Terri Schiavo, Dec 3, 1963 - Mar 31, 2005At 11:58 PMby: Hiro

Today we present to you a Pleasant Interruption premiere. This is the first of what will henceforth be called a teampost.

Unless you're Amish, you most likely would have heard on the news or the radio about the Terri Schiavo(pronounced Shy-vo, not she-avo) affair. About 15 years ago Terri fell into a coma and suffered severe brain damage due to cardiac arrest and loss of oxygen to her brain among other things, brought on by chemical imbalances due to an eating disorder. Since then she has been in a persistent vegetative state(this being disputed) and has been in hospice care, kept alive artificially by use of a feeding tube.

The heart of the issue is that her husband, Michael Schiavo has been fighting for years to have the feeding tube removed so she can be laid to rest. Michael contends that before her accident she had told him she would never want to be kept alive in such a condition if it were to ever happen to her. Michael was fighting to carry out her wishes. On the other side of the war are the Schindlers - her parents - fighting to have the feeding tube kept in, arguing that they believe she can make a recovery with proper care.

As her legal guardian, Michael has won all court battles for the right to decide whether or not the feeding tube would be removed. The courts also stated that on advice of court-appointed neurologists that she was indeed in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The feeding tube was removed years ago but was reinserted. It was again removed 2 weeks ago, sparking the most chaotic right-to-die battle ever fought.

She died today.

For further details please read this Wikipedia article on Terri Schiavo.


HiroThis issue has been bugging me for weeks since it first came into the spotlight. This case has taken up almost every minute of every news show on tv and every inch of every newspaper. Wow, talk about sensationalism. Hundreds of millions of people dying around the world and all they can think about is this one woman. And for what? Politics and religion. This ain't a battle of Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers and it most certainly never was about the well-being of Terri. It's just another battle in the war between the liberal left and the religious right.

Let's get the facts straight. Terri is no longer the person she once was. She is a mindless body, an artifact of her former self. It is absurd that people actually believe she has a conscience by watching some extremely selective home videos showing her "laugh" and "react." Such actions are merely random signals being sent to different muscles in her body. The fact that they have coincidentally ocurred at the same time as some external event means absolutely nothing. I'd like to see the hours of footage of her not reacting to what they did. To convince half a country that she is still a conscious human being is quite impressive. Notice how they try to personify her by saying things like "she's fighting for her life." Give me a break. Even conscious people do not "fight" for their life. Nobody has direct control over their organs, their nervous system, their heart, etc. It is simply a figure of speech. The only thing fighting for her life is the feeding tube.

As far as the debate on who should have say on her fate, I think it's pretty clear cut. The laws strictly state that husband and wife have full guardianship over each other. And the courts agree. It is kind of ironic that the same people fighting against Michael's guardianship are the same people fighting for traditional marriage. What does traditional marriage state? That the husband and wife belong to each other and nobody else.

What truly irks me is how they try to paint Michael Schiavo as some murderous devil while they try to paint themselves as some life-saving crusaders. They also try to give it a "disability" spin. Let's get serious. Terri isn't disabled. She's dis-human. They also love asking the question "If Michael has moved on with his life, why not let Terri live and let her parents keep her alive?" Well hmmm, maybe because the whole reason why he's doing this is because this is what she wanted. Given the amount of flak he's getting, I'd wager he would have said screw it by now and just given up. He has nothing to gain from her dying except knowing that he carried out her wishes.

Terri Schiavo, rest in peace.


NanaA friend of mine commented that it's interesting that those people who wanted Ms. Schiavo to be kept alive are now saying that she is in "a better place now." If "heaven" (cause that is the "place" they are referring to) is better, then why wouldn't they have wanted her to have died 15 years ago, instead of barely fitting the definition of what we call living, and being trapped in a useless body?

Many of these "pro-life" people are the same people who are against scientific advances (because they are unnatural, and they don't fit in with God's plan for life) which prolong life, yet they insisted upon keeping Terri Schiavo alive (using... SCIENCE), lengthening the duration of her natural life by 100%. If that isn't hypocracy, then I don't know what is.


TonyAnother day, another life.

