Trick (to Drinking) or Treat(ment)

Saturday.

Tonight is the night of not only my friend's halloween kegger!!!

I arrived in Guelph the night before the actual party and bunked up with my cousin N. There wasn't much to do that night so we ended up playing computer games until early in the morning.

Saturday morning rolled around and we both woke up around noon. I was expecting to go downtown to shop with my cousin Pisa, but due to inconvenient bus times, we decided to stick to shopping in Guelph on Sunday. N and I didn't really have any costumes to attend the kegger in, so we hit up the mall anyways. The mall was extremely packed and there were no creative costumes left. We both decided we wouldn't dress up as we expected a lot of people were not going to (We were wrong).

Since the party was not going to start until 8, N and I made dinner; Spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread. It seemed to be a fitting pre-drinking meal as the carbs would help settle the alcohol. The meal turned out well, but we made way too much. As soon as it was 8, I hit up Rhombus to see when they would be leaving for the party. Mire, Chewbecca, and C were arriving at the kegger for 8:30. I thought this to be a little early, but afraid we wouldn't be able to find them after, N and I left around the same time.

We walked into the house and paid our 10 dollars. The girls put a number on my hand and gave me a classic red beer cup. I quickly found Rhombus as there weren't too many people at that point and grabbed a quick cup of beer. The first swig was not very satisfying as the beer tasted more like water with a strange aftertaste.

I chatted with my friends for a bit until the party started to pick up. We ended up playing flip cup for a while with my team winning about half the time. I surprisingly got better as the games went on while my teammate next to me deteriorated. N chose not to participate in flip cup, rather he headed for the beer pong table. The most surprisngly game was between Chewbecca's boyfriend, Gib, and N vs. Yoshi and Luigi. N and Gib were down by 5 cups with only one left. Somehow, they pulled through plopping in two cups per round. They ended up winning the whole game to everyone's surprise!!!

As the night went on, more beer was ingested and more people showed up. At one point, over 90 people were crammed in that small house. The police even showed up to do noise checks.

Around, 11, Gib got really sick as he drank too much too fast. Chewbecca went to take care of him and fifteen minutes later, I became concerned. Gib was throwing up constantly and definitely not feeling well. We tried to comfort him as he spewed liquid over the porch. We all decided we should get him home even if it cut our night short.

We called for a taxi and literally, after the 90th time we called, we got through. The company was Red Top taxi as no one knew of any other companies in the area. The taxi arrived only for it to be stolen by two guys who bribed the driver with a hefty tip. I was a little outraged as our friend was basically at the point of passing out and these two guys decided they "needed" to get to another party. For all my readers, I recommend not using Red Top Taxi while you're in Guelph because unless you have extra cash to bride the drivers, it'll probably be stolen.

Rhombus ended up taking the bus that was absolutely stuffed. I understood what it meant to be packed like sardines when the bus passed by.

Overall, the night was great although short.

I wish I could have played a few more rounds of flip cup.

Poking Doesn't Only Happen on Facebook

Sunday.

I was planning on growing out my hair just to see what I would look like. However, my hair is rather course and straight and so as it grows, it becomes much like pins poking at my ears and the back of my neck. Thus, I decided to get it cut yesterday at Volum. As some of you may remember, I had visited them once before getting my faux hawk with complaints of blunt cutting. In any case, I was desperate for a cut and so I awoke at 9:30 a.m. and got ready. I left the house roughly at 10:30 and ended up walking to the mall. It took me almost 40 minutes, but I wasn't in an incredible rush.

Once in the mall, I expected the shops to open at 11:30. I was sadly mistaken and waited an additional half hour. To make things worse, Volum already had some customers and it would be another hour before I would be able to get in. I agreed to wait and ended up perusing the mall, although to no avail. At 1, I walked in for my "appointment" and it was off to the races.

My hair was being cut by one of the younger looking stylists. I wasn't especially nervous as I knew exactly what I wanted. I gave her directions and she asked for clarification. She even knew that I wanted a jagged cut rather than the blunt chops the older stylists love doing.

The overall product wasn't bad and I'm glad that the poking sensation is gone.

Too bad it's getting chilly here and now I don't have hair to cover my ears.

CD Review: Lungs by Florence and the Machine

Hello again!

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but nothing especially interesting has happened as of late. However, during my absence, I did discover the CD Lungs by Florence and the Machine.

