A Day with Kenn 24

Image from Danbooru 

=3= I should be working hard, but at the moment, I'm hardly working.

 

My copy of Finale came to the door step today. Delayed by a day because I didn't fill the order form out right. Need to put myself through various tutorials to figure out how to use it, and how to input notes using a MIDI controller. Customs charges was $52. About 20% of the cost of the program. ;o;

And for those who are wondering, "Why didn't you just buy it in Canada?". For all I know, I don't think I can get an Academic discount from a store that sells it. The academic discount cuts the price almost by 50%, making it that much more affordable. 

Lunch for Kenn. Fit for a king. ^^; Spaghetti in the middle, 糖水(tong sui) on the right, red rice from Chinese New Years above it. A sweet pastry of sorts on the left of the spaghetti, and a Sugar apple at the top.

The pastry was beautifully packaged though. I love the box. Don't know where it's from. My dad probably got it as a freebie from one of the customers who worked at a bakery or something. Happens quite often. It tasted something like a honey castella with an orange jam filling. It was in a plastic wrapper inside the box, but I believe that it looks much more appetizing without the plastic.

The Sugar apple. I know Izzy loves, and I also know that she shouldn't be near a computer for the weekend because of an outing, so I'll put these up just to torment her when she gets back. On the left is a partially peeled sugar apple. On the right are it's remains. Lots and lots of seeds, and pieces of it's outer skin. Probably will devour the soursop today. I'll remember to photo it.

On the other hand, I'm still working on my Criminology stuff. So much to do, and I don't feel like doing any of it. Why did I even take Criminology. =3= I should get back to hardly working working hard.

A Day with Kenn 23

 

Image by name  

Feel like I've used this image before. Not sure. Spent my day in the library. Fun stuff.

Breakfast for Kenn. Woke up way too early this morning. Got hungry, so I downed a bowl of mueseli. Mueseli is a fairly popular European thing, originally concocted by a Swiss doctor for his patients. I had it with milk, but I figured it'd look a tad bit more appetizing not soggy.

Got up at 6 in the morning. Got hungry again after the mueseli, so I had some of the pan-fried noodles my mom left me in the fridge. I guess you'd call this breakfast number two, since it was still well before noon.

Spent a few hours in the library. Took out some books from the Criminology reserve to do some research for my paper. Didn't have any luck finding any information from the three books I chose, so I brought the question up with the librarian. Spent a good twenty minutes with him going through all the various searches of various databases, coming up with a few good sources.

At a certain part of the library, a tree hangs upside down. I usually sit in front of this area because it has outlets for me to plug my laptop into if I need to. All photos of the library were taken with the webcam on my laptop.

Much to my surprise, the library was nearly deserted. Only a few people were in the library, contrary to my belief that there would be lots of people. I guess people don't want to give up their extended reading break?

The library is probably the nicest building on campus. Most of the books are on the second floor. Much of the first floor is table space for people to work on, and reference. The photos taken on my laptop turned out better than I thought.

I call this modern art. It represents the loop of being stuck in the circle of fastfood. Eventually, you will break loose, though for how long will you be caught in the cycle? Anyways, twas my lunch. The dubs again. Gotta find a healthier, cheaper alternative.

I know this looks kind of gnarly, but it's not all that bad. My parents simply call it 糖水 (tong sui). Not sure what you'd call it specifically, but it's something my parents make a lot. I'm not even sure what goes into it. Beans of sorts, tapioca. That's about all I know. Tasty though.

A Day with Kenn 19

 

Image by Kome Kuma  

Last class for two weeks was today. "orz  Still got a carpload of work to do before my break begins.

My breakfast for today was spaghetti. Threw in a sausage (hot dog) for fun, and it ended up tasting really good. Topped with a ground chili paste, Sriracha, and grated Parmesan cheese. Filling in tasty.

This was lunch. Had it a few days ago too. Rice with beans and ground beef. Put too much Sriracha in this time around. Plus my mom had added chili paste in the cooking process, so it ended up super spicy. e_e"

Had this right before I left for class today at five pm. For those who can't tell, it's coffee. Instant coffee with cocoa powder, a bit of sugar, milk and a few drops of vanilla extract. Might've added a bit too sugar. Tasted a tad bit funny.

