Friday, January 21, 2005
Death in the Family...
Thursday morning I was told that my Grandpa was in critical condition at Credit Valley Hospital (Thank you, Simone). I drove back to 'sauga by 10 am. My Grandpa passed away at 5:45 pm Thursday evening. I was glad that I was there to see him before he left, and that he saw me with his last breath.
Funeral will be next Saturday (only for information).
Emotionally speaking, I am of course grieving. My Grandpa has lived with us for the last 10 years of his life, and he often took care of my brother and I when we were younger. I know that I (and our family) will move on, but this will take some time.
So I first ask you guys to excuse any callousness or general negative feelings I may express in the next little while (I think probably next week will be the worst). Chances are I'll just go to class and stay home (Keats Way) next week though. I may or may not feel like doing stuff, so please don't be offended if I say no (but you guys don't have to avoid me), nor should you guys feel obligated if I ask to do stuff, we all have different priorities, I understand that.
My Mom told me that traditionally, when there's a death in the family, I shouldn't visit other people's houses for 1 month after the event. This traditional view may be upheld by the older generation, so just basically a heads up to DB, 'cause of all my friend's houses, I visit yours the most. I don't think it'll be a problem (unless it is to you guys or Alan) for me to visit your Phillip St. townhouse place, but should you have a party at 'sauga within the month, you should check w/ your parents first.
I know that this entry makes me sound clinically depressed, but I assure you guys that I am not. I am merely informing you guys of this sad event just in case you guys wonder why I wasn't around the last couple days or why I may look a bit down the next little while. I know that I will be fine, just takes some time, that's all.
I know that not too many people read this blog (well, Bao maybe you can tell DAJ about it), so I ask that you guys keep this information to yourselves (if I feel someone needs to know I'll tell them). The last thing I need is people asking me how I'm feeling everywhere I go (especially CCF), reminding me that my Grandpa's not here.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys don't have to act any different around me or to me. This is just a heads up so you guys will know why I'll be a bit down in the next little while.
Funeral will be next Saturday (only for information).
Emotionally speaking, I am of course grieving. My Grandpa has lived with us for the last 10 years of his life, and he often took care of my brother and I when we were younger. I know that I (and our family) will move on, but this will take some time.
So I first ask you guys to excuse any callousness or general negative feelings I may express in the next little while (I think probably next week will be the worst). Chances are I'll just go to class and stay home (Keats Way) next week though. I may or may not feel like doing stuff, so please don't be offended if I say no (but you guys don't have to avoid me), nor should you guys feel obligated if I ask to do stuff, we all have different priorities, I understand that.
My Mom told me that traditionally, when there's a death in the family, I shouldn't visit other people's houses for 1 month after the event. This traditional view may be upheld by the older generation, so just basically a heads up to DB, 'cause of all my friend's houses, I visit yours the most. I don't think it'll be a problem (unless it is to you guys or Alan) for me to visit your Phillip St. townhouse place, but should you have a party at 'sauga within the month, you should check w/ your parents first.
I know that this entry makes me sound clinically depressed, but I assure you guys that I am not. I am merely informing you guys of this sad event just in case you guys wonder why I wasn't around the last couple days or why I may look a bit down the next little while. I know that I will be fine, just takes some time, that's all.
I know that not too many people read this blog (well, Bao maybe you can tell DAJ about it), so I ask that you guys keep this information to yourselves (if I feel someone needs to know I'll tell them). The last thing I need is people asking me how I'm feeling everywhere I go (especially CCF), reminding me that my Grandpa's not here.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys don't have to act any different around me or to me. This is just a heads up so you guys will know why I'll be a bit down in the next little while.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Update! ('Cause I have 1 hr holes in my MWF schedules and I don't really have places to go during these holes but I can go to a computer lab to type)
More words are better right? Whatever...
So I've gone into "Alan" mode and haven't updated for a month.
Reasons:
Last 2 weeks in Ottawa were mostly spent on going to work, playing Tales of Symphonia, and doing stuff w/ my co-workers such as hosting a Christmas Dinner for our supervisors. So I was usually too tired or felt more like playing Tales than updating about my Ottawa events.
Last 10 days I spent in 'sauga, relaxing and getting together with friends and family. Oh, and the wireless at home refused to cooperate, so I had limited Internet access.
Didn't get Internet working (more like didn't find time to make it work) until this morning.
Reasons above in one sentence:
I was too busy/lazy with games (namely Tales of Symphonia) and/or had limited Internet access for updates.
Key highlights of my last month of existence:
1. Christmas Dinner in Ottawa: Between Sabrina, Ed and I we cooked an entire dinner from appetizers to dessert, pretty much everything from scratch. The results were excellent, and we had a wonderful time eating all the food. Great stuff, one of the most memorable happenings in my Ottawa stay.
