Science vs. Romance

So...

2006-12-04T11:17:00.000-06:00

Last update OCTOBER!? Scandalous. Stupid facebook.

Well, in summary:
1. I'm alive
2. School is good. Exams are upcoming as you are all acutely aware, I'm sure.
3. ICSS is good.
4. Winter break is also upcoming and that's awesome. I'm heading to New York but will try to see you all when I get back or before I go because I miss my gifted loser friends :D

This was a total crap post but I just wanted to do something about the utter lack of posts in general.

Black Gold

2006-08-09T20:16:00.000-06:00

eretsThe movie you should all endeavour to see: Black Gold (rated 83% fresh, if that helps)
The website: Black Gold: the official site

The story: We drink 2 billion cups of coffee a day, and retail sales have reached 80 billion. At the same time, a farmer earns three cents for a three dollar cup of coffee. Now, 25 million coffee farmers around the world are facing bankruptcy. Follow one man's quest to help alleviate the suffering by working for fair trade. If you thought Supersize Me was interesting (although seriously, who DIDN'T know that fast food was horribly unhealthy?) then you will absolutely find this documentary gripping and paradigm-shifting.

The directors say: "Our hope was to make a film that forced us, as western consumers, to question some of our basic assumptions about our consumer lifestyle and its interaction with the rest of the world. And in doing so, we wanted to challenge the way in which the Western media bombards its audiences with an overload of de-contextualised images depicting poverty in Africa with no link to our own lives.

We focused on coffee because it is a universal experience enjoyed by billions of people on a daily basis and is part of an industry worth over $80 billion a year. But, the people behind the product are in crisis with millions of growers fast becoming bankrupt. Our goal was to urgently remind audiences that through just one cup of coffee, we are inextricably connected to the heart of the global economy. We focused on Ethiopia because we were struck by the paradox that Ethiopia produces some of the best coffee in the world, but continues to be one of the world's poorest countries."

You can catch it at the Bloor Cinema until Thursday (that's TOMORROW, so make haste). Right now it's mostly doing the rounds of the film fests so this is a pretty good opportunity. However, I fervently hope that it will be more widely released in the fall. I'm telling you, no other movie has lit a fire under my ass like this one. Run, don't walk, to your nearest neighbourhood rep theatre. And definitely let me know if you see it - or if you're planning to. I might even join you for a second go.

Ma'am, yes ma'am.

2006-04-10T11:19:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone, from your newest ICSS Internal Officer! If any Innisians who got out there and voted happen to read this, thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to an awesome and successful year with an amazing council. Certainly the excellent quality of next year's council makes my job easier; I won't have to administer any death-glares (although Ian tells me my death-glares are more amusing than fear-inspiring, I say it's just that he's built up an immunity) to ensure compliance with ICSS regulations and the constitution. So I'm really psyched, and can't wait to get started!

In other news: SWAMPED. WITH. STUFF. Obviously it's business as usual. When Thursday comes I'll be the happiest gal in the world. For five minutes, before I start studying for exams.

You may all commence naughty secretary jokes now. No, don't really.

Vote for me (again) and I shall bring eternal happiness...

2006-04-03T21:05:00.000-06:00

...I'm allowed to lie in these campaigns, right?

Seriously though, I've decided to run for ICSS Internal Officer. What with two tests and an essay before next Wednesday, creating posters and a platform, campaigning and possibly sleeping (*sigh*), I'm swamped. But I'm always swamped, so yeah, moving along.

If you're from Innis and you're reading this (AHEM IVAN) I would really appreciate it if you would drag yourself over to the Innis College pit on Thursday or Friday between 10 to 4 and vote. I'm running against someone in res and even though I have more experience and am going to campaign my ass off, I'm going to have to get more commuters this time if I wanna make sure of a win. Which I do.

So yeah, wish me luck kids!

Can't think of one right now.

2006-03-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

This has been a relatively interesting weekend, and so I'm going to stop working to tell you all about it, even though, as usual, I have sooooo much of it. But we all know that if I stop, it'll be impossible to get it rolling again, SO:

Friday, Ian and a few of his friends from school came down so that one of them, Liz, could get a tattoo. And get it she did. Now I kind of want to go get mine, but thinking about how Liz is now changed forever and how I will also be changed forever if I get a tattoo has still got me wondering if I really want one. Also, she was practically passing out from the pain, so that was a bit deterring. It's kind of moot point since I don't have enough money right now to go do one, but still, I've been thinking about it on and off for a couple of years now. I can't decide if the fact that I don't obsessively want one means that I shouldn't get one, or the fact that it's a recurring theme in my head means that I SHOULD get one. How badly do I need to want to get one before I know I'll want it for the rest of my life?

Also, Saturday I had training from 9-5.30. Although it was definitely a long day, everybody came up with really interesting workshop ideas, so it was pretty cool. Right after, I went home, took a Tylenol and passed out for, like, ten minutes, and then headed down to Jack Astors to meet up with Stella, Kala, Elaine, and Anita. Stella's posted some photos on her blog so you can check them out if you'd like. It was awesome seeing everyone again (y'all looked smashin', dahlins), although being in Scarborough late at night actually makes me feel kinda paranoid now. I've been away far too long, obviously.

Now, after badmintoning, I have chem test studying, physics lab, bio essay, bio presentation, physics problem set, calc sections to do in the next week. Not that anybody cares, but it just makes me feel more organized when I can see it all in type. Also hopefully people will take pity on me and volunteer to do my lab and essay. Anybody? *sigh*

On the upupUPside, the weather is GORGEOUS. I strolled around Kensington and down to Queen Friday night and let me tell you, it was lovely. Soontime it'll be bust out the camera time. Soontime.

Bam! (Now we're up to speed)

2006-03-22T10:43:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in SOOOO long. I've been dying under huge loads of homework and other obligations. It's funny that Tiff recently complained in her blog that she has too much free time, and is used to filling every minute with stuff. She mentioned that back in the day, "loitering around after Sunday service for half an hour deciding where to go seemed like an insufferable waste of time--because I needed every minute I could hoard just to keep myself afloat." AND SHE MISSES IT. Well, how the tables have turned. What with work, ICSS, school, gym, family, friends and Ian, now I need every minute I can hoard. And I frickin hate it to death. All I want to do (and I want this very very badly) is to sit around all day, watching movies on pirated DVD/download and reading till my vision goes blurry. Reading novels, not course-stuff. After my piles of homework I don't have the energy to stagger to a computer (remember, I have to actually go find one) and update this damn thing. I don't even have much energy to write in my diary, and that's unfortunate because I love it. I mean, on the one hand it's nice to accomplish so much and always be accomplishing. On the other hand, sometimes I'm convinced I would be happy as a goat-herd on some frickin Tuscan mountain as long as I had enough food, a little mud hut, and sunshine. And time. I could lie in the grass all day, watching the goats. *sigh*. Summer!! I could go for some watching of "The Notebook" right now, actually.

