Michael's Blurty

Subject:	1 Broadfield + 1 Cigar + 1 Guiness beer = 1 wonderful evening
Time:	10:42 am.

yet another good evening had. I wonder if this is balance from past bad times or to balance out future problems that I have yet to encounter. Regardless of which it is I had a good time nonetheless. I skipped out of English class early (we were just starting Frankenstein which I had already gone into great detail in last year in grade 12. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now.) I left all that to attend an event for A.C.E (Advancing Canadian Entrepeneurship) It was held at the Tribeca bar & bistro. I dressed up all formal like (shirt, tie, dress sandals) and in the break that we get in English class I headed out. I managed to get Will to join me so I met up with him infront of SMU and we got a ride from a friend of mine who was also attending. I paid extra to recieve a cigar, and later on Will, who paid at the door and not ahead, decided to attain a cigar for himself as well. Upon the advice of a friend of mine I bought a half-pint of Guiness beer and learned first hand that it does indeed go well with a cigar. Besides the substances I was putting in my body, I also had some good conversations. The event was to be an evening of intellectual conversations. Many topics were mentioned and discussed. (Legalization of marijuana, creating a unified currency for Canada and America similar to the Euro for European countries, Canada aiding Africa in A.I.D.S relief, etc.) And I hadn't seen Will for a while so we got to catch up. Apparently his girlfriend doesn't approve of him drinking or smoking so while he was, he wasn't *wink wink* (how can you say 'whipped'?) Just joking Will. Your secret is safe with me and whosoever reads this journal. I had a wonderful evening of relaxation, mental stimulation, and other such pleasent feelings.
LEARNED TODAY: SMU tuition just rose 10.9% Good thing I have wealthy parents...

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Subject:	Oh what an evening!
Time:	7:10 am.

BEST party I've ever been to by far. On Saturday I went to the Sigma Chi Sweetheart Ball and I had the time of my life. The most that I have ever drank and danced. (almost as if the two are related...) I took a friend of mine from high school, one Ms. Jessica Evans and she enjoyed herself as well. Since my father is a Sigma Chi he and my mother were in attendance and I saw sides of my parents that I never have. Dancing (with each other, and sometimes with others) and not just slow dancing, but dancing like today's youth; un coordinated spastic shaking of the limbs that can be mistaken for seizures at some points. All in all it was a great time. Now I am facing a hellish day. I did no homework on Sunday, so now on monday I have a Geo Lab due, an English Essay due today, a crap load of German to study (If I pass it will be a MIRACLE) and I should do some reading up for my Geo & Religions test this week... Well the good times rolled, now let the not so good one's roll.
LEARNED TODAY: Someone accidentally called my home at 1:40AM. (The phone rang, no one picked it up, and I checked the caller I.D this morning...complete stranger.)

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Subject:	The possible beginning of the Broadfield bounce back.
Time:	11:53 pm.

When man fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, man's disobedience and lack of gratitude to the Almighty enraged an archangel. So enraged was he that he struck down his swords with all his might and caused a spark to set The Phoenix's nest ablaze...and The Phoenix perished as the angel stood by helpless to save the wondrous creature. The angel stood there saddened at this great loss, regretful that he had acted in anger...and he wept. He asked his Father for forgiveness from his act of anger and was truly remorseful. Father heard his plea and saw true repentence in his angel's heart. When the last embers cooled, the angel watched as to his great relief and dismay there emerged from a solitary red egg a new Phoenix more lovely than the first.
(http://www.phoenixrising.net/myth.htm)

