A new addition

I finally gave in, and bought a cat. She's a 2 year old gray striped tabby. I got her from the Ottawa Humane Society, so I know that she's healthy and I'm supporting the OHS. She was in a home before, but they had too many cats and gave her up for adoption...most of the other cats at the OHS were strays. She came with a name, which really doesn't suit a girl: "Spike". I'm unsure if I should change her name (unofficially) to something a bit more "lady-like", but she's been called Spike for the past 2 years...not sure if she'll mind.

This Friday (tomorrow actually) is Halloween! Karl (my roommate) and I are going to a Halloween party a couple blocks down the road...dressing up in our airsoft gear because we're not too creative. Just the clothing of course! Should be a fun time, it's my first Kegger since I've turned 19.

I've been taking a break from airsoft for a few weeks so I have time for school, and essays. A few more essays in November, and then on to those scary exams in December. Schedules are out, I just have to figure out when my last exam is so I know when I can come home for Christmas. I'll have to get in touch with Chris to see if he's coming home for the holidays or not, otherwise I'll probably be taking either the train or a plane (both of which do allow animals onboard). Plane seems to be about $50 cheaper than train, plus it's more fun and doesn't take as long...and then Mom & Dad don't have to drive all the way to Moncton to get me.

I got my care package from home, Thanks Mom & Dad! Made me miss all of those fresh home-baked cookies. Need to find time to read those Computer magazines :D

Tuesday night there was a snowstorm from hell that made my window rattle like the house was falling down (wedged a board underneath of it to stop it from rattling). The next morning, was cold and windy...not very nice. Luckily the buses are heated. Today was a bit warmer, and all of the ice & snow are melting and falling off of trees onto cars and people. I think the weekend is supposed to get up to about 10 degrees so all the snow should be gone, hopefully.

Well, that's it for now ;)

Cheers,

Andrew

P.S.

Blogger is being weird and won't accept the fact that my post has paragraphs.

Some things I forgot to mention...

I baked myself a Birthday Cake, the day after my birthday. Everyone in the house enjoyed it :)





I traded two of my low-quality/cheap airsoft guns for this very large sniper rifle. I've already tried it out at a game, and it works very well. This past weekend I went out to a "Free Game" where all we had to do to play was bring some non-perishable foods to donate to the local food bank. They even had a free BBQ after the game, lots of tasty hot dogs!



I shaved my head, although not shaved clean...it is a 1/2" hair cut. For the price of a single haircut, I bought some hair clippers and started cutting. If it doesn't look perfect, it's because I did it. The clippers should be able to do many more haircuts, so I think it pays off. Also, no more bad hair days! I'll just need to wear a warm hat during the winter months :P



Well...back to the books :P

Cheers,
Andrew

Does anyone want to see my ID? Anyone?

Finally, after years of hard work...I'm officially 19 years old! An amazing feat, I know, but true nonetheless. The day began at 12am, with a toast to myself with Alexander Keith's in my left hand, camera in my right hand. I slugged back the bottle of liquid courage, felt the brisk, coolness of it wash through my mouth...intoxicating freedom.

Rainy weather held off any celebrations the previous night. I awoke to the ringing of my phone, the next morning, Chris calling to wish me a happy birthday and discuss plans for a celebration Sunday night. Stephanie wished me a happy birthday on MSN a few minutes later, followed by birthday wishes from Mom & Dad. Cards were opened, and I finally forced myself from my slumber to take a shower that soothed all of my sore muscles from the previous day's airsoft game that lasted for 8 hours (not the shower, the game). I had a quick breakfast and then headed down the street about 1km from home and walked into the LCBO...the Ontario version of the Liquor Store. I purchased these:



I wasn't asked for ID, surprised and feeling disappointed, I headed back home with my new stash of legal alcoholic beverages. The afternoon was spent relaxed at home, watching my new favorite show Eureka, and waiting for Chris to pick me up to go have a birthday supper and watch a movie.

Chris picked me up at 5:45, as soon as we arrived for dinner we ordered a pitcher of Rickard's Red, and promptly recieved it...and after an hour wait at Montana's we received our food to go (movie was starting in like 5 minutes from when we got our food) but they gave us 50% off because there was some mixup with the order causing the long delay. We rushed over to the movie theatre and got tickets to Burn After Reading, the new Coen brothers movie. It was very good, and I was surprised that it was more of a laugh-out-loud comedy than the usual dark humor comedies that the Coen brothers write, definitely something to talk about at the Carleton Film Society next Friday.

After all of that I'm now back at home, getting ready to go back to school tomorrow morning. It's been an awesome weekend, and an amazing birthday thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!

The following are pictures of things I promised to show:


My ongoing attempt at growing a beard.


My new watch, Mom & Dad's present for my 19th Birthday!

Cheers (legally now),
Andrew

Back in Canada's Capital!

It's been all summer since I posted on my blog, but now I'm back in the city of Ottawa after 4 months of work at the Fairmont Algonquin Golf Course.