Okay so for a quick update:
Reading week, visited Tiff @ Western and had myself a good-ass time. Surprised at how not-boring London is. I mean, less variety, but all the necessities are definitely there. Also surprised at how huge the campus was. It feels larger than UTSG - more open space. All the people I met were awesome, and it was cool to finally meet mysterious Mr. Kevin (I approve :D:D) who was a very interesting and engaging individual. Dinner at Garlic's (good thing I like garlic), dessert at Demetre's (which apparantly exists in Toronto - it's GOOD) and a good time was had by all (as well as an excuse to do makeup!). I went to church and enjoyed it, although as always the singing made me feel awkward. Going to church always makes me tear up, maybe it's something to do with a spiritual void in my life or something. But I had already embarrassed myself by falling over while dismounting from the bus, so it didn't really matter. Of course we stayed up to some ridiculous hours chatting, but that's standard issue sleepover stuff. Overall, it was awesome and I'm looking forward to hopefully reciprocating some time in the summer (after we're all nineteen - clubbing, ahem?)

I also saw Barbara near the end of the week during badminton-playing and we all went out for dim-sum (unintentionally; I'm sorry I thought it was noodles!) and bubble/milk tea.

So as you all know, I turned 19 on St. Patrick's day (Friday). In order to celebrate, I went out with Stella and co. (Adrian, Phil, Will, Amy, to a pubnight at the James Joyce on Thursday night. It was certainly a memorable night. Not for me, I can't remember anything, but I'm sure the others won't forget it :P (kidding, I remember it all!). Anyway, Stella was hugely helpful so big thank you to her (also breakfast was really good, I would totally do it again). It was an awesome time, and I wish you alllll could have come, but that's okay. We'll redo it sometime soon (Who's turning 19 next? :D) Next night, headed over to the Innis Pub Night with Ian and although he wouldn't dance (booo) it was still tons of fun. It was excellent as usual to see him, and we celebrated my birthday in style. Yes.

And that basically is what I missed putting up while I was being crushed in productivity. But the hiatus was kinda good because now there's lots of stuff I wanna post about.

Now I have to go be productive, dammit.

I'm not dead.

2006-03-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

I have merely been kidnapped by a group of funny-smelling engineers burning in white-hot anger that I infiltrated their organization through Science Outreach* and stole their stupid little cannon. Once I make good my escape (I telepathically posted this so my dear readers wouldn't worry :P) then I shall post about my adventures over reading week, and with the maurading band of merry practical scientists. Until then, be vigilant. They could be coming for you. Especially if I manage to bend them to my will through feminine wiles, and don't particularly like you**.

<3 Webnesh

* I knew that rejection letter was a false alarm. Since the moment we first met, it was evident that Science Outreach could never REALLY resist (hiring) me. Moral of the story: don't play mind games, children. It's silly.
** which would never happen because I like everybody. *ahem*

Still looking...

2006-02-16T11:34:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't end up getting the full-summer Spring Instructor position at SciOut like I hoped, but it's okay because I'm still gunning for the Summer Instructor position, and am applying to a bunch of other things. Anyways, reading week trip to visit Tiff: two days, so v. excited for that.

Ian's coming over tmrw, so he'll cheer me up :D

Physics. But life is still good.

2006-02-09T12:01:00.000-06:00

Test on Tuesday. I know I still have tonight, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but it still feels like I don't have enough time. Heading home for the weekend which sucks because I never get any work done there - my family distracts me! I feel like a blockhead when it comes to this subject. Stressful. I hate physics. One more year and then I can torch my notes forever. Actually I'll probably give them to Addesse. Anyways, the Friday after my Tuesday (the 14th!) date with Physics, Ian and I are having dinner, going out to the movies, and then pigging out on chocolate (or maybe that's just me and he'll just watch) for our belated Valentine's day activity, and I can't wait, so I'm looking ahead to that :D

On a much more positive note, have managed to work in going to the gym, and can now climb stairs with fair ease. Heading to the AC to play badminton w/Stella and co. tomorrow morning; looking forward to that because it's always a lot of fun. Have also begun making a concerted effort to doodle more. Doodling may not appear to be art, but I find I get a lot of really creative and interesting ideas from just taking some random line or shape and developing it and pushing it as much as I can. Hopefully I can turn some of these into sketches or perhaps even paintings. Baby steps, I guess. Anyways it's nice to be just a little creative, even if it seems insignificant. Also, it's rewarding to put your mind to doing something, and then actually do it. I feel a little proud.

An aside: Can't wait till reading week. Can't believe reading week is in just over one week (the week of the 20th). It just snuck up on me, which is the nicest thing because usually it's the other way around. Am going to try to do lots of homework in the week before reading week so I can slack off a little and have some fun, rest, and relaxation. Who's coming back?? Let's hang out :D Planning to visit Tiff up at Western - whoo hoo, looking forward to uncontrollable bouts of silliness and girliness (i'll bring my makeup and nail polish:D) after our long and sad seperation (lol).

"Live every day as if it were your last"

2006-01-30T08:44:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been thinking about the "live every day as if it were your last" thing. I don't know how I feel about spending so much time doing homework. It kind of feels like I'm neglecting other things that are at least worthy of SOME of my time. I mean, God knows if I was going to die tomorrow I wouldn't do a scrap of homework. For example, I haven't done any art for...I dunno, since June, at least. And reading Mark's blog recently has really thrown that into relief. But I just can't muster the energy to use more brainpower when so much of it goes to homework and studying. I'm not happy about this, because I don't want to lose that part of my life. I haven't felt the zen-like focus of working on a piece so singlemindedly that five hours fly by and then you notice you're starving (silly me) for so long that I barely remember it. Although I do get the working for five hours on homework but am too lazy to cook and thus am starving thing. Not nearly as relaxing. I even have my sketchbook and some supplies with me, but where's the time? Why don't I have it? What am I doing?