I just love the myth of the phoenix. It is rather accurate too I might add with the events of my life. Just as the phoenix is told to have risen from it's ashes so to do I feel the same. Life hasn't been that much fun for me recently as any literate person who knows the address for this journal can tell you after reading my last couple posts. In many ways it was like it was/has been burning down around me. So like the phoenix I survive by rising from the ashes. Obviously the rest of it (living in the garden of Eden, having the 'fire' start by an angel) isn't true, but this is a metaphor... I am starting to feel rather rejuvinated. I attended the initiation of 6 new brothers into my fraternity and that helped me a lot. Anyone who scoffs at greek societies and writes them off as excuses to party has never witnessed the events of true initiation. Forget hazing, forget drinking, forget what you think you know. I won't banter on about this (it has the startings of a rant...) but I am feeling better than before. Don't worry about me, I'll land on my feet in the end.
LEARNED TODAY:Whenever I take a nap in the afternoon, my dad is watching a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. On Wednesday I slept from 2:30PM-4PM and he was watching 'Armaggedon', today I slept from 2:30PM-5PM and he was in the middle of 'Pearl Harbour'.

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Subject:	It began so beautifully...
Time:	5:10 pm.

The day started so wonderfully. I had a suprise. For the first time ever I awoke at 5AM and here's the interesting part, I felt rested. These are two rare events on their own, but together it was amazing. I don't sleep well so feeling rested after waking was a blessing unto itself. I got up, did some homework, made breakfast, lunch and supper (I've class @ 7PM so I tend to stay on campus all day long.) I got to school early, studied for a test and things were great. I felt awesome and for the brief time life was good. Then it wasn't. Ignorance is bliss, it really truly is. I know that it is terrible to say that and even more to actually believe it but it is the truth. I learned of a change in events today, and of certain outcomes that sadden me deeply. I am sorry to leave you all hanging but I won't be going into details. As lovely as this journal is, many read it and I have some stories that I keep to myself. My already heavy heart has gained weight. I can at least admire the beauty in this situation. It is filled with such intricacy, the events that occured, how and when they happened and the order that it all came through in. It is a bitch of a situation but it is beautiful in its own way. Well it is what it is and I must now begin to accept it. Such is the life I live.
LEARNED TODAY: How it feels to wake up feeling rested.

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Subject:	I am still alive.
Time:	8:22 pm.

Once again I haven't updated in a while. Deal with it. Let me update you to the events of my life in the past week...
MONDAY: major highlight was that we started focusing on poetry in english class. that ought to tell you how eventful the day was...
TUESDAY: I accompanied my friend Kevan to an event he was participating in. He is running for a position in the Dal Student Union and I thought that I'd attend the debate/speech event that he had that afternoon. There were about 25 people there, and roughly 15 were running for positions and had to be there. That made approx. 11 people (including me) watching Dal democracy in action. Let the record show that SMU students made roughly 9% of the students that attended that DSU event... (the fun came from when I met one of the people running for Pres of DSU. He asked if I had given any thought to who I was going to vote for. I told him quite bluntly "No, not really". I was then asked if I was going to vote at all. Once again and just as plainly "No I don't think so". He was quite confused until Kevan told him that I was from SMU and that I couldn't vote...)
WEDNESDAY: I skipped German to finish a Geography assignment due that day... and I wrote a test on Christianity. (I do live a charmed life huh?)
THURSDAY: the only class was cancelled so I stayed home all day doing housework, laundry and dick all.
FRIDAY: Short Geo lab got me home earlier then expected. I was looking forward to a lazy afternoon leading to an evening at the Sig house meeting out of town Sigma Chi's that were visiting Halifax. Then I got a call from work asking if I could work 5-10. My evening was shot to shit with me working...
SATURDAY:Work sucked. Very busy, very understaffed, and as such I was very unhappy. The highlight was when I had two parents come throug with a child in the cart. They were purchasing several medium sized boxes of juice boxes, and their child (standing in the cart) kept pushing them toward me. It was on the 4th push that he managed to knock one off the counter and fall toward me, luckily I jumped out of the way before the box hit my feet. The mother, having seen this out of the corner of her eye, looked over at the child briefly and said "be careful" Good parenting in action.

