Categories
2002

Don’t look back in anger

i have to write much about my first Japanese class at the Ottawa Japanese Language School. but that comes later tonite, after the group meeting for 304. meanwhile, you can look at this picture of the OTrain arriving at Carleton.

16.09.02 :: 1136 am

three hour breaks between classes is pretty bad. but it gives one the opportunity to catch up on things that one was supposed to have done earlier but was too lazy or too distracted. i’ve returned the 207/208 textbook to dooh’s friend who, apparently, borrowed it from his friend and is now going to hand it to yet another friend. i need that textbook for my 208 course but rainman says he has one and will lend it to me for this term. soon, i hope. the prof’s name is Melkonian and i keep thinking of the words “Melenkurion abatha” from Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever (Stephen R. Donaldson) series of novels. The glossary at the back of the books defines these words as “phrase of invocation or power.”

the japanese class on saturday was exciting. the teacher, masako-sensei, is pretty good at teaching and being pretty. i saw her going down the stairs as i was going up and she greeted me with “ohayo gozaimasu” and all i could do was reply “hello”. dooh is in the class with me. naraku was supposed to take it as well but that fat little man is too lazy to wake up early on saturdays. his excuse is that he cannot take this course on top of the courses he is taking in college… yes college.. college as in highschool-type easy courses.. hah i say.. hah.

the class is about eight groups of three people in each group. i am with dooh and an elderly man named sebastien. there are a few students, only one oriental, in class and the rest are all western. that is one of naraku’s reasons for not joining

the first thing we did in class was to stand up and greet your fellow students. “hajimimashite” means “hello, how are you ?”, “sikander desu” means “i am sikander”, and “dozoyoroshiku” means “nice to meet you”. the ceremony ends with a bow, men keep their hands with palms open beside their hips while women cross their hands in front of them while bowing. it was a pretty nice ceremony and we got to meet other people.

after the greeting ceremony sensei (i love that word) gave us some handouts and went through some basic japanese grammar structures. the wa-desu, wa-desu-ka, and wa-no-desu pairs. we tried some hiragana writing after the 15 minute break. writing japanese is very very hard. i think i can learn how to speak and understand the language well but writing is going to be a pain.

we had our first major 304 Group meeting on sunday evening. all four of us meet here in the HP Computer labs and spent more than 4 hours talking about the requirements and design for the Project (60% of final mark). we now have a general overview of the system we will be building for the course. all the links between the different physical entities have been identified and defined thoroughly, at least we’d like be believe that they are. the only thing is that i can’t see how this system will be built in Rational Rose RealTime. learning how to use that software is going to be one of the major obstacles in this course.

i went to the carleton gym for the first time this last friday. we, mythist and i, stayed there for a little more than half an hour. i went on the treadmill, biceps-machine, calves-machine, stomach-machine, and chest-machine… i don’t know what their official names are :( and of course the next two days my muscles hurt like the devil. they burned and ached ! but i enjoyed it much and i plan to go regularly now. the only problem is where to change into gym wear. entering the Mens Changing Room to encounter a swarm of nekkid people all over the place is horrifying and extremely disgusting. “sikander, relax relax.” i guess i will have to change elsewhere and then simply wash-up afterwards.. no showering there for me.. no no no.

Categories
2002

IRC Fun

#jpn on EnterTheGame IRC Network.

[12:23] <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :)
[12:46] <Venger> <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi.
[12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :(
[12:47] <sikander> [12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :( <— HEHEHE
[12:47] <Roushi> [12:50] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :( <— HEHEHE <—- you’re mean :(
[12:48] <sikander> [12:47] <Roushi> [12:50] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :( <— HEHEHE <—- you’re mean :( <— srry
[12:48] <Roushi> [12:51] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:50] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :( <— HEHEHE <—- you’re mean :( <— srry <—- no you aren’t :(
[12:48] <sikander> [12:48] <Roushi> [12:51] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:50] (sikander): [12:47] <Roushi> [12:49] (Venger): <Roushi> you have a cd image you’d like to share? :) <– You are banned from this channel Roushi. <—— :( <— HEHEHE <—- you’re mean :( <— srry <—- no you aren’t :( <– YATTA!

[10:43] <Venger> why arent you using your sikander name ?
[10:44] <sikry> sikander is registered on dalnet so whenever i go there it tells me to change the nick.
[10:46] *** Venger is now known as sikander
[10:46] *** sikry is now known as Venger
[10:46] *** Venger sets mode: +b *!*@c-847c70d5.03-64-6b6c6d1.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se
[10:46] *** sikander was kicked by Venger (HAH)
[10:47] *** Venger sets mode: -b *!*@c-847c70d5.03-64-6b6c6d1.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se
[10:47] *** Joins: sikander
[10:47] *** ChanServ sets mode: +o sikander
[10:47] <sikander> ..
[10:47] <Venger> :D
[10:47] *** Venger is now known as sik
[10:47] *** sikander is now known as Venger
[10:48] *** sik is now known as sikander

Categories
2002

A Play

the venue : http://www.pbase.com/image/3863904

dramatis personae : elanor, sikander, anonymous people in the background

ACT I

Enter sikander

He walks out of the library with his cell phone. he returns naraku’s call and then wonders where he should go to eat his lunch. what better place than his favourite spot on campus.

he goes down to the tunnels under the library and heads towards one of the chairs in that picture above. as he approaches the sitting area he notices that one of the chairs is bent. it was crooked and looked as if it would fall off its base any second. he sits on the fixed chair facing away from the vending machines.

there are people walking by, people sitting on the other chairs, and people standing around talking to one another.

ACT II

sikander is eating his lunch while reading his current novel (Thief Of Time – Terry Pratchett). a voice greets him from behind.

Enter elanor

elanor : hey sikander

* sikander looks up *

sikander : oh hey elan

elanor proceeds to sit on the broken chair across the table. it breaks and elanor falls on the ground. there is a look of horror on elanor’s face as she realizes what just happened. sikander almost chokes on his food because of uncontrollable laughter. elanor gets up cursing the chair and denouncing sikander for not warning her about it’s broken condition. sikander tries to tell her that he would’ve warned her but there wasn’t sufficient time before her buttocks hit the seats. much laughter ensues. elanor proceeds to sit on the other chair, but first she checks if it was safe to sit on. sikander keeps laughing.

elanor (testily) : are you still laughing !!

they both agree that it was most fortunate that there weren’t many people around.

* curtain falls *
* audience goes wild and demands an encore *