Monday, June 26, 2006 

Good thing I majored in sociology (well, a sub-discipline of it)

I gave up and did the quiz that Christa did in her last post so long ago. The results sure were shocking (heavy sarcasm).

You scored as Sociology. You should be a Sociology major!

Anthropology

100%

Engineering

100%

Sociology

100%

Philosophy

92%

Mathematics

92%

English

92%

Psychology

83%

Biology

75%

Linguistics

67%

Journalism

58%

Theater

50%

Art

33%

Dance

33%

Chemistry

33%

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

 

Locus of control

Where's your locus of control?

 

Resolute use of power

Saturday morning I woke up from a series of strange dreams.

In one, I sat at a table in a restaurant with two asian men. We all wore tuxedos and they spoke perfect English despite having grown up in their country of origin. We had just observed a leader behaving childishly.

One of the men was talking to me about the proper conduct of a leader. Specifically, we were talking about the resolute use of power. To demonstrate a concept that could not be explained with words, he used a martial arts technique as a mode of communication rather than violence.

The bartender thought this man was trying to hurt me. He appeared from behind the bar with a revolver in hand and shot the man I was communicating with. Without a word or sign of pain or fear, the man who was shot turned, fixed his gaze on the bartender and threw a steak knife at him before being shot dead.

The other man at the table turned to me and said something along the lines of, "Do you understand what he was saying now?" Then he turned and killed the bartender with a single movement.

I stood and walked away.

I have fucked up dreams.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 

There was a spider

Tuesday night is one I won't soon forget.

Christa, I'm sorry to write about this, I know it bothers you to think about. I need to process it somehow. Just skip this post if you want.

--

I had just finished the first draft of this week's editorial at a little after midnight. Christa was getting ready for bed and I was lying down already.

She came in from the washroom and said that she'd randomly had the urge to close the bedroom door, which was odd because we sleep with it open. Always.

She left it open and came to lie down. I went out to check that the door was locked, which I always do, then came back. As I entered the room, my hand closed the door. That's the best way to put it. My hand closed the door in the way we do things unconsciously without realizing we do them. I noticed and commented and decided to leave the door shut.

I said that while I've not seen much evidence of things that don't fit into a rational worldview, that doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact, if such things exist, it makes sense that evidence of them is hard to find. Because of that, I said, I tend to think people should trust their gut. And ours seemed to say the door should be closed that night.

Then Christa said she had always wondered if on the nights where you get paranoid for no good reason and check locks and windows if it's for a reason.

"I mean, you wake up in the morning and everything's fine," she said. "So, obviously there was no axe murderer running around inside the house."

She went on to say that despite that, she wondered if on those nights it was good that you heed your gut, because if otherwise something bad would have happened "like an evil spirit sucking you out of the world or something."

It was at this point that I decided I wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while and we promised that if either of us woke up and had to use the washroom, we'd wake the other person so that they wouldn't be awakened after this conversation by the sound of the door opening and being alone in be.

Then she fell asleep and I started to read.

About ten minutes later I heard a noise outside the bedroom door.

The hairs on my neck stood on end - hush about cliches, they did - as I put the book down, picked up my bo (martial arts staff) and stared at the door. The noise had sounded like something moving across the floor, with a another sound that had sounded like a low growl. The irrational part of my brain was saying werewolf. The rational part was saying shut up so I can listen.

I listened and watched the door knob and waited for about a minute, then I heard the sound again. It was exactly the same, except this time it was coming from the neighbour's yard and I was hearing it through the open bedroom window and it was clearly not a werewolf. I breathed easier, listened some more and then went back to reading.

A little while later I was feeling like I wasn't on edge anymore and that I could sleep. I rolled half off the bed to put the book on the floor, then rolled back.

When I rolled back, my back brushed Christa's. She started to cry out in her sleep. I thought she was having a bad dream and I hugged her and tried to wake her up.

That's when the world stopped making sense.

Instead of waking up, she started screaming. Loud, high-pitched, I'm-being-murdered type screams.

