Mommy, It's Over!

It's done and dusted, dead as a door nail, finito, finished, kaputz. I'm wiped (and Staaarving) so I'll talk about it more later, suffice to say I think I passed it, and therefore *should* have my credit and *should* have saved myself the $1000 or so dollars it would have cost me to take another year long class instead.

I'm off to...eat, or get drunk..or skate or play pinball or something.

P.S. I can FINALLY return to the tower, The Wolves of the Calla call and I shall answer them.

-Chase

The End is Nigh.

Slowly the bell tolls, and the time of reckoning casts its shadow upon me.

So having read the better part of 1200 pages of works that are now 100 years old in the last week, I'm reaching the end of my literary educational sprint. At least the 100 meter dash that is my exam prep. I've tackled 6 novels, and I'm now trying to get a full fledged review of the works under my belt before my exam at 9 am tomorrow in some building in Toronto that I've never been to before. There's a decent amount of planning involved tonight, I'm about to have dinner, then try and make my way to the library to print off plot synopsis and character overviews for the six works I've read. Some I haven't read since last years school term so this bit is desperately needed to jog my memory.

After that? I have to plan a route to get to said building and find the room I need to write the exam in. I plan on catching the 7:22 train to Union station which will land me around 8AM, then I have an hour to get to where-ever it is I need to be.

Do I feel prepared? Well, to some degree I do, I've read the works and understood them. Do I feel I have an intimate understanding of the nuances of the novels and their characters...well...to some degree I suppose. I'm concerned I'll get bogged down by quotations and references that wont catch in the mesh of my memory. That I'll know everything but the questions that are asked of me. This I'm sure is the norm for exams, and being someone who has a traditionally shitty memory, I've certainly found myself in that position before.

Where do I stand, what do I need to achieve with this exam? It's worth a third of my grade, or 33.3333333% if you're a mathlete, and I have currently a 43% in the course. Being an English major and having avoided math for the latter half of my life, I'm not sure the EXACT percentage I need to achieve a 50% in the course, but I think it's probably safe to say I need to aim for a 60% as a bare minimum.

We shall see how it goes, at least it's early tomorrow and I wont have to dread it all day, exams always make me feel (to some degree or another) sick to my stomach.

I'll pass on my impressions of how it went tomorrow, we shall see...

Life on other fronts is a bit all over the place, work is of course steady but my social and romantic life never seem to find their adequate balance these days. I'll update you as it happens...I miss writing this, I know I have a "fanbase" or "readership" of like...four people...but I don't mind.

I might have a new site coming soon, we'll see what happens.

Thanks for following along, and caring to read.

Take care of yourselves faithful few, I appreciate that you're here.

-Chase

On The Run.

Typos be damned, I'm writing this on my way out the door.

just letting the Faithful few know that I'm still alive and kicking, if you've been following along in your textbooks you'll realize my exam is only in a day or two, I'm cramming like a mad man, and will give you a full update of how things go later on.

I've seen a cool concert, been to a few parties, made a few friends, lots has happened since we last spoke, and I might be in the works of building a new site.

But we'll talk about this later. for now I must bid you,

Adieu adieu

-Chase

Time Lag

So I'm lagging behind, sue me.

I've got some important news, my school actually approved my petition... How nuts is that? You want to read the university jargon included that essentially calls me a moron and says this will never happen again? Read on!

"NOTE: This examination was scheduled to be written on Friday May 1st PM 2 - 4. The official Arts and Science examination schedule for S/Y courses was made available to all students on February 13th 2009. Examinations are scheduled for 9:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and or 7:00 p.m. only. The Faculty expects student to be attentive to information that is given and do not wait until the last minute to contact the instructor for examination preparation.

Timetable Misread - Your illness began AFTER this examination was to be written. Under no circumstances will the Faculty grant special consideration for a missed examination due to your own error again."

See that? They think I'm slow! Ah well, all is well that ends well. I suppose I just have to pass the bloody thing and get it over with. This however means lots of reading I really, Really, REALLY don't want to do.

ALSO! I have to go apartment hunting again, and this time on less of a budget and without a viable room mate! My line of credit isn't nearly as paid off as I'd like, so this is going to be a little tough to say the very least. Do eight month (ie: school year long) leases exist in the city? I'll get back to you.

Onto my job! My best friend is gone and I have a loudmouth co-worker who likes to complain about me to my immediate boss when I'm not around, life is grand aint it?
Mind you, this same co-worker likes to talk smack about everyone and is generally an all round complainer...so it's not really like he's singling me out, but come ON man, knock it off.

The love life! What love life? Things were momentarily up, with a nice swift kick in the nuts to bring me back down. Lovely.

Osap! Tells me my parents make too much money, even though I pay all my own tuition...perfect... I might be able to get something out of them, but that's more debt on top of my student line of credit. At least I won't have to pay it ALL back, and it's got a nice tax kickback though. This is assuming any of it works out though, and right now it's kinda sketchy.

The Tower! Just winding down with Wizard and Glass, 630 pages in and counting, Rolands tale of youth is almost over and I likely wont be able to move on in the series until after my differed exam date, which will be sometime in Aug but remains TBA.

I don't have time for a social life, and I've got too much on my plate without it, but it's the only way I can stay at all sane. I'm feeling really lost at sea for the time being.

As always faithful few, I appreciate that you bother to read. One of these days I hope to do more than periodically rant.

