The trip home was alright, watching Men In Black 2 (not a very good movie at all) and taking under five and a half hours. I like the fact that I can purchase a bus ticket at any time, and not have to worry about booking and reservations. I’ve always liked the idea that I have the freedom to pick up and go whenever I please. Of course, this only works when I have a guaranteed place to stay at the destination.

My Candela’s came in last week. They are quite nice, although they look rather cheap during the daytime when they’re off. They give off a decent ambient light when other (more primary) lights are on, but are good at setting a mood when they’re the only things illuminating a room. It’s a hassle to always let them burn out to prolong battery life, since that means that I’m usually going to bed with them on, and for someone who wakes up from the first slit of sunlight piercing the room, it can be an annoying thing.

I found a great astronomy book for Darren, covering everything from the smallest detail in purchasing a telescope, to the patterns the planets make in their orbits. Astronomy is something that I’ve always found to be mysteriously interesting, a seductive past-time I’d be afraid to be consumed by. A few people I’ve talked to have felt the same way, although some with an even more severe emotion. I would have taken up such a hobby as soon as I had the means to, if the area I live in wasn’t so unbelievably light polluted. It’s as if the mayor wants to keep the lights in the city bright enough to have a constant daytime. I’m fairly sure that I’ll buy a decent telescope eventually, once I’ve settled down in a condo and have a career.

I can’t wait to get back to my pleasure box and begin fooling around with Movable Type. I just hope that my host can provide enough flexibility for it to work.

When I got home, a stack of red envelopes and wrapped boxes were waiting for me. My premature exit at Christmas left gifts unopened and money unclaimed, quite a welcome surprise. I got another $50 gift certificate for Futureshop, which will most likely be going towards Vice City as soon as it comes out. I haven’t played a very absorbing game in a while, the last ones being GTA3 or Neverwinter Nights, but my favourite is still probably Half-Life. And with Half-Life 2 slated for a fall release, well, I find myself becoming unhealthily excited.

I’ll be splitting a box of Onslaught with Darren today.

I’ve been getting a decent amount of work done lately. I’m pretty much finished my graphics project, a week ahead of schedule, and it looks pretty sweet. I haven’t had enough progress on my honours project yet, since my supervisor isn’t very good at giving directions. I’m pretty worried about my presentation for it next week. It’s supposed to be 15–20 minutes long, and I feel like I only have 10 minutes worth of material, but more importantly, that I’ve exhausted all aspects of the subject. The essay is supposed to be 20 pages single spaced, but I can’t see that happening with the amount of information out there on Rubik’s cubes.

The Wind Waker comes out tommorow at 9:30 am, and I’ll be picking it up before meeting with my supervisor tomorrow. I’ll be trying it out for the first time in the presence of Trolley and Wheaties, and possibly Aaron and Dina, during the night. We’ll be picking up some alcohol, and I’ll be staying the night there. Trolley has a car, so he’ll be able to pick me up, and drive Dolores to his place as well. It will be interesting to see how she and Nala will interact with each other.

I feel…alone. I wish I could speak to someone who could understand. I wish I could express my feelings the way I wish. What a perfect time to write.

I’ve been working on my graphics project all day. I have almost everything done now, with the cells co-ordinating their movements in a 3D Game of Life dance. They grow and shrink as the rules dictate, and although I have some bugs to iron out, and some bells and whistles to add, it shouldn’t take too long.

My cryptography presentation went alright. We didn’t quite formally rehearse, so I spoke for 15 out of the 20 minutes allocated to us, when three of us had speaking to do. We were fairly rushed at the end, but I think that we got our points through well. I felt that I did a great job at opening the presentations, and at explaining my part. Mike, Pat, Iain, and I went to get loaded before the presentation, but unfortunately, the shock of the situation sobered me up rather efficiently. After all, it was the first presentation I’ve had to do through all of university.

I feel better after playing a few games with Darren. Somehow we made it under the 300th mark, with a 55–7 record at level 14. I believe the height of my addiction was most evident when I was watching a movie where a man gets trapped in a bathroom by some triad members, and the first thing that I thought of was the item box, and town portaling to a safe location.

I might going to the Dominican Republic when school ends.

I’ve listened to some of the Tool songs off of the strings tribute album, and they’re not very good. The strings are greatly lacking in energy, and sometimes bare little resemblance to the songs they’re paying homage to. One can tell that the composer is inspired by Tool composings, but the instrumentalists are insipid in their performance.

The Honest Lawyer yesterday was relaxing and frustrating at the same time. I never I had a chance to really savour the fries this time though, since I felt so guilty about munching on Wheaties’ last time. All in all though, I think I’d rather not have gone.

I’ve always thought that Beth Gibbons had an amazingly attractive quality to her, not only from the distinctive timbre of her voice, but also from the grace and gentleness of her figure captured in her photographs. I’m trying out some of her latest side-project work with Rustin Man, and so far the sound has been amusingly unique, a mix of acoustic guitar with bittersweet melodies.

I had some white cheddar KD for dinner tonight. I have to admit that it tastes better than regular KD. It seems to have a “higher class” cheap taste.

Blizzard has me addicted yet again. At least Dina is addicted too. And Trolley somehow made the FT beta, which is amazing. I feel like I get to say, “I know a guy who made the beta!” When I tell people they look at me funny.

I almost completed my graphics assignment. The only thing that’s missing is the object motion along the conveyor belt, and some polishing of the collision detection. I don’t think I’m going to be able to get perfect collision detection done, but I doubt that I’ll lose too many marks for that. I think I’ll just leave it the way it is, since I should be working on other projects, and I need to prioritize.

Mel is having a birthday party on Saturday at the Honest Lawyer, and I’m looking forward to going.

There are a few things I want to with this page, like add a feature that will separate archives into different pages, if it finds more than 100 results from a database query. I suppose I’ll find the time somewhere.

I got my mouse in the mail today. It has stiffer buttons and a stiffer scroll wheel, but everything is more responsive. I don’t like the fact that a part of the design isn’t flush with the rest of the mouse, so my pinky will catch on it. I’m not sure if that’s part of the design, or just something that happened to mine. The back thumb button is also a bit too small and sunken when pressed. The precision of the mouse is dead on though, even with extremely fast motions. I can now retire my old mouse. I should have given him a name.

I don’t know how Trolley seems to drink every night. Some weeks I wish that I had nothing but alcohol consumption, but my conscience always prevents me. I guess the idea that it’s costly and not-so-deleterious really prevents me from taking shots as dessert. Yet Wheaties just tells me, “drink for fear of being upset do to lack of reason to drink. this way, you can drink before you get upset, realizing there really isnt a need to drink, and you’ll be a peaceful alcoholist - better than a ragin one.. honestly, its for your own good”. I think I’ll heed some of his advice.

I’ve been working most of the weekend on my graphics assignment. I have the arm animation working now, together with most of the timing, but the object motion is killing me. Somehow I have to get an object to move with the claw of an arm, get the object dropped, and then move along a conveyor belt. The prof gave us another week extension (on top of one we already had) so it’s due next monday. I would prefer to get it done for tomorrow though, since the delays in projects would just add up, and I have my honours project and cryptography project to think of. I might be hitting the bottle a bit early today.

I’ve been reading some Frozen Throne info, and the new units look pretty cool. The problem is that the expansion is completely changing and re-balancing all of the previous units and buildings. Essentially, it’s a completely different game. For example, all the buildings have their costs reduced by about 15%. Or the fact that units can now ethereal, and that there’s a new type of damage. Basically everything I learned has become useless. The only thing that I’ve kept is what I learned from micromanagement. Shit.