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...