Sarcastic Bastard

so, what's new in my life? it's been a pretty busy week, which is good. i've been at the dome quite a bit in the last week, having worked 5 days in the past week! (that is in addition to my mon-fri job)

nothing really to report...driving in to work this morning was a bit annoying, cuz of the teeny weeny bit of snow on the ground, causing everyone to drive about 2km/h. what really burns me up is that people don't understand the notion of the PASSING lane. if they'd just drive in the right lane and let those faster get by the world would be a much better place.

shawna and i went to her grandmother's house for dinner last night. it was really nice. her grandmother is really funny, because she always wants everyone to eat more food. she makes SO MUCH, and it's all pretty fattening, so you get full pretty fast. there's lots of arguing (but not in a bad way) over the food, because as good as it is, it's not exactly health food. shawna's grandmother loooooves to eat, and doesn't understand that a lot of people don't like to eat like her (or maybe they want to, but are too busy worrying about cholesterol and fat). for example, she made potato latkes (potato pancakes for the non-jewish people out there) last night for hanukah that were dripping with oil and very sweet. most people use sour cream or applesauce as a topping. what did she use? SUGAR! i don't think she's satisfied if her guests leave without gaining 5-10 pounds per visit! but she's a sweet lady, so it's okay.

later in the evening, we went back to shawna's house, where i downlo...i mean, bought...some children's songs for her to take to a daycare. i found some really funny things, like a reggae version of "the itsy bitsy spider" and jim breuer doing an impression of AC/DC singing "hokey pokey". there's all sorts of weird stuff out there, if you look for it. i almost expected my search of "old mcdonald" to turn up an mpeg clip of "old mcdonald fucking a hot blonde slut" (though i guess it'd probably be old mcdonald fucking a sheep or something...)

well, that's it for now.

posted by leor @ 12:28 0 comments

big news this week...i'm getting married! yes, it's true, there will be a mrs. sarcastic bastard :)

in other news: i'm still looking for a job, and applying for anything i can. i'm starting to realize that i don't think i'm going to get as far as i'd like with the company i'm at right now, simply because i'm not the son/nephew/cousin/friend of someone high up on the company chain. it really pisses me off, and makes me crave the day when i get another job and not care anymore. it sickens me, but as much as i'd like to teach the company a lesson somehow, i also don't want to piss them off and ruin my future. but hopefully something good will come through for me in the next little while, because i'd really like to move out with my girlfriend (not a huge fan of the word "fiancée").

i took the sheppard subway this morning...figured i'd try the new route and see if it got me to work any faster. the answer is a big NO. but i don't blame the line, i just don't live in a spot that really benefits from it. point in case:
i walk to don mills, and take the bus to fairview. it takes somewhere between 5-10 min.
i walk through the station and get on the train. by the time i get to yonge, it's been another 10 min or so. i don't get a seat on the yonge line subway. painful standing for 25 min.
total length of trip: 40-45 min.
OR
i take the cummer bus to finch station at 7am. it takes about 10-15 min.
i get on the train (beginning of the line, so i always get a seat) and relax for 30 min.
total length of trip: 40-45 min.

but i must say, the sheppard line was pretty impressive. built to accomodate a lot of people, and designed very tastefully, with good signage and accessibility. now if only the TTC would improve its parking lots, as motivation for more people to take transit!

posted by leor @ 10:30 0 comments

i've kinda reverted back to old habits here...i was getting pretty good at posting regularly, but lately i just haven't gotten around to it much.

i bought the Lord of the Rings gift set for myself this week. it was more money than i'd normally spend, but i really enjoyed the movie, am a big fan of the books, and decided to spoil myself. i haven't really been buying many dvds lately anyway, so i wasn't too concerned about the extra money. so far, i haven't watched much of it, though. i checked out the fifth disc (national geographic special), and it was really interesting. and last night, i put in disc 3, and watched the first documentary, about tolkien's life and the creation of the books and their mythology. fascinating stuff...i can't wait to see the rest! there's about 8 hours of material, though, so it may take a while. then of course there's the 3 hour movie, which i'd have to watch 4 additional times in order to hear each commentary. that'll keep me busy for a while! my other dvd purchase this week was david gilmour in concert. that's also a really impressive disc. the concert is great, and there's some nice bonus material on it.

but enough about dvds for now. i've been working fairly regularly the past little while, which is good. i've suddenly noticed a nice growth in my bank account, and that eases my worries a little bit, especially considering i just paid off a few higher than normal bills. now i'm going to make a real effort to save more money. fortunately, i don't see any major expenses for myself in the near future, though i'm really tempted to buy a dvd recorder at some point.

i've gotten into this strange pattern of forgetting about things for a few days, then trying to backtrack and recall them for posterity. i do it all the time with work: i go a few days without recording how many hours i put in, then i have to try to remember what hours i worked. usually i just make up a number...not like they check anyway! hehe
but it also happens with this. i could have a dozen thoughts to write about in this space, but if i don't do it right away, i can't think of them anymore. then i resort to talking about the superficial details of my life, without exposing new truths, or interesting things. maybe i should carry around a notebook or something.

posted by leor @ 14:11 0 comments

it's been a busy week, so i haven't had time to think about posting here. my cat charlie has made a miraculous recovery! (at least, she doesn't seem to have any symptoms anymore, and she's happy, alert, and otherwise back to normal). so hopefully she'll have a lot of life left in her.

what else is there? well, we got improved cable in our house last week, and we're expecting our high definition set top box any day now. i just hope rogers HD is better than some of their digital channels, which - now that i have a good tv to watch them on - seem to be plagued with compression problems.

