Sarcastic Bastard

it's been a few days since a post...that's mostly been cuz of laziness, not that i haven't had anything to say. but it hasn't been the greatest few days, despite some good things happening. i finally got paid for the first time yesterday. the infusion of cash into my account was definitely a good thing! it allowed me to buy the first of several new toys i've been drooling over for a little while :) tonight, i bought my new minidisc recorder. it's very cool, and i'm happy i went with it over an mp3 player. for the same price, i have all the portability, great capacity, and an analogue recording device in addition to a USB transfer. as well, i already had an older player-only, so now i've got backwards compatibility, and shawna can use the player for going to the gym and stuff.

besides that, i've got a half day-off tomorrow. it was supposed to be a full day off, but then at the last minute, something got booked for 4:30pm in the studio! what kind of sick bastard does that to a person? hehe...oh well

anyway, i'm not in the mood for sharing my life right now. i've become more self-conscious of what i write here lately, now that shawna has started to read this more often. maybe i should password protect it...but then again, that would only make her bug me for the password! hehe

well, i'm not gonna consider starting a new, secret blog just yet...

posted by leor @ 23:36 0 comments

yesterday i did something i haven't done in a very long time. i read a whole book in one day. it's actually even more of an accomplishment considering last time i did it, the book would have been more of a short kids book, whereas this one topped 300 pages. it was a decent book, though the humour occasionally got a bit tired and too silly. i guess that just says a lot about how busy work was yesterday! so now i have to move on to something else. for now, i think i'll just continue plowing through the ondaajte conversations with walter murch.

this morning, i booked a critical piece of my wedding: my good friend george kash, who will entertain the guests in a unique way :) things are starting to fall into place...i just hope our families will still be talking to each other by the time the wedding comes. friction is already starting to show, and i'm getting a bit nervous about conflicts. it's putting some pressure on shawna and me, and it's very hard to deal with. i know everyone does like each other, which actually makes things more difficult in a way: nobody wants to offend anyone else, or necessarily argue with them. this can cause some resentment, and that would be very bad. everyone puts in their two cents, and it's difficult to tell one side "no" because it gives the impression of playing favourites. i have to be honest, i tend to side more with my father than anyone else, for two reasons:
1) all along, he has been the most easy-going - in terms of what and how we want OUR wedding to be, and in terms of not pushing anything. he has also encouraged us to do things in a way that makes everyone happy, and doesn't want to cause any conflicts.
2) in his profession, he has been involved in more weddings than the rest of the family combined, and has seen the behind-the-scenes and the trends and patterns.

as well, i feel more sympathetic toward my parents, for the simple reason that they are not wealthy people, but are willing to contribute financially what is necessary for us to have the right wedding for us (notice i don't say "perfect").

anyway, this is not meant to bash anyone. i understand where everyone is coming from in all these discussions/debates. i just hope that everyone can come to an understanding and get along.

posted by leor @ 10:43 0 comments

...and it wasn't even an early morning.

so the story goes, i got up, got dressed, ate and left. walking toward the subway, however, i realized i had left without my subway tokens. so i backtracked a bit to the nearest bank machine to get a quick $20 to buy some more. not so horrible, cuz i'll need the tokens anyway. then i get to work, and realize i forgot my lunch, too! not thrilled that i'll have to spend money on a lunch on a day when i had prepared myself, but at the same time, now i'll get something fresher, and likely warm :)

so what have i been up to since my last post? well, friday i worked the raptors game, so was away from computers all day. the game was pretty good, with a last second raptors win. unfortunately, during the game i was asked to do a favour for one of the other dome guys, which meant having to work saturday morning. normally i wouldn't do it, but i felt bad for the guy, because his father had a stroke, and the doctors found a brain tumour. so i did the shift, and continuing with my looking at the silver lining, i made an extra hundred bucks. so it wasn't all bad, except for the fact that i had planned a really good breakfast for shawna and me, and didn't get to make it! :(