Life is still stressful. I want so very much to move out and I think that I might be able to. I have the four months of summer to save up money and I think that it is possible. the catch is that I don't think my parents will be very keen on it. they've spent a lot of money to renovate the basement. it is now like a quasi-apartment. They are very intent on me staying there, and they don't charge rent. but the stress and emotional problems that are occuring make this an unfriendly environment as well. I am going to have to bite the bullet and talk to them about all this soon. Tough times lie ahead of me, there's a storm on the horizon and I must sail through.
LEARNED TODAY: How much our couch and love seat weigh. We moved them from the family room on the first floor to the rec room in the basement. They're comfortable as hell, and they weigh twice as much. (I know, it doesn't make sense but I am tired.)

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Subject:	sigh
Time:	1:44 am.

Yeah, I haven't updated for a while. Life isn't good for me right now. I am having major parent problems. As of late they are flexing their 'you-live-here-free-and-we-are-the-parents-therefore-we-are-your-god-our-will-is-law' muscles. Many minor squabbles and fights are now lumping together to form bad times. I want to move out but I can't afford to. I doubt that I'll be able to move out soon, but I intend to take certain measures to see that this next academic year will be my last at home. Every chick has to fly the nest eventually I guess. I'm still struggling with German, everything else is fine. I got a letter today from the head of the Geography department at SMU asking me to meet with him to discuss the possibility of me majoring in Geography. At the beginning of the school year I would have jumped at such an opportunity, now I am hesitant. Geography no longer is as interesting as it once was, and without the interest my motivation and drive have fallen as well. My parents want me to take something (preferebly a major, at least a minor) in Geo. I just don't know anymore. Besides all this stuff, I just feel more depressed than usual lately. Things aren't going to smoothly for me. I do have some hopes though, I entered in a poetry contest at SMU. Most of them aren't that good but there are 2 or 3 that I have written that I am really proud of and I feel optimistic. Maybe my poetic skills will pull me out of this slump, or perhaps the downward curve has yet to steepen for me.
LEARNED TODAY:Employees at the Tim Horton's on campus give you an annoyed look when you use a $20 bill to pay for a $2 cup of coffee. (It was all that I had!)

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Subject:	The most Catholic Atheist on campus!
Time:	12:42 am.

I went to Church today. Quite the feat considering the fact that I am an Über Atheist. One of my Catholic friends convinced me to attend the Ash Wednesday ceremony with her in the Catholic Church on campus. I was 10 kinds of scared and freaked out. I was raised in United Church Christianity, the happy-go-lucky-life-is-good-life-is-great Christianity, not the BURN IN HELL WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE tenderness of the Catholic Church. Plus, one of the guys who read several times had a thick Irish accent which made me recall all the scenes from Irish Catholic Churches that I have ever seen on T.V or movies, so I was starting to get nervous... I was waiting for one of them to turn, look at me, point a finger and shout "YOU'RE NOT ONE OF US!" then chaos to follow shortly thereafter. Thankfully that didn't happen. I even ventured as far as joining the rest of them in getting a cross on my forehead from the ashes. I figured When in Rome... (and that if I didn't join them, then they'd become suspicious, one of them would cue into the fact that I'm not Catholic, thing's would turn haywire, and the Pope would declare war on me. And that is what would have happened, I am sure of it!) SO I went around for the rest of the day with an ash cross on my forehead and a hope that I wouldn't run into an anti-Christian angry mob looking for a scapegoat to vent their anger on. ("I'm not a Christian, I'm an atheist!" "Nice try Catholic boy, we're gonna get you good!") I figured that since I was wearing sandals, sporting a thick beard, long unkept hair, and a religious symbol on my forehead, I am now walking a fine line between Jesus Christ and Charles Manson immitation.
LEARNED TODAY: what an ash cross on my forehead feels like.

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Subject:	The blizzard bothered Broadfield, but Broadfield beat the blizzard
Time:	11:11 pm.