What really astonishes me about this whole situation, is how many outsiders that don't even know the family at all, are so adamant that the government steps in and intervene in this issue that should be a private family affair. Being bombarded everyday with details about the issue, repeated again and again till our ears bleed.
Seriously now, isn't there a war going on that is a hell of a lot more important, and that the government has more important issues to deal with beyond this one case.

Now why should the government get involved in the issues of an individual, speaking in the mindset of many Americans, the government has no place in the lives of individual, unless the person(or people) infringe the rights of others, this is a part of conservative (neo-liberalism) ideology. Michael Schiavo was the legal guardian of Terri, so technically it was his choice to do this. Easy as that. No government intervention needed, but soo many people decide to go out of their way to try and get the government to intervene so that they could keep her alive. The parents' lawyers even went out and said Governor Jeb Bush should defy legislation, like how his brother defied the United Nations to go to war, in order to save Terri's life. Now such reckless abandonment for the law, and such radical ideas could lead way to regular people just breaking the law and base their actions on the example of their president, thus leading to a breakdown in society and its laws.

It was really unfortunate what happened to her, and it was really unfortunate that the media turned her into a circus, for all to see. For some reason Americans prefer to get distracted in these issues, which do no concern them at all, and try to justify government intervention into individuals' lives. Now again, speaking in an American mindset, Conservatives (the main body responsible for the uproar) shouldn't be out there in the first place asking the government to intervene, because according to Conservative ideology, the government has no place in individuals' lives, and like I said before, Michael was her guardian, so he would have represented her when it came to certain legal proceedings concerning her. If they are willing to let the government intervene in other people's lives, then they damn well should be able to intervene in your life, and make you pay taxes for useful things like health care, and social security.

This whole issue has been blown out of proportion, and is bound to be talked about a lot more in the future, regarding the issue of euthanasia, and who's responsibility it is to deal with people with disabilities. The root cause of her to be in this state was because she was Bulimic, and that a potassium imbalance in her system caused her heart to stop, and oxygen didn't get to her brain, causing irreparable damage. So speaking out against bulimia would help.

This entire debacle has only served in distracting American's from real issues that would actually concern them! Things like Social Security, cost of prescription drugs, health care, unemployment, violence, and I almost forgot they are also at war! These issues (and many more) actually concern basically all Americans, but for some reason they decide to go on a march to try and "Do God's work" by making a big issue out of something that should have been dealt with through the family and the government alone. This really shows where their priorities are, and if the majority of Americans don't care about issues that could affect the future of the country, it really tells you that something is wrong.
I don't see groups of people gathered in front of the houses of American soldiers who died in Iraq, nor do I see anyone (besides immediate family) crying over their "unnecessary" deaths as well.

Why? You tell me.

Super Dot Com 2k5 RemixAt 10:25 PMby: Hiro

Alright, when I said I was back in action, I lied. Since my last post that I made ages ago, I've gotten even busier in life. Next week I go to Halifax for a week for karate nationals so I've basically been trying to get ready for that among other things.

However, I haven't forgotten about Pleasant Interruption and I have taken care of a few things behind the scenes.

First off, Nana pointed out to me last week that if you search for Pleasant Interruption on google, we're now ranked 2nd. Not that everyone searches for those two words on google, but we feel special nonetheless.

Also, I am proud to announce that we've registered www.pleasantinterruption.com so you can all gleefully change your bookmarks and when you try to tell a friend about us you don't need to go through the trouble of reminding them of the blogspot.com part.

Lastly, we've put together some profile pages so you can get to know us a little better. If you look to the sidebar on the right hand side you can now click to view our profiles.

Lastly, to keep you amused, I present to you: Eric Conveys an Emotion

Hours of fun.

Random Bits #1At 4:50 PMby: Nana

As usual, I'm feeling very linky. You need not follow all the links, but it will make me immensely happy if you do.

In Sandy Hill (the area of Ottawa where I reside) there are many old folks homes. This results in an increased amount of ambulance traffic.

Tony told me this funny story, which I will paraphrase for you.

