The Never Updated Blog

Three times is a lot to handle all at once, are you sure you don't want me to wait twenty minutes or a couple of days? Who are we kidding? We both know that if I wait a couple of days we won't even talk to each other for at least a month or maybe even a year!

Ok, have it your way. .. .

So, moustaches and bad Christmas sweaters.

My last exam was on Friday (woot!) and afterward a bunch of us went to the nearest Firkin pub for some lunch. Then I went home to catch some sleep and get ready for the party. Jesse, Jay, Mike, Crystal, Easnor, and probably others I can't think of right now had gone out to Value Village earlier in the week for our wonderful ugly sweaters. During exams a bunch of people had agreed not to shave their moustaches until after the Christmas party. I was in on it, but alas I stumbled into the bathroom and realized what I was doing mid shave. I suppose I could have still kept what little stache I had left, but I'm really not so enthused about looking like Hitler. Anyway, the party was ridiculous. There was definitely a bit of stress being released. The same night students' council had organized a party called Christmas Crunk at Blurr nightclub downtown. I went to the Christmas Crunk party last year and it was a crazy good time so I wanted to go again this year. Well, the sweater party was winding down early because it had started pretty early and the neighbours had called the cops. The cops couldn't do anything though, not even a noise violation because it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet and clearly at a grad school party is probably going to be of age. Anyway, around 11 the party spilled downtown to the Christmas Crunk party. Good times were had by all, but I had leave in time to catch the last train because I had stuff to do the next day and there was no way I was gonna pay for a cab from downtown back to my place. Yeah, that's 50 bucks still in my pocket. Anyway, good times were had by all and it was a good way to say goodbye to those leaving for home for the holidays and say hello to the Christmas break all at the same time. I'll tell you about Saturday in a bit.

LL

PS Never, do you want a cigarette?

Alright, so I'm not quite sure when my blog started being female. . . whatever. I'm not talking to her right now. Getting on with my post. . . So, a year has passed. Ok fourteen months. I'm somewhat saddened. A lot has happened since last year. Some of it I'm not going to get into much detail about except that I had an opportunity to spend a few more months working than I had expected between school years this year and I've now joined the ranks of the class of 2011. I'll let you figure out what happened. I was, and always will be too stubborn to quit something once I've started it. I'm a finisher. Anyway, in other news, I moved out from the Miller's place into my own pad back in August. The rent is a bit exorbitant for the space I have but it's enough for me, it's clean, the landlords leave me alone and it isn't *that far from school. I like it but I will definitely move for next year. Living on your own is nice because you don't have to worry about roommate issues, but at the same time it kinda sucks to come home to a dark and quiet home. I may try to see about getting one of the townhouses right next to the college and filling it with a few people for next year.

For those of youtechno-geeky people out there, the next paragraph is for you. Otherwise skip it. Or not at the risk of your own boredom.

In October I finally made the complete switch to a Linux system. I have been running a dual boot with windows for the past couple of years, but mostly ended up booting into Windows because that was what I was comfortable with and that was the path of least resistance. I had tried a few different distros (Mepis, Ubuntu and Kubuntu). Mepis didn't really have enough of a user base - it took forever to get help on the forums and then it became proprietary. So I tried Ubuntu because it has a much larger user base, but it was an immediate no. I really don't like the Gnome Desktop Environment. So that led me to Kubuntu which brought me back to the K Desktop Environment that I was used to and still had the user support group of the Ubuntu distro. Well, the biggest problem with any linux distro is that it isn't really point and click enough for the average Windows user. This led me to Freespire. It's so much more intuitive than any other distro that I've used so far, ok, well, maybe intuitive isn't the right word so much as Windows-like, but then that's what you might expect from people that to the best of my knowledge used to be called lindows. Anyway, I screwed up the install and Windows won't boot properly, but it's ok. Maybe that was the kick I needed to really embrace linux as my primary os. I'll let you know how its going from time to time.

Well, welcome back you techno-illiterate folks. Lets talk about something more up your alley. Ok, no, this topic is worth it's own post. I'll give you a clue now though. I thas to do with sweaters of an ugly Christmas variety and moustaches. . . piqued your interest? Good.

