Geoff

Happy Birthday

2008-05-13T22:11:27Z

Me.

Or the choice is made for me.

2008-04-25T18:56:37Z

Ahh the irony. I settle down to devote myself to my work knowing I am at that point that its time to set myself to my work or else and care to take a guess what happened? It seems that I missjudged the exact system at my university. Where I thought I still had the Summer to work my GPA up to a reasonable level it was allready in fact too late. I have been told I am required to withdraw and my eligeability for Summer classes has been cancelled. I can not come back for one year and only then should I complete 6 units of transferable course work with a C+ in all those courses taken. Thats four courses.

So this changes things quite a lot. I mean the summer is now free at least for working and trying to save up some cash but looks like I will be heading to a local collage come September to try to get in so that my school life is not now dead and over.

You know what? I just realized exactly what screwed me. My second term. I had only two classes. I just needed to pass them both and get just above the minimum grade in one of them. In such a case I would have been on probation only instead of automatically being considered to fail at my probation because of a really low GPA. Just one of them needed a grade above pass and I would not be in this situation now. But no. I wasted my time and now I now no longer a student at that university with nothing to show for 5 years of it. Wow, fuck me.

A long talk.

2008-04-24T04:26:09Z

So a lot of people who read this, in fact most of the people who read this, don't know me in person. We know each other through the internet and talking online and from things like this but we have not met face to face or if we have we have not really spoken much at length. I have spent about 5 years so far at University and of them 1 year has really been good. I took a year off and travelled and somewhere along the way I lost my drive and focus. My grades dropped, I cared less about school, I stopped working out, I vanished into online and offline games and really stopped properly connecting with new people.

This year has been about as bad for me as it can get without me ending up not permitted to attend university anymore or put onto some sort of academic watch. At this moment I am standing in a situation where if I do not take summer courses and and I do not do at LEAST at the B or higher level in them I will be in a situation where the University will turn to me and tell me that I have to turn my act around or I might not be permitted to continue to attend. As well I am now on student loans and those will not keep coming if my current drivelessness and lack of focus continue as they are.

And that is my problem. I just have not applied myself. And while I flopped about pointlessly I have watched others graduate and move on with their lives. Now I am 25. This isn't the end of my life. I have not reached some terrible end where I can't turn things around. The thing is this is where I have to make it count. I need to buckle down and do this. I need to finish this summer with high grades to give me that confidence back and then I need to take a long hard look at really what do I want? What do I really want to work for?

Because that is where it is really. If its not what you want, if you don't think about these things, you wont work for them and at this level if you don't work for them unless you are a genius who needs to be out there curing cancer(And I am not) you won't get through these courses. I had a talk with my mother about this that has been a long time coming. For too long its been one of those situations between us and my schoolwork. She asks about it to you know, try to make sure I am not wasting my time and setting myself up for failure, I give her the empty words she wants to hear but we both know that really in the end its lies and I go back to my games or tv and it all passes me by. I think it will be good though that we have cleared the air, had this talk, and I have really started to think about all of this. Maybe this time it will be different.

Easter!

2008-03-23T18:47:26Z

And Happy Easter to you all!

What? More livejournalesque things?

2008-03-09T17:45:11Z

Indeed it is true. I have been indueced, coerced, convinced, deceived, tricked, threatened and maybe forced into joining Facebook. That said I get the feeling its like this strange virus. Hell I had invites waiting for me when I joined the thing. As soon as I had clicked a few things another 20 things pop up. Very strange thing.

Anyways for those who are unaware my last school term did not go so well. Not so well at all. The Class I couldn't afford to fail I did fail which means I need a direction change at UVic. Its not necessarily the end of me at that University but I can't continue the path I am on. Well not without going to some other place and picking up the classes I can't take here anymore.

Ultimately though I am still going forward. My end goal is still a degree in the sciences and its still achievable. Just not in physics. The full scheme of what to take hasn't been settled on quite yet. I have some options to look into still and this term was taking some lower level stuff I would need no matter what I decided...well unless I decide to just get myself a Fine Arts degree and run for the hills.

Anyhow, weather is grey, and I am feeling somewhat sick so I shall now go to see about some food.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T00:34:27Z

Just want to wish everyone good Holiday cheer. Even if you don't celebrate this paticular one know that I am wishing you well and hoping the new year coming up will be a good one for you.

A lawful neutral elf wizard? Not what I was expecting.