Speaking of class, today's with Choir. Sang through the first movement of the Requiem, and moved on to the sixth movement, Libera Me. It's a really nice song btw. We skipped the baritone solo, because we don't have a soloist in the choir. Our soloist is the head of the music program I'm in. ^^" Supposedly, he's wonderful, but I haven't heard him sing before. Nice guy.

A Day with Kenn 18

Image by Mashiro Momo 

Getting perfect on today's midterm would be wishful thinking. I know I didn't perfect it. But a guy can dream, right?

Breakfast for Kenn. Fried rice. As tasty as it was, I really didn't the green onions scattered amongst the grains of rice and assorted meats. There was something else in there that tasted odd, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. 

Spent much of the commute up to North Vancouver going over my notes for Criminology. Lots of know for the Midterm. 

Today's crim class felt like it was over in flash. Lots of fairly difficult multiple choice questions, with odd wording that makes you really have to think about what you just read, a few short answer questions that weren't too challenging, and two long (paragraph, multiparagraph) answers. I found that my writing was odd very messy. Messier than usual at least. Hopefully it's legible. My hand cramped up and twitched over and over after the exam. Very, very uncomfortable. 

On the trip back home, I read the next chapter we'd be doing. It reinforced my interest in the Renaissance period. The Age of Reason, Enlightenment, Thought; all referring to the same age. What I love about this period in time is the radical shift of ideology; from feudalism to capitalism, witch hunts to public trials. The predecessors of our modern society mostly come from this age, and I love reading about the origins of what we take for granted. On an unrelated note, Keroro 16 still hasn't come in yet. =3= It should be in sometime this week, as it's been two weeks now. Hopefully it doesn't come in on a bad day like Thursday, which I reserve for working hard on everything.

Anywho, I guess you'd call this lunch for me. Hit up the Dubs again, getting the typical Dubs grub. Teen combo with onion rings and a root beer (not pictured). With the onion rings, you can shove'em into the burger and it'll taste wonderful.

Makes the burger that much bigger though. A bit difficult to eat, though it adds a bit more texture to the burger. Burger looks a bit sad because it got beat up by my Criminology textbook. 

On another note, to celebrate the beginning of the 21st Winter Olympics Games, I'll be doubling up the Song, Vocaloid feature and Manga of the Week installments for this and the next week. Webcomic will remain one a week. 

Speaking of the Winter Olympics, it seems a Polish newspaper seems to have made a bit of a mistake in their choice of image source. For those of you who aren't familiar with the 2010 mascots, Quatchi is on the right (big fur thing), Sumi is at the top (wings), Miga is the black and white thing at the bottom. Muk muk, the small figure beside Miga is a 'side kick', though it's as, if not more, popular than Quatchi. Pedobear is to the right. I assure you that 4chan has nothing to do with the Olympics.

Image by Michael Barrick 

A Day with Kenn 17

Image by nogisu 

Last few days of classes before the break. Looking forward to working my ass off for two week. (’A`)

On the other hand, try and sidetrack TK from his studying in anyway you can.

      [kenn]     - heartbeat radio says (6:44 PM):
*blog will be updated just to sidetrack you
『T.K. - Calamity』...^^= says (6:45 PM):
*psh =3=
『T.K. - Calamity』...^^= says (6:45 PM):
*i dare you to write that in the blog entry.

Done. （￣ー￣）

Breakfast for Kenn. Fried noodles with broccoli, cauliflower, and other stuff I can't remember. I also had this for lunch (a few hours ago). It was the same thing, so I didn't bother taking a photo.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful, though with the introduction of olympic lanes for transit, and other vehicles, the commute went much faster than usual. Halfway through my commute on the 25, I was dozing off when the driver announced over the PA that we were driving alongside a rainbow. Well, in a way. It's a optical thing, so it's position is pretty much subjective to your own position. Though I transferred to a 28, it's route still kept it along side the rainbow, even when crossing the Burrard Inlet, which is pretty cool. Didn't see it up in North Vancouver though. End of the rainbow?

