Song of the Day: The Shins - Saint Simon

So I guess I will be in Waterloo for a while. I was second guessing myself for a while there. It's all over now and official. You'll see me out and about in the summer and maybe the Fall somewhere around Waterloo.

My time back home was great. After five long years, I had a chance to meet up with a lot of my old high school friends. Initially, it was a totally weird experience. It's like they've moved on since high school with their wives, mortgages, and down payments and I still worry about what my mom is packing me for lunch. Life is at a impasse for me, while my friends are all moving on. After a couple of hours of poker, I was making progress in winning them back. I'll win them over by the end of the summer. I just want to be one of the guys again. Hello? Is anyone there? Friends? I brought cookies...

I can't type long. These dust balls are moving in for the kill.


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Song of the Day: Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister

I pretty much hate myself for not going to Toronto last Saturday and yeah, I'm still thinking about it. Events like this totally summarizes and exemplifies the existence of "Misadventures" as in the "Misadventures of Hung".

Regret is such a B ...

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Song of the Day: Rainer Maria - Artificial Light

So I went to Toronto Tuesday night to check out the Arcade Fire. I been wanting to see them for a while, since Matt tried to convince me to go, but I had a night class. Anywho, the Montreal octet didn't disappoint and neither did their openers: Wolf Parade and Final Fantasy. Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy and the Arcade Fire is a genious. I thought looping of violins would get tiring, but it totally kept my ears attentitive with his different techniques he would use to orchestrate a sound or mood to a song. Also, who would have thought an indie outfit like Final Fantasy would cover a Mariah Caray's Fantasy and totally pull it off with great sucess?

On a side note, I recognized a trio of U-Dubbers there and one of them was kicked out for sneaking in alcohol or weed (pick your poison). Funny and sad at the same time. I think they were the guys you'd see at the turnkey if I do recall.

Overall, good times I'd say, good times...

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Song of the Day: Boilermaker - Norman

I'm just going through the motions now. I've had several farewell dinner/lunches the past few days. It's like when the girlfriend returns a box full of clothes and old photos. Kind of awkward but no one is fooling themselves because everyone knows what the other is thinking. It hit me pretty hard last night when I suddenly realized that I have no agenda. There's no wind to pick up my sail. Totally not what I expected heading into my last year of undergrad. I was expecting a drunken haze and somehow I'd wake up and I am 18 again, living at home and mom is yelling for you to come down for dinner.

I think many feel ripped off by the education system, but I have much to be thankful for. I don't think I could have asked for anything else. The lasting memories and great friendships I've made throughout these past years will never be forgotten. No matter how high or low, I will forever cherish these times. Maybe I could prolong the magic in grad school when that comes about.

"So where do you see yourself in 5 years?" - The title was adapted from a great bag that has taken permanent hiatus. It's really too bad. Anyways, have you ever remembered a dream? A dream that was so detailed that you could exactly describe the setting and how everything unfolded but the ending was always a blur? Well, what I've always dreamt, ended just now. For the longest time, completion of my undergraduate degree was my ultimate milestone. But what's next? Is everything over now, or even downhill? This dream since grade school has been prophesized. So what next? I can't wait to have a nice sleep and maybe I'll see what is to come of the next five, ten or even twenty years.

Anyways, kegger at my place tonight. I'll post pictures. Cheers.

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Song of the Day: LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My House

I was numb. Numb from too much coffee, too little sleep, and most of all too many good memories. Totally consumed by the past 5 years of thoughts, I was distracted from the task at hand - passing this damn exam. As I write some frivolous pathway about ascorbic acid, I couldn't help but look around. Just a few minutes ago, I could have cared less what anyone else was doing, but I would rather squeeze a fraction of added time to cram. "The 2,5-DKG reductase gene is ...", worthless and irrelevant to me. Everything was in slow motion. You know like everyone just woke up from a year's worth of peaceful slumber. At the same time, flashbacks were flying before my eyes. The time where I spilt coffee on myself, the time where 2 random girls in my frosh year shunned me from engaging in social circle (they also happen to be sitting beside me during the exam), the time where I stopped caring about this exam.

