Today is December friends! I am really excited for December, like Jesse Spano on caffeine pills excited! My birthday is in December! Also, some other dude’s birthday is in December as well. But on his birthday, everyone gets presents!

December! I’m going to waste all my money on video games or something, and it’s going to be awesome.

While writing a review of a webcomic today, I noticed something strange concerning the grammar in a sentence I wrote. I had written this sentence as I would have said it to someone I was talking to:

North uses images of three dinosaurs: a Tyrannosaurus, a Dromeciomimus, and a Utahraptor…

And MSWord immediately highlighted the “a” I put right before Utahraptor as a grammatical error. Now, I realize that to maintain the flow of speech, we use “an” as the article before a word which begins with a vowel, but in the case of “Utahraptor” (YOU-TAH-raptor), it seems to make more sense to use “a” instead of “an”. For example, we would say and write “a yodeler”, not “an yodeler”, right?

Am I wrong? This is going to keep me up at night.

This is terrible. Jack Chick creates some silly comics.

Because She-Ra had the cooler villians.

Yes, that’s a Slipknot reference.

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You all may not know this, but the release of the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii a mere week or so ago was punctuated with horrible violence. People were trampled, punched, and shot in the conflicts that arose during the release of the Playstation 3. Youths had their systems stolen from them, and people bought as many as three units, keeping one and selling the others on Ebay for upwards of $2000 (the system has an MSRP of ~$700). Anecdotal accounts of the Wii release seem to be more subdued. However, there were still people camping out in front of their local Best Buys and Toys R’ Us stores to buy the latest Nintendo console.

These people are nimrods. Why? Because unlike movies, concerts, or some sort of other commodity in short or limited supply, video game consoles will still be sold after their release date. If you want to avoid all of this bullshit then you can simply wait a month or two (or even a few weeks!) and buy one then.

Another reason that these people are ignoramuses (especially the ones buying the systems from Ebay) is that these first generation Playstation and Nintendo systems will be plagued with all sorts of problems. Anyone who is even mildly interested in gaming knows that the first batch of systems tends to have defects and materials which are inferior to the later versions of the same system which come out even 3 or 4 months down the line. It hurts my brain to think about all these people wasting their time waiting in lines for their systems. I love gaming as much as the next internet addicted underweight nerd, but even I have my scruples.

This one’s kind of personal, so if you don’t like personal blog posts then you should probably leave. If you DO like personal blog posts, then head over to livejournal after you’re done reading this, or something.

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These days, the only things I have to look forward to are Wednesdays (new comic book day), and playing World of Warcraft every night. And I’m perfectly happy doing these things. I think I’m in my geek renaissance; the things that comforted me as I grew up are once again relevant parts of my life.

It wasn’t always this way. There were times where I ignored the geek side of myself, and tried to be something else. I’m not sure what I was trying to be, but I do know that it wasn’t really who I am; I never felt secure in what I was becoming. I guess I was more concerned with what people thought of me than with what I really wanted.

This revelation scares me for a few reasons. The first reason is that I thought trying to “fit in” or change myself was something that I left behind after high school. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, it’s something you need to watch out for for the rest of your life.

The second thing that scares me about this is how the change was almost imperceptible. It happened gradually, and as such, I’m unable to point out exactly when it all started. What I do know now though, is that in some respects I’m happier now than I’ve been in years. I feel like I actually know myself, and that I’m able to be myself. Sure, I may be the oddball who thinks differently, says strange things, or has different hobbies. But those are all part of who I am.

left there to burn in their arrogance

Ok. OK! I just had ANOTHER Danone Peach “Creamy” brand yogurt that had only one piece of peach in it. This is fucking ridiculous

there’s beauty in those tears

I saw Tron yesterday. The story was interesting, but the movie itself really sucked. The visuals were insane though. It’s definitely worth seeing if you haven’t seen it before, just for the visuals alone.

Has anyone else seen it? Leave a comment with what you think of the movie.