2. Last "day" of work: was awesome. Was playing Diablo w/ Jia until 7am or so, was going to get ready for work, but Ed beat me to the washroom. Fell asleep thinking Ed will wake me up. Ed ditto'd on what I did. We ended up at work at 10 am. Lounged around 'cause there was a Division meeting which we didn't have to attend until 11:30. Went and got gas for my car, picked up Ed and Joe (one of our supervisors) and went bowling + lunch. Returned to office around 3 pm, ate our takeout lunch, called my Mom and Dad from my cubicle phone, left work at 4:30 pm. Work accomplished = -50%
3. Christmas weekend: Had two excellent Christmas dinners, one with Mom and one with Dad + family friends. Saw Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, pretty good movie, love Jim Carrey's role and performance. What was unfortunate (which, now that I think about it, kind of ironic) was that my front windshield was cracked by a slab of ice flying off some car's roof on the highway on Christmas Day. So I had to get it towed and (eventually) fixed for $250.
4. Gameage: As per Bao's update, there was a party at their place, and for me and Jia the party spanned over 2 days. (Actually, we were over on Sunday as well, as was David, actually) Lots of Smash, Mario Party 6 is pretty fun. Although I got ill for 4 hours during the party (which I'm blaming on the pizza, although everyone else was fine), the party was fun through and through. Cooking lunch was cool, beats Wendy's any day (at least for me, I'm becoming less and less of a fan of fast foods now...)
5. Study term once again: It's been a year since I had a study term here in Waterloo with both my on-stream and regular stream friends, so after 4 months of near-isolation in Ottawa, this is great change of environment. Between chilling w/ the East 105 crew and CCF ppl, gaming at DBAJ's (although WoW will kind of be in the way, could be good or bad), and stuff like Men's cell, I should be careful to budget my time for courses and co-op, especially since I'm taking an extra 6th course (albeit it's an Arts course, which means I need to budget reading time).
Seems like our Junior World Championship team owned the shizzle out of every other nation at the tournament. Go Canada.
Don't have a landline at where I'm living right now, not sure if I'll get one. If you have a Waterloo number call my cell and I'll call you back, I'll try to not pick up, he he.
Almost time for class, I guess I should wrap this up for now...
So I've gone into "Alan" mode and haven't updated for a month.
Reasons:
Last 2 weeks in Ottawa were mostly spent on going to work, playing Tales of Symphonia, and doing stuff w/ my co-workers such as hosting a Christmas Dinner for our supervisors. So I was usually too tired or felt more like playing Tales than updating about my Ottawa events.
Last 10 days I spent in 'sauga, relaxing and getting together with friends and family. Oh, and the wireless at home refused to cooperate, so I had limited Internet access.
Didn't get Internet working (more like didn't find time to make it work) until this morning.
Reasons above in one sentence:
I was too busy/lazy with games (namely Tales of Symphonia) and/or had limited Internet access for updates.
Key highlights of my last month of existence:
1. Christmas Dinner in Ottawa: Between Sabrina, Ed and I we cooked an entire dinner from appetizers to dessert, pretty much everything from scratch. The results were excellent, and we had a wonderful time eating all the food. Great stuff, one of the most memorable happenings in my Ottawa stay.
2. Last "day" of work: was awesome. Was playing Diablo w/ Jia until 7am or so, was going to get ready for work, but Ed beat me to the washroom. Fell asleep thinking Ed will wake me up. Ed ditto'd on what I did. We ended up at work at 10 am. Lounged around 'cause there was a Division meeting which we didn't have to attend until 11:30. Went and got gas for my car, picked up Ed and Joe (one of our supervisors) and went bowling + lunch. Returned to office around 3 pm, ate our takeout lunch, called my Mom and Dad from my cubicle phone, left work at 4:30 pm. Work accomplished = -50%
3. Christmas weekend: Had two excellent Christmas dinners, one with Mom and one with Dad + family friends. Saw Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, pretty good movie, love Jim Carrey's role and performance. What was unfortunate (which, now that I think about it, kind of ironic) was that my front windshield was cracked by a slab of ice flying off some car's roof on the highway on Christmas Day. So I had to get it towed and (eventually) fixed for $250.
4. Gameage: As per Bao's update, there was a party at their place, and for me and Jia the party spanned over 2 days. (Actually, we were over on Sunday as well, as was David, actually) Lots of Smash, Mario Party 6 is pretty fun. Although I got ill for 4 hours during the party (which I'm blaming on the pizza, although everyone else was fine), the party was fun through and through. Cooking lunch was cool, beats Wendy's any day (at least for me, I'm becoming less and less of a fan of fast foods now...)
5. Study term once again: It's been a year since I had a study term here in Waterloo with both my on-stream and regular stream friends, so after 4 months of near-isolation in Ottawa, this is great change of environment. Between chilling w/ the East 105 crew and CCF ppl, gaming at DBAJ's (although WoW will kind of be in the way, could be good or bad), and stuff like Men's cell, I should be careful to budget my time for courses and co-op, especially since I'm taking an extra 6th course (albeit it's an Arts course, which means I need to budget reading time).
Seems like our Junior World Championship team owned the shizzle out of every other nation at the tournament. Go Canada.
Don't have a landline at where I'm living right now, not sure if I'll get one. If you have a Waterloo number call my cell and I'll call you back, I'll try to not pick up, he he.
Almost time for class, I guess I should wrap this up for now...
