There once was a glorious time when I had time.
When I was a prolific blogger of all things cynical.

And then time has passed and time has gone and no time was left for me to blog.
And I learned how not to write.

And now I can't even write anymore.

Don't know what's wrong with some people. Just yesterday, I've had this random old dude come up to me and my parents, and go: "You know, Christmas isn't just about presents, and shopping, it's about God and Jesus, and I'm a Quebecer and I'm a Christian, and it's part of my heritage. I've read the Bible and found God years ago, and I thought it was very important to answer questions such as where we come from and where we're going, so here's a pamphlet for you. I think it's important that people know about our culture, and about our Christian values. "

I was so pissed off. First off, I hate those pamphlet-handing religious folks. And second, WHY do you think we don't friggin know about YOUR Quebec/Christian values!? I went to the same school your kids went to! I took the same religious classes your kids had to take! So WHY do you think we don't know about YOUR culture?

And I'm an atheist. I believe in Sciences. I founds Sciences years ago, and found where we come from: nowhere, and where we're going: nowhere. Here's the meaning of life: it hasn't got any. Thank you very much. I have read the Bible. Thank you very much. I hope you don't believe it, and I hope you won't start chopping people's hands off, as the Bible tells you to do.
Sorry I don't have a pamphlet for you.
Happy Hanuka.

I used to want to be...

I used to want to be a standup comedian.
But I wasn't funny.

It's hard when you're a kid and try to amuse your teddy bears and none of them laugh at your jokes. Heck, I couldn't even imagine them finding me funny. Especially the Red Bear with the judgmental look. That's what I called him. Red Bear. And then there was Green Bear, and Big Bear, and Polar Bear, and Scarf Bear. I never gave names to my teddy bears. People name their plushies, for some reason. I never did. I could never remember what their names were. And it's not like you can ask them to remind you of their names.

Why would people name their toys? It's not like they care. And if they did, who says you got the right name? Your little bear, the one you've named Poochi, maybe every time you call him that he just stares at you and thinks "It's Eduardo!! My name is Eduardo!!"

Coordination is painful

Wanted to post something smart, but don't feel like typing it up.

Been recording for LibriVox for a few monts. Just finished BCing 2 poetry projects. Came out with a newfound respect for those doing admin work. Just coordinating a little project like that on the web can be quite time-consuming and energyvorous.

First, get the project up. Then, get people to record. THEN, run after said people for info, and also run after them for any corrections to be made. End up making the corrections yourself, since it's much faster that way. Check everything. Listen to Everything. Upload Everything.

And then hope that everything is just right for the cataloging.

Of course everything went OK. The worst I came across was a recording where we had to modify some technical stuff. I can't imagine what some BCs have to go through, when sometimes the reader would just post their stuff and you never see them again. They're stuck with a chapter in need of editing, and the person' s gone.

Still about 80 chapters to go through for Monte-Cristo. Good luck with that. At the rate I'm going, it' s going to take at least 6 more months to finish. Hopefully I can squeeze in some more chapters during Christmas break.

And THEN, I can start with the 800 pages of Blackstone.

But before that, remember to find the MIA reader for the Chasse-galerie.

Pleasure, pleasure.

Imagine

Imagine yourself all alone
six billion people crawling on the earth
six billion stars in a galaxy

who are you?

a peak in the voice of humanity
a pixel on the screen

what did you ever do?

I left my voice for today and tomorrow,
carved in metal sheets,
and one day when all of us have gone,
my voice will read you a book.

Assume a job interview

Why law?

I don't know. I've always been interested in debating, conveying my ideas, and, more importantly, convincing others. Of course my parents wanted me to go into med, or at least something in the medical field, or, at worst, something in science. I tried. I went into sciences in cegep. I've always been drawn to sciences anyway, so I figured, why not at least try? I tried, and didn't like it.