Its musical complexity is treat for those pop listening who wish to dip their toes into some more indie based music. Florence Welch's voice is no backdrop to the entrancing music, but adds a nice dimension to the songs. I highly recommend checking out this CD as I am confident you won't be disappointed!

Overall Rating:

3.75/5

Sausagefest

Friday.

Spiderman and I decided to go shopping. We headed over to Fairview Park Mall using the 7B which took forever. Once there, we grabbed lunch. I was craving Greek so I opted for Opa!'s platter. It was a lot of food and quite salty, but really good.

After lunch, Spiderman and I decided to check out some of the stores. We didn't find much and neither of us ended up buying anything for ourselves. We took the iXpress to campus and ended up walking back for fear of another hauntingly long trip aboard the 7.

Saturday.

Today, Lapin is visiting! After seeing her all summer, I was really beginning to miss her company in Waterloo, although Spiderman did help to fill the void. She was to arrive around noon and so I woke up at 9 hoping to do a little cleaning beforehand.

Once she was here, JAM decided to head out for lunch. We headed towards Conestoga Mall because we were going to catch the 3:50 showing of the Social Network just before heading to Oktoberfest. No one could really decide what they wanted to eat, so we opted for Spring Rolls, our default option. I recalled they had their dim sum menu on weekends which seemed to intrigue Spiderman and Lapin. We ended up ordering a few dim sum dishes along with pad thai which was extremely pretty. Sadly, we all forgot to take pictures.

We finished lunch around 3 leaving us with roughly an hour before our movie. Afraid it was going to be sold out, we bought our tickets before exploring the rest of the mall. Seeing as most of the mall was pretty common, we left early in search of seats in the theatre all the while wondering why we left in the first place. Overall, the movie was surprisingly good. It left us in a sort of angry state due to Mark Zuckerberg's portrayal. Either way, we ended up rushing back to my place to meet up the housemates before heading to Oktoberfest.

We arrived a little late finding none of my housemates there. I gave them a call and they were already aboard the bus with ALL the tickets and a message telling us to meet them there. Sadly, none of us knew where "there" was, so we ventured off. We made it just in time to meet the cut off at 8 after being led through some shotty directions. I'm not sure if it was "lucky" per se as it was being held in a tent. Yes, a tent.

There was a band that played some "German" music. Overall they were decent however, I'm almost sure they replayed some of their earlier songs when we arrived. I'm sure some people we too drunk to notice, but not I. Seeing as it was Oktoberfest, we were excited to sample some German food. We headed out back because as stated earlier, it was a tent, to a vendor that was selling sausages and schnitzel. JAM ordered a sausage each and a large fries to share. We were extremely hungry and dug in once they came out. Sadly, our first bite gave away the secret behind the vendors. They used sausages purchased out of a grocery store. There was no authenticity in the meal which left us with a bitter taste in our mouth. Pun intended.

After our meal, we decided to see if the beer was any better as the Kitchener Oktoberfest is popular for it's crazy drinking parties among students. For the third time, Oktoberfest let us down. The beer was Molsen; hardly german in any manner. Lapin and Spiderman shared half a cup while I finished the rest.

I suppose the highlight of the night was when the MC of the event pointed me out for not standing during some sort of drinking cheer. He "let me off" saying it was because I probably didn't speak English. Also, he called my hat funny. A little embarrassed and slightly outraged, JAM left early spending a total time of one hour at Oktoberfest.

We caught the bus back and headed towards Spiderman's place to hang out a bit. We talked about things that I usually never talk about. It was sort of awkward and I really didn't know what to say. Around 11:30, we all headed over to my place, including Spiderman, because he needed a place to study free of his annoying next door neighbour.

We ordered pizza and chatted for a while. Lapin and I watched I Love You, Man while Spiderman studied. After the movie was done, we tried to fall asleep, but ended up talking more until finally, we drifted off. Three hours later, we awoke and began chatting again. Lapin had to catch her bus at 9, so we walked her over.

After dropping her off, Spiderman and I went back to sleep.

Not together of course.

CD Review: Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) - Bruno Mars

I am currently addicted to Bruno Mars' new CD: Doo-Wops & Hooligans.

The various musical stylings of funk, blues, reggae, etc. have kept me tuned in and constantly listening. Although this eclectic selection of styles seems random, the unifying element is his voice. It's smooth enough for easy listening, but has just a smidgeon of grit to offset the sometimes gentle tones of his songs. Not only are the melodies catchy, but the lyrics are very down to earth and at times leave me with a grin on my face.

