Category: 2002

well that was extremely easy. although the alien excrement was still present, i did not hesitate to casually stroll up to and enter the general vicinity of the goddess. when i realized that she was bestowing her gaze upon the pest, hey goddesses are known to be extremely kind, the wimp in me yelled, “run, get out of here, shoo shoo” while the rest kept trying to impose martial law and dictate all my actions.
i extended my right hand and touched the royal left elbow. i was willing to get scorched to death if that were the punishment for having the tenacity audacity to lay mere mortal hands on divinity. but i live !

so, what does one say after being touched by an angel (please ignore who initiated the contact). a hello, a pledge of eternal allegiance and servitude, a bow, a formal introduction, a speech, a dance… what ? since i had already trespassed across boundaries and had made physical contact, i decided to go all the way and uttered the majestic first name with a question mark. there is always the risk of having one’s tongue ripped out as penance for a common man uttering a sacred noble name but why bother being cautious at this point

where there’s a will, there’s a way. after confirming the name, which i’ve already mistaken twice in the past, we had a charming little conversation about the upcoming test. we talked as we headed down the stairs and then i got an enthusiastic GOOD LUCK wish with a thumbs up. (cue memory of aya twirling around in a black skirt holding book and binder in hand and saying ‘wish us luck’). and then she was gone. happy happy joy joy

i haven’t been able to confirm the identity of the bothersome human who joins her after class. he had enough brain cells to realize that he should keep quiet during my audience with the goddess. if he hadn’t done so i would’ve taunted him severely.

throughout the last one hour of the class part of my mind kept contemplating on how to approach a goddess to say hello. especially when said goddess is already being worshipped and idolized by an unworthy, inutile, lowlife pest of a human being. do i initiate the dialogue that will, or should i say might, lead to ‘oh yeah, you were in my class last term and we talked for a few minutes’, or should i realize my place in the Great Order of Things and await a miracle; the goddess stooping down from her throne to acknowledge my humble existence. in any case, after repeated revisions, i had formulated a plan that was bound to succeed. how can a goddess reject one of her humble underlings yearning to serve.

the time for the execution of the plan drew near. i turned off the alarm i had set on my cellphone for 09:55 so i could pack my bag and leave instantly. i packed my bags. the professor dismissed us…. and i walked out of class… and there he was… my nemesis… that lowlife pest… that…. arggh, words fail me… there he was, standing outside the class, awaiting the Grand Entrance of the goddess into his worthless, insignificant, and useless mortal life.

crushed, disillusioned, but not yet defeated, i decided to resort to plan B, the one that includes a miracle. down the stairs i went and then positioned myself in front of the last step of the stairs where the vending machines are. it took my time to take out the petty change i had in my back pocket and then slid them one by one into the coin slot. a lovely aroma in the air and the sudden slowness in the sounds and pace of life in the corridor informed me that the goddess had made her entrance and was descending the stairs. a faint abominable scent told me the pest was here as well. down they went, the coins and the goddess. as she descended the last step the vending machine delivered my purchase. i kneeled, humbled by her presence, to pick up the bottle. she passed me by.

miracles do not happen in the 21st Century. i am a sad panda.

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.