As a couple hours passed and people started handing in their exams. I couldn't help but think as each person files through that exit, they are somewhat leaving. Leaving to study for another exam, leaving for home, leaving for good. A piece of me slowly saunters out the door and out of my life. And for now, I sit here with diagrams of stupid pathways, parts of me are leaving. The girl I never talked to, but I had mad affinities for, the guy with the cool weezer pin on his backpack that I always wanted to talk to, GONE. I am left withered into nothing.

And now it's all over.

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Song of the Day: Alexisonfire - No Transitory

Man, I am going IN-SANE. The DP is driving me up the wall! Seriously, I like the pressures of exams. The actual writing of the exam, not so much, but the days and even weeks of preparation leading the 3 hours of judgment. It shows your determination, heart, grit and drive. All of which helped you get to where you are today. It's truly a time where you can put your social problems aside and focus on the goal of doing the best you can.

Every examination period, I tend to meet new people in the most obscure circumstances. I guess we all need to stop from the cramming once and a while and look at all the studious people surrounding out. This is about the time where I wonder, "Hey, what's that kid's story or hey, what's up with that girl? I'm interested in getting to know her"? I can basically trace most of the people I hang out to meeting in some sort of studying scenario. Some great friends forged in a common setting as studying. I'm totally going to miss the midnight coffee runs, the stick note fights, random smiles from people as they notice the drool on the side of your face from a serious nap session. But who can forget the ever ingrained symbols of eternity scribbled on the desk:

"M.T. + S.S. = forever" or Michael Smith and Tanya Stevens = BFF (we've all seen it)

All the subtle things I'm going to miss. I need to stop reminiscing now. I need to graduate first or else, I won't get the chance to reminisce. As for now, I want to have my own declaration publicly known by everyone:

Hung Vo + U Waterloo = will truly miss.

Anyways, need to study...

By the way, if you read this and are in the KW area on Friday, my roomies and I are having a free kegger. I'd love ot see everyone there. Just haven't had the chance to send out a mass email yet.

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Song of the Day: Montell Jordan - This is How We do It!
T-Minus: 5 Days and countin'

Thanks to Tara, I've found my true inner self. I'm Kip! If I could only find my Lafwanda...


You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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Song of the Day: Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
T-Minus: 6 Days! Ai Ya!

Totally stole this title from a friend on MSN. Studying (or at least trying to) for biotechnology II. It's a totally content course with emphasis on knowing absolutely every detail. The book is really damn good. Just don't know if I can understand all this by Wednesday. There's a lot of recurring themes such as using TI plasmids or binary vector system. Too blahzay about school. The weather is nice, the sun is out, no motivation...

I also drove my roomie to the local Chapters bookstore. When I arrived in the science section, I couldn't believe how many books I want to read. Like I'm already up to my ears with science, but damn so many good books I want to throw myself into for a while. Reading for Leisure, haven;t heard that concept thrown around these parts for a while. So back to some interesting science-y books any dear science kid can love:

The Red Queen by Matt Ridley

• I have to thank my professor, Kirsten Muller for this one. She boasted about how well-written it was. I'm totally down with evolution and fascinated on how and why organisms have evolved just to survive. The title of the book is reference to the character in the popular Alice in Wonderland.
  

• Professor Christine Dupont pitched this book to us in a Biotechnology I class a couple of years back. This guy is a living legend. Quite the character. Anyways, a friend was reading it in the library today and made me want a copy for myself. Kind interesting that a Nobel Prize winner is so fascinating and interesting to read about. Check out his thoughts on AIDS. Very very interesting. Google it and see how many hits you get. I smell CONSPIRACY.
  

Song of the Day: Masters and Moderns - Instrumental

That's right bitches, another one of those quizzes. Man, I should have signed up for Xanga. Apparently that is where all the UWers blog.