In grade 9 science, there was a kid who beleived that he was intelligent, when in reality he was (and is) quite the opposite. So when the teacher asked for an explanation of what "matter" was, he said: "Humans like us are matter, while things like this desk (knocks on desk for effect) are anti-matter."

St. Patrick's Day is over. It was the only day where it was appropriate to propagate a negative stereotype about a group of people. In fact, they encouraged it!

The Stroke's new album is almost complete.

An easter comic for your enjoyment, courtesy of the webcomic Perry Bible Fellowship.

Tony Tran is trilingual (teriffic!).

People have taken this warmer weather as an opportunity to become more active. Rollerbladers are on the loose! Beware of their uncanny ability to trip and fall when blading on gravel and sand left over from winter!

Ryan and Marissa had better not get back together.

Mark Wilson was Bright Eyes before Bright Eyes even existed.

I now know that it is possible to live on $12 worth of food for a week.

[addendum, 5:42 pm]

It has been brought to my attention that the Amish are the only group of people who can be insulted on the internet without fear of retaliation.

[/addendum]

Streamlined for 2005, BabyAt 5:30 PMby: Nana

This blog post is about MSN messenger lists; more specifically, it is about how long they have become. Rather than get straight to the problem like any normal person, I have designed a scenario that you may relate to, in the hopes that it will bring you closer to my frame of mind. It also allows me to dirty up the pristine visage of Pleasant Interruption. She's been a bad girl, and she needs to be punished with another long and pointless post.


You have just come back from the club, and you have some hot guy/girl's messenger contact. You load up MSN and you can barely contain the excitement. You realize that you aren't that excited, and that you just need to go to the bathroom. Afterwards, you come back to your computer and attempt to add said person to your list. This is where you run into a problem - you have too many people on your list.

I have never had this problem, for two reasons. The first reason is that being a cynic and generally dour person is a full time job. Adding a female to the strange and sad series of seemingly unconnected events I call my life would not be advantageous for me (I couldn't care less about her). The second reason is that I erase people from my list all the time. I realize that some people make friends extremely well and have full lists, but I have never understood the rationale behind this. Unless you actually speak to every one of these people, the MSN Messenger list is just a way for people to look at a large number and think to themselves "Jee Smith (Smith is your name), you sure do have a lot of friends." Also, erasing people is cathartic. Goodbye, I will never see "'So and so - I love you POOPOO' has come online" ever again (hopefully I don't see you in real life either).

DO NOT BE DISMAYED good readers! The experts at Pleasant Interruption Labs, nestled away in a covert laboratory rivaling the Batcave's own lab have concocted some solutions for streamlining your list. Here are a few of the estimated million kernels pulled from the minds of said experts.

• Send out a mass message, saying that those who reply with a reason for their undying allegiance to you will be saved, and those of you who do not will be deleted. This works if you are above all the lesser beings who exist only to inhabit your otherwise empty world. I would call you a solipsist, but thems fighting words.
  
• Become a hermit. Cut off all ties with society and shun all forms of technology. Essentially you'd be Amish, but without the hats and the barn raisings. Since you've excommunicated yourself from the rest of the world, you won't have any problems with your MSN list anymore. This method works best for people who have lots of "friends" on their list who never talk to them. People like me (single tear).
  
• Erase everyone, and add them back when they talk to you later on. This is pretty effective if you're the type of person who waits for the conversations to come to them, you cool person you. We're all so impressed with your magnetic personality.
  
• Stop using instant messenger programs. Call people, using the thing that connects to the wall thing with that string... oh yes, the PHONE.
• Scour the web, searching porn sites, warez, and other unmentionable-but-probably-will-be-mentioned-later-on things. Eventually your computer will become so infested with viruses that you'll have to get a priest to perform an exorcism before sacrificing it to a lesser demon. Without a computer you wont have list problems.
• Send me more of those damn chain letters! Then, I'll tell everyone that you're into bestiality (See? Told you I'd mention an unmentionable) and you worship reptiles or something like that. I like to imagine that frats worship reptiles, but it's probably not true. Anyway, this will cause people to block/delete you from their list. When you realize what has happened because you wanted to make your wish come true (who has 20 friends anyway?) you'll reformat your computer in shame, and cry in some corner somewhere.
  

