Welcome to my canyon...

Welcome to the place where I share. Word of warning to begin with, I consider myself an intelligent individual, but occasionally I collapse into a not so intelligent personna. Happy reading...

Winter Rediscovered

05.31.05 (10:43 am)

After what seemed like a week of super great weather, it's back to autum/winger weather in Vancouver. Rainy and windy this morning, things seem to have calmed down for a bit. I hope it'll clear up for my trip to school this evening. My wisdom tooth started coming in last week and it's been nopthing but freakin' pain! Started off ok, i could only tell something was happening back there when I brushed my teeth but Sunday, the bloody thing started pushing against the skin and it's been non-stop pain since then. Migranes shooting up and lasting entire days. I got to the point of no return yesterday and called the dentist to find out if this was "normal". He said it wasn't uncommon and that it should stop in a few days. he said if I was in that much pain tomorrow (today) I should come in and he'll give me a perscription for T3. Thankfully, I don't think that will be necessary because the pain is gone (for now). I was such a lump last tinght. After the daylong pain, I got home exhausted. I had dinner, which my baby prepared, and conked on the couch. Watched Voyager (yey for sindication), showered, smoked, saw a picture of Miss Canada (who, at the time, I had no idea would be crowned Miss Universe) and headed to bed. So much for homework and reading. Tata for now! :)

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EU Falling Apart at the Seams

05.30.05 (1:52 pm)

Not at the seams really, more like at the heart. The EU, at the brink of turning a new leaf and proving to the world that working together does have it's benefits, was dealt a massive blow when the French people voted against the proposed constitution which would bring EU member countries even closer. From what I've read so far, seems as though the major reason for the "non" vote is the continued high unemployment rates in France along with fears that the constitution will further wedge the door open for illigal immigration and losses of even more jobs. I can see they have some valid points but was it really necessary to make their point against the French leadership now, with this vote? There are now talks that PM Raffarin is going to present his resignation. Unfortunately, this is too little too late. The vote has already been counted and Chirac has stated that he will stand by the people's vote. What does this mean for the EU? I think this might be the first stone that will break the glass house that the EU has built. Can this trial of the human ability to cooperate really be shattered by this? I hope not but it's not looking good. What a mess this has turned out to be. When I saw it in the papers this morning, I was in shock, especially considering that the French were one of the 'founding fathers' of the EU. More importantly, what will this  mean for me, the one day to be traveller? Does this mean that the benefit of being a EU member will no longer make a different for travelling cross countries? What about the little $$ I have in Euros? Bugger. I hope it all works out.

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Weekend Update

05.30.05 (9:54 am)

Let's see, Friday night went out with the girls. Turns out the movie we were going to watch wasn't playing yet (my mistake - too excited about going out I guess) and the girls couldn't even figure out if they wanted to rent movies and who's house to go to. Nightmare. We ended up buying Ice Cream and sitting at the park for 2 hours until I got bored out of my mind and casually suggested we head off. I then my way over to the pub to meet up with Dan and his work cronies. Had a beer and headed home. Saturday, while Dan the man went to play softball, I did homework and then went with my parents to European Festival. It was great fun but scorching hot. Later that afternoon, Dan and I made our way over to the movies. He wanted to see Star Wars again but I was just not up for it. So with a little juggling, he went to see his Star Wars and I watched Unleashed (which, btw, is brilliant. Some of the fight scenes were wickedly sick - yes, as in be careful what you eat before seeing this). Then Sunday, I had so much stuff planned. I was supposed to meet a fellow bookcrosser who was up from the States for the weekend and then I was going to help with newspaper prep but none of it happened. I managed to straggle out of bed to do some grocery shopping but when I got home, back on the couch. And this morning? I'm not feeling too hot. Hope it's not hing serious...

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Pensioners vs. Refugees

05.27.05 (9:59 am)

This interesting tidbit was sent to me by a girlfriend. I thought it was interesting and a little sickening... Canadian Pensioners -from the hard copy of the Toronto Star, 18 April 2004 I found it interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can also get an additiona $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00 This compares very well to a single pensioner who after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 to 50 years can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees! Lets send this to all Canadians, so we can spread the message and maybe we can get the refugees cut back to $1,012.00 and the pensioners up to $2,470.00 and enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 years. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't think there's something wrong with this picture, they should be getting at least the same amount but is it really right to encourage people to demand a cut to the refugees? So many angles to this, where to start?

