OK. After one of the most truly horrible months I've ever experienced, I'm going to blow the dust off of the soup dish, and try to serve tasty cups of soup to the world around me once again.

I am peaceful, I am pleasant, and I am a gentleman. I will let neither hardship, nor misunderstanding, nor mistreatment get the best of me.

There are several obstacles to clear in the new future. First and foremost, I have five exams in the upcoming two weeks, and those will require my full attention. Secondly, I have a year's worth of housing to find -- Montreal for the summer, and Waterloo for the fall and winter.

Wish me luck.

I wholeheartedly agree when people say that this term was two weeks too long. Fourteen days left; then it's home sweet home for some good catch up time with The Crew in Mississauga before I take off to brave the anglo-francophonics of Montreal.

But, until then, my nose must be stuck in the books. Of course, that requires the motivation to keep it there... where's the crazy glue?

The new "Rant":

Here's to you Canada

Here's to your hockey hair
Your long underwear
And multi-coloured money

Here's to saying please
Your ducks and geese
And to always being funny

Here's to your open spaces
Away from rat races
And a beer that quenches the thirst

Here's to being proud
And saying it out loud
Even when you don't get first

Here's to your pretty girls
Your black-coloured squirrels
And a flag that stands so free

Here's to different races
From different places
Who love this country -- like me

But most of all
Here's to standing tall
And saying it like a true Acadian

I love this land
I love this country
And I am Canadian

Cheers!

I like it. More "we are cool", rather than "we are not them". Quite good.

Exam #1 is now done. After looking at previous terms' exams, I was really worried about how difficult this one would be. Turns out, it was so easy it was almost silly. Those who took it last term would be insanely jealous. Of course, they'll probably knock off a lot of marks for forgetting to underline a word in a diagram, or something silly like that.

To add to the fun, we got our major project returned... Perfecto; 20% of our final grade (plus 2% bonus for being a week early). Very nice. I could be looking at a 90 in this course...

Yesterday was the first good day in a month. Once I move back home, I'll be looking for some more...

Exam #2 is tonight. This one will probably not go as well...

Two exams down, three to go. Today's was OK; a fair exam. That's a relief considering I had to learn the second half of the course in the past couple of days. My next exam should be the hardest one, and the one after that is one for which I have to learn the entire course in three days. No problem!

I find it very amusing that, if the NHL's standings stay as they are right now early Sunday morning, then the playoff matchups will be exactly the same as last year, except for two teams - one in each conference - that didn't make the playoffs last year. Tor-Ott, Buf-Phi, Was-Pit, StL-SJ, Det-LA, Dal-Edm. Very weird.

A while ago, some friends and I were talking about campus student associations, and their purpose. In particular, the Chinese Students Assocation (CSA). It's generally agreed that student associations are meant to provide students with a medium to meet people with common backgrounds or interests. So, what is the point of the CSA? Is it difficult to meet Chinese people in the math faculty at the University of Waterloo? I think not.

Student associations are meant as an opportunity for minorities to gather and meet. That prompted the concepts of several possible student groups: the Tall People Students Assocation (TPSA), for those over 6'2"; the Average Students Association (ASA), for those of average height, average complexion, average intellect (for UW), and average alcohol tolerance; and for a distinct minority here in Math, the Caucasian Students Association (CaucSA).

CaucSA would be a very useful organisation, as it would act as a medium for Caucasians, such as myself, to meet other Caucasians in Math. The problem with this idea is the tendency for people to put a large "RACIST" stamp on such groups. We promote Black pride, ethnic pride, faculty pride, etc., but what's wrong with White pride?

A very touchy issue indeed, but we think we found a solution to let us form CaucSA. The man with the plan, who conjured up the concept of CaucSA, is our friend Kenny. Kenny, it should be known, is Chinese. A white students assocation headed by an Asian. Where's the racism in that?

Three exams down, two to go. The infamous OS is now over. That course, whose shadow of doubt and fear has been cast upon us since we were wee frosh, has been conquered.

The time has come. On this eve, the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup begins.

No annual tournament in sports is so arduous, so passionate, and so grueling, for a prize so historic, so honoured, and so treasured. 16 wins seperates one of these 16 teams from hockey's Holy Grail, and from realizing a childhood dream shared by millions of people across the country.

Exam #4 done. You know, when everyone says that a certain course is supposed to be a bird, it makes you feel really bad when you don't do well on the exam. Well, I suppose it serves me right for totally ignoring it all term.

Finally, I'm moving out today. Back to Mississauga for me, and away from this place. Good riddance.

Happy Easter everyone! Rejoice, and God bless...

Oh joy of joys!! Cujo is king! 120 minutes of shutout hockey (and if you include the end of last year's series, it's 166 minutes 50 seconds), and my beloved Maple Leafs have a 2-0 lead in the series! I can just see the smoke screaming out of the ears of Senators fans, and that just makes me laugh...

A nice quote from the Maple Leafs' website:
"If you look in the Maple Leafs media guide, Joseph is listed with a height of 5-11 and a weight of 190 pounds, but he might as well be 4 feet high and 6 feet wide, and made of solid brick for all the luck that the Senators have had putting one past him."

223 minutes, 41 seconds
That's how long Curtis Joseph and the Maple Leafs' defensive core kept the Senators off of the scoreboard in the playoffs, as the Leafs took a 3-0 series lead in the Battle of Ontario.

<Standing ovation>

It's finally over! My last exam is written and done, and I can finally do away with this most horrible of horrible terms.

Four words: BUILT FOR THE PLAYOFFS!

Last night, the Leafs, in much glory, ousted the second-seeded Senators in humiliating fashion, sweeping them in four straight games, and holding them to a series total of 3 goals.

Kudos go out to Cujo, who mutated into a giant brick wall during the series, the entire defensive core for blocking just as many shots as Cujo, Corson for following around Yashin with a giant fly-swatter, and the offensive core for getting those shots past Lalime and putting the pressure on the Senators to shut them down entirely.

Bring on New Jersey! It's time for some revenge...

I told Nick that if the Leafs won, I would just laugh, so: "Ha ha!"

Up and running once again. Enjoying some time off before I ship out east. Ever notice that the more time you have on your hands, the less you get done? Last work term I finished the first assignment of my distance course before the course even began. This term, all the cassettes are still sitting snugly in their box.

Most people have heard of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" and it's cult following. My first exposure to the story was through the text adventure video game for the Commodore 64. I just discovered that you can play this classic online. Oh, the nostalgia. It took me two years of playing (off and on) to figure out how to get that babel fish...