I've had a request to write about the actual rowing itself. Perhaps it is to be expected... after all, I DID mention it, just didn't write about it. The problem is, I was expecting Graham, Rob AND Derek to write about it... So I wrote about my own, personal experiance. But I've had a request... And this, I cannot refuse.

So my day begins with the phone ringing. It's Derek, wondering if we're awake. It's 8:30. He says he'll come by to pick us up at 9:30.

Okay, lazy morning... and Derek comes by, we drive, we get there... It's gusty, and we're a little worried about that, but we feel like it will be fine.

Then, our boat and oars dissapear. We have no clue where they are. Did some other rowers take them? And why ours? Rob is frantic. As it turns out, they were sitting on and by the trailer the entire time... good one Rob.

So, as we're taking our boat down to the water, a particularly strong gust knocks a boat off it's seat. And then it rolled a bit. It was loud and hurt my conscience.

Nobody else really seemed to care... despite the fact that they tell us that simply stepping in the wrong place could put a hole in the hull of the boat.

Goddamn them and their propaganda.

So anyways, then we have no coxwayn (not sure if that's the right spelling, so from now on I'll just call it the cox [hehe cox]) 'cause he's out with some other boat on the water. And he also has the sound system we're supposed to use... So we have to do a mid-water maneuver so that we can get it from him. So that was tough.

Anyways.

It's 5 kilometers out to the starting line. And we're late, so we can't really relax on the way there. So we're rowing at a constant, slow pace... and before I can even begin to think about how long it is, we're there. But the race is rather disorganised, so although we were late, so were some other rowers... so all in all, we waited more than a few minutes.

And goddamnit, it was COLD! And the wind didn't help. Nor did the long minute's wait. Nor did the fact that contrary to normalcy, the water was ALSO cold. Roar.

But then we got started. We were among the first called... and boy did we go! Those minutes in the cold meant nothing once we got started. We were warmed up in a flash, and the rest did us well: we did a quick sprint to set up a good race pace, and boy did we. We were screaming along!

Also, our form wasn't that bad either... we had pretty good timing, good hand heights, and pretty good power too.

This is in the first four thousand meters.

And then it started to get a little rough... literally. The last five hundred to one thousand meters were really choppy, because of the wind. Also, we were getting tired. At least, I was.

That's where we fell apart. Or at least, I did. I was having trouble... hitting the water with my oars at almost every stroke (though that might have just been the waves) and not getting as much power (though I HAD already rowed 9k just in the last hour).

That's not to say that we didn't do well. The first 4/5ths of the race gave us a distinct advantage: we did better than we expected. We passed the racers in the boat ahead of us, and caught up to another boat. But then we were caught up to by another boat that was right behind us, in our race. They really caught up in the last thousand, and eventually passed us. Damn Kingston. Anyways, they beat us for sure. But we may have come in second... And that would be pretty cool, 'cause we were expecting last or something. Of course... there were only 3 in our category...

And then I had a hamburger with more pickles, saurkraut than beef. And it was good.

So all in all, it was a good day.

Bad days for jumping...

I should just stop trying. So... first, yesterday. Melville along the park is all dug up, but the drainage bits, like sewage pipes, etc. So Derek says that it would be pretty cool if I could jump from one to the other, all the way accross the road... unfortuately, the first two were... seven or eight feet apart? I'm not too sure about the distances, but that seems about right, I think.

So anyways, I line myself up on the end of the first, and jump as far as I can. I do, in fact, make it. That's not the problem... Just that before that jump, it had been raining... which means that my feet slipped right out from underneath me...

And I fell over and hit the small of my back on the rim.

Next, today. I was in Ottawa, standing by the trailer... the side of which is about a meter up. And I decide that it could be fun to jump up... well, the ground was wet, so when I jumped up, and made it... but once again, slipped. Well, once more, my feet slipped forward, which meant that my body fell backwards... and down, more than a meter, to the ground, where I landed flat on my back. I think I hit my head too.

Cause it hurt after that. But I'm alright now... The back thing was never bad at all, and my head's alright.