I was still hugging her when she got her feet between herself and the bed and tried to jump backwards over me and off the bed. We crashed onto the bed with me on my back and her in my arms. She was screaming and struggling to get away the entire time.

She was wearing her sleeping mask when she went to sleep - so the reading light wouldn't keep her up - and I thouht it was still in place. I thought she didn't know it was me, so I let go as I tried to shout it was me, it was Aaron. I was so freaked out my words were a garbled mess that weren't even close to the volume of her screams. The second I let go, she jumped off the bed and turned on the floor and stared right at me and kept screaming like her worst fear had followed her out of nightmare.

Then she stopped.

She stood breathing hard and looking at me. I sat looking at nothing.

"What happened?" I said when I could.

Her voice was almost calm.

"There was a spider," she said.

I chuckled once at the absurdity and then went back to my near catatonic trance.
She said I was freaking her out. I tried to shrug off the shock that had me tight now that it was over. I looked at her and we talked. We figured out that she hadn't really woken up until she was on her feet, that in her sleep she had seen an unnatural looking spider on the bed inches from her face and when she 'woke up' on her feet and saw me looking at her with terror on my face she thought there was another on her shoulder and I wasn't doing anything about it. We went to bed and tried to calm down and couldn't. The bedroom door was still shut and reminding us of our earlier conversation.

Picture the last time you were alone at night in a creeped out mood, perhaps after watching a scary movie or after freaking yourself out. The kind of mood where you feel like there's something behind you and when you turn to look, there's nothing there, but now that you've turned your gaze behind you, there's something behind your head now. The kind of mood where you need to either watch mindless television for a bit or have your roommate come home and then everything's okay because someone else is there proving there's nothing inherently terrifying about the place you're in.

This was four times worse and we were both in the same mood so we couldn't calm each other down.

So I called Ian and put him on the speakerphone and he calmed us down. I knew he'd be awake even though it was nearly 2 a.m.

We left the door closed and the light on all night though.

Monday, June 19, 2006 

Video games from BBC

Shoot the sheep!

 

Yeck

I woke up yesterday with a really disturbing image in my head.

I'd dreamt that I was ill, that the pathogen had shredded my heart and that I was coughing up a slurry of heart tissue and blood.

Friday, June 16, 2006 

Sometimes the Internet is like a train wreck

I can't look away.

I also can't help but have an opinion...

 

Bruce vs. Tony

Oh. My. God.

I can't believe I just read all of that.

The last line of Razorback's take on who wins in a fight between Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark is great, but only after reading his entire blurb.

Thursday, June 15, 2006 

Here's an example

One of the snakes is coiled on its fake branch beside me like a piece of rope on a ship's deck. Not menacingly, but peaceful.

One of the things about insomnia - my brand at least - is that it's often easier to sleep anywhere but your own bed.

I fell asleep earlier on the couch as Christa was getting ready to go to dance practice in Fergus. Some of the people from dance were coming to pick her up, so me being zonked wasn't a concern. Which is good since this was sleep of the dead type sleep.

She kissed me on the cheek when she was ready, but I was so out of it I barely registered anything. She then got up to go.

Then out of the murk comes one coherent thought, that this might be the night. The one where she doesn't come home because of an accident. The one where I get a phone call from a police officer that changes everything forever. And if that call came my last memory would be a hazy sight of her from the couch while I was all but unconscious and unable to say goodbye properly.

Knowing I'm paranoid and not able to do anything else, I clawed my way up off the couch and lurched over to the door. I wanted to say be careful, but how stupid would that be?

"Here to lock the door behind me?" she asked.

"No," I said. "I'm here to say goodbye."

Then I hugged her, told her I loved her and gave her a kiss goodbye. She smiled, said she loved me too and was gone.

I know I'm being paranoid, that chances are she'll be back, but god damn it, what if she's not?

 

Grrrr

Christa's fast asleep in the other room. I, on the other hand, can't sleep.

Insomnia sucks.