It has snowed so much, I can't stress how much white stuff has fallen, but I have shovelled more in these past several days than I ever have in any past winter that I've lived through. Work was closed on Friday, and I barely made it in on Saturday and it was rather slow. Since Halifax had a curfew placed after 10PM, the busses weren't running, and most of the streets were still snow clogged, I didn't make it to my friends play, and we didn't make it to the movie. Instead he came over here to watch the movie. I walked to his neighbouhood (Fairview) after work and we dropped off a care package to a friend who has been sick all through the school break (makes my break look a bit better despite the lack of doing anything) And then Will and I walked home. Not a pleasent experience since we were walking on slightly plowed roads, since the sidewalks weren't available, and we were avoiding cars all the while. On top of that we had to make it home before our civil rights were removed and curfew was in effect. Thankfully we made it home but Will was musing about going out at night and testing the curfew.... (I'm not saying if we did or didn't, I'll leave that to you to decide) Fun times followed. He called his girlfriend, she talked to me, I convinced her of certain 'aspects' of Will's life that were blatently false, and he spent a good half hour convincing her otherwise. Oh it was fun! Today (sunday) my room was put back together and I fully moved in! *rejoices* the bathroom is pretty much done too, so I now have my room back with a bathroom to boot! *rejoices even more* Despite the fact that Halifax Regional Municupality has asked the Universities to remain closed tomorrow, SMU is open so my educational onslaught does continue...
LEARNED TODAY: I can hook my laptop upto the speakers on my mini system and greatly improve the volume and sound quality!

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Time:

9:18 pm.

So 1,2,3, take my hand and come with me
because you look so fine
and I really wanna make you mine.
I say you look so fine
and I really wanna make you mine.
Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you don't need that money
when you look like that, do ya honey.
Big black boots,
long brown hair,
she's so sweet
with her get back stare.
Well I could see,
you home with me,
but you were with another man, yea!
I know well,
and god must have said,
before I let you get away, yea!

I said, are you gonna be my girl?
Well, so 1,2,3, take my hand and come with me
because you look so fine
and I really wanna make you mine.
I say you look so fine
that I really wanna make you mine.
Oh, 4,5,6 c'mon and get your kicks
now you dont need that money
with a face like that, do ya.
Big black boots,
long brown hair,
she's so sweet
with her get back stare.
Well I could see,
you home with me,
but you were with another man, yea!
I know well,
and god must have said,
before I let you get away, yea!
I said, are you gonna be my girl?
Oh yea. Oh yea. C'mon!
I could see,
you home with me,
But you were with another man, yea!
I know well,
and god must have said,
before I let you get away, yea!
Uh, be my girl.
Be my girl.
Are you gonna be my girl?! Yea

Courtesy of JET

LEARNED TODAY: all the lyrics to the song 'Are you gonna be my girl?'

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Subject:	Poor, underage, and out of school.
Time:	8:42 pm.

My first ever University spring break and first ever experience being impoverished are both occuring at the same time. As a result I am stuck at home for spring break... Well I have a lot of odds and ends to do anyways, so I guess it all works out. Except for the whole me not having any fun thing... I'm hoping that a certain someone is going to get back to me soon as to whether she would like to do ANYTHING AT ALL during this week off, yet somehow I doubt that I'm going to hear back at all... (prove me wrong). I'm going to see a play this weekend that a friend of mine is an assistant stage manager in, and then we are going to go see the midnight showing of 'Resevoir Dogs!' (call me Mr.White.) I hate time off from school. I waste it when I should be doing something constructive, like studying or chores, or other important stuff that I don't do. Blah I say, Blah once again. Beyond that life is what it is and it is no more.
LEARNED TODAY: the movie 'The Butterfly Effect' is like a dark combination of the t.v shows 'Sliders' and 'Quantum Leap' mixed in with time travel.

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Subject:	Instant "Coffee" is ground up evil in a glass container.
Time:	12:27 am.