Chase

Anomalies and Forgotten Instances.

I was riding the subway today from Yonge and Eligible to Union, and noticed a fair number of good looking young people on the platform with me. Some hipster, some just eccentric looking, all of them looking pretty cool and friendly.

Didn't think much of it, what's a dozen good looking people? I just figured they were friends or a group or something and that was as far as it went mentally. I won't play innocent, the girls short shorts and gorgeous legs caught my eye (I love this city) but again I didn't think too much of it.

It wasn't long that I was on the train that I noticed one of the cats was dancing in the isle of the sub car, rocking out to his Ipod, seemingly oblivious of the looks he was getting but dancing none the less. An middle aged guy beside me made a loud noise that took my attention momentarily and with a dip of my head I was back with Roland and his Ka-tet as they approached Blaine's cradle.
Falling in and out of my novel is something I'm quite used to.

When I bounced back in reality I noticed the cat with the fro wasn't the only one who was having their own personal dance party, a VERY cool chill looking girl was doing ballet. At opposite ends of the sub car I didn't think they were with one another, but in hindsight I should have known.

One by one my sub car stood and started dancing. Turned out to be almost 80% of the riders were in on it, each with an Ipod or MP3 player, each in their own world of music that was inaudible to everyone else.

Looking behind me I saw the car behind me was also full of dancers, I have to say it was pretty cool sight. I watched silently, smiling to myself and to the dancers when I managed to catch their eye.

Once we reached Bloor I heard an audio announcement informing my fellow TTC riders that unless this "jumping" stopped the train would not continue and that they would clear the trains if need be.

Talk about your ultimate kill joys right?

Out danced the dancers, in walked the new riders, and on went the train.

One lady beside me made some bitter comment to the effect of "at least someone came to their senses" , suffice to say I thought this lady needed to take a very large stick out of her ass.

Just like that the event had come and gone, my fellow riders who joined just a stop later had no idea what had taken place, it likely won't be documented in the paper, so I thought I'd capture the memory before it leaves my consciousness.

Wish I'd taken video... I hope to see it again.

Thanks for reading Faithful Few

Tower followers, Blaines slo-trans engines are running full tilt, onto Wizards and Glass.

The Tower.

Recently, The Tower has been calling to me.

It's like a dull ache behind my eyes, throbbing insistently, thudding endlessly. It is the urge to tongue a cut on the roof of my mouth that can't seem to heal. It feels like standing of the deck of a ship that's just hit troubled water and started to take them on... the slow sinking feeling you have in the pit of your guts that makes the hackles on the back of your neck stand on end. Fear washing over you in a cold wave,long before the icy sea ever reaches your feet. Crawling it's way menacingly up to your knees before surging forth and hitting your belt line. It is the knowledge of what is to come that instills this anguish, this NEED.

I Know that I won't be able to resist the murky depths that await me. The sea of pages laid forth by a King over tumultuous decades. The Violence and Hardship, The Heart Break...The Rose...it's all there for me. I've been cast along the path of the beam, tossed into the street and under the wheels of a Cadillac by a priest. Or just a man who claims to be.

I stand in The Way Station.

I travel under The Mountains, the slow mutants beckoning.

I will palavar with The Man In Black.

I stand before a door, with hinges that connect to thin air, and open it.

This and so much more I WILL do, because it is Ka, and you my faithful few will follow my journey, as we are Ka-tet.

I walk, somewhere Charlie is sounding off his steam whistle, smiling that smile...

I don't trust him, and that's the truth.

I'm afraid, and that's the truth...

The Tower calls me forth into The Wastelands...and I'm helpless to resist.

And that's the truth.

Lost in a Sea.

So I've not been keeping this up in the fashion I might have liked. I do have a number of interesting stories and photos to share, and they've been piling up on me, but I've been running around so desperately that I've yet to dump them here. They don't call me The Absent Minded Man for nothing now do they?

I'm still working a 45 hour week, and probably spending a solid 5 hours a night out with friends. I'm sleeping an average of 3 hours a night currently, it's interesting how much you can get accomplished in a 21 hour day.

I have a small story I'd love to share that was originally going to be a little longer, but I need a transfer cable for my phone that I don't own, and uploading the photos to go with the stories is a bit of a Macgyver-esque job. So I'll do what I can, here we go:

Catto Houghton, an amazing young Toronto artist invited my good friend Zach and I into her studio to take an insiders looks at her new showing before it became open to the public.

Zach and I were out skating around Toronto late at night, as we often do, just to check things out, clear our heads and see what our city has to offer. On the night in question we were skating down Queen St. West and checking out the galleries when I stopped to snap a pic of a brightly lit little studio with some amazing portraits.

After seeing Zach and I, the girl inside who was cleaning up started towards the door. I thought she might be locking it, in case she was worried we might try and walk in on her, after all it was already after midnight. But to my surprise, she invited us in to take a private look around.

Pictured is Zach and Catto, and my longboard, all in the reflection of the glass looking out onto the street while giving you an idea of all the work we were checking out, it really worked out neat. Click to enlarge.

She gave us a wicked walk around, discussed her gorgeous oil paint portraits and shot the shit for probably a solid half hour, It was really a surprisingly cool little adventure, here are a few close ups of her portraits:

Please check out Catto's Site here : WWW.CATTOSTROPHE.COM