LL

Alright Never, I know so don't even say anything. No, I said I KNOW! Don't look at me with those eyes. You knew what I was like when you agreed to this. You knew there would be long periods where I ignored you. Ok, I admit that this is a little bit ridiculous. Over a year between posts and I walk back in here expecting everything to be the same. All the loyal readers (if they ever existed!), all the adoring masses. But admit it, you're nothing without me Never. Nothing. You need me. After a period of sufficiently awkward silence I'm going to post on you like nothing happened and your going let me because deep down you know you like it. I'm leaving now Never, but I'll be back and when I do you better have on something nice. Maybe a new template or something. I'll leave it up to you. Surprise me.

LL

Wow.
It has been a long time. My world has changed significantly since my last post! Being on the waiting list to get into CMCC was the crappiest 4 months or so of my life! Graduating university was great, but as of convocation I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life if I didn't get into CMCC! I had the experience of being humbled by God until I gave control over the issue to Him and told him that if he didn't want me to get in, I was ok with that as long as he showed me what he wanted me to be doing with my life. It's funny, but as soon as I gave the control that I never had over the situation to him, things began to happen. I got the call I described in the last post, they sent me the letter, I got the money in order, got a place to live sorted out, got tested for TB and had a general health assessment, took a Standard First Aid course, moved to Toronto, went to Orientation week, and had my first day of class. It has really been amazing how everything has kind of just fallen into place to allow me to be here today. I started going to a new assembly, began to be involved in a new young people's bible study, had a schedule that let me get to the prayer meeting every week, had my first chiro exam (we'll see how that went :-P but I'm a little worried!). Overall it has been an intense quarter and it's not looking to get any less intense any time soon! The fall is always busy though, with Harvest Day, Hamilton conference, Bretheren's Weekend, etc, etc. Anyway, I've regurgitated enough of an update here to still be able to claim to be a blogger and to keep JODSTER off my back for another couple of months. Relax Jody, go back to sleep, it's ok.
G'night all.

LL

Well never, I don't want you to get too used to this kind of strange behaviour, but I'm writing a you a second post in two days.

Today I went to get my hair cut. It was long, and hot. And it made my head swear a lot. It needed cut the same way you grass would if the last person who cut it didn't know the difference between the lawnmower and a brick of mouldy cheese. Yes, the last haircut I got was that bad. Well, this morning I went to Salon Papillon, the hairdresser's under Grayson's apartment. Yes, I do realize that the Butterfly Salon, and no I don't care that it sounds a little gay. The girl that owns the place did a good job so I will henceforth be supporting her over the more corporate and unpredictable first choice haircutters. While I was in the chair the sweat first notes of white snake's eye of the tiger drifted through my ears bringing to light visions of grey track suits and dripping sweat bands. My phone was ringing, but I was enjoying the good haircut and I was on a tight schedule, so not recognizing the Toronto number I set it to the answering machine and got on with the new do.

A couple minutes later, my ears nicely lowered and a local entrepreneur deservingly paid, I got into my car and was about to check my new message when the phone rang in my hand. I barely had time to answer the phone before my eyes started to mist over and I began to run in the spot. It was mom calling. I answered the phone and this is the conversation I had:

"Did you talk to THEM?"
"Umm, no . . .who?"
"The Chiropractic College . . ."
"No, I was about to check my messages and call whoever it was back when you called . . ."
"I gave you ten minutes after they called here! They wouldn't tell me anything!"
"I was in the chair and couldn't take the call, besides, I didn't recognize the number. I'll check my messages now and call them."
"Well stop talking to me and call them!"
"Ok, I'll call you back!"

Pretty exciting eh? Well, I called them and they are sending me an info package and acceptance letter tomorrow (later today actually . . ) but pretty much I am in pending a chest xray and TB test. Both of which I should pass. I sure hope I pass, well I don't see any reason why I wouldn't pass. . . .Anyway, my first tuition payment is due in about oh . . .three weeks. $10 000. Yes, you counted the correct number of zeros. I have about a third of that in the bank right now, so I'm going to be applying for OSAP ASAP. I'm also going to be trying to make the most commission possible over the next three weeks.