So that was fun.

The French teacher is ranting again.

This is probably a bad start to the day. Woah... Werbs thinks that David's going out with her daughter... no wait! Her SON! NO WAIT! HER MOTHER! This is terrible.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. That would make me terribly emo and boring. Complaining about french class... it's so clich/e.

What I am here to discuss is that speech that Hamlet made... I think it's really worth learning. I'll copy it down here... hang on.

Alright... Now I'm in histoire. This morning is composed of much to much French.

Okay.

To be or not to be:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Woot. I am DEFINATELY going to memorise that. It's something that at least one member of every group should know... and recount every now and then. That is awesome.

Is that what I came here to tell you about?

No. It's just something that came into my head.

I didn't really come in here with any ideas of what to write about... but shh. I'll just go now, and it's all good.

Spirit day! YAY!

Hurray for private schools with money giving themselves a good ol' pat on the back.

That was fun, wasn't it. First they invite people who they've donated money to, to come and THANK us? Then we applaud... them? Those who we donated to? For thanking US? Well that's not conceited...

THEN, we get Bob Gainy to come and tell us about all sorts of congradulatory things... And he was actually a pretty good speaker... except that all his stories had to do with hockey, but that's just a fact of his life. BUT. Then, he gets a standing ovation. Why? 'Cause he's the coach of the Canadiens? That's just stupid. Although, I have to admit that he was a really good public speaker. He answered questions really really well... with no hesitation or anything. It was pretty impressive.

And then the Spirit day itself.

Well that was actually very fun... I was in controll of the food consumption... sort of. Cause I distributed the food slips. Like in the Great Depression. Hehe... I'm not terrible at all. I didn't take advantage of my position of authority... Hehe. No abuse of power here. And Graham and Cam were the Mascot. So it was fun.

But then Superior Sound came on and the kids started dancing... and then the adults started dancing... and then Chris started dancing... and it was rather traumatic. But it was okay... 'cause after that I just came home and relaxed. A good day, on the whole. But I didn't care much for that standing ovation.

That was really phoney.

Graham was complaining that I wasn't posting in a million years.

And Derek used to refuse to appear in a photo.

And I hadn't seen any Askaninja or Hopeisemo on my laptop yet.

Well, things change.

I'm currently writing a blog. And timing a bottle taking a piss... but that's purely incidental.

And Derek's picture looks like a 50's hardball detective who doesn't play by the rules. 'Cause Derek's cool like that. Or maybe it was an accident. 'Cause we all know that Derek couldn't figure out jack squat, and doesnt have ANY balls, let alone hard ones.

I'm just kidding Derek. You have very nice balls.

I'm just kidding folks, I have no idea what Derek's balls are like.

Only Derek knows about that.

Now. Back on track. The other things that have changed are pretty self explanatory. I have faitn in my readers' intelligence... But rawr.

Now, I'm timing intervals between starting the stopwatch and ending the stopwatch is growing smaller and smaller each time. So no longer is the timing is growing smaller and smaller each time. But then, now we've got this big long interval. "The time is right" I'm bidding 175. It's conservative, but I'm hoping everyone else will go over. There's a lot of strategy involved.

But this is all incidental, as I said. Maybe it's because nobody cares. Maybe it's because the majority if not all of my readers have gone through all this before.

In any case, nobody cares.

Now Histoire.

I'm trying to recall what was said and done in school today.

How 'bout this for one: Lucas told me today that he thought all bloggers were emo and hateful. It made me hurt and feel really bad about myself. So now I'm going to bitch about him. He also said that NOBODY reads blogs. Well, my invisible audience, you and I both know HE's wrong.

That said, (sarcastically, as I hope you all can see) I got counter-gyped in World Issues. Choosing a topic, everyone rushed to the front with their group and country of choice, and all took their place before me in line. My group chose last. My group chose best. I actually like what we got.

Then Derek lapsed into a confused conversation about kharma. And David "uges (me) to believe."

So then I start speaking in latin and Graham gives me wierd looks. But it turns out it was well recieved. To be sure, it was off putting. At it's most triumphant put.