I was walking up a flight of stairs the other day. Flight is a bit generous, there were like five stairs. And I was completely winded when I got to the top*. Going to the gym was a really regular thing first term but I've totally neglected it in favour of homework. I keep thinking about that too, because I love the rush I get from exercising, and I also love being able to walk up stairs without feeling old and/or lardy. Actually, I may be getting lardier, but I haven't weighed myself (thank goodness) lately so I can't say. So this is something I want to re-incorporate, but again, feels like I can't muster the energy. There's other stuff that I want to do, too. Spend more time with family and friends (like you guys, because you're all so swell and I miss being surrounded by your greatness :D), spend more time with myself. I want to sit around and do nothing for the whole day and feel bored, without thinking about how much time I'm wasting. I can't figure out if this is just because I happen to be supremly lazy and just combat it well in practice, or if this is an innate thing that everyone feels and is completely normal. I want summer to come but then I'll be working all day, so nothing will be different. I guess I can lounge around on the weekends, though. Speaking of which, (begin shameless plug) if anyone can hook me up with a camp/science-related/customer service/office job with lots of hours for this summer, then please let me know, because that would be supremely helpful. I'm v. organized and have great interpersonal skills :D (/end shameless plug)

Still, I find the above statement to be kind of impractical. I mean, I wouldn't do laundry either on my last day on Earth, but it still needs to be done if I'm going to have respectable clothes to wear in a week. I know it's just a guide, and it's all about striking balance, but sometimes it feels like the small and insignificant stuff you have to do every day completely crowds out the things you'll remember doing for years to come, and there's nothing you can do about it if you want to stay on top of it. Anyways, first I have to dig myself out of my pile of homework. But simultaneously, I have to try and make time for these other things. I can't keep putting it off; my soul will shrivel and my body will stop working like the well-oiled machine it is (haha). I'm positive I can do it, it just depends on what I set my priorities as. And possibly how much I increase my coffee intake :P

*very much exaggerated for effect - I'm not that pathetic...yet...

Good karma.

2006-01-27T14:56:00.000-06:00

For the first time ever, I donated blood yesterday. The process was surprisingly painful. In order to combat my apparantly sluggish blood flow, the nurse kept adjusting the angle of the fairly large needle. So it felt like she was stabbing the sides of my vein. And just before I went, some blood-giving vet just ahead of me had a seizure, right in front of me. Needless to say, I was slightly more nervous after that. But I have to say, I felt lighter when I was done. Maybe because of the lost blood. Anyway, planning to do it again in March or April.

Also - been working v. hard this term and being quite a good girl, yet feel buried in homework. What is going on?! Grrr.

And if I don't say this later - Happy Chinese New Year. Allow me to direct my forthcoming gifts of lucky red packets to (somebody suggested I should remove the address so I don't get stalked. Geez.). It doesn't matter that we're in the same generation - I'll still take 'em :D

I write, oh how I write!

2006-01-17T14:36:00.000-06:00

Augh, I'm writing the essay for my Humanities/SocSci course and it's killer! When did I forget how to write essays? Why is this topic so vague?! Why are the guidelines so vague?! My opinions keep shifting on me, so I don't really know what I'm trying to say... Oh well, rough draft, right? Yes... It's okay, I've always come through for myself every single time, and I expect this will be the same. I've probably just forgotten that this is how I always start my essays - in a flurry of worry and mild writer's block.

Also - going to be in the procession for the inaugeration of the new president of Innis College. Am very honoured and excited and somewhat nervous. More perks of being on ICSS, yay.

Finally - Yorkites - pub nite visit shortly? I'm sure there's lots to catch up on. And planning visit to Western although am surprisingly poor in Jan. and so will most likely have to postpone it to Feb or even, heaven forbid, March, if there's no space for me in Feb - so save me a weekend!

Youth, to action!

2006-01-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

Have been keeping up with New Year's resolutions thus far, but has only been two weeks since new year began. So, gotta keep plugging away. School's going very well, keeping up with everything and hopefully second term will be even better than first (perhaps using word "even" not entirely justified). Going to see The Aristocrats at Innis on Friday, yay. Also, voting in early poll this weekend. I should make it one of my life goals to never waste a single poll...

On that subject, everyone should vote. Here are the platforms. Read em and weep (because probably once they get into power they'll just do whatever the hell the want, right?) Still, can't be too jaded, although it's no wonder voter turn-outs are so incredibly low. But let's pretend like they're actually going to do what they promise.

Canada Votes 2006 - Party Platforms

Go directly to jail - do not pass go, do not collect $200

2006-01-05T20:01:00.000-06:00

It has been three days into jury duty, and it has proven to be the biggest, most inefficient possible waste of time that could ever be devised by human minds. Basically the day consists of sitting in a fairly small, fairly uncomfortable room, with little entertainment provided. Sure, there's some old, custy magazines (okay to be fair, one copy of Fashion was from June 2005) but that's what you read while waiting for your doctor's appointment, not while sitting trapped in a room from 9.30 to 4.00 waiting to be called to (probably) be rejected for actual jury duty.

Fine, we can't expect entertainment from them. After all, the government is poor, right? But how can you justify making a hundred busy working people sit around aimlessly from 9.30 to 1.00 and then dismiss them without even calling a single person up as a potential juror because you just got word that the services of a jury are not required this day. At all. And the reason you couldn't tell whether or not you needed a jury BEFORE 1.00 was? Pardon me, but I was under the impression that these trials were prearranged. Months in advance. I understand the accused has a right to choose between trial by judge or jury, but what, he gets to change his mind at the last minute? How about twenty-four hours notice and then you can pick your juries for the day in the morning, and let everyone else off.

Of course, this is a somewhat unfair portrayal. On a busier day, it appears that a group (about 1/4 the people in the jury panel) is called, twelve jurors are selected in a process that takes an hour and a half, and then everybody returns and we sit around till 3.30. It would appear clear that the group that was just up is not going to be up again that day, as there are four groups to cycle through and it's only three hours till court adjourns for the day. So their sitting around is fairly pointless, then. I demand answers!!! So I go to Google, and find the following:

An accused who has elected to be tried by judge and jury may “re-elect” to be tried by judge alone. Sometimes such re-elections may occur just prior to jury selection. As well, an accused may plead “guilty” or a case may be unavoidably postponed. On such occasions, as a result of some or all of these unpredictable events, no juries need be selected from a given jury panel. When this occurs, it is important to realize that by your attendance and readiness to serve, you have performed an important duty of citizenship, and the justice system, with your assistance, has been maintained.

