BNJMN

Yesterday, I was at the mall when I was greeted by Mickey Mouse! I thought it was nice that Mickey was around the mall, especially since the store that replaced Disney had opened the day before. And that escalator that would take me there! It has been broken for a long time now. Just like The Bay with its broken door that doesn't open, Bayshore is kinda slow at fixing things. And then I eventually made it up and saw the new, open-for-business Ricki's. Walking in, I felt like it was familiar, but not. The pillars, now plain white, the ceiling, now way low, the wall bays now squarely recessed into space-maximizing walls... and a huge company logo where the projected screen once displayed Hannah Montana music videos and The Little mermaid singalongs. I'll have to go in and tell them to enjoy the scent of Subway bread and horrible fat vat smell when KFC cleans out their reserves. Oh, and that the place is haunted. And pictured above is a guy who was rapping beside me.

School + work + work is starting to get very crazy in those proportions. School + work + work + new tv season... I don't know how I'm still alive! I wonder if I can summarize what I think of the following shows in 10 syllables: Heroes Bryan Fuller put great things in motion. How I Met Your Mother Soft start to a funny season, I hope. Castle Less murder, more Beckett... ok for now. Bored to Death Have to see more to see where it will go. Community Strong pilot, funny could live, or could die. Big Bang Theory Oh no they didn't! Plus Star Trek spoilers! Survivor Season 19 started off pretty great. I probably won't watch survivor anymore though because it gets boring after 2 eps. I'll need to watch Dollhouse everntually, too. Most of these shows I might have to just watch all at once in the winter, though, because school is going to be tonnns of work. The Source, in my opinion, has the best mobile internet stick deal. You get the stick for $0 on a 1-year term. I wouldn...

I never did catch up on the rest of my Disney trip blogs. I meant to, I just haven't yet found the time. Over the past month and a half (has it been that long?!), I've talked to many people about it, and I'm pretty sure I lit up each time, except where I talk about missing Carl and Russel (Up characters) by 6 days. Up, by the way, is fantastic. Go see it now if you haven't yet. Time won't be an issue soon, so I'll catch up on all kinds of pictures. My last class for the summer is tomorrow. My last shift at Disney is Friday. It was a month ago I found out that the store is closing, and each day since then has been increasingly difficult. I may have only been with the company for two years - one of which was actually with Disney (the first year, the Store were owned and operated by The Children's Place), but in that time, I've felt I've found somewhere I belong. It's a company that I would love to continue working with, certainly in a position at a...

This was my frist trip on an airplane! The take-off was a bit tense-ifying, but once I realised it was a bit like a rollercoaster without the down bits, I didn't mind at all. I also slept on the planes. Once I got to Washington DC, the first thing I noticed was pizza... at Subway? How crazy! Then I got to the Orlando airport. It's a whole other climate. Sweater? Really?! Unnecessary. Palm trees and conifers alike populate the roadways, and there are Disney signs everywhere... at least on the path of the Disney Express. Once I arrived, I went and lounged on the beach at the resort. Surprisngly, it wasn't packed with people. A few kids here and there, and their parents, but plenty of room to sleep on hammocks and splash around (though I didn't because I was waiting for my luggage to arrive. And Cat. Once Cat arrived, we took the bus to Downtown Disney to buy Star Trek tickets. I HAVE STAR TREK TICKETS! Aterwards, we went to Planet Hollywood where there was a 40-minute wai...

Day five was fun. I arrived at work an hour and a half early (when rides are offered, you don't really want to push your luck). This allowed me the opportunity to sit down and have breakfast with a coworker. Subway breakfasts have become boring ever since they stopped actually preparing eggs and stopped carrying round 4" buns; they're microwave-ready egg patties leave me with an underwhelming 'meh'. I learned that there was freezing rain going on, so thankfully another coworker offered me a ride home. On Day Six of this wondrous OC Transpo bus strike, I did the inevitable: I walked to work. With a car, there are half a dozen different routes to take to get there, and two buses (that take the same basic route). That said, there's no convenient way to actually walk there, not without having to overshoot and circle back, or walking from point A to point B to point C to the Destination. It's all very awkward, and a lot of it has to do with how poorly planned ou...

