I don't have much to say about my grandmother. My memories are fairly fragmented, can't really picture her that well. I know that she used to carry me around a lot, wrapped tightly to her back. I remember her curly hair and her fondness for sweets. She never really had a good grip of English and I can't recall ever having a real conversation with her. We buried her Saturday morning, a grey overcast day with a light rain. I hadn't expected to cry but I did, when I heard my aunt praying for her through her sobs. It was nice to see all the family together, a rare occasion by any measure.

I went and bought that Plants Vs Zombies game and it was a fun 10 hours or so. I enjoyed the demo and the full game did not disappoint. I guess it falls into that tower-defence genre of games, where you place units to prevent the enemy from reaching its goal. I pretty much like every aspect of the game except the clicking part --- there's so much of it! What is up with casual games that require such intense mouse-work? I guess the good thing about that is that it prevented me from playing for hours on end (though I wanted to) because of all the clicking. Actually, that's not entirely true (the preventing part, as well as the frequency of clicking), but it does get tiresome.

I was thinking, you know, the internet has really opened up to allowing strangers to write their thoughts alongside the author's. And this, for the most part, sucks. Not only because strangers who suddenly find themselves invisible become assholes but also because everyone wants to correct people. Or provide an opinion. Or agree. What is this compulsion to want to add to the discussion or give kudos? Is this some kind of deep instinct that helps verify that we are alive, or maybe it satisfies some social trigger when faced with another person's thoughts? I suspect that this same behavior is also tied to the sharing of links and photos, a desire to spread an experience to others. An evolutionary trait we have to share things we feel are worth remembering or seeing, like how primitive people would recognize foods that would make you get sick. Is this built-in, or have we learned it?

Not that I'm asking people to comment less, if that were even possible.

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Summer's here, somewhere. I actually haven't much to mention. Time, it goes by and there it goes. Went to a couple shows (saw The Balconies, The Reason, Sunrisers), played some go, participated in the Ride for Heart, tried a friend's recumbent bicycle.

Oh, the Ride for Heart was good. My friend and I raced for much of it, finishing the 50 km in just a bit over 2 hours, with a short break between and some easy riding in the first 12 km. I enjoy going fast and blowing by other cyclists, and this is really the only time/place I can do so without feeling guilty about being a hothead. See ya later, sluggards! We went for pho afterwards, a filling meal on Spadina.

I've also played a couple hours of Rock Band, that pleasure of getting to know a song without needing to learn guitar. Foo Fighter's Everlong (love that video!) and Jimmy Eat World's The Middle being, I think, my favourites to play.

Ok, I'll try to do some work now. Catch you peeps later!

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Blargh, i guess the reach of my laziness know no bounds. Since my last post I attended Toronto The Good and finished my bicycle maintenance course. Am reading up on condos, haven't actually looked at anything yet. Did some volunteer training for ooch, my stint is coming up in July. Hmm yeah, basically, not doing any productive work (which I consider to be 2profiles and hwan.com) and spending a whole heck of a lot of time goofing around.

Not 100% true of course. My bicycle has received some much needed care and is riding fairly smoothly. I did manage to get yet another flat. One more and I'll replace the tire, which apparently is a cheap piece of rubber not too far removed from garbage. I straightened up the head piece, finding the quill to be quite the rusty hunk of metal. Bottom bracket axle needs changing. Replaced the brakes with a set that are hardly any better. Cleaned and regreased the rear axle.

Ok, but seriously now, why is there so much road construction and what exactly are they doing? It really does seem that they're just making the streets worse for cyclists.

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I've been wondering what to do with hwan.com, it being somewhat boring and tiresome to update. Do people even visit anymore? Well, whether they do or no, I'm going to give the site another facelift. Time to rise anew, my Frankenblog! I spent some of today tinkering with a JavaScript function that returns a calendar month in an HTML table, taking the year, month, and an array of values representing days that require links. A fun exercise. Next, I'm going to FINALLY build some utility classes/functions for handling the hwan.com entries. The current page code, while neat, is quite broken and a pain to use.

Things that have been going on? A lot of StarCraft, bicycle classes. Some reading done, some exercise. Very little socializing or shopping. Thinking about buying a place has made me rueful about my improvident spending habits. I wish there was an easy way to get a home.

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The Sarah Silverman Dreamme. I was walking home and fiddling with my iPhone when it slipped out of my hands and bounced into a storm grate. Scrambling on the floor I tried in vain to squeeze an arm through. I continued home distraught when I ran into Sarah Silverman. I don't actually recall sleeping with her but it may have happened, I'm not sure. There was another girl in the dream, in another setting, unnamed and faceless now, a sidenote in my imagination. I do remember coming back the next day to the grate and prying it open. I lowered myself gingerly into the water and lifted my iPhone out of the water, shaking off the excess water. I don't look at it, for fear of what I might see. I've grown rather accustomed to it. Outside of the iPod functionality I primarily use it for its WiFi though I have been more active with taking pictures and posting them to twitter.

Speaking of which, I'm finding it very difficult to come up with material for hwan.com these days. It's just that there's not much to talk about, especially since I'm already diluting all Hwan-related news on either twitter or facebook. Or even tumblr. Well let's see. I got accepted to volunteer as a counsellor to Camp Oochigeas, which was surprising. I do worry that they accepted me only because they need more males at the camp. Being accepted also means filling out a bunch of paperwork and getting my Bronze Cross and First Aid certification. I haven't swam since.. uh, my trip to Florida? Is that right? Ughhhhhhh. Oh well, drowning isn't such an indignant way to die, is it?

Figures -- the first Jay game I watch this season has them down 10-2. Make that 11-2, Kansas City.

OH right.. I have begun the (mental) process of buying a home. Condo or house? Haven't decided. I have a little bit of money saved up and everyone seems to think I should get something. Ideally a condo close to downtown and walking distance groceries. A house would be nice but I doubt that I could find anything nice and in my price range. But yeah, I'm aiming for downtown or around that area, with where I am now (Roncesvalles) being at the far edge of my perimeter.

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2009/06/22 QYV That is why I tend to lurk. Crap.
2009/06/22 Michelle I agree with your last (big) paragraph, and i think we've learned it. I'm sorry about your grandmother - as someone who loves to strap a baby on my back, she sounds like she was a lovely woman. I downloaded P v Z a while ago but havent played it yet. Maybe i will do that now
2009/06/22 Growli I disagree with both the author of this webjo, and with dangerman.
2009/06/22 dangerman You wanna know what I think? i think you need to write more entries if you want more people to comment!
2009/04/29 Michelle Funnily enough, Christoph actually DID drop his phone into the river yesterday.
2009/05/17 Michelle I visit, diligently, and am always pleased when you've posted.
2009/04/29 girl Post your new home candidates! I'd really like to see what's on the market these days in Toronto...
2009/04/29 growli girl: i love the fact that Hwan died in your dream, but your concern was getting into cc.com! You probably just had an expired cookie file lol.
2009/04/29 Hwan This really brightened up my day, and I'm sincere about that. Also, I can totally see all of this happening.
2009/04/29 girl I had a dream that I was accidentally implicated in your death and that growli was mad at me and blocked me from his blog. After a phone conversation, it turns out he wasn't mad after all, he just didn't trust me to post wisely. Oh and the manner of death? Chasing a soccer ball off a spectator stand and plunging to the field below. I happened to kick a soccer ball in the vicinity of your head at the time, thus the murder implication. Complete coincidence, I swear!