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Dilemas

05.27.05 (9:47 am)

Oh jeez. I love my friends. Truly I do. They're wonderful human beings and I appreciate every day with them and just knowing that they're my friends makes me extremelly happy. However, it's a constant struggle to plan outings. You figure by now we'd have it down like a well oiled machine, we meet nearly every weekend or - at the very least - every two weekends, but, without faiul, every time (well, nearly every time) we plan dinner and a movie, we have trouble picking a movie. It's getting to the point where I just wnat to say "What's the point in watching a movie? It's such trouble trying to decide one one, let's just have dinner". At this point, it looks like I may be saying this today. We decided on a location for dinner tonight but the movie we were going to see is no longer playing. Out of the new selections, there are a bunch that sound good but Vernie has said she needs to take a look at what the movie is about and if she doesn't like it, she'll watch something else. What the fuck? Defeats the pupose doesn't it? ARRRRGG! I could pull my hair out! Oh, just got a new email. Guess that's an update of where we're at. More later.

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Top 10 - TV Shows I Miss the Most

05.26.05 (9:17 am)

So I was reading nullfactor's entry about Desperate Housewives and I got to thinking: what ever happened to TV? Sure, it's been dumbing down for a number of years now but I think we've nearly hit rock bottom. How do shows that really suck and insult the viewer stay on the air when other, well written, really great shows find their way in the vaults of the big studios. To boot, what's the deal with all of these reality shows? I'll admit, I bit into the first Survivor and I still watch The Amazing Race when it comes on but how many more Survivor's and Big Brother's can we really watch? I hear more than my fair share of complaints about these things but regardless, when they come on, the people watch. Enough Ranting. Onto the good stuff. I can think of lots of shows that I thought were amazing and then disappeared. Here is my list of top 10 shows I miss the most. Please note that while some of these were canned, a couple of them simply "ended"(?). 1.  My So Called Life 2.  Freaks and Geeks 3.  Millennium 4.  Star Trek Voyager 5.  Party of Five 6.  Oz 7.  thirtysomething 8.  Twin Peaks 9.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer 10.The Wonder Years What are your missing favourites?

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Is it Summer?

05.25.05 (9:48 am)

I'm dreadfully confused by this weather chaos. The long weekend proved to be a dissappointment thanks to the rain but, look at that, go back to the grind on Tuesday and it's all sunny and nice out. What a mess. Victoria Day was uneventfull. Lots of homework to catch up on. I did, however, take a break to catch Tom Cruise on Oprah. I don't like Oprah but Tom...that's another story all together. He looks really happy. Maybe it's just a farce but I hope he truly is as happy as he seemed. Wow. As for everything else...work's been well - work. It's been pretty busy. I don't seem to have time for anything (including a break) but other than that, the days are going by quick which is nice. I must say though, I can't wait 'till the weekend. I hope it's nice and sunny. I'm going to European Festival with my parents. Music, dancing and tons of FOOD. Like I need any more. Oh well. Oh yes, and Dad bought a new truck over the weekend. The van finally crapped out to the point of being unfixable so he and mom bit the bullet and bought a new car. It's big, red and shinny and if I'm not mistaken, a Ford. Nearly new, it's 2004 with some astronomically low mileage. I wish you could see him. He's so proud of his new "baby". He went off cruising to show it off on Monday. :) Back to work. These PO's are really starting to pile up...

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Star Wars Episode III Defines my Geekness

05.19.05 (8:02 am)

So, i've broken the camel's back and am officially a "Geek". This morning, at 12:00AM sharp, I, and 300 of my closest new friends watched the Star Wars saga unfold in Episode 3. Yes. You read right. I was out, in the rain and cold until 2:30 this morning. If that's not a test of my geekness, I don't know what is. Having managed to secure tickets to the 12AM showing, I left class in a buzz and made my way up to the theatres where I met up with my partner in crime and his newly made friends. After fighting the elements for nearly 3 hours (poor Dan, he was in line since 7PM - mind you, we were first in line!), and over consumption of coffee and donughts (Thanks to the faithfully kind staff at Tim Hortons accross the street)  we were inside and ready for action. As the LucasFilms header hit the screen, a loud cheer came from the crowd and then all silence. For a little over two hours, the only sounds were gasps and chuckles as the story moved along. I will not divulge details here. It's enough to say that nearly every shot (if not every single shot) in this film has some sort of CGI and to boot, though I haven't looked for sure, I would say it's safe to assume that this film also contains the longest continuous animation shots. Cheezy at times, and old school all the way, for both acolytes, fans and plain movie lovers will enjoy this film greatly. I must, however, rub it in. "Nana! I saw it the minute it was officially released!"