I went to Cornwall (city south of Ottawa, on the Ontario-New York border) to make sure a window was installed at my friend's house. Aside from a brief visit to Niagara falls in the early 90s, this is the closest I have ever been to the US. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and all I could think was "in an hour and a half, I could almost get from home to Carleton University, and back by bus and O-Train". Or not, since it was the third day of the strike. While there, my friend's dad and I begun work on a project that we have. A while back, I may have hinted at something cool I was working on. My friend's dad writes lots of articles about Nepal. What I had done for his birthday was edit and compile a number of them and make them into a book, using Blurb software. The end result was very good. We've decided to use it as a starting point to refine the book and make it sellable. We worked a bit on it, changing a few things here and there. We would have ...

I've decided that I would like to blog everyday. It's not the first time I've said that I'll do that, but now I have a reason. Ottawa is currently in a public transportation work stoppage. In other words, the buses are on strike. OC Transpo is on strike. If you're keeping score, we're two weeks away from Christmas and dead in the middle of exam season. My mom has never been able to drive, so the bus has been my primary means to move about the city for school, work, shopping, socialising, entertainment, and on occasion, sleep. This strike is going to make it extremely difficult for me to make it to work, even though I don't live all that far from where I need to get five days a week. It's not within walking distance, but it doesn't take all that long in a vehicle. If this work strike lasts nearly as long as the last one did - 24 days in 1996 - then I'll be walking to school, which is a decent 40-minute walk, at best when bike paths ar...

The new TV season has kicked off with a pretty epic set-up for Heroes' third season, as well as a nice start to Big Bang Theory's second. I love when shows don't pick up right where they left off, but that's often hard to do when the vast majority of 'em have cliffhanger season finales. Heroes cheated a bit last year by throwing you a few months after the events of the season 1 finale, and then taking a later episode to answer 'how did they get here?" Those are perfectly exciting. I expect a similar filler this year too, at least on a couple of storylines. Up next: Dexter, Californication, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Corner Gas, and Little Mosque on the Praries, though I have no idea when that one starts - or where I"m goig to find the time to watch all of those. Despite my crazy-expensive cable package, torrents and my PSP may become my best friends. In the meantime, I need to prepare a presentation of sorts for work. There's a staff meeting this w...

I like concerts. There's something about live music, being in front of the people who make said music, being surrounded by people who are equally (or more) into the music than you are... something about that whole process that makes the music exciting. In contrast, I don't really like live concerts on cd. There are a few exceptions (Great Big Sea's Road Rage, for example), but the music without the atmosphere is only half the experience. Recently, I saw Buck 65 at the Bronson Centre, with Skratch Bastid and Cadence Weapon. It was a good show despite the mediocre sound and audience-not-at-capacity. Even though the venue is seated (it's an ancient high school auditorium), I still found myself standing by the stage. My ears aren't particularly happy when that happens, but it's worth it. It's even better when you get a few good shots. My battery life was limited (and died eventually), so I enjoyed the music rather than try to capture it. I wasn't particularl...

Photos: Hannah Montana mannequin, parking lot at night What a day indeed! In one mail-checking session, I received money from the government, a notice of bankruptcy and a call for objections for the sale of Disney Store by Hoop Retail, and a letter from Japan. The latter has amazingly colourfully cute stationary! It feels as if it's a letter right out of Animal Crossing, sans exotic furniture present. Oh I really want some exotic furniture! I also reinflated my purple yoga ball thinking maybe I can sit on it when I play videogames in my room. I tried it out by playing some Beautiful Katamari. Man, that game is trippy! I don't know how to roll properly, so I don't end up with big Katamari balls, leaving the King of the Cosmos pretty bummed. My room is also almost 100% tidy! I will take pictures when it's sunny. I'm out of room for DS games and cds. Uhoh! Deep Space Nine's season six In the Pale Moonlight is probably the greatest hour (well, 44 minutes) of Star Tr...