Let the people speak!!!! and wicked animation...

My buddy Charlie was saying that my comment page was not working properly. He has some good things to say, so Ive decided to post his comment here. It is with regards to the recent election in Canada. I will admit that when I posted my last post, I was still reeling from the idea of a Conservative government, and I have since chilled out a bit, so here is what Chuck has to say:

"not the best outcome, but it isn't the mess that everyone thinks it will be (i don't think).

64.8% is up by almost 5% from the last election, and Jan elections are notorious for having low voter turn-out. so believe it or not, this number is 'good'. but still, thumbs-down to the 8-million who didn't vote. not cool.

but really, the conservatives don't really have too much parlimentary power, because the NDP didn't get the balance of power they'd need to pass bills via co-operation etc. so this means that everyone will have to work together to pass anything. pretty good deal i think. very Canadian.

now the toughy ... i think the liberals needed a kick in the ass from Canadians. they were becoming a little lazy and thinking that no-one could unseat them. i think our democracy has been renewed by some real competition to keep things moving, and keep everyone on their toes. i think at least two parties need to feel like they can compete, and everyone else should feel that the outcome is (relatively) unpredictable and reflective on Canadians wants/needs for a government.

so if you're totally anti-conservative (which many are), rest assured that this minority conservative government won't last long, and will not have the power to pass much (without going to referrendums).

also - the conservatives are really under the microscope here. they've been given a VERY thin line by many Canadians. sentiment was pretty clear on election night anyway.

so it is not as bad as it seems. i don't think so anyway.

but only time will tell ..."


My comments: pretty much, hes right on everything. Due to the minority government, I dont think the radical changes that all us anti-conservatives dread will come into effect, depending on how the coalition forming goes. Also, theres a good chance there wil be another election in the next year to 18 months, so we will have some time to see what theyre really made of.

As for the 64.8%, it IS higher than the last election, but that was a record low for Canada, so I think I still have no pity for those who decided to not to have a voice.

And I think my biggest dissapointment in this whole thing is that the Greens didnt get a seat. This means that next election, even though 4.6% of us decided to have a Green say in government, they probably will not have a chance to participate in the debates, etc, which is bs as far as Im concerned.

Charlie brought up a good point today about this, the one independent in Quebec who won may have a better chance of participating in the debates even though the less than 0.1% (they round up) of us who voted for him, he will get his chance in the spotlight. Anyone have any views on this?

Oh yah, if anyone else is trying to post a comment and it doesnt work, let me know, I'll get on it, hopefully it is just a temporary glitch in bloggers site.


k, yesterday I went out to this Media night at the College for Media here on my campus. There was some awesome stuff there, that should be shown more often. All of the final projects from the students were shown, and they were damn impressive to say the least. Not only was there great animation, but alot of it was timed to killer music, and was just great eye candy. There was also live music (which Im a sucker for) as well as the mandatory beer and hot girls that make any good party. In short, it was an awesome night, and if you ever get a chance to go to something like that in your area, CHECK IT OUT!!! Really impressive stuff.

k, thats my rant for the day, Im off to do some work. cheers.

t

...damn...

I wake up this morning, and find out the Conservatives have secured a minority government.

It's gonna be a lonely day....

I must say Im very dissapointed by this. To boot, the Green party did not win a single seat. I really think the next couple years are going to be trying times for Canada. As well, only 64.8% of us actually voted which is really awful as far as Im concerned. This means there are an extra 8 MILLION votes that could have counted towards something. If you are Canadian and didn't vote, then shame on you. Worse than not sharing the same view as myself is to share no view at all.

Oh Canada...by the dawns early light...

who's heard the term 'Americas 51st state'?

I gotta go, the lab won't do itself...


...damn...

And of Course!!!

It just hit me that today is the election in Canada. All you Canadians reading...go out and vote dammit!!!! Im sick of people bitching, and when asked who they voted for, answer with 'well, I dont vote'.

Now, as much as everyone is entitled to their political opinions, I feel obliged to say... please don't vote Conservative. I can imagine a very scary place with them in power, it's called America. And that doesnt mean you have to vote Liberal or even NDP, there are many other parties out there (...like Green...). Regardless. go out and vote!!!!!

politically yours,

t

The German Efficiency has finally Failed me...