Okay, unavoidably postponed. Fine. But why are you allowed to re-elect to be tried by judge alone just before jury selection?!? Too bad, you made your danged choice, probably with the help of a highly educated and experienced lawyer. Also, why couldn't you have decided whether or not you were going to plead guilty the night before, thus saving us a day of boringness? I'm all for civic duty, but how can you explain such a blatant waste of time? Oh wait, I'm sorry, apparantly by sitting in a small and uncomfortable room for three days, doing nothing, you too can help maintain our (crappy, crappy) justice system. There were three murder trials on the board without juries! They could have at least started picking the juries for that. C'mon, what are you holding out for, one random sampling of people is as good as the next. I understand that some wait-time is necessary, but honestly this is ridiculous. At least make the room more comfortable! Some more tables would be nice. Play something on the TVs that are ALREADY UP, maybe? One full day without a single juror picked! Gaaaah! I need a flipping get out of jail free card.

I'm just bitter, right now. Off to have some sweet, sweet Danish butter cookies now. Mmmm, butter cookies.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T19:30:00.000-06:00

How silly of me not to have said this before, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! All the best to you and yours in the new year :)

Movies. Go. Lets.

2006-01-01T10:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, kiddos. Let's catch up and see a movie at Fairview mall. Why Fairview? It's "sort of" close to everyone. Also because I've spent all my money shopping and am therefore poor again. Which movie? I guess we'll decide when we get there, but the listings are posted below...

When: Monday Jan. 2nd (TOMORROW)
Where: Meet in the food court at around 2:15 (most of these movies start from 2.40 to 3.40 and I know some of you will probably be late. And too bad, we're not seeing King Kong unless you people want to see it so badly that you're willing to wait two hours and then drag me forcibly in.)

Looking forward to seeing you nutters after our long separation due to the vicissitudes of life :P.

What's Playing?

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (PG)

2 hrs & 37 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		12:35 3:40

Syriana (14A)

2 hrs & 6 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		6:50 9:40

Cheaper By The Dozen 2 (PG)

1 hr & 40 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		12:50 3:00 5:10 7:20 9:30

The Chronicles Of Narnia (PG)

2 hrs & 19 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		12:40 3:45 6:45 9:30

King Kong (PG)

3 hrs & 15 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		12:15 4:00 8:00
FRI & SUN - THU		12:45 4:30 8:30

Rumor Has It (PG )

1 hr & 37 mins

FRI & SUN - THU		12:30 2:40 4:50 7:00 9:20

Santa, baby...

2005-12-28T16:18:00.000-06:00

"... just slip a sable under the tree for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a '54 convertible too, light blue
I'll wait up for you, dear
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight"
-Marilyn Monroe

Folks, you all know what Christmas is REALLY about...materialistic gratification!! Went crazy shopping with my Christmas cash and got these killer jeans from the Gap. There's so great... they're the greatest jeans I have ever owned, ever. I know this is not saying much... but eeee! Also got a bunch of other stuff...now I just have to get my ass back into the gym so I can look supersexy ;). Lol, Barbara and I should work out together. :P

In other news, a couple days ago (last Thursday to be precise), Ian came over and we walked over to Eatons Centre to pick out my mom's present. Of course we saw the Cavalcade of Lights setup at Nathan Phillips Square. And it was really breathtaking. The night was gentle, the weather was perfect, there was snow on the ground, and so we just sat and watched the skaters for a long while...and I wished that I had brought my skates with me so we could go skating too. I haven't been for ages, and it seems such a waste of the fairly new skates I already own, so anybody up for it? Cavalcade of lights closes on the 31st, but we could possibly go after that. Or we could go to Centennial I guess (but eew). Next Wednesday or Thursday maybe? Although Cavalcade of Lights will be over. But we'd probably go during the day. Don't want to get shot, right? (Tasteless comment, sorry). Also, anybody wanna go to Fairview and catch a movie some time next week? I dunno what's playing, but I'm sure something decent must be on. I'd best see you folks by the end of next week, or else :P

edit: I just checked and they're playing Narnia, Syriana, King Kong AND Rumour Has It. COME ON folks, you know you want it. Also somebody ought to bring cards so we can play euchre in the food court. Since no one wants to open their house to our greedy horde. How about next Monday?

Freedom! Oh crap, jury duty. Never mind.

2005-12-21T19:29:00.000-06:00

Okay, so what am I, eighteen years old? Those cradle-robbers at the Courts have already got my number (or rather, my name on the jury duty summons). At first, I thought they were just toying with me when they sent the preliminary questionnaire. So in good faith, I blithely sent it back filled out truthfully. Also so I wouldn't be punished by the law for being in contempt or something. Then a few days ago a letter comes in saying that I need to come in for three days starting Jan. 3rd and - I'm not sure on the details here because my dad was vague - sit around waiting for my name to be called. I can't imagine that would take three days. But still. More importantly, how is it that nine short months after adulthood, I already have to do jury duty?!? This sucks, I need to go exercise my adult privileges more (ie. buy lottery tickets and porn all day) to make up for this added responsibility. I hope I don't get picked again till I'm at least thirty. That's only fair, right.

In other news. Done exams. Check. "Aced" exams. Check. Except physics, but I sort of aced it for me, so I guess that's still included. I'm so pleased that I did even better this round than last round. This definitely means that slowly but surely, I'm making that adjustment from slacking off all the time to working my ass off all the time. And oh, what a painful, painful adjustment.

I have been on the go, kiddos. Saw Stella's lovely lovely new house. It's very lovely. Especially the kitchen. Excuse me while I drool all over myself in lust and jealousy. She's even got the LIGHTING down pat, it's so showroom. Also saw advanced screening for Casanova, which was surprisingly good and surprisingly funny, considering it stars Heath Ledger (who is not very hot, I might add). Also, rushing around for Christmas, trying to get my parents' Christmas present together in time for, what, SUNDAY? Aaaack. It's like homework all over again! But more enjoyable, of course. My aunt and uncle are coming over for Christmas, so it'll be a family affair. Because that's all the family we have in Canada, sadly enough. (Thanks a lot, immigration). You will all be pleased to know (except Mark, possibly) that I have indeed gotten a haircut. You know it's time when you take six inches off and it's STILL significantly below the shoulder. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that my head feels lighter. But now I'm sad and lonely without my split ends to keep my company (kidding - gross, eh?) Anyway, one more day of rushing around and I'll head home for the holidays on Friday. I'm kind of scared to leave my place unattended for two whole weeks. What if there's some food or something leftover, and it rots and attracts insects and mice to my room? I DID already clean thoroughly, but you just never know. In my case, anyways.

Finally: it appears that all you rich people have gone off on holiday jaunts during the break. Is ANYBODY staying in Toronto? Yeesh. Because I'm still gunning after that euchre tournament/movie thing!