Song of the Day: Iron and Wine - Naked as We Came

Today, I tried studying at the DC library (a.k.a. Club DC). The alias is for its appeal to singles to check out what UW has to offer in terms of candy. I really get dressed up to go there. I mean this place a jammed with students and now open twenty four hours for late night studiers. People go there just to socialize and check out girls and guys. It's a meat market. If the DC was a pimp, it'd make tonnes of money! Though I confess, nothing is more attractive than seeing a girl study and there's a plenty of that going on here. Studious girls drives me insane. Needless to say, I could never get any work done there. I don't know what your most prominent memories of University of Waterloo will be, but I can assure you everyone has a great story of the DC, whether positive or negative. Some great conversations, forged friendships, and babe scopin' went down over the years (and maybe even today).

By the way, want to see the majority of photos taken of me in the past five to six years? Click here: (photo-sensitizes). It's amazing what I do instead of studying.

[EDIT] This just in, I thought I had too much time on my hands, check out these UWers and what they do with their free time. lol

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Song of the Day: Smashing Pumpkins - Lanslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)
T-Minus: 8 Days

"I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't you pesky kids and that damn mut Scooby Doo" -- The Dreaded Comments Ghost




Finally, I solved the mystery of the dreaded comments field! This has been bothering me for oh so long. The answer came to me in a dream. Or was it a hyperlink?!? Anyways, there is no excuse for YOU to not COMMENT on my page. It is NOW 3:43 am and I can finally sleep rest assured that my blogger is fully functional. Huzzah to late night snacking and total procrastination!

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Song of the Day: The Cardigans - Been It

As exam time rolls around, I be more conscience of what I eat. Some would say, it's a exam time health kick. I realize life will end if I don't cram another 25 hours of studying in a day. My stomach also becomes more selective in foods I eat. It has a knack for deciphering when exams start and what McDonald's offers as its: Monday: Big Extra * personal favourite

Tuesday: Big Mac
Wednesday: McChicken
Thursday: 2 Cheeseburgers
Friday: Filet O'Fish
Saturday: Quarter Pounder
Sunday: Double Cheeseburger

So as I make my usual order, cashier, pick up transition routine, I was dumb-founded to see a rather young McDonald's employee processing my order. She could not not have been older than 16 or 17. Remember, this is a late-night drive thru experience. Minors should not be working these hours. They're not old enough to develop a heroin or smack habit yet, so so they shouldn't be that desperate for money. Are minors even allowed to work this late? I really do hope this employee is 18 or older because it would really be sad that a corporation would not have policies in place to prevent underagers from working such hideous shifts especially if school is in the picture for this particular employee as well. It's a good thing that Ronald is a fictitious character because if he (or she, I am still questioning this one, even with the name Ronald) was a real person like Kathy Lee Gifford, there would be some explaining to do. Child labour laws anyone?


By the way Ronald, you over-cooked my fuckin' fries!

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Song of the Day: Q and Not U - A Line in the Sand
T-Minus: 9 days!

A friend referred me to this funny funny clip. Listen carefully to the dialogue (when overdubbing has gone terribly awry). I think this is the first time I've ran into a word that is still in the process of being popularized. Henry, Paul, Eric, and have called dibs on claiming it as our own. Check out the definition...

Song of the Day: Dashboard Confessional - the Best Deceptions

So what's better than getting a job offer at the Microsoft Head Office in Redemond WA?

Getting two job offers and sticking it to your ex-employer for not hiring you. I've known about this for a while now, but finally had some time to let it out. So as you might not have noticed, I'm pretty happy and bitter about this. Canada has lost yet another great mind State-side because Canada is yet again apprehensive in laxing government regulations in taking a chance on one Canada's talent. I'm pretty apprenhsive on Canada's hiring practicies as well. How does technology Canada assess experience with respect to technological accumen? For my friend, this was a blessing in disguise. I don't know who is more fitting than him to work for an uber geek like Gates. I wish you all the success Tim and Danielle. At least I'll have a place to crash on the
left coast.