Overall, I believe music listeners will enjoy Doo-Wops & Hooligans as a whole.

Overall Rating:

3.75/5

Round I: Matt-1 ; Waterloo-0

I am finally done my first set of midterms!!!

I am happy to inform everyone that they all went decently well with the exception of my last one. To celebrate, I believe I'll be going shopping tomorrow. Hopefully, I can pick up some new clothes as my outfits have been worn to death.

Happy to be done and awaiting the next ones to come.

Mid(break)terms

Sorry for not posting. Midterms have been pretty hectic lately and my lack of studying doesn't make me feel any better when I attempt to write them.

I have a midterm I should be studying for, but I decided to take a break from cramming in amino acid structures to tell you a little bit of what has been happening lately.

This past weekend was the Thanksgiving long weekend. Sadly, there was no turkey being eaten as my cousin's had a joint birthday party. As usual, chinese food was served.

On saturday morning, I met up with Rhombus for brunch at Coras. I ordered their eggs Ben et Dictine with asparagus. It was quite delicious and filling. The asparagus was a little stringy, but other than that, it was a enjoyable meal. Feeling as though our hang out time wasn't long enough, we all decided to head over to our local mall. We perused the stores for a while, but I could not find anything. I suppose my shopping will have to wait till after exams when I can explore downtown.

Monday was dedicated to studying for the midterm I have today. However, I did have time to sneak in two movies and two episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I watched Frozen which proved to be more gruesome than I wanted and MacGruber which left me a little disappointed.

Anyways, that's basically what happened last weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed their break and isn't feeling a "turkey hangover" today.

Midterm Jitters

Monday.

First midterm of Fall '10. Seeing as almost no studying was accomplished this weekend, I opted for staying up late and cramming in what I could. Seeing as this late night cram session cut into my bedtime, I didn't feel I could make it to my morning class. I slept till about 9 and was up and hitting the books. I actually finished the material by 2:30, two hours before the actual exam. I took this time to relax a bit and started playing some tunes on my saxophone. I hate to admit it, but I was extremely rusty and glad that my housemates didn't complain.

I left for school around 3:15 so I could get a seat and sneak in a quick review session. My timing was impeccable as the bus arrived just as I did. Things seemed to be looking good. As the test neared, I quickly skimmed over more of my notes until all the major points had been covered. This surprisingly took very little time and I ended up relaxing for about twenty minutes. At the 5 minute mark before the start of the test, my heart began to race. It seems I also was a little out of practice for writing exams. When all the tests were handed out, I began scribbling down my answers onto the scantron card.

The test turned out to be quite simple despite the amount of time I spent studying. I finished in 45 minutes although we were allotted 1.5 hours. With the dawning of a successful exam, my stomach began to ache and growl. I quickly scribbled down the answers that I passed over while going through it the first time and handed it in. I'm almost sure that the girl writing next to me was relieved that she wouldn't have to suffer and be distracted by my stomach noises.

To celebrate this victory, I headed over to Grab-a-Greek and got a chicken gyro. With the burden of the first midterm off my shoulders, I decided to walk home. Once there, I popped open a can of Frutopia and chowed down.

Sweet satisfaction.

Hitch Hiking to an Early Thanksgiving

I left Friday night after my lab for home. I picked up some hitch hikers (i.e. Spiderman and Sanyo) on the way back. We ended up getting dinner in Markham at Sushi on 7. The food was pretty good and we definitely had our share. Afraid of what might occur due to my lactose intolerance, I eased up on the ice cream. After dinner, I dropped off the two passengers and headed home with my Brother Bee.

We ended up doing nothing that night and just went to bed.

Saturday.

I woke up rather late compared to my normal school routine. I lounged around a bit until Sanyo called asking if I was free to chill. He came over soon after and we hung out. Around 2, I needed to get groceries for the dinner I was making for my brothers. Sanyo agreed to come with me and so we headed off to Sobeys.

The dinner tonight consisted of:

Turkey Pauplettes with a Cognac sauce atop a squash puree and brussel sprouts.

For dessert, a double layered pumpkin cheesecake.

Everything turned out really well with the exception of the sprouts. It was my first time cooking them so I wasn't positive about the best way to go about it. Either way, turkey dinner was a success.

Can't wait for the real thing!