Shout outs go out to God, the folks, and all the people that have been praying for me to get in . . .it really means a lot to me. Thank you.

ciao

LL

Well, Never, I really am getting bad at updating you! It's been over 3 months with no update . . .all my loyal readers will have deserted me, I mean you. Well I never really believed anyone was reading you anyway. Well, then for the blogtrekkers and other people who randomly stumble onto you, here goes my update:

April was eventful. I finished the last of my university exams. Potentially my last real exams ever. I really don't know what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I now have a degree that doesn't exactly qualify me for anything specific, an application to Chiropractic College which is still on a waiting list and a new job. At least there is one positive in that list!

After my exams were done I went back to working at NCO full time while I was looking for a better job. About 45 minutes after I posted my resume on Monster, I got an email from a company saying that they wanted me in for an interview. I was all for it, I mean it's always nice when they contact you first right? So I go in for the interview, decide to go in for training on my day off from NCO and then decide whether I would take the job or not. Long story short, I took the job, quit my job at NCO a week after getting full time hours again and then just like that I had entered the wonderful and sometimes funny, sometimes scary world of sales. And now I'm running on and on again. Well, a company called Universal Power was opening an office in Hamilton and they were looking for new salespeople. I started selling fixed rate gas and electricity contracts door to door (Yes, it's true. Get over all that groaning now). Anyway, within a couple of weeks I had wowed them with my sales potential and blatently obvious management qualities so they promoted me to Senior Field Manager. So basically I drop my team of guys off where they are going to work for the day then I pick them up at the end of the day and for this I get commission of deal they write. I was thinking to myself, "Sweet, this couldn't get much better!" when they told me that I would be getting a company car (a 2006 minivan) to cart the troops around. We will also be going on trips up to cottage country for a week at a time. As long as the team is pulling enough deals out in the week the company pays for our accommodation and gas etc. I've been told that the general schedule for the day when you are on a field trip like that is to get up early and work in the morning, take a couple of hours off and go swimming fishing, or whatever you want for a couple hours in the heat of the day, and then work again in the afternoon and evening. After work is time to party as long as you are good to work the next morning.

So, this week I got Sherriff Grayson a job. He's a natural and I'm glad to have him on the team! Bring on the summer!

Well Never, it has certainly been a while. Almost an entire semester has gone by since the last time I wrote you a letter. My last semester at Laurier Brantford! It has been a whirlwind. This semester I have taken six classes instead of the regular five to make sure I am meeting all of the requirements to graduate. This, on top of the numerous hours I spend each week in my position as the Vice Commissioner of Student Services for WLUSU and the 12 hours I work part time at NCO have left me stressed and lacking in the sleep department. So, the highlights of this semester are:

• In late January I had my interview and ethical dillemma essay to complete my application to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
• WLUSU Winter Conference at which I did a presentation on the proper lines of communication within the students' union - we went to Ringers after the conference (I enjoyed that immensely [it was my suggestion to go!])
  
• I received notice that I had not been accepted to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, but I had been placed on a waiting list. This means that I may still get in if someone they did offer admission to declines it. That was the upside. The downside is that I may not find out until the end of July/beginning of August if I got in or not. This may mean that I will have to raise $15 000 for tuition and find a place to live in Toronto before the first week of classes at the end of August. Or, it may mean that I won't get in at all, in which case I will be taking a couple of DE courses to raise my GPA and then re-applying next year. Your prayers for me in this matter would be much appreciated!
• Reading week was good. I slept. A lot. And I mean A LOT. It was restacular. I really should have put in extra hours at NCO, but I really didn't feel like being yelled at by the friends and family of American inmates any more than I had to in my week off.
• Got called a "Racist N#$%^ lover" at work. That made me laugh. Seems like an oxymoron to me, or, maybe more accurately an Amerimoron.
  
• Went to the Winter Formal.

Fantastic.

• Went to the Pre St. Patty's Day Party.

Uber fantastic. It was our first licensed event in the new Student Centre. 87 people showed up and good times were had by all.

• Somewhere in there I wet to see Pinball Clemens. He was a fantasitc speaker, we sat in the front row and he spent much of the time talking directly at us. At one point he crouched on the edge of the stage right in front of me and yelled at me, shaking his finger in my face the whole time. It was pretty cool. Afterward he spoke to each person individually and autographed their stuff and posed for pictures. He tossed his Grey Cup ring down to us to try on and pass around the audience. that thing was hefty!