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Star Wars - the saga beings - AGAIN

05.18.05 (2:14 pm)

Look at that. It's 3:30 already. The boss is not here yet and the day is almost over (the work day at least). Busy busy busy this morning. That's ok by me. Made the day fly. So now I feel bad about my bitching about my CanLit Prof. Sat through class yesterday and I've come to the conclusion that he's not bad at all. Rather, I found myself totally into the conversation. To boot, we had a nice chat about books. He even knows my name. This is a good sign for the long run. And, as many of you may (or if you've been living under a rock for the last year or so - may not) know, Star Wars Episode III opens tomorrow. Actually, technically, it opens at midnight tonight. Dan, the love of my life and Star Wars addict since he was 7, managed to get 1 ticket to the midnight show. Yes, you read wright, 1 ticket. That means I'm going home after class to sulk while he's out watching one of the most highly anticipated sci-fi movies of all time. Bastard. He has promised to try to get me a ticket. That would rock but I'm not holding my breath. So soon I'll be off to class again. Anthropology tonight. And it looks like it'll be dry for the commute too! Yeeeyeee! :) May the force be with you.(at least until tomorrow)

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Spare Change

05.17.05 (9:59 am)

The Provincial elections are today. Shit slinging has been going on for weeks now but the worst of it came yesterday when the mayor of the city pretty much vouched to aust the Liberal guy who's in one of the ridings which is both really poor with pockets of really rich. What a mess this is turning into. The Feds essentially go on strike and now the Provincial Liberals are probably going to have a hold on the province for another 4 years. Say hello to lowered assistance, higher tuition fees and the rich getting richer. That's enough of the political garbage. On to other things, like the weather. Yes, I bitched about the weather yesterday and it looks like today will be the same, but backwards. Nice morning, crappy afternoon, or at least that's what the weather folk predict. I'm over the shock. I've put my umbrella in my bag and am totally prepared. Finally heard from the CanLit prof. Turns out, I didn't miss anything. There was an assignment that was going to be due but he moved the due date to next week because they took too long to get through the material. Yuppy! Oh yeah, and I did the unthinkable yesterday. My sister forced me (yes, at gun point ;) ) to watch the three hour season finale of 'The Bachelor'. I'm ashamed to admit it but I actually enjoyed some of it. Yikes! Well, that's it for now I guess. Pretty quiet around here. Shit is about to hit the fan with this failed JV. Looks like EW is trying to exercise rights he thinks he's entitled to under the contract and, generally, making life difficult. They're off to the lawyers this morning....

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Weird Weather

05.16.05 (3:15 pm)

So in under 2 hours, the weather went from crummy to nice. Mind you, it's not beautiful out but it is nice and bright and it's not raining! :) Still nothing from the CanLit prof...

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Love, hate and rain

05.16.05 (1:28 pm)

It's raining. Typicall for Vancouver this time of year but because the weather had been so nice until now, I thought perhaps we had avoided the rain this year. Guess not. Quiet weekend. Did some homework and watched some movies. Finally saw "Closer". Wow. What a total mindfuck that movie was. That's the closest to real relatioships that I've ever seen on screen. Really good. Other than that, pretty boring. Tried to go an see a play on Saturday night with Vernie but it just didn't happen so we ended up at the new Paramount theatre watching "Monster-in-law" which turned out to be pretty funny (though really predictable). Still waiting to see if someone in CanLit will email me back to tell me what I missed in class on Tuesday. Bloody bastards. No one has contacted me yet and class is tomorrow. CRAP. I guess I should email the prof again. Well, that's it for now. Going to go and keep myself busy for a while longer....

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Government On Strike!

05.13.05 (10:12 am)

Ottawa, Canada (MP*) - The Canadian government experienced its third day of strike thanks to the banding of the Bloc Quebecois and Conservatives, who decided they needed a few days off of work, paid for by the very generous people of Canada. The Liberals and NDP insist that they are still punching in and that "work is still being done", says one representative. Back in Quebec, Bloc members are trying to figure out why they spent all that money bribing ad execs a few years back, those millions could be paying for an extended vacation. "Because the government is on strike, the country has stopped running, which means we're open to attacks from all angles including invasion by the US for rapid takeover of our natural resources," said a well known political figure. "They better get back to work soon, or they may not have a country to screw over run." On the streets, reactions are mixed. "The governemnt is on strike?" asked one woman, baffled at the news. "They don't pay for my wages when I take a day off," yelled a man while giving the finger to the House of Commons. One can only hope that the strike ends quickly. The country needs to be up and running again soon, and with no apparent end to the strike action in the near future, the public may be faced with passing back-to-work legislation. *MP=Marina's Press

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Where did the day go?