Mom & Dad drove me up on Sunday (31st of August), we got here late so we decided to sleep over at Chris & Anna's house. I got moved in on Monday morning, and then went to Chris' for a nice BBQ supper. The next night we went to a friend of my parent's house for dinner.

I've slept in my new apartment for two whole nights now, aside from the heat and the early wake-up from construction (which I don't mind) it is awesome! Today is my first full day on my own, so I'll be cooking up something special for dinner by myself.

I'm living with 2 other guys about 10 minutes bus ride from Carleton University, we live in a 3 bedroom duplex with a loft upstairs for watching tv and stuff.

School starts on tomorrow, so I need to get all ready for that now! Sorry for the scattered thoughts, I'll try to be more organized next time ;)

Cheers,
Andrew

Home

I'm back home in St. Andrews, ready to start work, and gearing up for a fun summer. I arrived Saturday night (May 3rd), and have had a few days of rest before I have to start doing hard work at the Fairmont Algonquin Golf Course & Academy :)

There are a few difficult decisions ahead, in relation to changing programs from Journalism to something else. Journalism sounded like a fun course to take, but it turned out to be nothing like the course I took in High School...and wasn't very interesting for me. Hopefully the folks won't be too upset.

Before leaving Ottawa I was able to move into my new place, 15 minutes walk from Carleton's campus, and leave a few odds 'n' ends there until I officially move in in September. I also got to help Chris & Anna move into their new house.

I can't wait to get back to the city...

Cheers,
Andrew

Exams on the horizon.

This week is our last week of classes, no tutorials, and then on to exams over the next few weeks. I have a lot of studying to do so I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

Last weekend was spent in Beauharnois (QC) at my 3rd airsoft game at the Mill, lots of fun and lots of people (70-80). The weekend before that was spent out with the guys at Tailgaters in Ottawa, and that week I also went out to a birthday celebration for our Ottawa field host and also for some hot/spicy chicken wings. I'm starting to get a feel for the "night life" of the city.

I was also finally able to fill up my mini-fridge for the first time since I got it at Christmas. Now I just have to empty it out before I have to start moving into my new place, a duplex just 10 minutes walk from campus. Not much luck looking for a sublet for the summer :(

Went shopping yesterday, spending a little bit of cash on a few fun things before I have to start hitting the books for exams. I picked up the 6th season of Stargate: SG-1, and also grabbed a book on Australia (more on that in a later post), finished the day off with a foot-long subway sandwich for supper.

Now to jump into the stack of books I have for studying, and one more day of classes.

Cheers,
Andrew

Reading Week

The week was spent mostly indoors, reading and watching movies, but I was able to head out with friends for a few days here and there. As in my previous post, I was around Montreal for the weekend, helping to host a airsoft game between Ontario and Quebec.

Monday to Friday was pretty dull, I got a lot of Dune read...but still haven't finished it. I found out about an essay I had to write comparing Star Wars to Serenity and comparing both films to westerns as they are transgeneric films (more than one Genre).






Being my two most favorite movies of all time, I jumped at the chance to write a five page essay about them. Surprisingly this was not a topic that I had thought up, but rather our TA's had thought up four ideas and we were to choose from them.


I spent a day overviewing Serenity and thinking about the possible ways that it could compare to Star Wars, but without the original Star Wars film in my hands I had a limited amount of film knowledge to work with. I asked for Star Wars to be sent in my next care package, that I waited nearly forever to get. The package was shipped out on Monday, the standard delivery date was Friday, and I got it today (Monday). Now that I have the two films, I can jump right into the research process and eventually start writing my thesis and finally my essay.


Saturday night, and Sunday morning were spent in Orleans with friends at an airsoft team meeting. We ordered out for pizza and watched a POV video of all the mistakes that were made by team members during the game last weekend at The Mill. Since I wasn't playing while the video was recorded during the day portion of the game, I was able to sit back and enjoy the helmet-camera point of view gameplay. I ended up eating 4 large slices of pizza (we ordered 4 boxes) and drinking a few *censored* beverages. I spent the night on the couch with a pillow and a blanket, the small group of us that spent the night stayed up until midnight watching TV and trying to play a video game on the 38" Plasma. After that we fell asleep and I got a ride back to Carleton in the morning.


I also got a free sample of a new energy drink called "Crave", it comes in a powder form that is mixed with water to give you the energy of a regular energy drink but with little to no crash because it has a very small amount of caffeine. Tastes a little bit like Gatorade that Dad always mixes together for his runs. I tested it out Sunday afternoon and it made me feel a lot more awake, but I didn't notice any sort of crash and was able to get to sleep quite easily and comfortably. I got a full night's rest, and was able to make it to class half an hour early :)



On Sunday, the last day of my week off from school, Chris and I went to the movies! We saw the new film Vantage Point at the South Keys Cinemas here in Ottawa. It was quite an interesting movie, especially in how everything came together at the end of the film, although not a great movie it was entertaining. The film is about the assassination of a US president sometime in the future, as seen from the 8 different perspectives of 8 different people...to figure out what really happened!