Basically, all this to say good luck, and have a nice Christmas eve.

I just found out what Moderate comments is for.

I think I can go into it and mess around with what you wrote me... And make you seem like fools. Or fix spelling errors.

I'm not an evil sociopath.

Also, and Derek can verify this, Calcium astule + water + ethenol (linked with two disolve wells, and one insoluble) make a pair of very sexual lips.

As I say, Derek can verify this.

What derek cannot verify, is that the blue ball page is awesome. I'd like to be able to link to it... but I don't have the site. Maybe someone can leave a comment with the link. That would be nice.

And in the meantime, Derek is uncultured.

The great chair migration is over.

Well, it's a stool, to be precise, four legs, rather sturdy, and disapeared. It was migrating into the Lucas building... but it must have been vaporised. Or stolen. Or eaten.

Or maybe it completed it's great migration. Maybe it's living in stool paradise in the science labs with all its stool compatriots. Gosh, I hope so.

Good luck, faithful seat!

Ha. I just noticed the "Moderate comments" tab up there. What a laugh. I just thought I'd point that out.

Now, it seems to me that sickness and disease is really starting to lose its edge. Is it just me, or are we facing the end to mankind and not caring? Wasn't one of the four riders of the apocalypse disease? Didn't about half of the plagues pertain somewhat to sickness and general unclenliness?

Diseases like AIDS are things we all know about, we hear about some of the time, but not very often, and all figure are someone else's problem.

And I'm starting to sound like an educational video.

But hear me out. I've been thinking this because I've got a cold, and nobody cares. Nobody cares that I've got a sickness that we have no cure for. That I can give to people just by being in the same room as them.

Admitedly, all it will do is make you sneeze and feel crappy for a bit. But just wait till some other virus figures out how to escape the paralysing spell of antibiotics (wait, i guess that would be microbes, not viruses, but you catch my drift).

Maybe I've been reading too many apocalyptic novels, but I don't really expect to die from old age in the twenty first century.

On a lighter note, the prophecies of Nostradamus didn't come true and we're not all dead. Yet. So perhaps humanity will live on.

Personally, I'm rooting for the humans.

Also, I just felt like revisiting my first bit when I sounded like an educational video... I'd so want to add obesity in there with AIDS... and anorexia, etc. for good measure. But I won't. Because I don't want people to feel bad if they actually ARE obese or anorexic. We wouldn't want them to feel bad or ostracised because their image of the human body is grosly distorted.

Not that there's anything wrong with people with AIDS either. Except that they're diseased.

Just to be politically correct, I'm going to add a disclaimer. Which should be at the top but isn't.

DISCLAIMER:

I, the reader, acknowledge that if I am too lardly for my (pants/door/ring/this song) or can disappear by turning sideways, that I wont hurt or in any way harm Trevor. Not that I could catch up with him/hurt him without breaking my twiggy fingers.

Oh. And AIDSies too. Dont have sex with me.

Lets see if I get any hate mail.

Oh yeah? Well I can post blogs too! I'm cool like that. So, to all those who doubted me... well I dont think anybody ever doubted my ability, though perhaps my will, to blog. Though I think Graham doubted that I would. Or perhaps hoped that I wouldn't... well, IN YO FAICE.

This first post will be a perpetual embarassement and reminder of my immaturity. If I ever get into this at all. Oh well, it's not so bad. Because I decree henceforth that this will not embarass me in the future. Though I'll probably misspell some key word. In that case, I'll just go back and retroactively change it. No worries.

So let's just adress one thing. TO REBECCA: I don't care what you think about blogspot, it will have to do. Because I'm not going on stupid XANGA or whatever.

That said, I like maltballs. I thought about that because I was thinking of the movie Mallrats, which we rented yesterday and didn't see. They have similar names.

One more thing: Poola is spelt with NO aech (h). It's rediculous even to suggest that one belongs there. At the end. It is, will be, and always has been spelt like that. To suggest otherwise is morally wrong.

THAT said, goodbye.

Remember the dodo.