05.11.05 (3:39 pm)

Holy crow! I was about to start relaxing a bit and then I looked at the time! What a mess. Much, much more. Later.

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What the...?

05.10.05 (1:33 pm)

Here's your chance to make an ass out of yourself in the name of competition. Ok. What people won't do for attention. Air Guitar nationals? How about Air Guitar World Championship? Check it out for yourself. Hi there, I'm Marina and I hold the tile of World Air Guitar Champion. :)

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The day that flew by

05.10.05 (10:59 am)

The morning went like a storm, a flury of papers, people and electronics flying throught the office. I can only hope that it will slow down after luch. Skipping class tonight. Heading to a concert with Steph. I have to come up with a good excuse. This is the guy who's anal about attendance. Just my luck.

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Surgery Update

05.09.05 (10:59 am)

So on Saturday I took myself to the local Radio Shack to get a soldering iron to fix my mp3 player. After the operation, I was disappointed to find that the player still isn't working. I think it's all over for it now. The headphones work fine but now the sound is all wonky. I give up. I'm going to bite the big one and just replace it. Crap. The new player is going to have to wait but I can't go without so I'm going to get a cheapy mp3 cd player. It'll do the trick for the next little while. Went to Fed's for dinner and drinks on Friday night. Had a great time. It's always wonderful talking to him and Gege. They're my most "educated" friends and it shows in our conversations. It's such great fun. I love them to death. Back to filing business cards. Joy.

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Zines

05.06.05 (3:06 pm)

Well, turns out that everyone and their dog has a zine of some sort and, unfortunately, most suck the big one. So, my resolution for the year: 1) Develop a template 2) Get writers 3) Lauch kick ass zine Wanna write? Drop me a line and I'll hook you up. As long as you're not discriminatins or hating others, it's all cool.

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I'm a NERD

05.06.05 (9:55 am)

I'd always guessed I was kinda nerdy but it really came through yesterday. I have a Creatire Labs Zen Extra mp3 player. Love it. Have had it for well over a year. I purchased it after my initial iPod purchase was returned due to a faulty battery (I'm sorry, if I's spending nearly $500 bucks on a 3rd gen product, you figure a simple thing like the batery would work so I gave up on being with the trend and since then have denounced iPods). So my player has taken lots of use and abuse. I use it daily. I barely function without music. I also prefer to listen to my tunes loud enough to drown out the outside sounds so I have these big ass headphones which are really not intended for constant travel but...they do the job nicelly. Unfortunately, all of the pulling and rearranging of the headphones have caused a bit of a faulty connection in the player and the headphone jack is loose. For a while, I could kind of manage by laying the player sideways in my bag and the sound would only break once in a while but yesterday, it hit rock bottom. I was so frusterated I wanted to break the thing. So last night, I was bitching about how my player had called it quits but I can't afford to buy a new one right this moment and I can't go more than a few days without music, blah blah blah. Then I got a great idea. The thing doesn't work anyways so I'm gonna open her up and see if I can figure out how to fix it. So there I was. 12:30AM, Dan's little screw drivers layed out, a cloth underneath so as not to lose any screws. I removed the guts of my player from it's casing and, after a short inspection, I discovered the problem. A tiny crack where the jack connects to the circuit board. WOOOHOOO Unfortunately, I'm not too handy with the soldering gun so I tried to convince Dan to fix it for me but he wouldn't and I don't want to risk it so he PROMISED we'd fix it tomorrow. So, I put the bloody thng back together and it STILL works! :) When I open the sucker up tomorrow, I'll have to take a pic. It's amazing. It truly is. I just can't believe I almost gave up on it for such a simple fix! Dan said the fact that I even thought to open it up is a sign of the NERD in me coming through. Whatever. I just know my baby will be fixed tomorrow! :P

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Morning Entertainment

05.06.05 (7:52 am)

I was on the Skytrain this morning  (think subway but high above the tree tops of BC) and the most interesting thing happened. Anyone who's taken public transit to work in the mornings knows what it's like. Most people don't talk and the few that do usually do so in low voices. Well, this morning, I was reading my book on the way in to work and about halfway here, I start hearing this noise. At first, I thought it was someone humming, but shortly after it started, you could make out a few words. This has happened to me before. You really like the song you're listening to and you're muttering the words to yourself and every once in a while a little noise slips out. You look around to see if anyone heard you and then pretend it never happened. Well, this only started to get louder. About two stops in, some guys start talking loudly, inquiring as to who's singing. Mind you, it was really, really, really bad singing. Bad enough to make a deaf man run. It was getting out of hand, people were looking around trying to see where this noise was coming from. And then, it broke into all out song. What a nightmare it was. I tried, with much difficulty, to keep a straight face but I coudln't do it. I still don't know who was singing but if this was you this morning, thanks for the entertainment but please, don't do it again.