That's all I've got for this post, it wasn't all that interesting a week...most of it was spent trying to get through The Lord of the Rings trilogy that I brought from home after Christmas break, especially for this break, and I'm only just finishing up the third movie as I type this. It would have been nice to spend the week back in St. Andrews or even on some tropical island, but both trips would be far out of my price range :P

Cheers,
Andrew

Beauharnois and Reading Week

Well I just woke up after an entire day (and night) at "The Mill" in Beauharnois, Quebec. I was helping to host an airsoft game with one of the local Ottawa guys. Apparently hosting a game comes with benefits...my ride was paid for, and I was able to play a few rounds (ok the entire night).

Woke up around 5:00am, showered, and got ready for the 2 hour trip to the small town of Beauharnois. We started playing around 11:00am, and stopped around 10:00pm. I got a good 5 hours or so play time in before we were all too tired to play anymore. I took over 100 pictures, as I wasn't playing during the morning, and ended up with a nearly full SD card on my camera.

I had an awesome lunch at Subway, I forgot how much I loved pizza subs! Supper was had at McDonalds in Rigaud (QC). The drive back home was pretty uneventful, until I had to start keeping the driver awake...I do have my license...but I haven't driven a car in 6 months. But as soon as the guy in front of us started going off the road repeatedly onto the bumpy "wake-up" pavement, both the driver and I were wide awake (the other two guys sleeping easy).

We made it back to Ottawa safe and sound. As soon as I got home, I dropped everything had fell asleep in my bed.

This week is reading week! The University version of March/Spring break. So I have a week to myself in residence, and time to take a well deserved break from the studies...catch up on all that reading (Dune!) I've put off because of the busy school weeks.

Looking forward to a care package :)

Cheers,

Andrew

Toronto

Took the weekend to drive down to the Toronto Airsoft Convention 2008 with some friends. Got motion sickness, got lost, but we eventually got there and had a blast! Lots of goodies and some Canadian made products that are going to hit the market in the next couple of months.

I took a few pictures, but I was feeling a bit "under the weather" so I wasn't able to take too many.

Well...back to my studies :)

Cheers,

Andrew

First week back

The first week went very well. I got to see all of my friends again, and enjoy some very short classes. In Film Studies we watched Dawn of the Dead (1978), and next week we're watching the 2004 remake, and the week after that we're watching the Comedy/Horror Shaun of the Dead.

At the weeks end, I stayed the night at Chris' house because I had an airsoft game the next day (Chris had all my gear at his house). So I woke up at 5:30am, got ready to go, and got picked up around 6:30am. We drove out to Beauharnois, Quebec for our indoor game at an old mill. The game was tons of fun, and I got to test out my new goggles that I got for Christmas. This game was actually an Ontario vs. Quebec game, the sequel to a game last year where Ontario won...and we won again this year!

At one point the other team needed a hostage for the scenario that we were playing, so I volunteered...I was then handcuffed with real handcuffs, and had a small wireless explosive charge put in my pocket (Don't worry Mom, it was just a small firecracker and some bbs). But my team was killed off before they could rescue me, so they detonated the explosive in my pocket...

...I only got one kill in the game, but it was the guy that blew me up :)

Now I need to take the day to recover, as I'm sore all over from climbing over obstacles, sprinting down hallways, carrying more weight than I would normally carry, going up and down stairwells, standing up for many hours, and getting too little sleep from being too excited the night before.

Cheers,
Andrew

Pictures below, taken by Fox with his spiffy camera.

Yours truly...


An Ontario Player...

A Quebec player, the one that blew me up :)

Another Quebec Player...

More pictures to come, the other photographer still hasn't posted photo's yet.

Back in the City

It's been 2 weeks of bliss, being away from all of my stressful studies with the family! But now I'm back in the city with all my new stuff (mini-fridge!) and I've just settled into my room. It seems a bit crowded.

It feels great to be back! I was worried that I might miss home a little bit more than last term...sorry, I don't. I'm really looking forward to the start of this term on Monday, and seeing all of my friends again. I think I'll enjoy this term twice as much as last term (no more news quizzes in Journalism!), and I'll try to stick to my News Year's resolutions of eating more, exercising more, and balancing my studying with my partying...last term when it came time to study, I would turn into a recluse and be in my room for hours and hours reading my textbooks and notes and not seeing daylight for quite awhile, only coming out to eat and have lunch with my friends. Not this term though, I'm going to party a bit more, have a bit more fun, but still keep up with my work and studying...hopefully I can catch some fresh air somewhere in between.

Right now I'm installing one of the video games I got for Christmas, taking it easy. Tomorrow I'll get back to working on my essay and finish it up well before the due date so I have time to go over it and check for any errors (also to make sure it's coherent).

Tomorrow night, however, Chris has a hockey game at the Carleton University Arena at 10pm! I'll be there to cheer him on!

Cheers & Happy New Year,

Andrew