2007-12-17T22:17:25Z

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Elf Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-14

Constitution-14

Intelligence-17

Wisdom-14

Charisma-13

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.

Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaotic Evil ---- X (1)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaos --- X (1)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Evil ---- (0)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Halfling - XXXXXXXX (8)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Half-Orc - (0)

Class:
Barbarian - (-25)
Bard ------ (-19)
Cleric ---- (0)
Druid ----- (-6)
Fighter --- XX (2)
Monk ------ XXXX (4)
Paladin --- (-21)
Ranger ---- (-2)
Rogue ----- (-4)
Sorcerer -- XX (2)
Wizard ---- XXXXXX (6)

bog_mod @ 2007-10-18T16:38:00

2007-10-18T23:38:24Z

Halloween Meme

ariseishirou sacrifices johntelgar's socks

azure_empress calls stryckie to let them know the psycho killer's in the State Penitentiary

bandwidthbandit creates an unholy monstrosity from kenshiro2k, morsla and stryckie

chechevitsa runs around screaming for hours until abruptly silenced by etrangere, wielding a sharpened sock

etrangere haunts your candy

goldenh tries to pick up Phantom Hitchhikers

hertzahaeon dresses up as kenshiro2k

jasondrake gives you a toothbrush

johntelgar shows up with burning torches, pitchforks and dip

jydan puts fake eyeballs in your pumpkin

kenshiro2k buries hertzahaeon at the crossroads with a axe through their heart

miss_rynn puts real eyeballs in your cutlery

morsla devours the entire neighbourhood's brains

mousebane carves ariseishirou's effigy in the medium of Bank Manager's lunchbox

stryckie swoops on goldenh and drains their Wings Greatest Hits

LJ Name

Doom and Gloom

2007-10-09T20:00:40Z

Well not for me. Or at least not directly. Just these sorts of things around me. My sister has left work with McDonalds. Before you all cheer and such remember she put in 7 years into the place, was a manager and got a raw deal at the end. She got dumped into a place where the market and demographic made it so she couldn't have enough staff nor have enough business. Large Companies do not care about facts like that though. My father is in a job where he is now expected to pick up the work of another guy who left and learn a new machine. No they do not plan to replace the guy who quit.

This would all be....fine relatively I suppose but I happened to overhear some talk about this. Its clear extra stress from this sort of thing just isn't worth it yet to maintain our current home and such requires making the same general wage. They talked about well, quiting, selling our home and moving up to Kamloops. Now thats a huge matter for me. I still have this year and next for university. Would mean more loans for me I suppose but still would be a massive change.

Anyways, just ranting on this. No one likes to see signs of giant change coming up, especially when they are more or less happy with their current situation and the change to come seems a problem.

Do or Die.

2007-09-09T17:40:15Z

It is a new school year once again. This year will either be my best or my worst school year of all time. Now while I am good at math I am better at physics and this is starting to show itself in a most serious way. My third year advanced calculus course I have failed twice now. Normally its the policy of the university to not let you take a course you have failed twice. Thats the official policy at least. If a teacher is willing to sign on saying you should be allowed, which they almost always do, the Dean will let you take it one more time. Thats the stage I am at. If I don't pass it this time around there are three options left to me, none of which are good. One, pick a new major. This really doesn't appeal to me. Two, go to a different university and use the courses I have as credits for other courses and try that route. Also not really appealing to me. Finally drop out of university, which is the most least appealing route to me I can not articulate how much I will not do this.

However this do or doom situation has also managed to encourage me to study and buckle down and do all this work like nothing else has. Assuming I can keep this momentum and drive I have found myself having for the school term I am 100% confident I can not only pass but pass my courses well. Also pleasently enough the proffessor for the course I have had trouble with I can effectively get free use of a tutor out of thanks to people almost never using his office hours and my own breaks in the day coinciding almost perfectly with his free office hours.

And you know even with all this I am in a more or less positive mood. Yes a lot is hinging on doing this term successful and yes I have student loans now but you know I still feel good around it. Its hard to explain really. Well more to come later I suppose and hopefully good news to come.

Super strength hmm?

2007-08-24T15:30:27Z

Interesting...then again I dont feel all that super strong. More just weak and coughy and weak from this damn virus that I seem to have contracted.

Feet...sore....