So I decided to go into Law. A lot of my friends were telling me I should go into the legal field, ever since that geography class in sec 5 where we did model UN and I won best debater. I was representing Benin, this tiny country in Africa, and we were against the reform on Human Rights, against the UK.

Of course my parents weren't all that happy when I chose law. They all had scientific backgrounds, so they didn't know anything about this. They both grew up in China, so their mentality was that if you wanted to succeed, you had to go in sciences. They still think that.

Of course they did everything they could to dissuade me. Every once in a while they'd repeat the same story about the kid of one of their friends who was in Physio and had job offers even before she finished her diploma. They wanted me to go into some field where I would be sure to get a job when I come out. Some field where there was a lack of personnel, so I'd be sure to get a job.

But I didn't want that. I didn't want something so easy. Not that it would be easy studying to be a doctor, or anything, but I didn't want a field where the roads were all paved. I didn't want to get a job because people are so desperate for the vacancy to fill. I wanted something to be proud of, and not just of having survived my studies. I wanted something where I could say: I achieved this by myself. I worked hard for this, and this is what I deserve.

Ze logik, I has it

Rush hour on the metro platform. Chinese kid asks Chinese mom: "Why are there so many people here?"

To which Chinese mom replies: "There are far more people in China. The population in China is many times that of Canada. That's why you have to study hard."

Oh really.

But it was comforting. It shows my mom isn't the only one around with faulty logic. Pretty much all the Chinese do, apparently. (Your stomach aches because you haven't cleaned your room, your feet are cold because your socks are dirty...)

Maybe that's a government conspiracy to keep the population subjugated. Maybe the government has had the people convinced that because they've got black hair, they don't need to go vote... forever entrapped in their faulty logic...

Of Bridges, Boats, and the Constitution

Sometimes, one gets to wonder why the Constitution has to be followed so closely. And instance in point: when building the Confederation bridge to Newfundland, (or was it PEI?) they had to change the Constitution so that it wouldn't inconstitutional. That's because one of the conditions of entry of that province into the Federation, back in the day, was that the federal govt had to maintain a naval service between the mainland and the island. And then they were getting rid of it by building the bridge, hence an amendment.

and I kept wondering... would it be so horrible if they left the constitution as it was?

Ah, the things you learn!

willfully blind

Ever felt your sense of reason slowly creeping away?
All the time! you might say.
No, I mean reason as in common sense.
That's how I feel, being in Law. An all new outlook on Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The other day, a friend of mine told me that there was a guy in Germany who wanted to have a chimp declared a "person". And the only thing I could say was: "so? what's the big deal?"
I could imagine his expression. There was an "Are you nuts!?"-like silence for a fraction of a second.

It's quite amazing how they get you to think only by the Code.

Law isn't necessarily justice. They made it quite clear the first week. I don't quite remember how they did it, but they did it.
There was a mention of law not = justice, and then they went on a definition of the kinds of justice, being distributive or commutative, and that was that.

求佛 (Qiu Fo)

求佛 (Qiu Fo, Begging Buddha)

歌手：誓言 (artist: Shi Yan)

当月光洒在我的脸上 - when the moonlight pours down on my face
我想我就快变了摸样 - I think I almost change shape
有一种叫做撕心裂肺的汤 - There is something called Heart-tearing-liver-cracking soup
喝了它有神奇的力量 - Drinking it gives mysterious strength
闭上眼看见天堂 - Closing my eyes, I see heaven
那是藏着你笑的地方 - That is the place where your smile is hidden
我躲开无数个猎人的枪 - I have avoided countless hunters' guns
赶走坟墓爬出的忧伤 - Drove away the grieving crawling out of tombs
为了你,我变成狼人摸样 - For you, I took the werewolf's appearance
为了你,染上了疯狂 - For your, I infected myself with madness
为了你,穿上厚厚的伪装 - For your, I put on a thick, thick costume
为了你,换了心肠 - For you, I changed my heart
我们还能不能再见面 - Can we see ourselves once again?
我在佛前苦苦求了几千年 - I have painfully begged the Buddha for a thousand years
愿意用几世换我们一世情缘 Willing to exchange many lives for only one life of love
希望可以感动上天 - Hoping to move the heavens
我们还能不能能不能再见面 Can we, can we see ourselves once again?
我在佛前苦苦求了几千年 - I have painfully begged the Buddha for a thousand years
当我在踏过这条奈何桥之前 - Before I cross this bridge
让我再吻一吻你的脸 - Let me kiss your face
让我再吻一吻你的脸 - Let me kiss your face