anyhoo...i had that this cold weather has come back, with a dumpload of snow for us. gee, and it's not even my birthday...bah. i started a new book this morning, after finishing "tishomingo blues" on friday. tishomingo was very cool, and now i'm excited that, as with many other elmore leonard books, it's being done as a movie. no cast has been announced except for don cheadle as the lead and director. he's the perfect choice for the role, exactly the look and persona i visualized while reading. anyway, now i'm reading "big trouble", the first novel by humour-columnist dave barry. so far it's really funny; it's sort of a parody of the kind of books elmore leonard writes. it was also turned into a movie last year (sort of an unintentional theme of the books i've been reading lately...they all have had or will have a movie version), but it was panned by critics and didn't do well in theatres. maybe i'll rent it after the book to see if it was a bad production of the book, or maybe the type of humour just didn't go over well with many people.

it's still RSP season, so things are quiet around the office. hopefully i'll have some things to do later, but right now everyone else has gone for lunch, and i'm waiting for my turn. i'm going to go play solitaire after i finish this sentence. the one i'm typing now. period.

posted by leor @ 11:24 0 comments

i haven't written anything in the past few days. just been so tired from work. yesterday i worked from 7am to 6pm (well, 4pm, then the rest of the time was a meeting)/ fortunately i get a reprieve today. sure, i'm here at 7am again, but i'll be done at 3pm :) i can't wait till friday, when i work the raptors game and don't have to get to work till 12:30pm!

but enough about work. last night was my weekly FOX night, with american idol and 24. i'm not sure why i continue to watch american idol, because of how much the judges tick me off. last night was yet another classic example of some terrible performances getting lush compliments heaped onto them by paula abdul. randy jackson can be good at times, but his way of talking puts me off him. and as usual, simon is just bloody hilarious. like last night, when he told a girl whose performance was very good that she should try to lose a few pounds. dead on accurate. i'm not one who thinks an "idol" needs to fit a certain mold, but i know that if someone wants to succeed as a performer, the sad truth is that they need a really good image. this girl wasn't unattractive, but if she got more fit and lost a few pounds (i don't mean stick-figure supermodel weight, just a bit slimmer), she'd be much more marketable to a mass audience.

last night was a bit of a disappointing night for 24...i mean, it was a good episode, but a let down at the end. course, it is only midway through the season, so you can't expect a resolution now. this was more of a plot development episode, with some very interesting information being revealed.

hmmm...this post has become a tv review. that wasn't my original intent, though. oh well.

go leafs go...they won again last night, with me checking every once in a while, and catching 3 of the 4 leafs goals! that makes 8 wins in the past 9 games. pretty good streak, hope they can keep it up!

that's it for me for now...more later.

posted by leor @ 07:34 0 comments

i've got lots of things i could write about today. but i'm hesitant. first of all, i don't want to write inflammatory things about people who may read this, and secondly i'm just feeling too lazy to think out what i want to say and type it in a coherent way. i'm at work right now, and i'm tired and bored. but i'll be done soon, at which time i'll be going to the auto show with shawna. should be a good one, and i'm happy that i'll be much more knowledgable about the show than in previous years. since i decided to buy a car last year, i've done a lot more reading about cars, and following the trends in the industry, so i should get more out of it. too bad i still can't afford most of what i'll see! :(

last night we had dinner at a nice italian restaurant. it wasn't our first choice, but we were hungry and didn't want to wait (this just shows the value of reservations!). the occasion was our 1 year anniversary, for which i was not the greatest in coming up with a good gift...in fact, i'm still looking for something suitable in return for what she gave me, which was an amazing display case of memorable items from our first year together. it included the dirty valentines i gave her the first day we met, the rose i gave her last year (only girls keep these things! hehe), a couple of pictures of us, logos of the places we met and went on our first date, and topped off with our engagement announcement from the newspaper. i was so blown away by how good it was. it honestly looked like it could have been bought from a store.

