The Arik Network: ANN
Yony
speaks with ANN for the last time. Posted 2/7/2002
Written by: Yony
Bresler
A while ago, Arik requested that I write something
for ANN….
I never did, so now that the site is about to shut
its doors, and I never came through on the article, here it is.
I decided to start this piece by giving a (somewhat)
brief introduction showing you how I first came to hear about ANN,
as well as my initial reaction.
(Note: this is about to be one VERY long and boring
article, so I tried to lighten It up with some jokes – my trademark.
Although some jokes are inside/private jokes, don’t expect to understand
everything, in fact, its quite likely you won't get a single joke.
So, don’t be too harsh on yourself for not getting any of the jokes….
Its not you, its me :P.
I would also recommend for you to read this only
at a time where you are mentally fresh…
this is not going to be an easy read…. Long sentences,
wild tangents, and an overwhelming amount use of (brackets) all
make this for an "interesting" experience)
"Hi Yonny,
(Edt. Note: at this point in time, Arik was not aware
that my name is spelled with only one ‘n’, but if I were to comment
on every spelling/typo and grammer mistake Arik has made on ANN,
that would be quite a list, and this thing is long enough as it
is ,,,)
If you want to know what's going on with us (me)
here in Israel - and what are we doing in Cre8, visit ANN - a special
news site made by me, about us.
Updated almost every day. http://arikl.tripod.com/ann/
bookmark it!"
An ICQ message – sent by Arik – April 2nd 2001.
At first I took no notice.
(No offense Arik, but: ) up to that point, your websites
and other computer projects were, shall we say: sub optimal, or
better yet, not really interesting (read = boring) Well, after Arik
kept annoying and spamming me to go to this darn website, I visited,
and replayed with the following message:
"a) WTF???? WHY R U DOING THIS?? b) typos and grammer...
OMG... …."
and went on to rant some more about why in God's name
is he making a website about himself, and people he knows.
Well, time went on, the design changed (THANK YOU
Boxy for sparing me the horror that is the arik home made graphics),
and eventually, Arik’s first message was right: Although
I wouldn’t have to bookmark the site, I would check regularly to
see what was going on, and do so until today.
ANN meant that instead of leaving short messages on
ICQ/SMS (P.S. – if you have yet to realize the joy of annoying someone
continuously through the wonder that is online SMS – ask Arik –
he can tell you first hand),
Arik could write some stuff on ANN, and I would read
it later on in the day, keeping me in touch even through the hour
and the distance difference.
Well, now that I am done sucking up to the editor
(and thus ensuring this will ever get published) allow me to get
to what Arik actually asked me to write about: myself. I left Israel
on September the 2nd, 2000, arriving here in Toronto at the following
morning.
Still suffering from severe Jet-Lag, and still very
much disoriented and unfamiliar with the huge city they call Toronto.
(actually, if you pronounce it correctly, the second
‘T’ is silent, leaving you with ‘Torono" or something like that)
– and arrived at what would become my school for the next two years
– "The York School"
but looks can be deceiving….. this building, looking
quite innocent, quite, tranquil and peaceful was really not that.
First off, it is pretty much in downtown, which turned
out to be good, but sometimes bad (noise and construction went on
and on, much like this article).
Secondly, there is something very crucial to know
about the Canadian education system…. It has 13 years, not 12…..
coming from grade 10 in Israel, I was placed in grade 12.
Not only was I new to the city, the country, the language
and the society, I was placed with kids who were for the most part,
a year or year and a half older than me…. Yee-Pee for me…. To make
matters even *better* - I entered a program called the IB (or as
we called it – Intense bullshit.),
my class consisted of students from 9 countries (Israel,
Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Chile, Scotland, Poland and of course
Canada (and by the end of this year, Lebanon and Argentina would
be added))
around 5 religions, around 13 languages, and all
of this with an amazing number of 13 Students!!!
(no, not cause each class was small… there was a
total of 13 students in our graduating year, period). As you can
see, being a diverse class in intense bullshit caused us to form
a VERY interesting "group" with a new home – school.
We were also introduced to one of the weirdest class
schedule I have ever seen… Instead of a normal one, where each day
would have a constant class, we rotated through an eight day schedule,
with no relations to the days of the week….it was always interesting
to come to school in the morning, and ask what day it is… is it
day 1, day 7, or is it a Monday? Who knew?…
Well, enough about projecting my depression/anger
on to you, lets talk about some more interesting stuff going on.
Nothing. If there is one way in which I could describe Canada, that
would be it: Nothing happens.
For better (mostly) but also for worse, this country
is SO uneventful you can’t even imagine. Elections mean "so much"
– they went by without me even knowing they were on, until I saw
the picture of the winner on the front page of the newspapers the
next days…..
seriously.. I’ve suggested the local news simply announce
: "We have nothing to report tonight, tune back tomorrow, when we
might have something….."
Maybe its cause Canada is the largest country in the
world by size (sorry Arik, USSR isn’t a country anymore, and Russia/Ukraine
are smaller)
Maybe it’s the cold…. Or maybe its cause people here
are that boring…. Anyway, the biggest thing to ever hit this city
are the NBA team the Toronto raptors (and even more so with the
HNL team the maple leafs - hockey is one of the few things that
can actually cause riots here) losing in the playoffs…. Well, maybe
I’m over-exaggerating…
we did have the gay pride parade this weekend.. which
many people showed up for….
And there are some things to do here: Skiing, Ice
skating, Snow-Boarding, Curling (which is perhaps the dumbest and
most boring sport ever, a sport whose only parallel would be the
janitor Olympics) as well as a rare game of basketball… well, there
is also biking, which I do a lot of…
Anyway, I’m getting both : Very tired, and Very hungry
(as I’m sure you are by now.. God, this is over 1200
words…)
And finally Out of things to say,
so I guess I’ll end this thing..
Or will I?
The saga continues – July 8th
----
Ahem.. ahem..
A few comments from the 'all mighty' editor Arik :))
First of all, I didn't censor the article! (I am an
objective person!!) :))
Secondly,
I checked the map (yes I did) and Russia is bigger!!!!
Yes! - it is bigger!! :))
----
I would like to thank Yony for the article he sent.
I personally think it's a great article.
Thank you Yony for the great job!!
I would like also to thank Yony for visiting ANN.
Thank's for your support and help.
Arik.
P.S.
My English impruved thanks to you and for that you
have my deepest gratitude.
Yony speaks!!!!
The Arik Network would like to thank Yony for his
help and support and for his amazing article.
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