Uber nice guy. And a Christian to boot.

• Somewhere in there I Greased it up at the HMS Laurier(Historical Movie Society) 50s Pop Culture Night. I won the best male 50s costume. Unfortunately I have no pic of that, but if you ask really nicely I may decide to don the do, the tight jeans, and plain white tshirt with the Popeye candy cigs rolled up in the sleeeve and take a pic, jsut for yor viewing pleasure.
  
• Went to the Foot Patrol Banquet. Or as I like to call it Jeff-fest 2006. It kinda ended up being a big farewell party to Jeff who has coordinated Foot Patrol for two years and rescued it from almost certain collapse. So, I don't mind it being a bit of a Jeff-fest, as long as next year (if it gets run again next year) it is just a Foot Patrol party.
• last Friday was the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, it was a fun time and a good way to show the WLUSU volunteers just how much their time and effort is appreciated. But alas, I shal write another post about that.
  

This semester really saw BACCHUS come into its own. We had events that brought awareness to the committee's existance and their cause. It was a time of growth and development as the committee struggled to find its place in the Union, but I am confident that they will continue to grow and challenge the school to make healthy lifestyle choices next year.

LSFL(Laurier Students for Literacy). Oh, where to start with LSFL. I have found dealing with LSFL very frustrating this semester as their programs are not the kind that I can just go and see being done. Rachel, the LSLF coordinator, is so fiercely independent and always seems to have it all under such good control that I haven't always known how I could help her out. Despite my shortcoming in this, the committee has been a fantastic success!

I have already talked about Foot Patrol somewhat. The only thing to add is that we have been able to overcome some difficulties, not so much with others, and are still working on yet others. We have seen a lot of people really step it up to make Footy a top quality committee and I couldn't be more proud of it.

Anyway, I have babbled on long enough about mostly WLUSU stuff. Never, I'll let you go back to your slumber, and maybe I'll even write you another letter tomorrow.

-LL

Well, it has definitely been a while . . .and by a while I mean over a week. Christmas was good. For the last two years, my present for dad has been more fun to open than the present itself was. Two years ago I made a cardboard dog with a rotating tale, put dad's present in the middle and wrapped the dog. Last Christmas I made a duck out of cardboard and k'nex. The wings flapped. This year I was really out of inspiration. I needed something better, than last year, but I just really had no motivation. So, I wrapped mom and dad's presents the boring normal way, then inspiration struck. I made a cardboard house. I put the already wrapped presents(marked one for mom and the other for dad) securely in the bottom of the house. Then I wrapped the house. I addresses the house to dad. Then I put the house in a large gift bag and addressed the bag to mom. On Christmas afternoon when we were opening prezzies, mom opened the bag and had to pass the house to dad. Dad opend the house and had to pass mom her present and open his. It was like a big game of pass the parcel. Except there was no music, everybody got to open a layer and everyone winning got one of the end prizes. Well, maybe it only vaguely resembled pass the parcel. Anyway, good times were had by all.

Deep Freeze 2005 went well, despite the thaw. We had a playable ice surface for a short time, but it quickly deteriorated as people put their skates through the ice followed by their knees, wrists, elbows, chins or noses as they continued to fall headlong onto the ice. Eventually the ice was more pothole than solid ice and the hockey stopped. I got some interesting bruises from GTing after the slushy hil had been packed down and then refrozen. We were getting about 15-20 feet of air on the jump that Kevin and I made out of a sheet of plywood and some 2x4s. Kevin and Ispent a lot of the week not sleeping as we were up in the night flooding the pond in hopes that it would get cold enough to really freeze solid. Anyway, late one night we hatched a plan. . . . a fantastic plan. . . . .to get the girls. The girls had decided to sleep in the largely unheated cabin 2 at queen Kristy's behest. Not being secure in warm rooms in the lodge left them vulnerable. So . . . Kevin and I rolled some large snow balls in front of the door, left a spoon between the snow and the door so they could "dig" out, and then filled in all the holes including the top of the door. The end result was that their door was blocked by an 8 foot tower of snow. Then we text messeged Kristy on her new phone advising them to have fun digging out with the spoon. When we rolled one the the snow boulders in front of the door, it pushed the door open which had not been shut properly. We had to practically slam the door to get it shut, yet the girls didn't wake up. Amazingly, none of the girls had to get up to go to the kaibo's in the night. In the morning, Jenn, decided it was time to get out, and never one to be shy, she backed up, took a run at it and dove right through the wall of snow. Pretty brave considering she had no idea how thick it was. I'll post some pics of the break out as soon as I get them. I'll also a link to some GT crash videos as soon as I figure out how to post videos on google video.