2007-07-30T07:44:15Z

Ahh the restaurant trade. You would think I had learned my lesson by now but no just got home a little while ago after working 7.5hours straight no break. My own fault to a degree. By now I should know when they say 'we will just need you for a little longer' it means 'you are here for the rest of the night'. No matter though, more hours means more cash.

New school year is on its way. Probably the first time I am worried about going to University. I had to get student loans this time for it and well while I am confident in making it through in time this pressure and the fact its really costing me now to finish my education is starting to sink in. Gonna really have to focus for this year.

Tried a new MMO called 9 Dragons. Not bad, plays a lot like Lineage 2. Which is very bad if the crafting and leveling in end game is similiar. Its free at least which is always a bonus even if you have to stare at the Acclaim adds from time to time.

Cousin is still living around and I have to say its nice to have more people. My mother likes it a lot more though. Another female presence for her to share time with. Speaking of sharing time one of my old friends came back from Newfoundland for a month which is neat. He hasn't changed a bit really but still nice to see him.

And ahhhhh, I have missed clubbing. Got to go and hit the bar and clubs this Friday with some friends. Bar we went to is above a strip club, getting stamped for one means free cover into the other. I always find it odd the number of groups of girls I see at a strip club and that all the times I end up going to one its due to a woman's suggestion. Very strange. The dancing was nice but it was dead which was really unimpressive. Still all in all a good night.

Tipping

2007-07-03T05:10:56Z

Got into a arguement with some of my coworkers today on the matter of tipping. Here we see what is wrong with the North American way of handling tipping. No longer do you tip because of good service no you tip because everyone tips. Now to me the price of food at a restaurant covers the food, preperation of the food, having it brought to me and some basic politeness from my servers. For my money there is a basic level of service I expect to see. If this is all I get then I just pay my bill and thats that. If I get more then that I will likely tip.

Now then that philosophy seems to offend some of the serving staff. To their minds unless they are rude to a person they should always be making a 10% tip off each table. Sure they have to pay out of their own pocket a tiny bit but guess what, you still make as much as we in the kitchen. I even asked one of them how much she worked and in a low tip week how much she would take home. 25 hours and $100 extra. Let me do the math here...your low week...means you make my wage after I get my part of the tip pool. This is fair somehow? Then they tell me if I don't like it I should get out of the kitchen. Fuck that. I like working in the kitchen. If you don't like working somewhere where people can choose how much you get tipped go find a fucking job where they make tipping by the customers mandatory. This is why I liked the system in Australia more. No tipping but a higher flat wage. People shouldn't be nice to a customer just in hopes of scoring extra cash.

To Party Down and Maybe...Get Jiggy With It

2007-06-24T18:06:14Z

Ahh, what a wonderful party last night. Starting at the ever reasonable hour of 7pm it gave us plenty of time for snacking(of which there was a wide and most excellent selection) and for drinking of the booze(of which there was a wide and most excellent selection). No ordinary party at all but a party of birthday excellence for one of my friends. Hurrah to your skills at continuing to exist. May you be an inspiration to us all. Good music and company, fun drinking games and socializing, one noise complaint and drunken pictionary were the highlights of the evening. No one threw up, no drugs(aside from copius liquor) and no one who was driving drank anything to impair themselves. Conversations of course with people in our age chunk all had to go through an obligatory discussion of Majors and post University goals and I am pleased to say we science's had a mightier showing then the fine arts types.

Lets see...no hangover check. Smell of my dad cooking bacon check. Well definitly survived intact to enjoy Sunday morning breakfast at my home and so now I depart from you all.

Oh, and drunken pictionary drinking game? Great fun.

97% not bad

2007-06-14T17:33:30Z

Your Livejournal zombie attack.

LiveJournal Username

The name of your zombie infested home town.

Your zombie killing weapon of choice.

How much do zombies scare you?

Oh noes!!11 A zombie! What do you do?

Blasting zombies left and right with a freaking twelve guage. What do you think?

etrangere

Curled into a fetal position crying their eyes out.

hertzahaeon

Is pwning some zombies with Don't Stop Me Now playing in the background.

fiatvictrix

Is sitting at home watching CNN and eating ice cream.

etrangere

Get ripped to pieces by the zombies. Bummer.

stryckie

Is the zombie king who you must destroy to end the zombie menace.

jilavre

Number of zombies you decapitate.

476

Chances you survive the zombie swarm.

97%

This Fun Quiz created by Rob at BlogQuiz.Net

Capricorn Horoscope at DailyHoroscopes.Biz

Games and such niceities.