At this point you may have two, or possibly three people on your list. You may also no longer have a computer. THIS IS THE DESIRED EFFECT. You're streamlined for 2005, baby!

Although you are in fact streamlined for 2005, baby, other people may not feel as happy about your actions. Somehow they are unable to rejoice with you in your hyper-efficiency. They might be (inexplicably) hurt that you decided to erase them from your list despite the fact that you haven't spoken to them in months, or that they are lesser humans. But aren't other people's feelings rendered meaningless compared to your sleek profile cutting through cyberspace, streamlined for 2005? Baby?

It's a Reunion!At 11:38 PMby: Hiro

First off, apologies to all you Pleasant Interruption fans for my week of absence. I bear myself before you and plead for mercy. I hope you can someday find compassion in your heart to forgive me.

I've been a generally busy person this whole work term since January but this month has been extremely busy. The Karate Nationals are coming up in less than a month so Tom (Kirk), Arjun and I have been training pretty much everyday. So between working out and training karate, I don't get home til like 8-10 pm everyday. On top of that, I was pretty busy with something else which I will not mention here at this time so that left me with no time to be writing anything for P.I.

I'd also like to give a bloggin' high-five to Nana for keeping up the fort. See, that's what team blogging is all about. Covering each other's backs.

It also appears that the elusive Tony has resurfaced from his secret underground layer. His whereabouts were unknown to even his fellow bloggers and Nana and I still don't have a clue what he was doing with his time. We have suspicions that his activities may or may not have involved gas-powered staplers, mispeled(lol!) signposts, removable speedbumps and possibly some baby ligers. Make what you will of that information and arrive at your own assumptions - Nana and I adopted the don't ask don't tell policy a week ago.

Anyway, today I worked an extra hour and a half from 9 am til 6:30 pm and then ended up walking home for an hour, and finally celebrated my roommate's birthday(Happy Birthday Kat Amanda!) so no time tonight for a full post.

(Kat is another roommate)

But because I'd hate to leave you so unsatisfied, here's a video to keep you busy:
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/615/
Hilarious. Just hilarious.

The Death Knell of the Saturday Morning CartoonAt 5:09 PMby: Nana

The Saturday Morning Cartoon is Dead.

This is nothing like when people say rock and roll is dead. I stand by my original statement: cartoons, especially those shown on Saturday mornings, are dead.

"But Nana!!! I love super powered fighting machines X!!!"
Then you're obviously in the wrong place, because I hate that show and I hate you even more.

The cartoons of today crave mindless violence (to the X-X-XTREME!), with no substance, story, or dialogue to speak of. You get 25 minutes of explosions and flashing lights, coupled with ninjas/pirates/robots, or some amalgamation of the three. Don't get me wrong or anything: I love pirates, robots are the best things in the world, and ninjas have a special place in my heart. But ONLY when used correctly.

The main problem with these shows versus the ones that we grew up loving is excess. New cartoons take the things that should be good and mutates them to the nth power, where n equals some extremely large number that even God's calculator needs to pause to compute. They then take these terribly malformed and stygian ideas and fuse them together in what can only be called some sort of terrible fusing synergy combining machine. I imagine that this machine is powered by the gnashing of people's teeth as they watch the end product.

I long, nay, I PINE, for the days of Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Batman the Animated series, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. the days when you'd want to wake up early to catch these shows, skip bathing, and any activities that you had for the day. When the roller coaster ride ended at noon and you could get on with your life. When you'd switch between YTV, Fox, and NBC looking for the best shows.

Now I need to make a distinction (all you philosophy buffs may take a moment to groan here, I will wait for you to finish). First of all, I am exaggerating a bit. There are some cartoons that I still enjoy. Second, I understand that everything in life needs to grow to avoid stagnation. But when things get this bad I begin to question how good change actually is.

Oops.At 11:06 AMby: Nana

I'm not sure how this happened. The previous post was NOT supposed to go in Pleasant Interruption. I apologize for proverbially flashing you with my geeky nether regions. It will not happen again. But for continuity's sake, I'm going to leave the post down there. Let this be a lesson to all of you bloggers out there: double check which blog you're posting in before you post.