RIGHT THEN. Last Friday was awesome for me. Sigma Chi participated in the IWK Radioathon, and I was there in full swing. Since we were going from 6AM-10AM we had to be there before 6 to be trained how to answer the phones. I didn't like the notion of hauling myself all the way to the Halifax Shopping Centre at that ungodly hour of the morning all the way from home in Clayton Park West. So I decided to spend the night with the guys so I could get a ride in with them the next morning. I ended up staying at Kevan's apartment (one of the guys who went through pledging with me) We grabbed a burger for supper and saw 'Along Came Polly' (save your money for 'There's Something About Mary'...) I grabbed a sub from Subway for my breakfast en route back to his home. I got to sleep about 1AM and awoke at 4:45AM. I had some of his instant coffee....and since he had no milk or sugar (which I normally need in my coffee)...it was a harsh, harsh, HARSH experience. I thought that perhaps having some of the sub I bought for breakfast would help wash the instant coffee taste from my mouth. I forgot that I asked for Jalapeno peppers on the sub. Normally I love em, but not for breakfast when I am choking on instant coffee. It was a downward spiral. A bit of spice riddled sub, a swallow of disgusting "coffee" Thankfully the rape of my tastebuds woke me up enough to do the radioathon which was sooooo fun! Over 4 hours I drank 3 cups of Tim Hortons coffee, answered the phone 6 times, and amassed $610 in donations! Out of 20 volunteers, 15 of them were Sigma Chi's! AND we got to shout "IT'S FRIDAY" on air! Then I went to school and had a geography lab. Not all that interesting, but that's what happened. All in all I had a great time, except for the breakfast from hell.
LEARNED TODAY:When I put medecine (for fish) in my aquarium, it turns my aquarium bright neon green and it looks like a rave.

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Subject:	I'm fighting the good fight but its resisting with all its might
Time:	10:56 pm.

I had a good day. I slept in, worked on my room some more (Damnable sanding again!) and then studied for a while before going to school. In my philosophy class we started studying Descartes (a very famous modern philosopher. He concieved of the notion 'I think therefore I am') I made a rather well thought out rebuttle to one of his theories. I had the prof stumped. He thought for a moment and said that he'd get back to me next class on that... Heh heh heh. Student - 1 Philosophy Prof - 0. Oh yeah! No doubt he'll have a good rebuttle next day, but for the moment the victory is MINE!!! I won't mention what in all is detailed in this philosophical battle, but if you are interested feel free to contact me and I shall let you know what the prof taught, and how I rebuttled the hell out of it. Oh I do love these far and few victories of the mind.
LEARNED TODAY: Descartes Theory of Doubt has a flaw in it.

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Subject:	Easy English
Time:	10:28 am.

Last night I wrote by far the easiest Eglish exam of my life. I suspected it would be easy when the prof only gave us one piece of foolscap and said that we wouldn't need more than that... But if SMU wants to make the manditory English class for B.A students so easy that I could be deaf, dumb, blind, and illiterate and still pass, then that's their perogative. This past weekend I had quite a fun conversation with a special someone. She had a drink or two, and was much more fun to talk to than ever. I won't go into what in all was said by her, but I am much more intriuged by her now. Ah, one more thing: A new architecht has been found, fresh blueprints are being made, and a bigger better bridge is being built.
LEARNED TODAY: Some information about someone that will come in helpful. I can't post it for fear of them learning I know it...

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Subject:	SUCCESS AT LAST!!! dances a jig
Time:	4:53 pm.

HA HA! The only thing sweeter than an outright victory is having that victory threatened at the last minute but succeeding nonetheless! I came so very close to failing my intial goal and having to settle for another outcome (which is nothing short of a failure to me) BUT it all came together at the last minute! I contacted my friend's roomate today to ask if she could help me deliver the package to the IBX (Iota Beta Chi, look at my previous journal entry) I said that I know that she is no longer associated with them, but I would appreciate any help she could provide me. She told me that it was not true any more, that she had 'quit' in a moment of anger. She told me that she has retracted her decision and is still involved with the Sorrority, and she quite eagerly agreed to help me out and deliver the items to the IBX at their weekly meeting!!! HURRAH! *does a victory dance* Few other plans of mine have been of this level of importance to me, and that makes this success all that much sweeter.
LEARNED TODAY: What I learned yesterday is actually wrong.