It's been a pretty strange day.

I ordered this Bluetooth Laptop card off of eBay a couple weeks back, and seemed to miss the delivery guy every time he came by. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, as I could simply go to the local post office 10 min. away and get it. But, this time it was sent through another company, in which the ONLY office in my area is about an hour away, close to where I did my exchange back in high school.

So I called up the company and asked if theres any other way I can get the package without travelling all that way, they gave me a stern 'NEIN!', in the polite German way. I decided then that I have no other option other then make the trek. I figured out where I have to go, etc. And after my last class today hopped on the subway to start my journey. I could tell by the map that I had a bit of a walk after I got off the train to the package depot.

After switching a couple trains and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, I arrived. I loooked towards the direction of where the depot should be, and all I see is farmland. Something like this:

because Im a tek-geek, I took a digital picture of the map of where I need to go, checked it on my camera, and decided that that was where I needed to go. So I start. By the way, its COLD here, the wind was howling and my face was numb.

Im walking through these little boony paths, Im the only one around, and questioning the whole situation. I wind in and out, through one field, into another, etc. And finally I get to a section of huge industrial buildings (including the Porsche factory, which is pretty cool, everyone there drives a Porsche). So now, instead of farmland, Im surrounded by huge machinery, and loud rumbling trucks all around me.... still questioning...

But, my keen map senses paid off, as I found the street that I need to be. score! I walk another 10 minutes down it, and find the address of the building, half expecting a small package depot that I can simply walk into, and grab my stuff. I get to the address, and find myself staring at no less than 100 huge trucks in this monstrous compound with the symbol of the company on it. I kinda mill around trying to figure out how I just walk on in. I find a security gate with a guard taking the names of everyone going in and out, checking cars for I dont even know what, and decide to ask him what the heck Im supposed to do.

He was very nice, and looked in the system, for my name. 'Did you call?' he asks me, I hadn't, which blew him away. 'You DIDN'T call?!, one second, sir'. He calls around to someone, asking if I have clearance to walk inside the compound, and decides I pose no threat, and lets me walk in. He says if I'm lucky, my package is still there, as its been there for a few business days already and may be sent back to the sender (which would have really pissed me off, I figure). He gives me some directions to where i need to go. And I continue further.

I get to the packge recieving place, and ask them if they can find my package. 'Did you call?' I get asked, to which I of course say no. Again I get the 'oh man, you didn't call?!!!'. By now, the only thought going through my head is 'these crazy Germans'. I get told to wait, so I wait for about 10-15 minutes, and FINALLY a man walks up with my package. I can't express the joy I felt to be simply handed a package. I sign, all that jazz, and Im on my way. Now, I have to get back. because when I came there, I really took a long route around, I decided to find a shortcut back to the train station. What better way then to follow the train tracks? Off I go, climb through some bushes, and onto the tracks. This is very dangerous, and I don't condone this to anyone, but I was getting desperate. So like a hobo, Im walking alongside the tracks, jumping off when I hear a train coming, all the way back to the station. I end up going through some more fields for a bit, getting a bit dirty, but I didnt care much by that point.

After another 20 minutes of walking, I end up at the station, having to run to catch the train, but I JUST made it (patting myself on the back for taking the shortcut). So after another hour of switching trains, and waiting, I FINALLY get home.

Weird, wild, strange day it was, I open the box I got, and had to laugh. After all that mayhem, this is my reward...

Anyway, so that is my story of how the German system has finally failed me. I asked the girl at the counter if there is ANY other way of me getting my package, as this is a LITTLE hard for me to get to. Her only answer, 'you should have been home'...thanks

more music and finally some responsibility

My neighbour brought home this awesome recording mic from his work. He said it was just sitting there and no one will miss it! So I got my shit together and recorded a tune I wrote 2 days ago. I think its my best one to date. again, if anyone wants to hear it, gimme a shout, I'll email it to ya. The difference a proper mic makes really is astounding. I think I am going to rerecord my last one with this, to make it sound decent, and maybe some others that Ive been playing around with. 'Rm 503 recordings' has been officially started!