New Comic Day, 03.09.2005At 11:17 PMby: Nana

I didn't pick up any random titles this month, just the regular stuff.

I grabbed Justice League Elite and Detective Comics from last week, and picked up Green Arrow, JSA, and Superman. I won't bore everyone with reviews, because you can get those anywhere else.

Really excited to see how the DCU is going to lead up to Countdown at the end of the month. I'm thinking of picking up Adam Strange to prepare. Any thoughts?

Writer's BlockAt 1:10 PMby: Nana

I have writer's block. I've had it for awhile, and it's starting to get to me. So today, dear readers, you get to take a look at my creative process!

By nature, I am a very talkative person. If I can weasel my way into your comfort zone (thereby destroying my OWN comfort zone), I will talk at any lengths about any topic. However, this had not been translating to the blog very well as of late. I have had many false starts over the few days, and I'd like to talk about them to you today.

Basically, when I write a post I try and tax the far reaches of my vocabulary, dredging up words and phrases that will make me out to be pompous and haughty. I try and use this as a foil for the silly things I write about.

An assumption will now be made that most of the people who read this blog are of the legal drinking age. Another assumption will be made that of those of you who are the legal drinking age, most of you have been to a club, disco, dance hall, or whatever you want to call it. Taking these assumptions into account, I can write this post without alienating too many people. It's fun to be coldly considerate!

I am now going to talk to you about the types of people who you can find in the club. 50 Cent will not be one of them. I do not usually have fun going to these things, so I have alot of time to look around and laugh at people, all the while becoming more jaded and callow in my attitude towards life. I am going to jump straight into the meat of this post, so get ready.

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking about here. I guess I thought that it would be funny to do another category post. Thing is, I would need to do field research for this sort of subject-and I'm not a big fan of clubs. As stated in a previous post, I'm a pub kind of guy. I much rather drinking until I fall asleep or pick fights with older gentlemen at eating establishments. I think I'll shelve this idea for awhile, and possibly come back to it later.

Here's an ode to my favourite board game (sorry Risk).

Jenga is like a religion. The Tao of the Jeng tells us that when our tower (that's life, folks!) falls down, we must rebuild it and start over again, building up into the sky.

Aside from sounding like a raving lunatic, this post has some premise for hilarity. Too bad those lines up there were all I could come up with within a 2 hour period.

The text below is a really rough draft of a post that I came up with the day after I came back to Ottawa. I was writing really fast, and I just drafted what I wrote below. I haven't touched it since.

next post is going to be about how people say useless things to people and do not expect an answer fitting whatever they said to the person. an ackward sentence, but let me gtive an example:

hey, what's up? (reply: nothing) good. (you?) nothing.

I will talk about how it doesn't matter what the person says, so long as they respond. I will also make efforts to respond to what people say with actual information, and record the results.

I think I like this idea though. I'll be talking about it sometime in the upcoming weeks, but it's going to take awhile to get something cohesive together.

Well, I guess that's all for my interruption. Have a pleasant day everyone.

Shut Your Mouth, I Just Can't Take ItAt 1:05 PMby: Nana

IT'S A DOUBLE HEADER AT THE INTERRUPTION TODAY! I bring you two new posts to waste your time this March afternoon. Here is the first.

Every now and then a song comes along that surprises you with the intensity and range of the vocals. The guitars and drums come together to weave a brilliant web of sound that fellates your aural orifice. Whenever you and your friends hear this song, you turn up the volume and rock out. The song reaches it's climax at an emotional bridge that takes your breath away each time you hear it.

I think I've found such a song. And I think you all know which one I'm talking about. Everyone who I have spoken to (except Mark Wilson, you jerk!) agrees with the following statement:

Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson is amazing.

And I can't get this song out of my head.

Obligatory 1000 Hit CelebrationAt 9:54 PMby: Hiro

Yes, I realize this is pointless but it just has to be done. The unwritten rulebook on code of conduct strictly requires that we formally acknowledge the fact that this site has been hit on over 1000 times. 4-digits baby, doesn't it just sound so sexy?