2007-06-10T18:10:57Z

Friday night was a day of much good and much bad. First of all the bad. I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed some more. Curse you allergies. Curse you to the depths of some place which is really bad for allergies to go to. That was the bad. Now on to the good! The reason I was sneezing was due to a proximity to cats and in a house where the cats live. I was at my friends house and they have a new kitten! Oh how I love kittens and cats. The sneezing was so completely worth it.

I also had a chance to play an interesting game called Bang. Originally a Spanish game it got translated over into English. Basically the idea of the card game is that you are in the wild west. One man is the sheriff. He and his deputies must shoot and kill all the outlaws and renegades. The catch is he doesn't know which two are his deputies but everyone knows who the Sheriff is. The game was a lot of fun and my first round doing it I gloriously lead my team of deputies to victory over the forces of banditry and crime.

I also picked up the final disk of the anime My Hime. One series down...well there can't be that many more anime series out there can there? *hides in his innocence bubble* Anyways ending transmission!

Grey clouds are gonna clear up...

2007-05-20T18:12:39Z

Curse you bad weather. I have really been enjoying things just being warm and sunny but no, can't keep that up. No matter though. Almost finished the My Hime series of anime. Not bad. The last half of the anime does a complete theme change from the first half. Kinda annoying but kinda good too. Starts off as the whole magical girls fanservice fighting monsters sorta silly. Then it shifts over into end of the world, losing people you love, willing to do whatever it takes. Enjoying it nonetheless.

So back at my old job things are just like I remember them. It also seems I remember virtually all the recipes I used to know while I was there. You would think after a year away you would forget but no. Ahh well. Just makes getting back into the groove of things easier. Sorta neat though how everyone there who remembers me from before is happy to have me back. Quite nice really.

So apparently my cousin is moving in for half a month or something. Don't know when she is arriving though or exactly how long she will stay so its sorta up in the air. Well my sister will be happy to have her around. The two always were decently close.

Last week as I mentioned over my birthday I was sick with a cold. Now of course I have passed the disease on to my parents. Seems its hitting them harder then it did me. Ahh well nothing I can do but help out around the house a little more while they recover.

Argghhh!

2007-05-12T17:45:48Z

So short little blurb here. I am sickly! Nose and coughing and those typical ailments. Still the little party I had yesterday for my birthday went well. Yes I know my birthday is on Sunday this year but still we had a good time friday. Played some cards, ate delicious food, watched anime, drank and hung out. If I was feeling better would have made it perfect but alas not always are things meant to be like that.

KITTENS!

2007-05-07T06:43:26Z

www.caturday.ca

Hey, for the rest of you does my little userpic work now?

Pictures!

2007-05-01T18:21:53Z

Bah and humbug...anyone know a way I can just shrink an image? What program I would use or the like to get it down to the 100x100 pixel limit on userpics?

Surprisingly awake...

2007-04-29T02:28:21Z

Given I am running on about 3 and a half hours sleep. Bought myself some tasty Grolsh beer for the festivities tonight. Work went fine. Ended up playing some Bust A Move on the Wii. The moving of boxes and furniture went fine though I am saddened I missed out on the beer and pizza in the afternoon. In pleasent news I both passed all my classes this term(though my Optics mark was a little low) and paid off my visa bill thanks my tax refund. Giving a little thought to dabbling in the LotR MMO but we will see.

Summer classes will be starting up soon and I have decided to let go of my time in retail and return to the higher paying position of cooking at a restaurant. I know I can come back at raise to my old place but I might look around a bit first. I think if there is nothing on the hook by Wednesday I will just go back to the bird.

Its just been another school year really. Nothing special or mind blowing. I need to focus more on my schoolwork so I can pass my classes without needing to take them a second time but I have known that for a while...just not been able to do it. This year though come September I will have to get student loans to start to cover my classes. I dont know...this should get to me more but all in all I just feel very ho hum about everything.

What does bring some joy to my week is of course my Sunday Exalted game which goes quite well. Might have to get a RL one going too.

Friends help you move...

2007-04-28T18:57:11Z

and good friends help you move bodies. You know I think they have it backwards. Bodies are far easier to move around then normal moving. Lets see...4 hours sleep check. 5 hours moving furniture and boxes check. 6 hours of work still to come and then a housewarming party for other people after. I am going to be a zombie tonight.