this has turned into a long post and as usual, it is the wee hours of the morning.

ciao

So, Thursday came and went and no eggnogging happened. It is the end of a tradition. The end of an era . . . .albeit an unhealthy one . . . . .While I have still enjoyed the pleasures of the noggins with dinner every night this holiday season, the eggnog party was a no-go. It makes my heart feel heavy, or maybe that's from drinking too much eggnog. . . . Anyway, I promised to fill you in on it's origins and history, so here goes.

The eggnog party was an idea that we had when David and I found out that several of his friends hadn't been allowed to drink straight eggnog as kids on the basis that it was unhealthy. Instead, their mothers insisted on mixing it half and half with skim milk. This is an abomination. We couldn't let this stand. So, the eggnog party was born. In highschool it was traditionally held on the last day of school. After class we would trudge to Mac's Milk Store and get some high quality - so thick you can feel your arteries clog just thinking about - it Neilson's Eggnog. Then we would walk to Ryan Denholme's house and watch one of the Aliens movies and chug our 2-3 litres of eggnog each. The first year was just eggnog, but over the course of the next few years, other delectables such pizza, and Candycane crackle ice cream were added. We always went home bloated and happy. We've done it every year for at least the last six years, as we moved on to higher education, the location changed and it began to be scheduled the first free night after the last person was done their exams. Well, being the youngest, and the only one who is in a four year program, I was making everyone wait until I was done. Maybe people are just getting too sensible or something, the interest was there, but the commitment wasn't. Oh well . . .I suppose these things happen.

So, turkeys . . . . .and thawing. When employing the immersion in water technique, I always think:

"To float, or not to float,
That is the qustion.
Whether is better in my mind to sink
This bird which slings and arrows have brought to my landry sink,
Or to allow to float amidst a sea of amoebic troubles."
--Turkspeare

Well, I came to the conclusion that sinking the bird would be better that leaving part of it exposed to the air and the warmth - the object is after all to thaw the bird, not to allow it to go squirdgy(that's the technical term). Once this decision is made however, the problem arises of how to sink the bird. My first thought was that there is an air cavity in there which is the cause of my bird's bouyancy. Logically then the easiest way to remove the air is to simply allow the space to fill with water, but a torpedo will neither fit in my laundry sink, nor leave the bird looking respectable for the table tomorrow afternoon. The next best thing then would be to weigh it down, but with what? Most things that I tried were either not heavy enough to submerge the bird, or the bird would slide out from underneath the weight and rise to the surface again. Then it hit me. Dad has a diving belt with lead weights on it. Perfect. I can wrap the thing in lead and then expect not to come down with lead poisoning tomorrow. Not perfect. Ahhh, but the bird is already double sealed to keep it away from the sink which is commonly used for such things as cleaning paintbrushes and washing cat litter pans. Pefect again. Indeed, the bird is drowning under the weight of a vintage 70's diving belt as we speak. I even took a couple of pics.





December 23rd saw us decorating the tree - we are always late in getting it decorated. As usual Burby came over and helped out. It was good to see him, I almost never get to see him these days. It's kinda funny considering that we live a five minute drive apart. Anyway, trimmed the tree, sipped eggnog and watched the Griswold Christmas Vacation. Such a good movie.

In other knews, it is almost midnight which means that it is almost Christmas. . . . .MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!! I'm about to go downstairs and have the traditional reading of "The Night Before Christmas" before I go to bed. Mom still enjoys doing stockings and I some how don't feel obligated to persuade her otherwise :) As kids the rule was that we could open our stockings before the parentals were up, but had to wait for the other presents until they woke up. So, with tomorrow being a Sunday I will open my stocking before church, but that is it. As far as I know church is at the same time as normal - 9:30am - which means that I gotta get to bed.

Good night Folks

Andrew