Currently Listening Actually Not By Eddie from Ohio Sahara see related

Starbucks

I've entered the Starbucks chapter of life. I think almost everyone works at McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, or a combination of the three at least once in their life. You could substitute any coffee shop in for Starbucks.

My friend Timothy Ira Houghton just spent a week in Vancouver, where he visited a small coffee shop called JJ Bean, but apparently they do this latte or cappuccino art, or something, on every single drink they make. I've seen it in pictures and its amazing. Sea shells, four leaf clovers, hearts. When I pour the milk into the cup, I try not to spill any on the counter.

I love Pandora.com.  You guys know how it works. Type in the artist or the song, and it plays music that is similar to what you've typed in. It seems like every song they play for you you've never heard before, most times you've never even heard of the artist they're playing. Here are a couple of Artists/Songs I've heard recently that I think some of you would like.

Cayman Islands by Kings of Convenience

Two More Things by Dan Gonzalez

Stole the Show by Jonas and Plunkett

Communion Cups and Someone's Coat by Iron and Wine (this is the song the station is based on, for now)

Simple by Violet Archers

Window World by Dick Campbell

Today by Joshua Radin (which is really close to Rodine, so I always confuse myself when it plays)

Check these out, unless you don't like Iron and Wine. They're good though, and really put you in a contemplative mood. I like the fact that the computer here at school have headphone jacks right in the front so you can come in, sit down, plug in the head phones, and busy yourself with something before your next class.

Class! Midterms, hmmm. I've found out this semester that in the past I've thought of myself as untouchable. I didn't actually realize I thought this about myself, I just took for granted that no matter what I did in high school and at AUC I got fine grades. Here, this semester, I'm finding out that I am touchable. If I don't do work, I will fail my classes, and it is a brutal realization. I have no motivation because I'm not used to doing this amount of work, so usually I come straight home from class and do nothing. Sometimes I do some work, but I don't understand it and whereas in high school when I could ask Brandon, James or David if they understood what was going on, I know no one in any of my classes, and rarely speak to the teacher except through  email.

Thank God for continuous tutorials for Calc and Linear Algebra. This week I went to the Linear Algebra one and there was this older oriental guy, who made fun of us to our faces about how stupid we were for not knowing how to solve for the inducing matrix of various matrix transformations. But can you get mad at someone with that accent, and you know what kind of accent I'm talking. No! You can't, you just laugh. "You guy sooooo stuupid!" "Dis not vewy haaad!" I don't know, he was a genius though and should be teaching our class because in that 2 hour period I was there I learnt more than in the previous two weeks of lectures.

I think I've sufficiently gleaned my mind of sufficiently useful information for one day.

Ever since I was tagged to list my six weird things, I haven't been able to think. I know I have six weird things, everyone has tons of weird things, but I seriously can't think of one. But I'm convinced that if I just sit here and write, they'll come to me eventually. They have to.

So, starting with two . . . I can't just listen to music, I have to be doing something with it. That means either using my computer like I'm doing right now, dancing, playing guitar along, or talking to friends.  I never sit and just listen to music.

Three . . . I can watch a hockey game where the Edmonton Oilers are down by 3 goals into the last minute and still believe they're going to win. They say its not over till the fat lady sings, and as far as I know theres no fat lady in hockey.

Four . . . When I get into bed, I always roll onto my stomach, even though I know I'll have to roll onto my back eventually if I actually want to get to sleep. That has to be connected with my youth somehow.

Five . . . I lose everything and anything. I don't understand why. Backpacks, watches, books, wallets, keys, nalgene bottles, pens . . . I lose more than any two people in the world combined.

Hmmmmm . . . I often enjoy covers more than their originals.

Ok, those aren't even that weird, but I had to get that out of the way. I've homework to do.

I'm tagging,

Lesleaves

Marley

Owen, the hockey star, Scott

and Jordanne

The first of my six weird things

I can't really even think of one weird thing I do, so I'm planning on doing this in a series and writing whenever I think about one. I haven't really thought about it at all, but I don't really want to. Whenever I think of some idea, I try not to think about it too much because I always seem to prove the things I think of wrong, and I hate being wrong, but I'd be wrong all the time because I never think about what I think of, I just think it and except it. Thinking about what I've thought about is risky business. Think about it . . . say George Bush started thinking. I can assure you, this world would be in a mess. Bush is a doer, and I respect that. I am not a doer. I am not a thinker or a doer. Actually, no, I am a thinker. Yes, I think, I don't weigh my thoughts, but I have many thoughts. It could be the reason I don't do many of my thoughts is because I'm afraid they won't work out because I haven't thought everything through. for example, I'd like to fly. On my own. With just wings. But I'd never do it, because I don't know where to start. I don't want to sit down and think about how to construct wings. And I don't have wings. I'm not an angel.

So weird thing number one . . .  I don't like to think my thoughts through because I don't want to prove myself wrong because I don't like being wrong. Doesn't make sense does it, its because I thought it through.

So today is my first day of the new semester and I think its gonna be a good one, semester. Yesterday I thought my roomate Jordan was flying in, so my other roomate Tim and I pulled out the old hookah and gave her a puff. Unfortunately noone told me smoking it too heavily makes you sick, I definitely didn't know because the times prior I didn't get sick. This time, I got sick. It made Stranger than Fiction not quite as funny as it could have been, but ok. Its a good movie by the way.

Anyways, back to the semester, or day, I just got out of Intro to Calc. It was pretty cool, my teachers name is Nguyen, so when I saw him in class I figured he looked ver caucasian for an asian, and then he introduced him self as Lionel Nguyen Van The, french apparently. I figure his dad is a mixture of Dutch and Vietnamese, or something like that. Hes cool though. Talks quietly and with an unmistakably french accent, and he uses the chalk board which is a lost art if I may say so. I'm scared of Calc though. It may be the hype everyone gives it about being such a scary topic akin to Quantum physics and such, or the fact that I haven't taken a real math class since 2002-2003. I don't know. Either way, I'm scared. So when you're praying, think of me.

I'm going to leave now.

Last night Marley and I went to Blood Diamond, the new movie with Leo DiCaprio in it, and I must say I may just have a new favorite movie. It was incredible. I felt like I was right back in West Africa, except of course its in a different country than where I grew up and I didn't have to deal with all the violence and stuff. Still, when they're walking around downtown Freetown its soooo african. Then theres a part where people are carrying around WFP sacks, and I was like, "I've carried those!" They're heavy.

Anyways, just thought I'd recommend it, especially to all who have or are living in Africa. Its a great movie.