Only one class, piano, where, with my instructor, we discussed the general method of efficiently and effectively learning a piece. Quite a few steps. He looks a lot like Michael Smith; the similarity is quite startling. Again, I'm currently learning La Cathedrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral, Debussy) and Allegro Barbaro (Bartok). Both big sounding pieces, with similar structures. Completely opposite in dynamics though.

Played lots of Zenonia on the way back. （￣ー￣） Level 68 assassin. Loving my crit rate. 104% Drained my batteries pretty much though.

A Day with Kenn 14.5

Image by nimirom 

=3= 14.5 because I don't expect anything will happen.

( ´・‿-) ~ ♥

 

Went down to Long & McQuades in Vancouver (Terminal Avenue) to pick up some music. Bought book two of Beethoven's sonata collection (Urtext edition), an impromptu collection of Schubert's, also edited by Urtext, and UE's Allegro Barbaro by Bartok. Total was about $112. So expensive. 

That adds to my growing collection as pictured above. It adds up to about $220, and all of the purchases are eligible for tax deductions. ( ´∀`) ;D They're 'textbooks' for my piano course. 

Anywho, tomorrow will be the debut of my newest addition to the weekly line up. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I have enough for a month or two. Expect the KIC post I mentioned in the previous post in a week or two. Started at a point where I wouldn't need the KIC post immediately. Plus it's during my two week Olympic Break, so I'll have time to work on that.

A Day with Kenn 14

 

 Image by a 

Well, I didn't think I had anything worth blogging about, so I threw stuff together, to get at least one post in February.

And please ignore the illustration of the octopus in that book. The octo in octopus refers to it's eight arms, which clearly, aren't represented accurately in that artist's rendition. Might call it a millipus. 

Today's lunch. The usual, just with orange chicken, instead of sweet and sour pork. The fried rice was so...dry. Couldn't finish it. Was like eating uncooked grains of rice. The chicken was good though.

Dinner for Kenn. At our place, this is how we usually eat curry: with bread. It's a Vietnamese curry, which is similar to a thai curry. Not too spicy, and well with well balanced flavours. It's a chicken curry from what I could tell. Tasty.

Monday wasn't spectacular, so I didn't bother doing anything yesterday. I've got two weeks left before my Olympic Break starts. Must finish my research paper outline the middle of next week. Do not want to work during the break. e_e Midterm next week too. Criminology is a lot of work. =l

Criminology was rather dull today. The chapter was...rather logical. Not saying that the other chapters weren't, but when the textbook lists ways of preventing crimes like increasing lighting in public places, and reducing or eliminating structures or landscaping that may obstruct vision and create a hiding place for would-be criminals, there's not really much room for discussion. Everyone gets it.

Anywho, I'm working on bringing a new weekly feature into my lineup. To compliment, I'm also working on a new 'KIC' post. You'll see what it is when the time rolls around.

A Day with Kenn 12

Image by Mizuki Makoto 

As promised, here's the another post later today.

The day started off as usual. Had breakfast and whatnot. What made it different was that I felt super, super sick. On a wild guess, I'd have to say that it was probably the peanut butter I had yesterday. Because of that I ended up bringing everything I put into my stomach back up.

Popped a few tablets and get on my way. Brought along some of them just in case.

Had lunch at Tim's (Tim Horton's) on campus. Two doughnuts and a small coffee. Was going to watch the fourth episode of Ladies vs Butlers! on the iTouch, but decided that it was a tad bit too...racy, for the lack of a better word, to be watching in public.

Headed off to the library to do my usual Friday ritual of messenger + reading Crim textbook. Burned the hours away, made the song of the week post while I was there. The coffee wore off really quick. Either that, or it was my odd reverse reaction to caffeine.

Choir went by in a flash, and before I knew it, I was on the way back home. The 430 from Metro was one of those special long distance buses. They're obviously not made for frequent stops, since they only have one door. The inside pretty much looks similar to an airplane, minus the round, small windows. Comfy chairs. They're the type of buses that you'd find running from city to city, like from Delta to the downtown core.