A creature of habit

2005-12-13T11:19:00.000-06:00

You know when you say you're never going to procrastinate again or eat junk food again, or do anything that you said you wouldn't do again? Well. Here I am, procrastinating (not hardcore though, since I've already done work. So really I'm just taking a break) and eating junk food. Why is it so hard to resist? Apparantly it takes something like 21 days of conscious effort to make or break a habit. I've never actually had the perserverence to do something for 21 days so I can't say. However, I CAN say that if you go to sleep at 2 am and wake at 10 for four days, you'll find that you've suddenly formed a new "habit" and will subsequently be unable to fall asleep at a decent hour. My chem exam begins at nine on Friday. Time to learn a new habit, in the next four days. I managed to fall asleep at about one today but although I woke up numerous times between 7 (when I was supposed to get up) and 10, I didn't actually manage to drag my ass out of bed till 10.15. Yeesh. Not good. Although I probably could have used the sleep.

Also - NEED TIME (and money) TO GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, DANGIT! Stella, you were so intelligent, and I should have listened to you and done it way beforehand! AAUGH!

I want to go have some Popeyes chicken. Can y'all believe I've never even tried it? :o( (*gasps all round*)

Euchred!

2005-12-12T09:21:00.001-06:00

As you all must remember, euchre was a big thing at Woburn for the last two or so years. Well, a couple of days ago, Stella and her friend Ryan taught me how to play. It's so much fun, and so addictive! Although I have an addictive personality so maybe that has something to do with it. Still, now I find myself wishing I was playing at random, surprisingly frequent moments. Those two brief hours of joy were far too short. I need to play euchre. Now. Or at least, soon. Euchre over holidays, anyone?

I can't believe I could have been playing for two long years and I didn't bother to learn! But I thought it was for old women (I think it was confused with bridge in my mind). Stella, you've created a monster. Next up, poker maybe... *ominous music*

Also - I need a frikkin haircut. But what to do...how to tame the beast?

Some pursue happiness, others create it.

2005-12-11T10:48:00.000-06:00

It's about time I posted again.

Feeling much better about the whole biochem sucks/ life sucks thing. Life doesn't suck! It only sucks if I let it, so I've decided to rise to the challenge, do the best I can do at U of T, and try and get the most out of my extracurricular time. I know that sounded kind of sappy. Still. Sports, here I come. Also maybe considering joining the Innis Herald (newspaper) since there's not really a yearbook I can get involved with. Although I don't want to be sucked into the vortex of perfectionism that I was sucked into with Retrospect, although it was very fun...so, maybe not.

Anyways. I'm feeling pretty optimistic now (perhaps just because holidays are coming?) and studying very hard for my two remaining tests: Bio midterm (which I'm pretty confident about) and Chem final (which I'm freaked out about but am trying very hard to study everything and thus will hopefully do well on it). I looked at some of the past exams and each question is a tricky one. They don't have any "straightforward" questions, and then have tricky ones at the end. Perhaps they want everyone to fail some more? Who cares though, as long as I can rise to the challenge I'll be okay! Already had physics, which sucked again. Ivan, give me your number so I can call you! And then I had calculus which went well, I thought. So basically if I do well in my other subjects, I just need a decent mark in physics (even a 3.0 would be good enough, really) and I'm okay. See, be optimistic! And then I'm never taking physics again. Seriously. This time I mean it, dammit. But in an optimistic, looking to future without physics way.

An aside: Who's coming back for the holidays, from when to when are you going to be here, and what do you guys wanna dooooo? I think we should:

a) go to someone's house and chill and/or watch movies and catch up!
b) go out for lunch or dinner? Maybe between christmas and new years, it could be like the dinner we went to after grad. And we could sort of dress up! Wheee.
c) frolick outside somewhere. Skating at Nathan Phillips Square or something. And we could bring thermoses of hot chocolate and cameras to take pictures of everyone falling down.

I'm sure there's other stuff we can do. I'm not very creative right now. Anyway, exams end the 22nd, so from then to the 9th of January, I'm free. I'm sure you guys are off around the same time. I miss you people :P so let's plan some stuff.

Also - Boooooo, Tiffany. Off to HK and no time for her friends! (lol)

Rethinking ....

2005-11-27T10:36:00.000-06:00

I was having a meltdown on Friday, and feeling incredibly lonely, hungry, tired, and sorry for myself. Even though I absolved him of his responsibility as a boyfriend to drag himself through stormy weather and a 1.5 hr (or more) commute on a Friday night, Ian still showed up at my doorstep. He then proceeded to make me dinner. Food and a willing ear; what more could I ask for?

Ivan made a good point in the comments for the previous point: the fact that I hate the courses I'm taking IS entirely my own fault. Also, if I hate my programs in the future, that is also entirely my fault. I do not like physics, so I will not be taking it. I do like bio, I will be taking it. Chem is sitting on the fence, okay. But Anthro? Psych? Always big interests of mine and never really something I got to do because I didn't have space, at least in high school. Too busy taking Physics :P Recently I've been hearing that you actually do best learning about things you enjoy. DUH. Why fight it? Why not just TAKE THINGS YOU ENJOY?

So, I'm vaguely thinking about taking Human Behavioural Bio (part of the HB program) next year, or at least, courses that aren't so ... hateful. I don't know if I can get the Anthro/Psy requisites though, and I don't know if this is what I really want. If you're in a program where you're guaranteed a job etc. after graduating, if you hate it, at least you'll make lots of money. But with something like HMB, I doubt the job options are going to be that great, so I really need to make sure it's something I enjoy. Maybe leaf through some of the textbooks in upper year required programs or something.

I know my parents would MUCH MUCH rather me do something hardcore like biochem, and I hate to disappoint them and make them think I'm throwing my life away or something melodramatic like that. This feels like a full scale, open rebellion, in a way. But in the end, I have to live with my decisions, and I don't want to hate my life in twenty years. So I have to look into this way more. What if there is NOTHING that I am interested that could be translated into gainful employment? This is kind of scary... maybe I should just worry less about getting a job and worry more about actually living a happy and fulfilling life. Which, in my opinion, includes a nice house, and not having to worry about money too much. Or, (hopefully, I guess) maybe it'll turn out that the biochem stuff IS interesting, and I just haven't given it a chance. Maybe not. We'll see.

I don't want to question this TOO much, or I'll start wondering why I'm even in the sciences, given my high school marks were a clear indicator that my strengths lay elsewhere. *sigh*

Just to say hi.

