoying habits we were never able to break.

We especially loved her blue eyes.

Teava
Circa 2000 – April 2nd 2008

(More pictures of her can be found in my gallery, <a HREF=”http://gallery.lazycanadian.ca/v/photos/02-08-06/”>here</a> and <a HREF=”http://gallery.lazycanadian.ca/v/photos/tiva-sep-2006/”>here</a>.)

April 2, 2008 · Filed Under Uncatagorized

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