Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Glorp. Gah.
So I'm back. Looooong two days for Monday and Tuesday. Headed down to T.O. via Greyhound express (they aren't bad if you don't have luggage) taking the 9:30 bus. Read Starship Troopers most of the way (more on that at the end) and got in at about 2:20ish. Got to my Grandma's place, changed and then headed off to the funeral home for visitation. Most of the trip, in fact, consisted of going from Grandma's to the funeral home. Actually, about all of it did.
Funeral for Grandpa took place on Tuesday, the service being blessedly short. My uncle and my dad went up and spoke their words, both doing a wonderful job. I ended up learning a whole bunch of stuff about Grandpa that I didn't know before, such as how he ran an open grill fish-and-chips store in Edmonton for a while before living in Scarborough and working for Dominion-which-became-ADT. (Rather, I knew about the store, but not that it was in Edmonton or open grill (which was new in the West at the time and landed him on TV)) Eventually, we all said our goodbyes and headed home from the cemetary. I did alright both days, keeping everything together. The only thing that made me almost lose it was when my Grandpa's lifelong friends patted the casket and said "Goodbye, old buddy." That was really wrenching.
Still, time marches on, and I caught the (not so express) bus back to Ottawa that took 6 hours. Finished Starship Troopers and attempted (rather in vain) to finish Mario Superstars. Egad, that game has a hard end boss. I know exactly how to beat her, but my fingers inevitably end up fumbling something and it results in death. In case I finished though (which I didn't), I bought Metroid Zero. Still haven't opened it, but I'm sure that will come this weekend. Yes, I'm going back to Toronto. Due to the unfortunately brevity of my last visit, I'm doing more visiting, particularly with my other grandparents on Good Friday, and then probably staying with my uncle and visiting Grandma some more. So that's my weekend, how's yours?
Heinlein rules
So my review of Starship Troopers is:
The original space-marines-fighting-aliens story, not only entertaining, but a rather insightful criticism of society and human nature. Forget the movie - read this instead.
I must say, I'm a rather fan of the 25-word review, inspired by ( or rather, liberally borrowed from) Tagline. Go movie blog!
Ahem.
What else was I going to talk about? Oh yeah! When I was leaving on Monday, I bought some phone time at Mac's, and when paying for it with my Mastercard, the guy all but accused me of being a thief! Not only did he ask me my name to check against the card, he pointedly remarked that the signatures were slightly different (ie. the card vs. the receipt) to which I said that they were both my signatures and my credit card. I ended up having to give him ID to get my bloody phone card! Last time I go there when he's working. Wanker.
Things of lesser import
Kill Bill Vol. 1 was wicked-awesome. Vol. 2 will be moreso. Oh yes. Can't wait.
If there were anyone I would trust with my weight problems, well, if I had weight problems, Dr. Phil would be at the bottom of the list. Seriously, this guy needs a kick in the balls to keep his ego in check. Just because he's on Oprah and people listen to him doesn't make him the penultimate authority on everything.
Jesus is a ripoff! I mean, if I were Osiris, or Buddha, I would so have my god-lawyers on Christ's case for stealing my ideas. If there's anything we can learn from American culture, it's that lawsuits result in happiness, and since religion is also a source of happiness for people, it would make me the happiest person on the planet! Well, if I were Osiris or Buddha, that is.
I can't tell if this movie is supposed to be making fun of religion or not. Regardless, I would still like to see it. I mean, yes, it is Macaulay Culkin, but maybe he's not so bad now, and I think Jena Malone is rather cute. Also, she's in far more movies that I would have thought.
In closing, the city of Toronto sucks. That is all. ¶ 7:47 p.m.
So I'm back. Looooong two days for Monday and Tuesday. Headed down to T.O. via Greyhound express (they aren't bad if you don't have luggage) taking the 9:30 bus. Read Starship Troopers most of the way (more on that at the end) and got in at about 2:20ish. Got to my Grandma's place, changed and then headed off to the funeral home for visitation. Most of the trip, in fact, consisted of going from Grandma's to the funeral home. Actually, about all of it did.
Funeral for Grandpa took place on Tuesday, the service being blessedly short. My uncle and my dad went up and spoke their words, both doing a wonderful job. I ended up learning a whole bunch of stuff about Grandpa that I didn't know before, such as how he ran an open grill fish-and-chips store in Edmonton for a while before living in Scarborough and working for Dominion-which-became-ADT. (Rather, I knew about the store, but not that it was in Edmonton or open grill (which was new in the West at the time and landed him on TV)) Eventually, we all said our goodbyes and headed home from the cemetary. I did alright both days, keeping everything together. The only thing that made me almost lose it was when my Grandpa's lifelong friends patted the casket and said "Goodbye, old buddy." That was really wrenching.
Still, time marches on, and I caught the (not so express) bus back to Ottawa that took 6 hours. Finished Starship Troopers and attempted (rather in vain) to finish Mario Superstars. Egad, that game has a hard end boss. I know exactly how to beat her, but my fingers inevitably end up fumbling something and it results in death. In case I finished though (which I didn't), I bought Metroid Zero. Still haven't opened it, but I'm sure that will come this weekend. Yes, I'm going back to Toronto. Due to the unfortunately brevity of my last visit, I'm doing more visiting, particularly with my other grandparents on Good Friday, and then probably staying with my uncle and visiting Grandma some more. So that's my weekend, how's yours?
Heinlein rules
So my review of Starship Troopers is:
The original space-marines-fighting-aliens story, not only entertaining, but a rather insightful criticism of society and human nature. Forget the movie - read this instead.
I must say, I'm a rather fan of the 25-word review, inspired by ( or rather, liberally borrowed from) Tagline. Go movie blog!
Ahem.
What else was I going to talk about? Oh yeah! When I was leaving on Monday, I bought some phone time at Mac's, and when paying for it with my Mastercard, the guy all but accused me of being a thief! Not only did he ask me my name to check against the card, he pointedly remarked that the signatures were slightly different (ie. the card vs. the receipt) to which I said that they were both my signatures and my credit card. I ended up having to give him ID to get my bloody phone card! Last time I go there when he's working. Wanker.
Things of lesser import
Kill Bill Vol. 1 was wicked-awesome. Vol. 2 will be moreso. Oh yes. Can't wait.
If there were anyone I would trust with my weight problems, well, if I had weight problems, Dr. Phil would be at the bottom of the list. Seriously, this guy needs a kick in the balls to keep his ego in check. Just because he's on Oprah and people listen to him doesn't make him the penultimate authority on everything.
Jesus is a ripoff! I mean, if I were Osiris, or Buddha, I would so have my god-lawyers on Christ's case for stealing my ideas. If there's anything we can learn from American culture, it's that lawsuits result in happiness, and since religion is also a source of happiness for people, it would make me the happiest person on the planet! Well, if I were Osiris or Buddha, that is.
I can't tell if this movie is supposed to be making fun of religion or not. Regardless, I would still like to see it. I mean, yes, it is Macaulay Culkin, but maybe he's not so bad now, and I think Jena Malone is rather cute. Also, she's in far more movies that I would have thought.
In closing, the city of Toronto sucks. That is all. ¶ 7:47 p.m.