2005-11-23T17:16:00.000-06:00

Just a regular old post so my dear friends can keep up with the banalities in my life. It's cold, my cheeks are freezing, and when I go inside to warmth the capilliaries expand from all the warm blood rushing in to resuscitate my frozen cells and make me look like I fell face-first into a bowl of Kool aid. Or, cheek first, rather. And then fell again on the other side. But that's okay. The freezing cold somehow makes the sun on bright days look really pure, and I'd love to take some photos except my fingers get cold. I know, this is not an excuse, but still :D. At least it's nice to look at. But winter always means the bitterly cold and endless slog through another school year, and it's only beginning! *sigh* You people who like winter more than summer or fall are crazy :P

Also, I'm slowly slowly becoming very bitter about education. More on this some other time, but suffice to say that it seems like such a waste of time when everyone just takes programs that will earn them decent money, learn completely irrelevant things just to "prove they can learn", and then have to be trained for the crappy job they'll end up having anyways. I was leaning towards biochem before, but now....... Again, more on this later, I feel a longer post coming up :P.

On a lighter note, Ian came over again last Friday, and it was (again) really really really nice to see him. I think we're going to make this a regular thing (if we haven't already). It makes it so much easier to handle the long waits between seeing each other when we know that we'll have so much time when we do finally get together. And I still can't figure out how to get tickets for that darn advance screening of Memoirs of a Geisha!!!! EEEE, I want them before they're all gone!

U of T makes me blind and bitter

2005-11-18T11:52:00.000-06:00

Ian's coming over again today! Yay - so psyched. Although he's feeling sick, so I'll have to make sure he gets lots of rest and tea and stuff. Yes. Lots of rest.

In other news - Chem midterm looming! I'm so scared, I don't want to suck like I did last time. The buzz around campus has largely consisted of "we should have gone to (insert any university but U of T here) and then we'd be getting 80s instead of 50s." (Then again, the buzz also always consists of "everybody else is n00b!") And yet every year like lemmings thousands of undergrads go to throw themselves off the precipice that is U of T, only to have their GPAs dashed to smithereens on the rocks of U of T's terrible tests with ridiculous (or nonexistant) bell curves. (lame!) Listen to me, future undergrads! Either prepare to work your ass off to the point where you no longer have time to shower, or eat, and vision deteriorates in one eye (or is this just me?) or go to York. Or hell, anywhere else, really.

Actually the vision thing is weird because when I look at somewhat distant faces through the bad eye, people look like those photos of the doomed girl and her friends in that movie "The Ring" (with the faces all blurred and messed up). It's really weird, and kind of unpleasant. Especially when the weird disembodied faces talk. I can't tell if this is double vision or short-sightedness.......*sigh* I hope sleep will remedy it, but not too optimistic.

Oh well, at least I'm losing weight, for the first time in my life :P No freshman 15 for me, bitches! Unless you are referring to the 15% my average has dropped from high school.

Also on the subject of movies, on Addesse's recommendation I saw City of God this past weekend (I know it's "old" but humour me, I'm excited) and IT WAS SO DAMN GOOD. I couldn't stop thinking about it for quite a few days after. I was thinking about it to the point where I couldn't go to sleep. That was unfortunate because I needed the sleep badly. I think I'm going to watch it again this weekend, but it depends on if I can steel myself to witness the cruelty and violence so soon after seeing it the first time, especially now that I know it's coming. Also, Arthur Golding's Memoirs of a Geisha made into a movie starring that Asian chick from Hero - advanced screening Nov. 30 and I want tickets. Must go find source....before they're all gone...*wanders off*

Have YOU read a picture book today?

2005-11-13T21:58:00.000-06:00

I was wandering past Robarts today (and it was dark) and with the windows all lit up it somehow reminded me of the prow of a huge ocean liner plowing through the streets. The fact that much of it was obscured by tree limbs probably contributed. I probably got the idea off that Chris Van Allsburg book called "the Mysteries of Harris Burdick" which was basically random pictures and captions. I'm sure you must have seen it, I remember reading it in class some time. But if not, then go to The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

On the topic of Chris Van Allsburg, who doesn't love really well-written, amazingly illustrated picture books? I sure do. Love them, that is. I intend fully to purchase a copy of every single amazingly illustrated and well-written picture book that I ever come across and give it a place of honour in my future (extensive) library. For example: The Sign of the Seahorse by Graeme Base (I can't believe he wrote AND illustrated it!), every single Chris Van Allsburg book ever written (I can't believe he wrote AND illustrated them all!), that big glossy book I read in grade six about possible alien life forms and how things could have turned out for us if Earth had been slightly different - the one that had crazy illustrations. By the way, if anybody knows what I'm talking about with the aliens book...do tell me what it was called (I think it was in the Churchill library). Because I've been wanting that book for so long... :(. Anyways, point I'm trying to make is next time you're at the public library go read some amazing picture books, because some of them are really quite thought-provoking, and breathtakingly illustrated. Plus when was the last time you sat cross-legged with a big book on your lap? It's so satisfying! It's like double the goodness of a novel (especially a crappy one) in one hundredth of the space. Almost like poetry, even.

Ah, those were the gentle, simpler times, indeed.

Commence Midterms.

2005-11-02T22:29:00.000-06:00

Midterms. Were bad. Class averages were ridiculous (like - 48% ... I think Physics was lower than that). Hey, at least I beat the class average and passed, right? Is this just U of T? What was I thinking. I should have gone to York. I'm so depressed about this. I'm not even going to get the POST I want if my marks suck like this. BELL CURVE!!! I need you so badly! Whatever, I can always just work at McDonalds with my useless life science undergraduate after my marks suck too much for any self-respecting med/grad program. School is so useless. How do you like them sour grapes, eh?

On a lighter note - commencement was nice. It was really great to see you guys again - we should all definitely get together as much as possible over winter break. Shopping, ladies? (or guys, I guess, if you want to come). And we should have get togethers at people's houses. And other stuff. Also come visit us downtown, when you guys are done midterms! Anyway back to commencement. I was totally unprepared (and late as usual) or I would have changed into a dress but... if they had actually mailed me my award notices I might have made more of an effort. As in - done some sort of something with my hair and perhaps taken the time to put on the danged dress and shoes. Dangit. And they were IN my backpack too! But hey, nothing to take the sting off of terrible midterms like winning three awards, even if you're dressed in jeans and you walk off the stage in the wrong direction multiple times because you're so shocked that you won three awards considering you totally died academically in grade twelve. Although now I have more midterms that I will probably fail. But NOT BIO! Screw you, bio - your ass is mine.

Ian hopefully coming over Friday. Hopefully. I miss him!!! I need some (heh heh) "healing", badly! Also he's put up with me very well over the past week and a half, and I've been so bitchy from lack of sleep and lack of doing well on frigging midterms. But we know what to do about that, don't we? (btw. thank you, baby and sorry for the abuse)

Drowning.