On a lighter note, Christa finally admitted that I have grey hairs on my head. Oh, and I've started drinking coffee.

Thursday, June 08, 2006 

Sm-wha?

Canadians are smug?

Monday, June 05, 2006 

News scan, June 5

Armed Hamas supporters stormed a Gaza TV station, claiming it was biased toward the Fatah.

A UN report says dessert ecosystems are being put under huge pressure by tourism, climate change and the demand for water.

The terror plot that ended with 17 arrests a few days ago started in 2004 in a chat room while CSIS watched.

James Adams writes in today's Globe and Mail about this week's BookExpo and the varying opinions on the lifespan of books as a medium.

Sunday, June 04, 2006 

Bomb?

Friday night 17 people were arrested on terror charges by the RCMP. Police thought they were going to launch a bomb attack somewhere in sourthern Ontario.

Friday, June 02, 2006 

Credit where it's due

The picture at the top of the sidebar is from Brian. Many thanks.

 

News scan, June 2

Kenya's president has decided to provide free AIDS medication.

Texas plans to stream surveillance footage of its border with Mexico over the Internet so that civilians can watch for and report illegal border crossings. The plan will cost $5 million and will cover parts of the border known to be used frequently by illegal immigrants. Civilian watchers will be able to call a number free of charge to report crossings.

South Africa's Security Minister Charles Nqakula to parliament: "It is extremely disappointing to note that South African gun owners over the last three years lost 50,864 firearms."

US and Israeli researchers have found carbonised figs that may be as old as 11,400 years. They believe these figs may mark the point humans started farming.

A hockey-loving macaque named Maggie has been predicting game winners in the playoffs.

The 30,000 employees of the Toronto public school board will be given a voluntary survey Monday which will ask for their sexual identity and ethnicity. The board says they're trying to make sure their hiring practices are fair.

Thursday, June 01, 2006 

Planes are fun

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Brian has taught me how to put photos on blogs. The image above is of the university from the air. If you look closely, you can see south residence on the far right of the picture. I lived there for first and second year.

I took that picture on Saturday. My friend Janet had told me about a local airshow and suggested Christa and I go. She and a friend were going. If you prebooked it, you could go for a short plane ride over the city.Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

We did, and went for a flight.

Neither of us had been in a small aircraft before, so this was really damn cool. I hadn't really been anticipating anything, but when we got about twenty feet off the ground I could see what all the hype was about.

A word of advice: If you ever do this, sit behind the pilot. You'll get a better view. Christa did.

 

Thursday morning news scan

Weeks ago a young woman survived a car crash, but was left badly injured and in a coma. She's come out of the coma and it turns out she was misidentified. Now one family that thought they buried their daughter has learned she's alive and another that thought their daughter survived learns her body was buried under another name weeks ago.

Picture this: A car gets crushed by a transport truck and then drives away.

Toronto gangs show up in Durham, Barrie and Brantford.

Members of a Toronto police drug squad are going to court on charges that include extortion and assault.

According to a study by a York University political science prof, the bulk of the campaign contributions to councillors in the 905 region come from corporations.

BBC headline: "US forces kill 'pregnant' Iraqi". If there was any indication in the article as to why the word 'pregnant' was in quotation marks, I sure as hell missed it.

An isolated and unique ecosystem cut off from the rest of the world for five million years was discovered in a cave in Israel. Eight new species have been found so far, including one that resembles a blind scorpion.

If you read the story about the US troops killing the pregnant Iraqi and were intrigued by the passing reference made to the new "ethical training" troops will be getting, there's a full - if unsatisfactory - article about that here.

 

This didn't happen in Montreal...

Montreal suffered an eight-day transit strike in 2003 and people still got to work.

The thing that strikes me as key is near the end of the article:

The notion of what constitutes an essential service is based on health and safety concerns, not on the commercial interests of business, Grant points out. That makes it easier for both sides to accept.

 

Humans and hurricanes

Apparently hurricanes may not be "entirely natural disasters."