anyway, that's all he wrote for now. i don't really feel the urge to rant at the world, even though there were a couple of fucknuts at the restaurant last night that i'd love to take a few shots at. maybe another day.

posted by leor @ 14:24 0 comments

...and thanks to kal for helping me get my archives working properly, and ironing out some bugs in the code, which, though not visible, could have caused trouble down the line

posted by leor @ 16:58 0 comments

this isn't a real post, i just wanted to give a quick thanks to robin for helping me out with my blog yesterday. my very limited HTML skills allowed me to put a "now reading" onto my blog, but i couldn't make the heading match the "links" and "archives" headings...fortunately robin was able to point out the lines of code i needed to add.

so thanks again!

real post later...

posted by leor @ 10:21 0 comments

so last night, we're on our way home from dinner, and we end up behind this guy (or a girl, i couldn't tell) in a blue neon, going excruciatingly slow. i'm honking and honking, and the guy doesn't turn, even though he's clearly got lots of time to clear the intersection. finally, he/she turns, and we both get through. then he turns onto our street, still going very slow, and really frustrating me. then i notice something unmistakable: on the side of the car, where the gas cap is, there is just a hole, with a wire sticking out...just like the blue neon that parks right next to me in the parking garage in our building! hehe, so i had to stall before going underground, cuz i didn't want the guy to see that i was the one honking at him before, cuz the last thing i need is to start a feud with a neighbour. anyway, just thought that was an amusing story. i don't really have anything else to say right now, except for telling about my slow subway ride...it was really slow: it took close to 50 min for what is usually a 22 min ride. but i shouldn't complain too much, cuz it is still better than fighting through rush hour on the surface roads. i've become a mole...i'm almost never outside during the day anymore. in fact, yesterday afternoon, when i got off the subway and went out onto the street, it really hurt my eyes to be in daylight, cuz i'd pretty much been underground all day.

i may post another update later today, otherwise you'll just have to wait till tomorrow to hear more about my wacky adventures.

posted by leor @ 10:23 0 comments

i've been watching american idol again this season, and it's really starting to piss me off. most of the kids on the show suck, but a few somehow get a lot of respect from the judges. it's gotten to the point where anything paula abdul says carries absolutely no credibility...she looks like she's trying to be buddies with them all, an aging singer trying to recapture youth, it seems. randy is just annoying to listen to, trying to sound like he's from the streets (which he probably was, a long time ago). simon, however, is brilliant in my opinion. he's straight up with the kids (even though they often don't want to listen), and knows what the hell he's talking about: image, singing ability, personality. the kids are really dumb, and i believe the show is fixed. that remains to be seen, but if the final 10 consist of 5 girls and 5 guys, i'll know i'm right.

the other night, i was listening to andrew krystal on MOJO radio talking about how there are a lot of actors these days who are supposedly trying to be tough guys, but really aren't. one of the examples was ed norton. now, part of me agrees: norton is a skinny guy who doesn't convey the same kind of image as an arnold schwartzenegar (however you spell that!) or a vin diesel. BUT, norton does have a very strong presence, and comes across as one of those mentally tough guys. i think he's also bigger than he looks, as evidenced in his physical role in fight club. anyway, the reason i bring this up is that another example krystal used was kiefer sutherland. well, as those of you who watch 24 can attest, kiefer is one bad ass mofo! last night's episode kicked some serious ass. he's tough, sneaky, intelligent, and not afraid to take extreme measures. so, as much as i respect krystal's opinions most of the time, i gotta say he's wrong on this one.

so what else? well, i've just been tearing through books lately. last week i wrote that i'd finished life of pi, and started stick. well, i finished stick yesterday morning, and it was quite good. as with most elmore leonard novels, this one is easy to picture as a movie. turns out, there was a movie made of it back in the 80s, and i was very amused to find out who was in it, because it was nobody i'd expect. of course, i'm looking back nearly 20 years later, so obviously contemporary actors today are different. but still, i'd have never even imagined burt reynolds as the lead character! (if it were done today, i'd probably think of bruce willis, or maybe nicolas cage) now i'm already 3/4 of the way through catch me if you can, which is a very enjoyable read, and has made me more interested in seeing the movie once i'm done.