2005-10-21T03:05:00.000-06:00

Too busy to breathe. Saw sneak preview of Shopgirl (Steve Martin and Claire Danes) on Monday. Too busy to admit without shame that I took time off to see a movie. It was interesting. I will post properly when I'm not drowning in a wading pool of blood that I filled by cutting a vein every single time I procrastinated even slightly in the last two months. You know you can drown in only a few inches of blood. Especially in university. Yes.

(Fear not, they're bandaged up with hard work and no sleep, and I'm slowly bailing my way to safety)

At Last...

2005-10-16T10:17:00.000-06:00

So last Friday, Ian FINALLY came down to my place and we got to spend some really nice quality time together. It's so great that I live by myself because now he can visit whenever he's not busy and we have somewhere to hang out. We went grocery shopping in Chinatown together, and then I made him some teriyaki pork. After, we made a bunch of single-serve lasagnas (well, actually there's two decently sized servings per box) for me to freeze. We managed five in all and I've still got stuff left over - mostly cheese. I love lasagna, and his all-purpose meat/spaghetti sauce totally owns mine, so I can't wait to get back and eat lasagna for the next month :D. The great thing about this is that I always have food prepared, so when I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off on weekdays, I can just bake them. Plus the little metal containers look so adorable. It must be my animal instincts, but stockpiling things makes me feel better. Much better. This may just be psychological trauma from the time I had no food prepared, no time to make something to eat, barely time to eat a hot dog that made me feel kind of gross, and no socks to wear. The dirty socks I could have recycled were in the wash - being washed. That day sucked lots.

Stella called while we were cooking and told me that Adam and Mark had dropped by for a surprise visit, so we headed over to her res on the other side of campus, and Ian got the tour on the way. Two birds, one stone (right, Tiff?). Mark's hair was surprisingly long, although he didn't remove his hat, so I didn't get a good look at it. I should have taken a photo and posted it here, though! When we showed up, they were watching the Stewie movie so we watched that, and we all left around eleven.

Once we got back - I'll spare you the dirty details (but suffice to say I can't wipe this grin off my face) and fast forward - the original plan was to wake up at ten and go for dim sum happy hour at Bright Pearl, but we were wayyyy too exhausted, and we ended up staggering out of bed at noon. But we still went to Bright Pearl - it's all-day dim sum. I would absolutely recommend Bright Pearl to anybody. Not only are their prices fairly reasonable (especially during Happy Hours when everything is cheaper) but their food is supreme. Some of the best-tasting dim sum I have ever had in my life has come from that place. In fact, we should all go to Bright Pearl some time. Seriously.

Anyway, then we both went home. And now I'm suffering from tiredness and separation anxiety (a la Stella). Come visit me again, Ian! Now!

An aside - stupid chemistry! Midterm on Thursday and I may or may not be understudying. Also, I have my calculus homework to catch up on. ALMOST CAUGHT UP! Stupid calculus. Feel free to bitch about schoolwork in the comments, folks! I know I sure love to.

Everybody is Incompetent

2005-10-13T00:16:00.000-06:00

Okay, this rant has been coming for a while now. Some of you may have read Corey's account of Bell Canada's repeated failure to repair his broken phone/internet line. If not, read it at http://spaces.msn.com/members/corey/ in the September area. I'm sure everyone has these horror stories, and I too am tired of rampant incompetence in businesses everywhere. Even the most routine tasks are apparantly too difficult for some of these wage slaves to do, and they mess them up half the time they do them. Delays are often ridiculous, and you have to keep hounding them to get stuff done. Some of the more recent cases:

1. My parents purchased two appliances from Futureshop. They sent them money. All is right in the world. Then, Futureshop calls to say that they haven't recieved the last $2000. My dad has the reciept from his payment of the last $2000 so he sends them a photocopy. They say they can't find it in their records. We insist they look again. They look again and find nothing. Now they want us to pay them again. Apparantly, two grand has vanished into the nth dimension. We get pissed off and yell at them. They check in Ottawa, or Chigaco, or somewhere random like that, and find it.

2. We got a washer and dryer from Sears. We paid for installation because DIY large appliance installation always ends badly for us. The installers did a crappy job levelling - so crappy that everytime the spin cycle runs, the entire first floor vibrates - a lot. This scares us because we don't want our pretty new house collapsing under repeated vibrations. So we call Sears and ask them to send somebody to fix the crappy installation, and they send a subcontracted guy. A few weeks later, we get a letter from the repair company asking us to pay for the second repairman. We point out that we paid for the first installation, which wasn't done properly, and that Sears said they would fix it for free. Therefore, Sears would be paying them. They insist we pay. We insist they're wrong. They insist again. We call Sears and ask them to call off the dogs and pay them, or something. Sears is confused at first, and asks that we pay. The subcontracting company sends us a notice saying our account will be sent to a collection agency if we don't pay them. We get pissed off and yell at Sears to do something, and eventually we wheedle a payment out of them so we can admire our quiet spin cycles in peace.

3. This is one that you university kids might appreciate. As you may know, extracting your RESPs from the bank can be like pulling teeth from an unanesthetised lion. Or maybe this is just the incompetence of TD Canada Trust. We requested to withdraw $7000 from my RESP account in early August. We were assured it would be in my checking account within the week. A week passes and we call again. It turns out TD Waterhouse claims they haven't recieved our application even though my banker emailed AND faxed AND sent a hard copy. So she resends them, and we wait another week or so. Money's not in the account, we ask them what's up. Apparantly they have to do a security check with the Pentagon and Scotland Yard before they can give you your money, so we wait some more. Eventually it gets to the point where we get pissed off, call them up, say "I need my freaking money NOW or I won't be enrolling in University this year, bitches" and then they send us our money that afternoon. Oh, so if I bitch at you for long enough, things get done?

However, they only ended up sending $5000. Apparantly we didn't "tell them" we wanted seven grand. Or, there's a special way to ask for it that nobody informed us about. Or something. We're still waiting on the other $2000, and it's been two and a half weeks, and three phone calls since they said it would be here. I keep checking my account, and nothing. I feel like Noah in The Notebook when Allie doesn't write :P (sorry, guys - it had to be said!)