i seem to be at a loss for words today, which isn't like me at all...i can't really think of anything interesting to write here. well, there was a guy yesterday at work (i was doing the women's hockey game in kitchener for TSN), and he was annoying me a bit with some of his comments. he's a pretty sarcastic guy, like me...but i thought he was going too far. i don't know if he was joking or not, but he snapped at me a couple of times, and insinuating that i don't work hard. at one point, during the 2nd intermission, i asked him if we were done with the interviews and if i could turn off the lights. he asked me if i was waiting for an "invitation to turn off the lights". but how was i supposed to know if they were done, or maybe they were going to be shooting something else? then later, he said they need to get me on more games to get me moving...as if i work slowly! that one really pissed me off, cuz i was there at 8am yesterday (he was in at 10am) working my ass off with only a couple other people to help me! when he made his comments, there were about 4 times as many people working. i'd been working all day on my sore bones (3 hours of ultimate the day before), so if i was a little tired, i deserved a bit of a break. but no...i shouldn't have to justify myself like that, because i WAS working, not slacking off like he seemed to imply. i just hope i get a steady job sometime soon, so i don't have to rely on being given hours, then being seen as a "fill-in" type of person who may not be as experienced as some others. i've worked hard to try to build a reputation based on my skills and hard work, and it's time i was given some respect, and the benefit of the doubt.

that's it for now.

posted by leor @ 17:09 0 comments

today has become a sad day for me. all day i've been nervously awaiting word from the vet about my cat charlie's test results. i was optimistic that the results would come back negative, and she wouldn't have diabetes. well, the results were negative for diabetes, but unfortunately showed something worse: kidney failure. to prolong her life by getting her the necessary treatment, as well as the dental work she needs, would be much too costly for my family. we decided that, at 8 1/2 years, charlie has lived a good life, and we are going to have her put to sleep, so as to avoid her pain and suffering. at the moment, she's still relatively healthy, though i fear her health will rapidly deteriorate. the symptoms just appeared last week, but who knows how long her body has been fighting, and how long it can continue to succeed.

for those of you who don't know, here's the history of charlie, in a nutshell:
we got her in september of 1994, as a 5 month old kitten from the humane society. the first month or so was very difficult, because she got sick, and we didn't think she'd make it. after a sudden improvement in her health, she began to grow (and grow - she's been a bit on the fat side most of her life) and develop her own personality. those of you who've met her know she's not a very friendly cat. we suspect that the reason for her suspicious nature is that she had a difficult first few months of life, having been abandoned, and possibly abused. nonetheless, we've all grown to love her (even my mom, who denies it, but i'm sure she'll kinda miss her too!). it's always been comforting having her in the house - to talk to, play with, or just to watch her be cute whatever she was doing.

i've never actually lost a real pet...we had hamsters, but their loss wasn't such a huge deal, probably because we didn't have them for close to a decade. it really makes me stop and think about things.

posted by leor @ 15:45 0 comments

last night, i had planned today's entry to be a rant on the state of the NBA. i worked last night's raptors game, and things are really starting to bug me about the way the game is played. BUT...then something else happened last night. i got a piece of mail that is dreaded by many people. it's strange, really...last month i bought a ticket for the canadian cancer society lottery. 200,000 tickets are sold, with a "1 in 15" chance of winning. will i win anything? i doubt it. but out of the 10 million or so people who live in ontario, my name has been "randomly" selected for jury duty about 4 times in the past 5 years. i can't figure it out. well, this time i don't have any excuses...if i actually get summoned (my letter was actually just a questionaire i had to fill out in order to be eligible...but from the questions, it looks pretty clear that i could be selected at any time), i think i'll have to go. previous summons have come during school, or exams, and right after dental surgery. but i can't get out of it this time, which could be very bad for me, because i work freelance, and may have to give up some work. maybe that's a good enough excuse for them, though. being "self-employed", i can't easily afford to turn down work. i'll just have to grin and bear it. maybe it won't be so bad...i guess it could be interesting to be part of the justice system for a little while. we'll see...

i have one other thing on my mind this morning. i got a parking ticket today. it really pissed me off, cuz it was in front of my house! so i've decided to write a little letter to leave on my dashboard, in case i'm ever stuck parking on the street between 9am and 4pm on weekdays:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Parking Enforcement Officer,
I live here at 123 Fake Street (my real address will obviously be on the actual letter). I realize that parking is prohibited during the day, but please understand the parking situation on our driveway: I live at home with my parents. My father leaves fairly early in the morning for work, and my mother often leaves fairly early to run errands and such. I leave for work between 9:30am and 10am. If i were to park on the bottom of the driveway, they would both be stuck. Sometimes one of them will park on the bottom, but other times this does not work out because of bad timing.
I hope you can find it in your heart to spare me the expense of a ticket, considering I will be moving my car shortly. I can even move it right now, if you ring my doorbell and tell me to!
Thank you very much,
Sarcastic Bastard (enter real name here, too)

i'm sure it won't work, cuz those guys/girls are all pricks.

posted by leor @ 11:07 0 comments

waste of technology?

if you click on the "digital clock" link to the right, you'll see what kal very quickly called a "waste of technology" take a look and decide for yourself if you agree or disagree with that. now, i do agree that it's pretty useless, but i'm not sure if it's necessarily a waste. for one thing, maybe it was somebody's class assignment. if so, well...it works, and it's pretty creative! if it's something that the creator did just for fun, then sure, why not? i got a chuckle out of it, and it looks like the URL has been passed around to lots of people. so what is a waste of technology, then? (this is one of those times when i wish i could program a custom blog like robin and kal, so i could have a comments section and stuff). well, just something to ponder privately, i suppose.

posted by leor @ 00:03 0 comments