I'll call this my second lunch, and first dinner. Teen burger and onion rings from the Dubs (A&W). Tasty, but oh so bad for you. Got another dinner coming up later, but I don't think I'll have room for it anytime soon.

Dinner...or second dinner for Kenn. Rice, with grilled pork, deep fried spring rolls, and a salad. Tasty, and very filling. I know it look a bit gnarly in the photo, but I assure you that it looked better before I took it out of the take-out box. It's from the family restaurant, and much healthier than both my lunches were by a long shot. Feeling sick again. x_x

A Day with Kenn 9

Image by kantoku

I'd be lying if I said today was interesting.

I'd also be lying if I said that this post was going to be interesting.

In a nutshell, nothing happened today, unless you count a truck nearly hitting the bus I was on. Love how I play down the fact that I might have just had a brush with death.

Anywho, the day started out like any other university or collage student's. Getting up early in the morning, catching a bus and whatnot. Had to stand for a good bit of the ride on the 25. Though I'm thankful I got a seat before a close call with a truck.

The rest of the ride was dull, so I'll skip forward to after all my classes. The got a bit motion sick on the ride back, as I was playing on the PSP. The game I was playing will be on a 'Currently Playing...' feature later.

Bought lunch (again), and headed home.

Doesn't that look tasty? Mixed vegetables, fried rice, and sweet & sour pork. Classic Chinese fast food dish. Probably not the best for me, though probably better than McD's, BK or A&W.

A Day with Kenn 8

Image by Minakata Sunao

=3= On the road four times as long as I was in class today.

Short one today, because nothing happened.

Yeah. Only one class, piano, today. Hour long class, while it takes an hour and a half one way. One round trip takes approximately an hour and half, throw in the wait for a 430 at the Metro loop and if I'm unlucky, it might be an hour and fifty minutes.

Anywho, placed an order for Keroro Gunsou volume 16 at Sakura Media, and the Cyanide and Happiness book at Chapters. Total cost was $16.79. Chapters doesn't have a store to store service like Sakura Media does. Hope that the two books come at the same time. ^^" It'd make it easier to remember. Must remember to keep $15 aside for Keroro.

Note to self: find a new piece for piano. "orz

A Day with Kenn 6

Image by tafuto

Been a while since I've done one of these, but then again, it's also been a while since I did anything worth blogging about.

Woke up to not-fun-sounding strong winds whipping at the door and window. Scary sounding. Even scarier knowing that I'm going to have to be out there. Being dead tired didn't help either. Thankfully the rain and wind died down when I left. Actually, they just died. No rain or wind when I left.

Speaking of dying, there's a dead rat lying at the side of the sidewalk on the my way to the bus stop. Not a fun sight.

On the topic of rats, on the bus today, I spotted a crow trying to catch one. It was a little brown mouse or something like that running away from the crow, which was swooping down on it again and again. Nice to see crows going back to their natural methods of getting food, instead of rummaging through human trash.

Criminology was rather uneventful. Seem that I'm a class ahead in reading. Still need to finish making my notes to study for the midterm, which is in a month. Not fun. Criminology isn't as fun as Law 12 was. Maybe it was just the teacher (Mr. Fister was awesome).

Fact: Kenn is slowly killing himself.

After school food.  I guess you could call it lunch. Burger King. I discovered that more than a week of eating very little will cause your appetite to shrink by quite a bit. Couldn't finish this plate.

Whoppers taste much better with lots of Sriracha...so do the fries.

Anywho, my main machine (Windows XP) uses the voices of all five of the new girls! My laptop still uses Madobe Nanami (can't beat her), and in terms of usage, it's only natural that my main machine takes five girls to maintain. xD

A Day with Kenn 5

Isn't it just adorable?

I don't want the month to change either. Midterms come in February, so I'm not looking forward to them too much. These little adorable cut-outs are called 'Paper Chidlren', and a majority of them aren't safe for work. They can go from the incredibly clever, to the disgustingly adorable, and even to the exceedingly ronery. If you're interested, the template for the one I used is here.

On another note, I've been given the task of choosing my piece for piano. I've decided on 'La Cathédrale Engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral)' by Claude Debussy.