Cops and guns and my aunt oh my!

2007-03-30T18:21:25Z

So on Tuesday my life got that little bit more exciting and I got to experience a few things I never had before. Around 5pm I was relaxing at home at my computer when I get a phone call. Unsuspecting fool that I was I answer it. Its a police constable and he wants me to come to my front door. Not really sure whats going on I do. Guess what is outside waiting for me. In my neighbours yard to the left using the corner of the house as a bit of cover is a police officer with a hand gun aimed at me. Across the street there are a pair of officers with what look like rifles aimed at me while using cars and trees as cover.

I am instructed to put my hands up. Make no sudden moves and do as I am told. Put the phone down. I walk from my house to the other neighbours house where there are another two police officers watching me. I must go down to my knees, cross my ankles and they handcuff my hands behind me and place me in the back of a police van. It was one of those all metal backs of the vehicle instead of just the back seat of a patrol car.

So I sit around in there for 10 minutes I suppose before they let me out and go and explain what had happened. Apparently my aunt had been talking with a bank and threatened to shoot herself and others. The bank then called the police as they take this sort of thing seriously. The police then came to my house to deal with the situation. They had taken my aunt to the hospital for a psyche evaluation and gave me a number I could call about all this.

Well they ended up just taking my aunt to the police station to sit in the drunk tank for a while. Gasp. My alcoholic aunt was drinking surprise surprise. Oh and the next day as my mother and her are talking I hear her flat out say she needs to drink to deal with stress. She knows exactly what her problem is and has no interest in stopping it. Then I hear her 'version' of what happened. She wasn't talking with the bank but her addiction specialist. She didn't mention guns but instead mentioned she would jump off a cliff. Oh and the police when they took her to the station made her stand around on cold cement with no socks and now she has a chill. Ignoring the fact she has been cold constantly since she got here for god knows why.

Anyways...crazy aunt...crazy times.

An Aunt Rant

2007-03-16T21:10:52Z

Normally I dont like to go on about family affairs but this is something I just have to vent about a little. About 2 weeks ago one of the aunts on my mother's side moved in with us for a month. The reason for this is that my aunt has depression, is an alcoholic, smoking and has other health issues and of course my mother has a strong bond to her sister and wants to help. I can well understand that.

I and my father however do not have such a link. The rest of our family has always been a ways away and we only see them for maybe a week every year or two. Nothing special so we really aren't all that close to them. So this means that having my aunt living with us really gets on our nerves far more then it does with my mother. So now I am just gonna rant about the things that are bugging me to let off some steam.

First of all she smokes. Now then she knows she isn't allowed to smoke indoors because we are a non-smoking family but every day I come home from classes I smell that lingering scent in the air. Second of all she mumbles. This wouldn't be so bad but she doesn't talk loudly either. That combined with a tendancy to walk away from you when you talk and then her getting angry at you when you dont understand what she is saying or miss something....grr. She is a 'recovering' alcoholic and of course shouldn't be drinking. That said my dad has found a bag in the back yard with booze bottles in it so she is clearly sneaking drinks while we are not at home. She does weird mindless things almost as if to just try to anger us. She doesn't turn off the tv no she unplugs it and then acts like any tv where you need to reset its internal clocks and such after unplugging it isn't worth owning and its our fault that we have to update these things. If something is going wrong and you do not take up a completely behind her position its cause you clearly think she is stupid and dumb and she will most clearly tell you what you think of her. If I am in my room with the door closed she will just wander by and open it and look into me. No knock, no can I come in just opens and looks. When I ask if she needs anything she just says no and wanders off. Everything bad or any spot of trouble she comes upon has nothing to do with her, or her seeming inability to even try to make an effort to do things, but on the government or companies or half a dozen other things. This one day she said she had been unable to get through to this company for 3 hours. So I called them for her. 2 rins and someone answered simple as that. Uuuuurgh! Sigh...anyways...

Rant done!

New Shirts!

2007-03-09T21:50:18Z

Allright it is that time at university where the physics and astronomy department make shirts. I think I am going to get one but I have to settle on what I want on the back. Warning, this is nerdy.

1. F=m(eh?)
2. uFn makes me hot. (Supposed to be in the form of mu not u, and the Force normal for Fn)
3. lim GPA->0 B.Sc = B.A.

I think number three is just a little too arrogant and insulting for it myself. What do you out there think?