I never understood that whole 4 out of 5 dentists recommend Sugar Mountain thing until today. I guess if people go there then dentists get more money or something? Some dentists have walls of fame for good teeth though. This is completely different than my experience with dentists.

Anyway, I figured since I shaved this morning, I’ll go through my shaving routine, for anyone who does not know how to shave. I wasn’t taught to shave by my father: I was given a stick with a sharp shard of metal attached and told to scrape my face with it. I have learned through trial and error so you do not have to, good friends!

First of all, turn on some sweet tunes (but don’t dance while shaving), get all your shaving stuff together in one place, and remove your shirt. Doing things shirtless makes you feel awesome (or maybe that’s just me?). Next, moisten the area you will be shaving with HOT water (I’ll just assume it your face). This opens up the pores, and I guess that’s a good thing, yes? Now, apply your shaving creme to your face (badger brush and traditional creme, or out of a can or whatever you use), but make sure your face is still wet. When the area is suitably lathered, take your razor and begin shaving your face in slow, even strokes, going WITH the grain (hair everywhere except on top of the head usually grows towards the ground, so shave downwards). This is especially important if your hair is curly in any way, because if you shave against the grain, when the hair grows back it will grow into your skin and you will develop razor bumps (in-grown hairs). They hurt, and they itch, and they don’t go away very quickly. AVOID RAZOR BUMPS. Make sure you rinse off the razor blade often. I rinse off the blade with cold water after every stroke, but I don’t know if that’s better for you or something. I do know that it feels cool against your skin. Make sure that you’re not pressing hard against your face: let the blade do the work.

When you’re done shaving, rinse off your face with COLD water to close your pores, and put on some moisturizer. Shaving scrapes off outer layers of skin, leaving fresh skin exposed to the harsh elements of your apartment. Moisturizer helps your skin recover from it’s traumatic experience. After the moisturizer is applied and dry, you may put on some after-shave, if you wish. Dry off your razor to prevent rust.

Now for the specifics. If your hair is very coarse, or you usually shave when you have alot of growth, replace your blade after every 4 or so shavings. I replace my razor after every 3-4th shaving because I like it to be sharp. If you know how to shave, you’re more likely to cut your face with a dull razor than a sharp one. This is because with a sharp blade you let the razor do the work, and with a dull one you need to press harder against your face to get the desired result. If you have finer hair then you can probably go longer without replacing your blade.

I use Bic disposable single blade razors, because my hair is very curly. The single blade razors cut the hair close enough to my liking, and I don’t mind having to go over some areas more than once to get any extra hair. I used to use a Mach 3 blade, but I found that it cut my hair too close to the skin, which resulted in the dreaded razor bumps when my hair grew back in and burrowed its way into my skin. This is the same reason why I don’t shave against the grain. I’m perfectly fine giving up a closer shave to make sure I don’t get bumps all over my face. The pursuit of the close shave is just an advertising gimmick, as most men will not be able to have a completely smooth face.

I just realized that pretty much everything I’ve said here is from a male perspective. I don’t shave my legs or my armpits so I can’t really give you any input on this, ladies! (or swimmers… or people who like shaving all the hair on their body… like Mike Henry!) Sorry!

1.) The nice lady cashiers at Loblaws who I have conversations with about their day, and how the one lady hurt her hand and I was concerned about it and stuff

2.) People with K. Fed hats fighting with beer bottles outside my window. POPOZAO

3.) The pot smokers who lived in the apartment above mine. The smoke wafted into my room and woke me up. So did your yelling. Both of these things were mildly annoying, but I miss you for some reason

4.) Being able to play my music as loud as I want to

5.) People not visiting me (wait, I hated this!)

6.) DIAMOND SHAWARMA, the best sweet sauce in Ottawa, and the cute daughter who worked there, and the awesome son who let me play his PSP and talked to us about how Massari was a drug dealer

7.) The downhill roll down Besserer to the mall, on my skateboard