Have You Seen This Entry?

I could have sworn I posted this long-winded entry sometime last week, but apparently not. Here’s the old copy & paste treatment since I still have it saved on my laptop … relative references may be off a bit as a result of this late posting:

Things have felt really busy lately, it’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving weekend was only two weeks ago. When I was in London that weekend, I met the two newest feline additions to the Almond clan. Melissa and Michelle each have a new kitten: Kitty (named so because Marques knows that word) and Louis (as in loo-eee, for reasons I don’t know). Not only are they adorable, but what’s so damn funny is that they have playdates together! Melissa usually brings Marques to my parents’ place for one night of the weekend, and for some reason has also been bringing Kitty along. So the two boys play together, cause trouble, and make a nuisance when they can.

Speaking of Marques, the last time I was back home I finally got him referring to me by something, “seevee”. Well I come back and that’s now his word for Freezies! Replaced so easily. But I persisted, and am know known as “seeven”.

I also watched a bunch of movies that weekend. I developed an appreciation for the Movie Network on Demand: on Saturday night I watched Dirty Pretty Things, on Sunday it was The Magdalene Sisters. DPT was just as enjoyable on a second viewing, even though Audrey Tautou is not the main star. I was slightly disappointed with The Magdalene Sisters; it was solid, and showed us an unfortunately true story of girls abused in a religious asylum, but I didn’t find it particularly gripping.

I got together with Patti on the holiday Monday in a deserted downtown London. We met at the market, which turned out to be closed as like most other things. I guess I’m just so used to rampant commercialism and greed that I expect places to be open on holidays. After a Starbucks pit stop and wandering downtown we decided to take in a movie. Not a whole lot of interest in theatres right now, but I suggested we see Shaun of the Dead. I’ve seen this a number of times now, but I loved it so much that I promised I would show the creators some love and check it out once it hit North American theatres.

Two realizations from that afternoon: it’s great having someone back in London to hang out with, and I really miss being able to drive.

The rest of the shortened week passed by quickly. I finished off a couple of assignments in rough, and had a couple of interesting clients at the consulting centre. In particular, one master’s student from biology wasn’t too pleased to hear that there were so many problems with her design that basically invalidated the statistical analysis she wanted to do – she was pretty dismissive about these concerns. Oh well, good luck to her getting it published in any reputable journal. I only brought up questions any good reviewer would raise.

Thursday was another visit to Sven & Mandy’s in Guelph for Survivor. The next night, we got together again and Mike also came to catch Team America. It was pretty funny in a crude way, with some really hilarious parts (particularly the songs). Again, one of those movies you should watch in a group. I think Sven had higher expectations from the South Park creators, but it was pretty much what I expected. Afterwards we went to Sven & Mandy’s place and with Mike we had enough people to try out a new edition of Cranium. I was definitely finding the old version would get repetitive because I’ve played it so much.

At some point during the week the random costume assignment for the Halloween party were given out. I totally lucked out and will be dressing up as Super Grover!

On Saturday I returned to London, and I was able to type up a good chunk of my Stat 937 assignment on the bus ride. I got together with Patti in the evening, and we went to Masonville to find some stuff for my Halloween costume. Who would believe how hard it would be to find a cape or clown nose? Of course I needed other things, but I figured those would be easy. C’mon, capes should be available year-round, not to mention in extreme abundance at Halloween time! At least I found a cheap helmet thing that I can make to match Grover’s, and some felt for the logo.

After spending some time at a coffee joint downtown, we ended up going to see The Forgotten back at Silver City which unfortunately turned out to be rather forgettable. Just not all that exciting of a movie. I am glad to report that spreading good word for Garden State continues, as Patti picked up the soundtrack after I was telling her how great it was. Considering how rarely I buy CDs and certainly not something I hadn’t heard yet, it’s funny how Patti’s impulsiveness is so different from my lack thereof.

Sunday was the Raptors game at the JLC, and the tickets that we ended up with were surprisingly good! I guess with a place as relatively small as the John, there really isn’t a bad seat in the place. Certainly, the price:closeness ratio was way better than we could get at the ACC; we were close enough to actually hear Iverson’s voice as he complained with the refs. Apparently they weren’t in a tolerant mood, as AI picked up two quick technicals and was ejected (of course, this happened while Brad and I were on the concourse buying food). Overall, the game was a lot of fun and hopefully Brad found it to be a good birthday present. Chris Bosh had an awesome dunk early in the game, and Vince totally embarrassed Dalembert with a sick one over him. The Raps ended up losing, but it’s only exhibition. Their up-tempo style is certainly more entertaining to watch this year than last year’s team.

Back at my parents’ place we had a Swiss Chalet dinner and Dairy Queen ice cream cake for Brad. Afterwards, my dad gave us a ride to Brad’s place where we picked up a load of boxes to move over to his new apartment. I am completely, officially jealous. His current place is really nice, with a good location on the outskirts of downtown, lots of room, and clean (minus the mess of a stereotypical bachelor). When I heard he was suddenly moving to some “apartment above Bud Gowan’s” in downtown, I was worried. These are pretty old buildings, and I pictured some run down place, with crooked walls, creaky floors, old appliances, leaky taps and all that. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Who would have guessed that a really nice apartment complex was hidden in those old buildings? The inside is well kept and Brad’s apartment is fantastic.

It’s a little smaller than his old place, but still very spacious with high ceilings, a big bedroom and nice sized living room. It’s freshly painted, has good carpet, the kitchen appliances are somewhat older but in great shape, and there’s a dishwasher there. A big surprise was the full-sized washer and dryer, and his own hot water tank. He also has a great view from big windows out onto York street. It’s looking like he lucked out on this one.

We got together with Patti and her friend Cailyn that night. It was retro night at Call the Office, a place I haven’t been to in *years*. We played some pool, hung out and chatted, and listened to tunes from the 80s, before leaving and heading to Prince Albert’s Diner (UW people would understand when I say this is the London version of Mel’s). Patti drove Brad and I back to his place, and I crashed there before coming back to Waterloo by bus the next morning.

In the past couple of days I’ve finished off assignments and begun studying for my Stat 831 midterm for next week. I’m going to get together with my supervisor and talk about my research project and life after grad school. I’m also hoping to set up a similar chat with Prof Cook (my 831 instructor), since he seems to have a lot of industry connections and experience with students taking coop positions in biostats fields. He’ll be good for getting the dish on what I can expect out there once I graduate.