Only in this wonderful world of cyber hotness could the three of us ever dream to be hit on so many times by both females and males alike. It is truly flattering.

So for all of our devoted readers, I'm going to give you a virtual high-five for being awesome.

Now suppose there is a scale of awesomeness, ranging from 1-10, on which you can numerically value someone's awesomeness. Mere mortals can only hope to achieve a 5. The fact that you read this blog automatically places you at least at 6. Of course course, Nana, Tony and Yours Truly float between 8 and 10 depending on the day.

However, you too can increase your awesomeness by helping us hit 5 digits. I was hoping that after a month and a bit of bringing you Pleasant Interruptions we would have had at least 100,000 hit by now but I guess you could say I somewhat overestimated. Once we become blogging celebreties we promise not to forget our roots.

So spread the pleasantness and tell a friend.

Please.

Train Training, Part IIAt 11:03 PMby: Hiro

Without further ado, I present to you the breathtaking conclusion to your ultimate train riding guide.

The First 5 Minutes

This section is important whether you are the one boarding the train and taking a seat beside another person, or you're the one already on the train and have just been joined by a newcomer. This title is quite misleading. It does not necessarily specify the first 5 minutes after sitting down. Rather, this deals with the first 5 minutes of open channels. There are many legitimate reasons to delaying the initiation of conversation and they must often be respected. Allow me to give you some examples:

• The person is sleeping. Although, if they were sleeping, you should have avoided this situation right? Depending on their personal depth of sleep, you will either a) be talking to an unconscious human being or b) you may soon become unconscious yourself.
• They are listening to music, clearly denoted by the fact that they are wearing headphones. Engaging in a conversation while the other party is not listening to you will result in other party believing that you are talking to yourself. Although technically you will have accomplished the mission of engaging a conversation, this renders the entire situation irrelevent as you may engage in such personal conversations at any time and place of your choosing. Yes, even a public washroom stall. Granted, that can lead to interesting situations.
• They are talking on a cellphone. Attempting to interject yourself into an ongoing conversation, one that most likely involves people that know each other, is not the greatest plan of attack.
• They are reading a book. It is possible that they are so enraptured by their reading material that they have not yet noticed you sitting beside them. This however is quite unlikely, since you will already have asked if you may sit there. That is, if you've been paying attention thus far.
  

Whoever is engaging in any of the above mentioned activities must stop in order to signal to the other person that they are ready to begin a conversation. Immediately ceasing the activity might make it look like you are on an all out offensive, desperate for conversation, so bide your time.

In any case, the moment the signal is given, that is when the 5 minute window begins. If you miss this window, you will most likely fail the mission.

Now what shall be the first move? Do you inch forward the pawn or bring the knight out? This my friend, is the trickiest part. The "opener" must be individually tailored to each and every situation. As a rule of thumb, any reasonable excuse to talk to the other person will suffice. Here are some suggestions for an opener:

• "Excuse me, do you have the time?" Ah yes, the classic. Asking what time it is. This is a question anyone feels comfortable answering. However, in order to prevent yourself from looking as smooth as sandpaper that's been coated in glass shards, you may want to make sure you're not wearing a watch in advance.
• "Excuse me, do you know where we are?" This one is excellent and one of my personal favourites. Thus far I have a perfect record so far using this one. Granted, I've only used it once, but 1/1 is nonetheless a perfect record.
• "Hey, how's it going?" Say it straight up. Just don't do the "Heyyyy, how yoo doiiiin" thing. I have yet to test this one out myself but I plan on it next chance I get.
  
• "Excuse me, have you ever read the Pleasant Interruption blog?" You will appear to exude pure awesomeness in its rawest form.
  

If you were wondering, the following examples of openers would be considered unreasonable:

• "You have something hanging out of your nose."
• "Are you single?"
• "Hi, I'm single."
• "Did you just fart?"
• etc, etc.