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Take me around the back and shoot me

05.05.05 (12:59 pm)

Please put me out of the misery I've gotten myself into. Jeez. So I had my Canadian Lit class on Tuesday night and I could have cried. To begin with, there are only a few people in there that were social enough to say hello. The rest just sat there pretending to read or staring into outer space for the 20 mins we sat there before class started. Mental note: avoid showing up for this class early. Then this whale of a man walked in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a skinny girl either but this guy is HUGE. He starts off by introducing himself and right off the bat I know I'm in trouble. I'm sitting 4 rows back and I can barely hear him. Whatever, I make due with every third word: "blah blah is blah blah and blah blah blah Canadian Lit blah blah blah...." you get the picture. Because we have so much material to cover, after going over the course into, we dive right in. Great, get right to the good stuff. Except I still can't hear him, I can't read what he's putting on the board and his intermitten history lessons are driving me insane. This was all in the first hour. How the hell am I supposed to survive through 3 months of this mess? AHHHH It's not all bad though. My Anthropology prof is pretty cool. He's a hippy come 21st century type of guy. He's really intense but has a passion for the subject and manages to include interesting tidbits that illustrate the points. I think I'm going to like his class. And finally, as if I don't do enough crap with my time already, I have Psych tonight. We'll see how that mess goes. Oh yeah, and on a side note, anyone know the name of that website that lets you send shit as a gift? I'd like to send a big pile of that stinky stuff to the publishers who feel the need to steal student's money. I paid $221 for 3 freakin' books. In Suzan Powder's (at least I think that was her name) famous words: "Stop the insanity!" I think a nice pile of shit will be much better.

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Desperation Rules Supreme

05.04.05 (1:04 pm)

I don't want to be here anymore. I want someone to send me home. I hate it here this afternoon. Crapy day is only getting worse.

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Sucky morning

05.04.05 (11:17 am)

What a crappy morning. From the moment I walked in it's been crazy. The email isn't working which has thrown me into a frenzy with trying to fix it. I've done what I can. Telus is now working on the problem. Bloody hell. I'm going for lunch now. At least I'll get 30 mins of rest. See you in a bit.

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My Hometown

05.03.05 (3:32 pm)

Oh God. I probably shouldn't admit to this but...originally, I came from this place: Here's another one: Do you see the yellow house near the top left hand side near the church? Well, that's my granny's place. Originally, it was supposed to be painted in beige but the painter got the wrong paint and they couldn't afford to replace it so the house was pained this banana yellow. You can't really tell, but it is banana yellow. A few years ago, she had it repainted and now it's beige which kind of sucks because now I can't spot it in the pictures. It just sort of blends into everything else.... I was also found some other stats including one that said the population of town is 966. Let me tell you, maybe during the summer when everyone comes back to visit it might be close to 500 but there haven't been 900 people there since my parents were kids. Maybe not that long ago but at least since I was a little munchkin. So that's it. My home town. For those of you who are interested, it's called Sao Jeorge da Beira (formerly - during my parent's youth - Cebola - which, in a direct translation, means "Onion"). Nice. Hello, my name is Marina and I'm from Onion. There you have it.

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Lucky Morning

05.03.05 (12:11 pm)

I think I need to go and buy a lotto ticket. If you hadn't noticed, I have a small love affair for NIN. Yes I know, how teenybopper but I just can't help it. They still rock, or should that be he still rocks? Whatever. So the new album hit the shelves today and yesterday I was contemplating how I would squeeze in a swing by the record store to pick it up. But that was all solved this morning when the boss lady came in and asked me to pop by the bank (just around the corner from one of the local record shops). So I took the opportunity and extra 10 mins and popped in and good thing I did too. I was looking for the dualdisc and couldn't find it. So before paying, I asked. Turns out, there was only one left and no one could figure out where it was hiding so I had 3 store personnel rummaging the shelves and back drawers for the sole copy. After a good 10 mins of waiting, tada! It appeared from beihnd a stack of other crap. WOOOHOO! I got me the last copy in the store! :) As for work today, it's going ok. Nothing to do so I'm making busy work. I have class tonight too. Bloody CanLit which, while at UBC years ago, I learned to refer to as CanIt. We'll see how it goes...

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Time to GO HOME

05.02.05 (3:34 pm)

Thanks god. The day is nearly over! :)

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