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Subject:	My plan is going the way of the Hindenburg.
Time:	11:34 pm.

AAARGH! After so many hours of raw planning, fine toning, researching, repetetive manual labour and tittering with happiness over the end result, one of my finest plans yet to date has hit a kink and is on the verge of being toppled altogether. Not exactlly completley destroyed, but if the end result isn't what I have planned (and dreampt of) than as far as I am concerned it is all a failure. I have planned an en mass wooing of the opposite gender the likes of which I have never thought of, or dreampt of before. I have prepared Valentines for the sisers of the Iota Beta Chi sorrority, bought some chocolates for them (Ferrero Rocher, the goooood stuff!) and to top it off I have written a poem in honour of them all. If that doesn't earn me their good graces then nothing will! I had planned to give it to the roomate of one of my Sigma Chi brothers who is in the Iota Beta Chi sorrority. I had planned to give it to her today or tomorrow so she could present it to them on my behalf at their weekly meeting. I learned today that she has recently and suddenly quit the sorrority altogether. My plan is in dire turmoil. I want to get it to them before Valentines day, but I am having difficulty reaching this desired outcome. I still have a trick or two up my sleeve yet, but I am worried for the first time since I started planning this venture. Ah the things that women drive us men to do.
LEARNED TODAY:The Iota Beta Chi sorrority has one less member.

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Subject:	Last weekend, a couple days ago, and now
Time:	12:14 am.

Last weekend was a frickin riot. I had Haley, Amos and Will over for a movie marathon, and the good times were a plenty. Will learned that Vodka and pizza don't mix well... heh heh heh. Haley made plans in advance to spend the night. (the movies went until 1AM) Later in the evening we discovered that Will was hoping on getting a ride home with Amos, and Amos was hoping on getting a ride with Will... so they ended up spending the night too! My Dad and sis were out camping, and my mom was at a party from 7PM-1AM,so we pretty much had the house to ourselves. At about 3AM Will and I decided to do something to... an anonymous person who lives near me. We were thinking of egging their house, but decided it was too mean. We toyed with the notion of making and posting an eviciton notice on their door, but it would look fake. So we settled on a happy medium; we carved faces in three oranges and put them on their doorstep! (it was 3 in the morning, we were rather tired) All in all, many good times were had in the course of saturday evening/sunday morning.
Something odd happened to me several days ago. In the course of an hour, I had two girls (I am somewhat sure) check me out! Either that or they were just making eye contact and smiling in an alluring manner for no reason. I recall that I was wearing my sunglasses (which look like versions of the sunglasses that Neo wears), and I had a slight limp because one of my toes on my left foot hurt. I can only gather that they were suppressing grins from watching me limp down the sidewalk in sunglasses that seem to scream 'Oh-yeah-I-look-cool'.
Today I had a test on Judaism. It was okay, but I crammed last night for it. I spent two hours studying the long, violent, dramatic history of the Jewish people. Then I fell asleep immediatley after. I had some of the weirdest dreams that I have ever had that evening! I was reminded of the time that I watched 'Spartacus' while studying for my Grade 12 Geography and Comparative World Religions classes. Several minutes of stiduying demographics, then several minutes of studying Buddhism, then several minutes of watching Kirk Douglas fighting romans. Several minutes of studying the north-south gap, then several minutes of studying Hinduism, then watching several minutes of Kirk Douglas rallying the slaves to fight the Romans... after several hours of this I felt SO VERY MIXED UP. Never has my mind been in so many places as once as it was after that experience!
LEARNED TODAY:the term 'Zealot' comes from the band of Jews who violently fought the Romans during the Roman Dominance of Jews. They were called the 'Zealots'. I did not know that until now!

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