And finally school is getting a bit hectic, not that I really enjoy being stressed but it makes me feel like Im actually doing something here besides drinking and going out. I have some lab reports to write, and exams are coming up within the month or so, so I'll be on my ass getting ready for those.

im pumped to see Mark and Alex again, I'll be in Zurich in 2 weekends to pick their asses up, cant wait, its gonna be great. I hope everything goes well for them, and shit doesnt hit the fan, well, outside of us forcing it there...

k, short post, got some life stuff to take care of.

t

Happy Bongzday

Sorry its been a while since I posted last, Ive been a bit busy, as well as lazy. For some reason, I haven't been sleeping well, so I've been feeling really tired and sluggish all week, but thats starting to get better.

So my South African neighbour Bongz (yes, her name is Bongz, i already told her how much I love it) had a birthday over the break and so my other neighbour Hans-Peter and I decided to make a little something for her. It's well known that the best gifts are homemade, so we decided to combine our talents (his of graphic art, mine of music) to make a little birthday album just for her. In short, there were three tunes on there, we adapted Happy Birthday to Happy Bongzday, and Wild World by Cat Stevens to incorporate her name, as well as a TvB original that I wrote a few weeks back, and recorded it in my room.

The recording session was quite hilarious as we really had no pro equipment at all, and ended up using my Skype headset to record the whole thing. All things considered, it turned out quite well, and needless to say, she loved it. She gave me a 20 minute praising on how it was the best gift she had ever gotten, and couldnt stop listening to it last night, etc. I felt pretty damn good, and it just confirmed my belief that if Im ever gonna give someone a present, Im gonna take the couple hours to make it myself. Cause for the most part, who really needs more shit? I sure as heck don't. But if someone shows that they will put just a bit of effort into something original, that goes a long way.

Hans-Peter had some pretty good ideas for the whole thing. For starters, we all live on the top floor of our building, so we called ourselves, 'End of Stairs', those grimy stairs on the front cover are actually along the side of our building. Theyre pretty nasty in real life, but give the cover a cool rustic feel. He did a great job on the inside too, it really looks professional. It's all about combining talents. Alone, I woulda had the music down pat, but the look woulda sucked, Im just no good at that kinda stuff.

On the topic of music, Ive been writing more music recently. Im totally happy to be back and creating, I took a couple months off, call it writers block, call me uninspired, call me what you will, but I'm back, and Im recording, which is awesome. If anyone wants a copy of my one tune that I put down, I'll send ya the mp3, just ask.

And on the topic of birthday's, a rumour has spread around here that its my birthday today. Pretty funny actually, my residence had some extra cash in the account, so we decided to throw a bash. Naturally, I spread the word, but really didnt feel it necessary to explain the whole situation to everyone. So after a few rounds of telephone (purple monkey dishwasher), word spread that its my borthday so everyone HAS to come. For the last couple days, Ive had all these people come up to me and wish me a happy birthday (for those who dont know, my real bday is in June). After explaining the real deal to a few people, I decided to go with it and celebrate my birthday tonight. I figure why have only one birthday a year, when you can have two! It just seems like twice the fun.

So anyway, thats kinda all thats happenin over here in Germany. I'm getting ready for my good friends Mark and Alex to come. Theyre travelling through India for a couple months and booked a flight into Europe for a few days, which is awesome of them. I will be heading to Zurich on the 3rd of Feb, picking them up, partying there for a night, then coming back here to show them around for a few days. I can't wait. I feel debauchery at it's finest coming on...

I hope all is well at home or wherever you may happen to be. I still wanna be in the loop of big life changes that are going on in people's lives, although with a few exceptions, home was pretty much exactly the same as when I left. I guess thats part of calling it home....

peace and love

t

To Canada and back...

just got back today from Canada. IT was a good two weeks. I had a blast, and got to catch up with lots of friends and family. This is going to be a short post, but I just wanted to say that although I haven't posted since I left, I will be back on the ball again. I'll throw some pics up tomorrow.

For all those who I saw, it was awesome to see you folks again. Brings me back to my roots...