Need to find myself a copy of this. It's a nice song. Slow, and fairly straight forward. It requires the pianist to be able to reach a ninth, while playing two inner notes, so it's quite difficult for those with small hands.

A Day with Kenn 4

Image by hoppege

Yes, another day with Kenn. Feeling...not so great. Though, if there was girl like Mio by my side right now, I think I'd feel a lot better. Not in the way you're thinking, of course.

Had nausea since breakfast. Not fun. I'm thinking it's stress related, though I'm not too sure. A visit to the doctor might be the best idea. 

So today would be my first 'official' class of Criminology. Last time I was simply showing up to try and secure a place in the class. I missed Friday's class because I didn't receive a call telling me whether I was in or not, and I had talked to a few people in the choir, and they said that I probably didn't get in. So I didn't go. Well, gosh be darned, the next day I got the call. No real biggy...somewhat.

Anywho, today's crim. class was all about Canadian Law, a topic that was thoroughly talked about in Law 12 (which I did last year, if you remember this and this). Unfortunately, today and Friday's class are the only times we'll be dealing with Canadian Law in the course. No advantage for me.

After filling out a form, getting it signed, and turning it in to the Registrar's office, I had an hour to kill before my composition class. So what better way to spend an hour productively, than doing writing music I should have done over the winter break?

Yes, that's what I did. In the Library I sat, for an hour, scribbling down notes, transposing and all that wonderful fun stuff only a music student would understand. My composition prof is the same composition teacher I've been studying with since October, so the class was nothing really new. Heck, the room we used was the same room that I used to practice for my audition. I remember this because there's some pretty funny writing on the wall.

Anywho, after composition, I headed home, as my nausea kicked in high gear. Had to walk around Phibbs Exchange for a while to let my nausea subcede a bit. Didn't want to puke my guts out on the lap of the person sitting beside me. The 130 is certainly a long ride, not something you really want to ride when you're that close to losing what little food is in your system, though it's long ride makes it ideal for sleeping, which I did. Same with the 430, which takes me home, though the ride is shorter, and if I missed my stop, I'd be taken down to Richmond, which wouldn't be too fun.

'Twas my day. Don't expect one tomorrow. I only have one class, and that's at night.

A Day with Kenn 3

Image by kantarou 01

A crane fly made it's way back into my room. Luring it to lights didn't seem to help, so I ended up having to slay it. 'Twas last night though.

Woke up to gray skies and pouring rain.

Had an appointment at the bank, so I had to get up earlier than I would've had. So tired. Took two hours, set up a bank account for myself, go put through an Online Banking tutorial, and so did my mom. Anywho, hightailed it back home, as I had classes to get to soon.

Keith hopped on the bus I was on and woke me up. Seems like he's got a rough schedule. "It's like we go to school at 9 and go home at 9." Sounds fun bro.

Today was the first day of my PMI courses for piano. I wouldn't call it...scary, but rather, I'd say it was quite a bit different from what I'm used to. Rudy's nice and all, but his expectations are quite a bit higher than my previous music teacher's. Also, he's a better pianist than my previous teacher, so my playing abilities come under more scrutiny that it usually did.

Anywho, after the class, I went and bought my Crim textbook. T3T Good bye, $100.

 

Hopped on a bus and headed for Metro to kill some time. Picked up World War Z (Max Brooks), and Keroro volume 17. The criminology thing is my textbook. = =" That thing is really heavy. Grabbed a bite to eat at the food court before heading home.

 

My wonderful wall of memo(ry)s.  My folks don't let me tack things on the wall, or stick a bulletin board or whatever up in my room, so this is what I've resorted to to have memos. Anything that isn't yellow is stuck to the wall using Blu-Tack. Anything yellow is a Post-It. Going from left to right: time table for classes, rehearsal schedule for choir, timing and whatnot for a small project I worked on many moons ago, Post-Its with times for classes and what I need to finish by next week, and finally the bank appoint memo for me. There's another post it, but it's got addresses on it, so I cut it out.

Been feeling really sick these days. Can't put food down into my stomach without puking my guts out. Might be the stress of school, or maybe my time has finally come?