Running total of three people leaving me. It only gets worse from here...

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Song of the Day: !!! - Hello, Is This Thing On?
T-Minus: 10 days sucka!

This weather is killin' my mojo. I have no desire to study whatsoever. It's now day 3 of studyless Hung. I mean I get to the library and then I just leave until midnight, where I will then come back and pick up my stuff. It's bad man...

And that's why I hate the Spring/Summer. It's so hard ot get down to work. If only the DP or Dc had a patio that served drinks. That wouldbe killer. Anyways, I think I should get back to the library and try to stufy.

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Song of the Day: Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister

I suspected this all along. Dammit. I should have turned to Quizilla earlier for answers!

Song of the Day: At the Drive In - Invalid Letter Department

With a full stomach of coffee I sit here in a daze waiting for the caffeine to withdrawal it's dominant grip on my quivering body. I swear it's the damn Tim Horton's Roll Up the RIM to Win promotion (check previous entries or local listings for details. No purchase necessary). I'm totally wired! Eyes are touching the screen as I type. A girl commented on how pathetic Henry and I must be because we've memorized the employees of the full-service store front at the school. I mean it's just we're always there and we see there name tags. So what! heh, it's pathetic.

Synonyms: pathetic, pitiful, pitiable, piteous, lamentable
These adjectives describe what inspires or deserves pity. Something pathetic elicits sympathetic sadness and compassion: “a most earnest... entreaty, addressed to you in the most pathetic tones of the voice so dear to you” (Charles Dickens). Both pitiful and pitiable apply to what is touchingly sad: “She told a most pitiful story” (Samuel Butler). “The emperor had been in a state of pitiable vacillation” (William Hickling Prescott). Sometimes these three terms connote contemptuous pity, as for what is hopelessly inept or inadequate: a school with pathetic academic standards. “To be guided by second-hand conjecture is pitiful” (Jane Austen). “That cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units” (Thomas Hardy). Piteous applies to what cries out for pity: “They... made piteous lamentation to us to save them” (Daniel Defoe). Lamentable suggests the evocation of pity mixed with sorrow: “Tell thou the lamentable tale of me,/And send the hearers weeping to their beds” (Shakespeare).

In other news, I somehow had the urge to buy an ishuffle. I called all over the K-W tech stores like Best Buy and FutureShop to see if I could score one after work. I even drove to the Cambridge FutureShop seeing that their website indicated that they had some in stock. I called to verify, but it was a dead end. So to my surprise, the website was wrong! Being frustrated with the situation, I was activated a credit card I had stowed away for safe keeping to buy one online. Just a lil' history on my views of credit cards: they are evil! I've held out on the temptations to use credit cards because spending is made too easy. Jumping through hoops makes buying something much more painstakingly difficult and you'd want to second guess the true added value of the purchase. Someone pass me some scissors, I need to end it before my debt escalates...

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Song of the Day: The Stills - Yesterday Never Tomorrrow

Some things last forever
I hope this lasts forever
Nothing lasts forever
Why can't this last forever ?

Since living in Renison College my first year in University, I can say that for the most part, we've all kept in touch. And from these wonderful couple of years, I was fortunate to meet some truly great people who've made my experiences throughout university that much more memorable. So this past weekend, I attended the wedding of Kerri Lobb; the third wedding involving students of Rension 2000. Kerri, aka K-Lo, is one of my favourite Renison kids ever! Meeting Kerri and becoming close friends with her will be forever cherished. What really saddens me is the fact that she's moving to Scotland in a few weeks. The wedding was simple with emphasis on fun; typical K-Lo fashion! Everyone had a great time. As for me, this celebration was somewhat bittersweet. I definitely had mixed feelings on the situation and my heart wasn't totally into the party. The past seems to always haunt me. Regardless, here are some sloppy drunken pictures of the celebration:

L to R: Renison gang 2005, Alex tweeking my nipple, Kerri taught me how to kiss

L to R: grinding the bride?!?, bride and groom, She gets a bit freaky when Prince is playing

There is no doubt in my mind that Roddy just might be the luckiest guy on earth. I know many hearts across Canada were crushed by the news of her marriage (sorry Craig, Doug, Dan, ...). And since he's taking her back to Scotland, alot of people, including myself, are very disappointed in losing such a great friend. Let us never forget the past and embrace the future. I await the day our paths cross again. Ms. Lobb-Pennycook, this kid is forever in your debt.

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Song of the Day: Otis Redding - Respect

This article was taken from the McGill Daily. The article was written by the uber cool Kalli Anderson who I happened to visit this summer (friend of a friend). The piece definitely puts a perspective on student finances and how fortunate some of us really are. As a graduating student, I know first hand how much it will suck when the National Student Loans Service comes to my doorstep ready to snatch me by the legs with my dangling arms perpendicular to the dirty livingroom floor. As they vigorously shake money out of these pockets, they'll soon find out that there's no money to be collected. Sorry, try again when I have a secure job or win the lottery.

Hope I get a chance to mix it up with Kalli again real soon. She's a peach! Here's a few snaps from last summer visiting Kalli in Mtl.

Song of the Day: Grade - For the Memory of Love

Let's just say I called it. Two points plus the foul for me!

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Song of the Day: The Inflation Kills - Flames On

So indie kids/scensters make their mark on various messageboards about how much better they are than the rest of the drones they would refer to as society. With this being said, some of the comments projected towards others on this board is hilarious! The premise of this particular thread is about the process of songwriting. For example:
-----------------------
Person A:
I find the poetry format is perfect for writing songs. It incorporates rhyming and also a very strong structered song..

Person B:
Way to go Shakespeare; The poetry format is perfect for writing songs. wow. Yeah I also think that the "art" format is good for drawing pictures.
The poetry format? Could you please tell what that would be?
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Person B takes even further by critiquing Person A's lyrics of a heart-felt descrption of a significant other:

-----------------------
...yeah I cant wait untill I go into the elitist reflecting douche stage of indieness. anyway can we please stay on the topic at hand...

so this is Pokeys song before:

Song of the Day: The Inflation Kills - When Clones Come

I don't get this feeling alot, but I was witness to another spectacular how tonight at the UW grad house (twice in a month). This show included the likes of Canada's finest (the inflation kills, from fiction, silent film soundtrack). I was particularly blown away by the inflation kills quintet. To be honest, I just wanted to catch from fiction terrorize the grad house, which they did, and head back to the beautiful Davis Centre Library. But holy Jeebus, I haven't threw it down like this in ages. They seriously rocked! Super tight! The second coming of Kitchens and Bathrooms was amazing! Totally worth attending (their CD release party in Hamilton on April the 9th, go). Overall, the show was great. I loved it, and lived it.

As for other shit, exam mode has begun and the kids in the DC started bringing in their kettles and blankets. I for one have noticed my coffee consumption increasing by the hour. I think I slam about 4 cups a day in hope of prizes. I've been hastily reading away at biotech in hopes of keeping up to date, but I don;t think it will happen. Damn pathways, enzymes, and transformations! Let's hope this will be a painless 3 weeks to come.

Normally, this is where I would end this entry, but as I mentioned earlier, I drank too much coffee today for my own good. So the babble continues...

Oh, OK interesting story, I woke up this morning to the sounds of the house inspector knocking at our door. Anyways, I ran out of the house to leave. As I reached to open the door, I heard a series high-pitched shrieks. To my amazement, beside my foot was a bat whose wings were stuck in the mud. At any other time of day, this encounter would have been intense. It's just that I'm not a morning person. Most definitely a bad omen. Let's hope the inspector didn't see or hear this vocal bat, though I doubt it.

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