My Dog Vincent & the CBC

As I have said before, I have been watching a bit more of non network television lately, and more specifically, the CBC. Today I was laying around and I came across the Home Movie on the CBC, My Dog Vincent. One of those movies with subtle concepts, and twenty something angst.

Canadian tv makes me long for uncensored television again. I cannot tell you how glad I am to hear the word fuck or god damn or shit on tv during the 2pm hour. I don't think that people should be spewing the words fuck and shit like its Victoria Falls, but when used in the correct context, the words can relay a certain feeling and comfortabliness with the situation, allowing the viewer to become more involved and interested in the situation.

Check the movie out, you'll like it if you like quick witted humour from the north, a sense of intelligence in a movie that will make you discover the underlying theme and over all, it's bloody funny.

Changing Colours in GFK

I thought I would post a few pictures from the Campus here at UND. The first picture is of the UND water tower just down the street from my dorm, Swanson. The first picture of the water tower is facing south. The second picture is of the parking lot outside my dorm on the 4th floor of Swanson facing towards Southeastern Grand Forks. Both of these pictures were taking from the fourth floor lobby near the elevator. My room faces north and has an okay views. I can not believe how early and fast the colours on the trees changed. Last week they were very green. Today they are very yellow as you can see. Extremely beautiful but the changing colours can only mean one thing... Autumn is here, and Winter is coming shortly.

I am preparing now. YIKES

Cool Off Hot-Heads

There is one thing that I really don't like about being in the aviation department. It is the hot-heads I have to deal with every day. Now I know why they put us at the opposite end of the campus near no one.

Everyone that is seeking a degree in commercial aviation has an ego the size of Mt. Rushmore and an attitude with every comment they make in class. You can just feel their arrogence radiating from their semi-intelligent brains. Their vile, half baked, non-intelligent comments during class seem to implode when they get the wrong answer infront of their classmates and flying partners. Their stammering and stuttering just seem to prolong their embrassment.

I, however, just quietly continue on my studies, clearly helping set the curve in the class. No one is none the wiser, that their future controller is pacing the entire class.

Here Comes Autumn

Current Conditions in Grand Forks (11.20am CDST)

Partly Sunny
Current Temp: 43 degrees F
Current Wind Chill: 32 degree F
Current Wind: 350 at 15 mph, gusting to 30 mph.


It is a bit chilly here today. Yesterday it topped out near 80. Today the tops around 50. Although it is a bit strange this year. From the averages we were suppose to have our first frost/freeze by now. And we have yet to recieve it. I am not complaining by no means. But I can just imagine that in a month we could have our first snowfall. And they tell me once the second snowfall comes, it doesn't leave until April, sometimes May. A few years back they actually had snowfalls of half a foot on finals week in the spring semester. Amazing!

ATC Lab Day 1

After weeks of delay, and my impatience and nerves growing, my class finally got into the Air Traffic Control lab. Let me tell you, the lab fee of US$400 was well worth it. This year it is completely new. We are the first class to use it. Touch screens, huge 25 inche flat panel displays, and nice new headsets.

So after getting settled and "deciding" to be the pseudo pilot for the first round, we got to business. Adjusting the headsets, tinting our screens, reducing the brightness. As the psuedo pilot I will be "flying" the aircraft out in never never land space. AAL 1447, WOA 323, NWA 1403, GLA 446, etc. I am still getting use to the mouse. It's a bit differnt from normal mouses, I am almost to the point were I wnat to bring in the one from home, but this is the ones that the FAA use, so we have to deal.

It took a bit to get use to, but towards the end, the lingo started to roll off the tongue and things started to work out. It really is just like a giant computer game. Sorry if that scares you when flying but I find it easy to just play like it is a game... and potentially earn US$110k a year doing it.

Once I got to be the traffic controller, things were going well. no missed approaches, no close calls, and that's a good thing. I do, however, have to work on my lingo, mine was a bit choppy. Thus far, no one has crash their planes, but they were coming out of the gate pretty slow today. It must have been a Wednesday flight schedule. I am sure once they set the program up for a Friday, Sunday or Monday flight schedule those planes will be coming down the pipe faster than one could imagine.

And by the end of the year, my feet will be up on the counter and I will be flipping my switch to talk, like it is my third arm.

TV Nowadays Sucks

I am beginning to hate network tv, except for those cult classics, or soon to be cult classics, Lost, West Wing, and W&G. But I find myself watching more PBS, G4TV, Animal Planet, and CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corp).

I like those shows on PBS that talk about space. They are usually on tv around 11pm or 1am but who cares. I still stay up and watch them. Plus it's about the only local tv station in the greater Grand Forks area that doesnt go off the air after midnight.

I like that show on G4Tv with the host Kevin Pereira. http://www.g4tv.com/host/39/Kevin_Pereira/index.html

I like the CBC, except that they don't have programming after midnight on most nights. They should be showing something... like a show on the basics of learning French, or moose or something like that.