that's about it for now. it's quiet at work, but in a little while people are coming in, and i'll have some stuff to do.

posted by leor @ 10:38 0 comments

wow, 3 days without a post...just been too tired, and busy with various things. before i write anything, i should say a few words about oscar fever, which started a while ago, but is officially in full swing now (see robin's blog). i'm not a fan of the oscars, mostly because of a crime committed in 1997 (well, march of '98, i guess) when LA confidential was snubbed in almost every category. but really, i just don't care about any awards shows. i don't care how the stars are dressed, who's on their arms, what they have to say, or who wins. in the end, i'd just be disappointed that the films i root for don't get the recognition i feel they deserve. so for me, it just makes more sense to know in my heart which films are good, and let all those who don't be damned.

but anyway, this isn't meant to be an anti-oscars post...just a thought about it.

i'm sitting at work today, with very little to do. it's RSP season, so the bankers are all too busy with clients to be concerned about training sessions. so we have a nice quiet week. which gives me time to think of my own RSP issues. i've been meaning to go to the bank to discuss my investments for this year, and hopefully i'll get to that this week. the past few years, i've done it myself, online...but this year, i'm gonna get some educated advice over what i do. my mutual funds have all been tumbling, a fact that would bother me more if i had more invested in them, but still concerns me a bit. however, the ones i have are also fairly consistent over the long term, so i don't think i need to panic just yet. in fact, with the current economic situation, now is probably a good time to invest...of course, i'm sure dubya will try very hard to cause more economic strife in the world in the short term, but someday things will stabilize. too bad i don't own oil...

been a busy few days...a cousin of mine got engaged (everybody seems to be on the bandwagon, ever since shawna and i did it! dave...you next? hehe), and our own wedding stuff has been continuing. last night, we set what i hope is the absolute final date. we finally have one that we're both happy with, and nobody in the family had to be disappointed. now we just have to hope it doesn't rain! unfortunately, meteorologists don't do forecasts for a year and a half from now. stupid weathermen.

posted by leor @ 11:52 0 comments

i didn't get a chance to write anything yesterday either. what a day, though...

actually, it was a pretty good day, except for one unfortunate incident. it's been over 3 weeks since i announced my resignation from my old job. but in these three weeks i have had almost non-stop nuisance calls from them asking me to come in and help them out: even AFTER they've already hired someone new. the problem is that the new guy isn't available five days a week. well, if that's such a problem, they shouldn't have hired the guy in the first place. now they're asking if i can come in on sunday! my only day off in the week. well, there's no fucking way i'm doing that. it's not my problem anymore. i found someone to take over for me, i trained him, and i've moved on. from now on, i'm just ignoring his calls.

last night, we went to see another possible place to hold the wedding. it was quite nice, though not the most convenient place to get to (especially in traffic!). the only thing we didn't really like about it was that it's somewhat dark inside, and there aren't any windows in the room we'd be getting. i think we're both still set on the first place we saw. it isn't the easiest to get to either, but at least traffic isn't an issue. i've noticed a pattern in the way i do things. i seem to always like the first place/thing i see, then compare everything else to that. it could be that i've been lucky in choosing the most appropriate place/thing first, or maybe i'm just too lazy to appreciate others and just want to get the first one and be done with it. i tend to think it's the former...i don't think i'm that lazy. i guess i can compare it to movies: i generally like most movies i go to see in the theatres, because i'm fairly careful in the movies i choose. if it looks good to me, and i read generally positive things (or not), i tend to like it...of course, this isn't a universal truth, but neither is my tendency to go for the first thing i see. now i'm just babbling.