Now, regardless of which opener you use, the key here is that you keep the conversation alive. You must now unleash a "linker", to string together a nice combo to kick start the conversation. I would have to say that by far the simplest and most effective linker is to simply say "So where are you off to?" It is not too intrusive, and will give you something to work with. Ideally, they would respond not with just the name of the city but also the reason as to why they are going. You can then follow up with other linkers based on the answer. Even if they aren't that cooperative, they will most likely at least return the same question. This then gives you the chance to state where and why you are going. Feel free to be creative with linkers, as the possibilities are limitless.

If you keep receiving short responses and you seem to be the only one asking questions, you are most likely looking at a lost cause. Straight "yes" and "no" answers, especially if they were in response to questions that cannot be answered by a yes or no, most likely hint to a dead conversation. This is of course, known as the "ender". Retreat immediately and pursue other activities to salvage your remaining train riding experience.

However, unless you are sitting beside some total bitch or jerkwad, your desire to have a friendly chat will most likely be reciprocated and from here onward, it's all smooth sailing.

Names

One important thing I have yet to discuss is names. This is a very simple yet awkward issue to deal with. It is entirely possible to carry on an entire 3 hour conversation without ever knowing the other person's name but it will be gnawing at you the whole time.

I advise against introducing yourself right at the beginning, as it will make them feel like it's an interview or at least make them feel uncomfortable. There is a sense of security in anonymity and to reveal names early on will not help the conversation.

However, it is equally difficult to introduce names an hour into the conversation. Therein lies the dilemna. Throwing in "So what's your name?" out of the blue gets the job done but definitely doesn't sound right. I propose 2 main solutions:

• "Ha, I just realized I haven't introduced myself yet! How rude of me! So anyway, I'm Hiro." Keep in mind that you may or may not wish to replace "Hiro" with your own name. Speaking from experience, there has not been a single time when people have not said something along the lines of "Hero? Wow that's a coool name!" However, they will most likely not believe you so I advise against trying to live my life. As an alternative, I highly suggest you tell them your name is any of: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, etc, or more blatantly Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. Then after you elicit a little bit of laughter, reassure them that it truly is your name. After a moment of confusion, laugh a bit and tell them the truth. Works like a charm.
• "So Juanita, where did you say you go to school again?" Use a name that is obviously not suited to the other person within any sentence of your choosing. They will most likely correct you or just spend a minute confused. Regardless, laugh it off and admit the truth: "Haha I know your name isn't Juanita but I never got your name and the conversation got to the point where it woulda been awkward to ask you your name so I just gave you a name instead. So anyway, I'm Hiro. And you are?" They will understand. This will remove a big weight off their shoulders as well and everyone wins.

Funny Things to do on the Train

Here is a quick summary of things you can do to amuse yourself, but most likely only yourself. Proceed at your own risk.

• If approached by someone and asked if you mind them sitting there, simply reply "yes". They will both be confused and insulted. You'll never see them again anyway right?
• Sit down beside a person that's sleeping and wake them up. Then follow up by asking them if they were in fact sleeping, what time it is, if they know where you are, or if they could wake you up when you get to your destination.
• Sit down beside a person that's sleeping and if they have a book or magazine, go ahead and read it and continue doing so even once the person wakes up.
  
• If the person next to you is listening to music, talk loudly so they can hear you.
• If the person next to you is reading a book, read over their shoulder and ask them if they are finished the page or ask them if they can go back to the previous page.
• If the person next to you is on a cellphone, ask them if you can talk to their friend.
• If the person next to you asks you "Where are we?" reply "on a train".
• If you're in a packed car and a seat opens up beside someone else, pack up your stuff and switch seats. Conversely, if you're in a near empty car, go sit right beside someone.

Now that you have prepared yourself by reading this guide, I hope you have many Pleasant Interruptions to come in your future travels.

Bon Voyage.

Train Training, Part IAt 11:05 PMby: Hiro

Note: I would like to let you know that today's interruption is a bit different. It's rather long. Or so I discovered about halfway through writing it(which is right now). Different you ask? All your bloody posts are long! Well this time, in order to prevent a ludicrously long post and so I also have the luxury of finishing it tomorrow, I'm going to post this in 2 parts. Enjoy.