A Day with Kenn 2

Image by nardack

Not much happened on Saturday, though I'll refer to Saturday as 'today' throughout the post.

Prof for Criminology called, saying that she might be able to fit me into the class. It's great that I'm in, but I'm somewhat apprehensive about the course. Everyone takes it, yes, but I'm a bit worried I'll bomb the course. Anyways, she said that she'd call people on Wednesday and Thursday to notify the people on the waitlist (like me) if there was space for them or not. I missed Friday's class because I didn't get a call. I swear the fates hate me.

Moving along to lunch. It's my lunch, noodle stir fry. Again, still using the ham that's been lying around. Yes, it's the same ham that I've been putting into my sandwiches. It should be gone by now. All the red stuff is Sriracha (refer to post 'Number 1') . Quite tasty.

Now, we fast forward to the evening, where I headed out with my cousin to our restaurant down in Richmond. There were seven people in our team, though it quickly was reduced to five. We were to repaint part of the restaurant. It's much harder than it sounds. Ceilings are a bitch to paint. Excuse my language, but it's true. They're not fun. There were seven people in our team, though it quickly was reduced to five. This part is also what makes the image at the top relevant to the post.

We had to sand down parts of the dry wall, then tape up parts that shouldn't be painted. After that we just kept going. Most of us normally don't get to go behind the scenes at restaurants, but it can pretty sketchy in places that people don't see. Anywho, painted a hallway, a backroom that no one ever sees or cares about, and the kitchen, which is off limits to customers. We'll eventually get to the rest...maybe.

Got paint all over my hands and arms. It's a real pain to wash off after it dries. You could peel it off, though it hurts a bit, and doesn't seem to warrant the same results as washing it off does.

Anywho, that's it for today. Probably not going to do one for Sunday.

A Day with Kenn

Image by nai-tech

Alrighty. My second day in the CapU Festival Chorus. Friday meets are an hour long, compared to Wednesday meets, which span two hours.

 

Brunch for Kenn. Fried noodles (chow mein), and a Vietnamese spring roll. the spring roll has tofu, carrots, vermicelli,and other things that I can't remember. Tasty, though not exactly filling.

Dubula was one of the songs we practiced today in Choir. No dancing though, although Laars told us that we'd eventually have to incorporate the dancing after we memorized the words.

It's a Xhosa folk song from South Africa, so the lyrics are fairly difficult to memorize, though it's very repetitive, meaning that there aren't all that many lines in total. It does, however, have da capo and da capo al fine everywhere, making the song much longer than it looks.

It's a fun song though. And if you're wondering, I'd be singing the bass line, so listen for the lower parts, as they'd be the parts that I'd be doing.

The other song we practiced today. The Jabberwocky, in reference to Lewis Caroll's Alice in the Looking Glass. It's a fun song with fun words, though the slides are difficult for a non-vocalist like me. Again, I'm in the bass, which is one of the easiest to sing as, since you're singing the harmony, rather than the melody. It sounds cool too.

My dinner was very average, so I didn't bother shooting it. I did have something interesting though. My dad called it 'sweet rice', and it really does live up to it's name. It has a bit of a sweet taste though I find it a bit sour too. It's not like sticky rice, as each grain is independent of the other, like risotto. I can't each too much of it. Can't take it's unique flavour.

CCFC

Picture unrelated to CCFC.

It's my breakfast from a few days ago. Ham and lettuce wedged in between to waffles.

 

CCFC. Need I say more?

 The folder for the festival choir looks like this. 'Black Folder' is literally it's name. The strap you see at the bottom of it is to keep it from opening too wide.

 Bad photo. But that's one of the pieces we sing. Using the black folder, you can keep the pages open like that, making it easy to read from.

There's quite a few pieces in the folder.

From the center, going clockwise: O, My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose, Dubula, The Battle of Jericho, Sure on This Shining Night, Jabberwocky, Fauré Requiem.

The Fauré Requiem is the major work for this semester.

It's in latin (mass). Quite a famous work.

I've been put in the position of first bass, so I'd be singing the bottom notes of the score.