Just pay the Fu*king Bill

I am the type of person that when I get my online bill, I pay that shit off the first day I get the bill. My mum, which promised to pay off my credit card travel expenses I occurred while moving to ND, likes to wait until 24 hours before the due date. It is not like my parents don't have the money. But my mum just likes to wait to the last minute, and then doesn't care whether or not the payment is late.

I however do care. I don't/ cannot afford to pay the 35 to 50 dollar late fees. It just bugs me that she waits that long.

Yes. I am anal about bills and money. But damnit when you are paying for uni yourself and you have a very tight budget, you pinch every penny.

HA... HA...

I have become very addicted to this university linking, friend meeting, online forum, called Facebook. I am sure if you have been living in any sort of civilized society within the US, you have heard of this new fangled device that allows you to communicate with students across the US uni system and across your campus grounds.

I was bored at work, on par with normal events. And so I usually just look up people I haven't seen or chatted with in years. Since my highschool years were hell. Being that I was not part of the popular group, nor was I a jock, or part of the teacher ass kissing group, I seemed to always fall between the cracks.

I did fairly well in high school. I graduated top 5% on my campus, top 10% of the 3,700 graduating seniors district wide. But I was never part of that little " I am so smart, everyone notices me" group. I knew one day when I was older, I would have the better job, better looking spouse, the better looking body, and the better looking hairline.

So I was just surfing Facebook and noticed, that this one guy that was one of the smarter students in my grade. One who always seemed to correct me. The one who always seemed to be one step ahead of me. He kept telling people that he was going to go to UCLA and study some biology stuff. Whatever.

From the grapevine, I found out that he got rejected from UCLA and now is studying at a state university in Missouri, and not even the good ones. Look at him, and look at me now.

HA... HA...

I'm at a selective university learning from the best in the field. I've attended university in Australia. I'm working on two majors. I'm actually doing something.

You, you are stuck at some lame ass state university that isn't even good. HA... HA!

That just makes your day. At least it did mine.

I'll Be Serving 3-5 more Years

And I just made one of the biggest committments I have ever made. Another 3 to 4 years here at the University of North Dakota. Good going "S." I think the decision was a wise one, but I did not count on it being such a time commitment. THREE MORE YEARS! UGH. I went ahead and decided to double major. My main major, Air Traffic Control, and my second major in Airport Management. I wanted to make sure that I had a back up career just in case one day I lost my medical certificate and could no longer work for the FAA in the ATC department.

This decision severely put a knot in my future plans, pushing them back by a good 2 to 5 years. Probably more along the lines of 5 years. Why again did I do this?

Annoying Stupidity

Yesterday whilst I was sitting in my Meterology class, paying the utmost attention to the professor, I had the most disgusting experience. I was sitting there, listening to the professor explain what causes mirages and rainbows. Very interesting stuff I tell you. When all the sudden I hear...

*Snot sniffing sounds*

This guy was having some issues with some draining sinuses. Yeah I can understand a bit of sniffing and such but this guy was sucking up snot from distant pool of reserve snot. I am pretty sure his pool of snot in his nose or sinuses could have not been that big. And the worst part was not that it was disgusting the few times he did it, but he was on some regualar snot sucking schedule. On cue, every 2 minutes, this guy would suck snot up into his nasal cavity and then down the back of his throat.

I have some of the worse gag reflexes. I gag on my toothbrush. I gag on the thought of too much snot in my mouth. I gag on the pure thought of someone else making those noises.

What made it worse was the fact that he was sitting right behind my my left ear. And for some odd reason, my left ear is more sensitive, making the experience even worse than it probably was. At one point I nearly turned around and smacked the snot out of him. It was getting that annoying.

My day was getting a bit better after a quick nap in which the entire aviation dept could hear me snoring in the lobby.

When I was in my next class, this girl, dropped everyone's IQ by 20 points with the use of her word, "AINT". I can understand a slip of the tongue or the use of the word a couple of times, but in EVERY SENTENCE? I just wanted to turn around and say, the phrase you are looking for is, Is Not or Are Not. not AINT.

Thank god a majority of people ARE NOT that stupid.

I miss it all

I spent the last 3 hours looking at my pictures from Australia and looking my friends pictures of Australia online. How sad is that? I miss Australia. I don't have anyone here to talk to. I don't have anyone here to hang out with. I have a mechanism that I use to cope, it's call diving deep into uni work and work work. I miss Friday nights out at the Rocks. I miss Saturday Swans Footy games at the SCG in Moore Park. I miss Pub crawls. I miss drunken card games. I miss sitting around just talking about our top three. I miss it all. I miss those friends I gained.

Seven Things...

Seven things I plan to do before I die:

1. I plan to live in at least 2 different countries.
2. I plan to tell mummy and daddy that their favourite son is a homo.
3. Actually pay for songs off the internet.
4. Take an around the world trip, visiting all 6 inhabited continents.
5. Get married on the beach.
6. Learn two languages fluently.
7. Meet the ‘perfect’ him.

Seven things I can do:

1. I can hold my piss for all day in order to pee in my own toilet.
2. Be polite even when people are ugly and mean to me.
3. Take public transit.
4. Speak two languages other than English (although not fluently).
5. Love unconditionally
6. Cook (don’t tell mum, I like it when she cooks for me).
7. Sit and watch people coming and going in the airport for hours. (I love to show up hours before my flight and watch all the people).