-

This past weeekend, I went back home to Belleville(or B dot to the hip Bellevillians or Bellevegas as the Hictonites may affectionately refer to). Now the original reason I went back was because there was a karate tournament on the Sunday in Toronto that I was supposed to go to, but didn't end up going because I felt lazy. I personally find these provincials a bore and a waste of time, but I have to go if I am to be on the provincial team, so I go. This time, I didn't need to go so I definitely took advantage. Anyway, onto the main course of today's interruption.

As usual, I took the [VIA] train home. I really like the train and I personally think it's the best way to travel . Sure, going on a plane is exciting and I still love the rush during takeoff and the thrills of turbulance but the novelty wears off after the first few times. And yes, you can save 8 bucks by taking the bus but in the end, I think trains win in every other category. Trains have the interior of an airplane, but with more leg-room, nicer scenery(well, except for the first and last 15 minutes of a flight, which are usually stunning) and it doesn't have the loud roar of the jet engines.

For those that don't already, I highly recommend that you use the website to buy tickets online. It makes things ridiculously simple, don't have to worry about tickets being sold out(and even when they are, you can quickly snag cancelled tickets simply by continuously checking for tickets!), and saves you time if you're never on time getting to the stations.

One thing I really look forward to for train trips is the fact that I get to read a book. I love reading, but I just can't seem to sit down and read a book nowadays. But on a train, being isolated away from a computer and any other distractions, I can easily escape reality into the pages of a book. This weekend I actually started reading a book a bit outside of my usual preference of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I got "The Wealthy Barber" for Christmas from my sister, Yoko, and I've been meaning to read it but kept putting it off. It is a financial management book but written as a fictional story(you know, with characters talking and doing stuff). I must say, it is an amazing book and I honestly believe you'd(everyone) be a fool not to read it. Anyway, I will talk about the book in detail at a later time as I have a few more chapters to finish.

-

An equally enjoyable thing I love about train rides, is the mystery of not knowing who your escort will be, accompanying you throughout your journey. Today I would like to share with everyone some observations I've made and some strategy I've developed, in order to maximize the chances of some pleasant interruptions on a train ride.

The Entry

The inital entry is key. As you enter the car, you have but a few steps to quickly analyze the seating situation. If the car is more than 1/3 empty, engage a dual-empty seat near the middle. This is crucial for later because nobody will want to venture to the back of the train to sit beside you unless it is the absolute last seat. Interestingly, the same applies to the front because people will walk beyond the first few rows in search of the elusive dual-empty seats. Yes, even if it is totally packed, people will still count on lucking out beyond the front.

If however, the car is rather on the full side, you're in luck. This is your optimal situation as you are now in control. You have absolute free reign in choosing to sit beside the most attractive and friendly looking person of the opposite gender that you can spot. This is where quick observational skills come in handy. Your seat selection process must, and I repeat must appear to be random. Don't want to seem desperate now do we? Pacing back and forth between two contenders while contemplating the pros and cons most likely will not go over well.

Before I continue, I must stress that I advise against sitting beside someone sleeping unless the car is near capacity and you have no choice. If the person were to wake up and realize there were tons of other seats available and you still sat beside them, this may lead them to believe you were watching them while sleeping sleep or took advantage of their inability to turn you away when you first sat down. This will register quite high on the creep scale.

The randomness can be reinforced by pretending to not even be interested in that particular seat by approaching the desired seat, putting on a face making it look like you are disappointed in not being able to find dual-empty seats, and finally settling for the seat (coincidentally) next to the desired person.

Also, although it is quite obvious to even the most obtuse observer that the seat is empty, you must ask if the seat is either empty or taken. I must be clear that you can only ask one or the other. Asking "Is this seat empty or taken?" will only make you seem a little odd, as the question must be answered by a combination of a yes and no, regardless of the situation. Another variation is to ask if they mind you sitting there. Of course, they're forced to say yes but it is a strict formality that you must adhere to. This indicates your politeness, displays your command of the english language(important, if you're asian[or other ethnic] looking like myself) and plants the seed for future communication.

Once you have mastered these skills you are well on your way to phase two, covered in Part II of this post.