The things you don't learn in Law school

TED clip on statistics.

Heard from a classmate: He was moving during the weekend, when the box where his clothes were fell from his pickup onto the highway, and got run over by an 18-wheeler. Some of his friends, who were following him, stopped to pick up his clothes. To their dismay, other drivers stopped too and were stealing his clothes!

I want to talk like J.L.

I want to be of a speakingness like J.L. He's one of those who can speak so matter-of-factly and use just the right words to make the most potentially sensitive topics acceptable. He never tries to stir up anything, doesn't get himself deeply embedded into any kind of controversy.

Not many teachers can use imbecilitas sexus (or whatever the ending should be) and leave the classroom alive... Convey the reasoning without making the people seem retarded or immoral.
Quite neat.

On a lighter note, some Germanic tribes had the habit, whenever they were going to transmit property, to pull the person's ears and slap their faces.

Another installment of : The Things You Learn When Studying Law
Credit cards.

If you have a credit account and decide to offer a credit card as a gift to someone (ie you make another card for your account and give it to your kid), depending on the contract the recipient signs, he COULD be held accountable for the debt of the account.

So, next time someone gives you a credit card, they might want you to pay off their debts...

Je crie au scandale!!

Seen on the news yesterday: a 10-second report near the end of the newscast, after all the important stuff has been said: Mattel issued an apology to Beijing for blaming the toy recall on lead paint, when in fact it was because of a design flaw.

At which point I went : WHAT!?

Not because it was scandalous that they made China look bad by making everyone think everything Chinese was dangerous, but that the newscast barely talked about this new development. I'd be screaming it on the roofs, for bollocks' sake!

And I thought, like a good would-be lawyer... shouldn't there be a lawsuit somewhere? I mean, a person can sue for defamation, can't a country do that? And, let's not forget, someone killed himself over this...

Which reminds me, about a week ago, I saw this on page 32 of the Journal de Montreal: a tiny article on China sending back pork imported from Canada and the US because it contained traces of a drug banned in China and various other countries, but permitted in the US and Canada. Shouldn't THAT be on the front page? Granted it was retaliation, but what the hell is in our food?

Woah. This law thing is really getting into me. I find myself using words I've never used before, like "abstaction" (what kind of pedant uses that in everyday speech) and using more convoluted sentences, with commas!! Soon enough I won't be able to understand what I say!!

Law school really doesn't seem so hard, though it might be that it's because I haven't yet read all the stuff I had to...

Proud Student of the Law

2 weeks into the studies, and I'm already starting to think like a lawyer. A friend tells me about his campus newspaper, and I'm thinking of all the possible lawsuits. I see them EVERYWHERE.

I learn all kinds of interesting things, such as the ridicule of some laws.

Suppose you're driving, hit a patch of ice, and start skidding toward an intersection. There are people crossing the street, and cars parked on the side. The way things are at the moment, with the car insurance law, if you hit the pedestrians, you're protected from a civil lawsuit. If, instead, you decide to avoid the people and swerve to hit the cars, then you're liable for the damages to the cars.

Quoth the teacher: "Quand la loi est sortie, on a dit: 'la personne avant toutes choses'. J'ai finalement compris: 'la personne, avant toutes choses."

I suppose I ought to start somewhere...
So here it is. Another blog. Another pointless waste of time.

Stay tuned, I guess.

(how optimistic. really)