Seven things I cannot do:

1. Separate my clothing in the laundry when I am paying for it.
2. Not visit my grandparents (my mother’s side) without the urge to drink heavily.
3. Have a fake conversation with people.
4. Eat Spinach.
5. Share a room with someone who I do not know.
6. Be in any water form for more than 30 minutes (I get all pruney).
7. Get turned on in an instant (It takes a bit of romance).

Seven things that I find attractive in a man:

1. Intelligence
2. Dimples, the deeper the better.
3. Nurturer
4. Scrubby facial hair.
5. Just a little bit of body hair.
6. Armpits
7. Decisiveness

Seven things I say most often:

1. Mate
2. What the Fuck!
3. Bloody Hell!
4. Righto
5. Cheers
6. Yeah… and?
7. Are you drunk?

Seven celebrity crushes:

1. Chris Evans
2. Blair McDonough (Australia)
3. Ricky Martin
4. Jake Gyllenhaal
5. Val Kilmer
6. Tom Williams (Australia)
7. Dominic Monaghan

The Usual at Wilke S.C.

Working the grave yard shifts at the service centres you seem to get a lot of interesting people walking past, calling, or needing your assistance.

Tonights colourful characters include the usual drunken fools who stumble past trying to look sober or over the age of 21. I had several international phone calls tonight ranging from questions related to transferring credits to booking them a hotel. I had several people lose their keys and had to get new temporary ones from me. Watching them try to sign their name, what did I do to deserve such entertainment this early on Saturday?

I had my normal people come by tonight. The shy kid who likes to sit in the computer lab for hours on end at 2am just because he cannot sleep. My freaky yet very open gothic girl who likes to touch my faux hawk. And the girl who lost her keys not once, not twice, but three times in a day, last Friday night. She is seriously a case for welding keys to her hands.

Other than that... I am doing my normal thing. Talking to the Aussie, chatting it up with the people who walk by, gauking at their hottness and trying not to get noticed starring at them too much, and watching the first season of LOST.

Government vs Crazy Man on Campus Courtyard

I am all for public education. I am a strong supporter of public funds being used to help fun HeadStart, Kindergarden, all public schools, and even would support a national system of universities. (But not under anyone remotely like Bush, No Child Left Behind is a Joke.)

I am all about local, state and federal governments flipping the bill for students who so desire to go to a university without paying anything. I want a government that will cover the cost of all university studies. Books, Board, Rooms, Meals, Lab fees, tuition, medical costs, and whatever may occur while they are studying at university. Extra activities such as Frats would be at the students own cost. I think this would allow students to focus on studying and getting good marks instead of having to work 20 to 40 hours a week, plus go to uni, and study. Plus having the government cover the costs would make it much more likely for students who would not normally get the chance to go to uni be able to go.

But since everyone could go to uni, our standards should be pushed higher. Those who fail, have one year to get their marks up, if not, they have to withdraw or pay their own way. Thus eliminating the people who would just free load and not do anything.

Some might call me a Socialist.

And I got completely off subject... I am all for public universities. I am all for allowing everyone on campus. I like to hear other's opinion, no matter how dumb they are. Because I know I am laughing at them on the inside whilst listening to how stupid they are.

So today whilst on campus, there was this guy shouting at the top of his lungs, about how he was reborn again. How he was standing on top off a roof crying out for help. At first I thought he was in a flood or something, but then he said that key word that made me lose any desire to believe anything he said.

God.

I am not a non-believer. I believe. I think there is something beyond this world, but I don't think God has ALL the answers. This guy was in the middle of the courtyard talking about how he was saved. He has the right to be there and talk about whatever he wants. He then went into talking about Bibles and how we don't have that much access to them in the classroom.

Dur Fred. It's that little phrase that most people LOVE to blure now-a-days. That little phrase that seperates the church (aka Religion) and the states (aka government and their funded programmes, ie, Universities).

Just thank goodness that he wasn't handing out bibles on campus.

Fly APE

So I attended my first meeting of the APE. Aviation Photographers & Enthusiasts. It's a group of aviation freaks who like to take pictures of well you guessed it, airplanes. Check them out.

http://www.flyape.com

Working at the Service Centre.

After a quick training week at the Wilkerson Service Centre I have become their weekend warrior. I mostly work the weekends here, which is good for my uni schedule so that I can attend group functions during the week and attend class without worrying about trying to work around the service centre's schedule.

You notice a lot of different things when you work the grave-yard shifts.

I've had my fair share of drunken phone calls. People losing their keys and having to wake up the RHD on duty so that they can let them in, because people just don't lose their keys but their ID's and that doesn't boast well for me letting them into their rooms at 4am without any supervision.

But other than earning a dollar more an hour than the regular amount that is just slightly above the min. wage here in North Dakota, I have quite enjoyed it, so far. I get plenty of time to get some homework done. Catch up on emails. Catch up on reading blogs and updating mine. I get the chance to watch hours apon hours of Family Guy.