anyway, i finished "life of pi" last night. it was quite good, though as robin said, there were a few points that didn't live up to the rest of it. good timing, too, because i just read that the movie rights have been sold. i hope tom hanks doesn't star in it, a la castaway. now i'm on to "stick" by elmore leonard...just read a few pages so far, but he's a fun writer to read, so i should enjoy it. in fact, maybe i'll go read some now...i've got nothing to do at work this morning, but we have to be here to hurry up and wait.

posted by leor @ 10:22 0 comments

no blog tonight...too tired

hopefully an update tomorrow.

posted by leor @ 23:17 0 comments

well, here it is, my review of "the guru".

it's been a while since i've left a theatre feeling as satisfied as saturday night, when i saw this great new movie. even "LOTR: TTT" didn't quite put a smile on my face the way this did (though i loved LOTR, i only would have been truly satisfied if i could have watched the final chapter at the same time...hehe). but i digress. "the guru" is one of those movies that i wasn't too disappointed about spending $13 on. (though i was disappointed that if i'd had my AMC card on me, i only would have paid $11!) the cast, including heather graham, marisa tomei, michael mckean, and the heretofore unknown jimi mistry was all excellent, and the script was very fun and unique. it's a romantic comedy that didn't get sappy or melodramatic, and stayed true to itself throughout. there's no "bad guy", and everyone ends up happy in the end. of course this may sound cliché and unrealistic, and it is. but that's the idea...this is a fun fantasy, not a serious dramatic piece.

the premise of the movie is a young indian man who moves to america in search of fame and fortune: instead, he wanders into the world of pornography and a beautiful and good-hearted porn actress. through a series of circumstances (which are very funny, so i won't give anything away), he ends up becoming well known as "the guru of sex", enjoying new-found wealth and fame with his buddies. there are lots of hilarious culture-clash moments, but moreover, the movie shows that the hollywood/bollywood cultures are really similar.

i'd love to talk more about this movie, but at the same time, i don't want to give anything away. go see the movie, and enjoy it for yourself. the theatre we were in was packed, and laughter was abundant throughout the audience during the whole movie. it's the kind of movie that i like to cheer for, because it has a lot going for it, but hasn't gotten much (if any) publicity yet. and it's got a non-white actor who doesn't look like he could have come from some hollywood cloning machine (i really think they have one! hehe). anyway, i hope this flick does well...it's in limited release right now, but enjoying modest success. that's all i have to say about that.

in other news, i got a package from work today, and it's very exciting. it's basically a contract for a full-time position, featuring a nice introductory salary, full benefits and a bonus plan. i really can't wait to finally have a regular paycheque coming in, and not having to worry about being able to pay the rent and other bills!

posted by leor @ 21:42 0 comments

last week, i wrote a post about reading, in which i made some comments about shawna that were not perceived as very flattering. though i meant them with only the best intention, i hurried through typing the entry and didn't really think it through. as well, i cut it off quite abruptly, without fully explaining myself. anyway, for those loyal readers out there who may have gotten the impression that i think shawna is not smart, i'd like to try to change that view. shawna is an intelligent girl and the best person that ever came into my life. she has a slight learning disability due to the after-effects of chemotherapy treatment she had when she was very young. for those who don't know, shawna is a survivor of leukemia. her ambition and strength are extremely commendable in the face of setbacks she faces. when i wrote about her lack of interest in reading, it was because i'd recently read about a study that shows reading to help improve memory retention - there's room for improvement in all of us, and at the time i wrote the blog, i was thinking maybe it could work for shawna. but in hindsight, the article didn't say what kind of reading is the best, and truthfully, shawna often reads newspapers and magazines. she's just less interested in novels, specifically.

anyway, that's all i want to say about that. i've erased the original post so as not to draw anymore attention to it. i'm putting it behind me, and i feel really bad that i hurt shawna. this blog isn't the place to talk about her, so i won't do it anymore.

coming later...my review of "the guru", which we saw last night.

posted by leor @ 11:46 0 comments