Moral of the story: don't buy appliances, and don't put your money in banks. In other words, become completely self-reliant hermits living in the mountains of Vancouver (or Algonquin park)

Weird Turkey-Flavoured iPod

2005-10-10T00:28:00.000-06:00

Spent a relaxing weekend at home, with my family. It was nice. Now that I don't live with them, I like them more :D Further news below:

I got an iPod! Twenty gigs of sweeet, sweeet music. It was a (very generous) grad gift from my mother's friend who moved recently to New York to be the vice prez of Citibank. I was so surprised when it arrived in the mail - I was thinking more along the lines of iPod shuffle, or Mini, if I was really lucky. Even though he doesn't read my blog, THANK YOU! It's so handy because I have no computer - I do have speakers in my place that I'll hook up to this, and now I can have all the music on my computer at home, at my place. Wheee! And it's so pretty. And smooth. And sexy. Now I just need to get one of them protective rubber skins. Preferably one that minimizes dropping damage - knowing me, that would be very useful. Also one that is magnetically attracted to my persons, so I can't lose it.

Also, the search for a phone continues. Whether I get a plan or pay-as-you-go depends entirely on how many minutes I use (good point, Tiff), but I don't KNOW how many I'll actually end up using. The best thing would be to borrow a phone from someone, try prepaid for a month, and see how many minutes I use. Anyone? Now I'm just looking to buy an unlocked phone for cheap - possibly secondhand. But WHERE? (haha - Pacific mall - soooo expensive, surprisingly)

From Robyn's blog: weird and random things about myself.

1. I really enjoy eating freshly cooked perfectly plain white rice. I love the "bland" taste.
2. The only genre of book that I don't really enjoy reading is mystery. (I haven't got enough patience and it's almost always obvious half-way through the book)
3. I love working with collage. A semi-random collection of ideas and images that, together, make up a large, complex work of art. Collage is like a person, or a life, or the feel of a place, or how you remember things and experiences.
4. When I have nightmares, they're extremely gross and twisted, vivid, cinematic, really freaking long, and I never wake up just before the bad part. That protective mechanism would be nice.
5. Travelling makes me feel alive. I'd love to explore somewhere I've never been at least once every year, whether it be roadtrips in Canada (while I'm a poor student perhaps), or international. A work-travel thing where I live somewhere for a couple of months and take on an easy job for extra money and to meet the locals would be supreme.

Next to do this(these may be repeats, but): Adam, Jordan, Mark, Raza, anybody who wants to post their five weird things in my comments because they have no blog.

Give me a phone!

2005-10-06T15:17:00.000-06:00

Tuesday I completely forgot to hang out with Robyn - and she and Stella couldn't contact me. I feel really terrible about that and I'm also incredibly embarassed. Robyn, I'm sorry! I'll bake you a loaf cake and bring it to you! The ironic part was that I was home from 11 in the morning. And Ian was home too. So many missed opportunities in one day leads me to believe that my need for a cell phone is more pressing than I thought. So, I'm seriously considering getting a cell phone.

I want to get on a pay-as-you-go-plan. Anybody have any horror stories or recommendations for me? Also, I'd like to get as cheap a phone as possible, and I assume you can use pay-as-you-go with any phone, so if anyone wants to correct this notion and tell me otherwise, or give me a phone and charger they have lying around their house that is currently being unused, then that would be very excellent. I know most people are on plans, and you guys get a new phone with each contract, right? Thanks!!

Pay-as-you-go is actually surprisingly expensive per minute, but it's better than using a pager (which is just surprisingly expensive considering how useless they are), and I don't need a cell phone badly enough to trap myself in one of those amazingly horribly complicated and expensive contracts. I hate plans. So much.

(I'm sorry Robyn! Please try to forgive me!)

The sweet, tangy taste of victory.

2005-10-01T18:07:00.000-06:00

Hello. You are looking at your newest elected ICSS first year commuter representative. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me, and my dedicated campaigners who did such a wonderful job. I look forward to a bright, productive year full of... LOTS OF GREAT PUB NIGHTS AND OTHER "EVENTS"! (if I have any say - which I do now!). Bribes can be dropped off any time. Chocolate and money are preferred.

Although I was pretty confident (seeing as how the other two commuter candidates put in little effort), it was still a relief to hear that I'd won. The first meeting is this Sunday at 7 pm in Innis, and this makes it even more evident to me why it's great that I'm a commuter rep that lives ten minutes away. Imagine travelling home at 9:00 in the evening. That would suck. And the trip would cost you $4 (at least) both ways. I'm so psyched, I haven't been this revved about something since yearbook last year. Now I just have to go figure out what exactly we do in the ICSS. (shhhh...)

Also, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON FOR U OF T HOMECOMING?! Everyone else is talking about their homecomings and how violent and illegal they are. Wait, that's just Queens. But I want to know when U of T homecoming is, what's going on, and why they're not advertising it more. It's soon, right? We have one, right? I find it difficult to believe that I could have missed hearing about it. Stupid U of T. This homecoming better be good, at least.

Whenever this damn, poorly announced thing happens.

Good clean fun!

2005-09-28T05:30:00.000-06:00

Ended up going to the foam party on Monday night (I know, a school night. Barbara, save me!), with Stella. It was so much fun, and actually turned out better than I expected. Everyone kind of just adopts a "why the hell not!?" attitude towards getting all foamy and having your hair and makeup messed up. This makes it more fun and less snobby, as in some other foamless clubs. And it was hilarious to see people making out like they were trying to impregnate one another through their clothing. Especially when said people were nearly blocking the entire bar. However, it would have been even more enjoyable if:

a) I had worn proper footwear. As in, sacrificed a pair of sneakers. The floor was so slippery that dancing became surprisingly difficult.

b) I had worn a skirt instead of jeans. Think about how much fun it is to pry cold, soaking wet, soapy jeans off your body.

c) I didn't have to go home in the freeeezing cold - though we WERE on a bus, so I guess it doesn't really count. (Yeah, Robyn, on a bus and I'm STILL complaining :D)

d) Ian had been there. Because then I could also make out frantically with somebody just like everyone else! Seriously though, I wanna go clubbing with him...maybe when he comes over on Friday. :D

After the foam party, I crashed at Stella's (it was 2:30 and I was too wet to walk home) after showering and then prying clothing off (in that order).

I can't wait till I'm nineteen.

Also, I have to go put up more frigging posters at Innis. Need to find somebody who'll sign me in. I hate Innis rez, it sucks. The security's too tight :P If I get elected I'm going to complain on behalf of all commuters who can't even find out about the damn parties because they're not allowed in. Yes.

In other news, the homework's going well :P
(haha)

Vote Webnesh for 1st Year Rep (or die)

2005-09-26T16:40:00.000-06:00

I finally decided to run for Innis College Student Society first year commuter rep. It's hilarious because I'm barely a commuter, but this is like an advantage, right? I still have to track down and hand in the bloody nomination form, though. I emailed requesting it electronically (since I was at home in Scarborough) and they told me to go in and get a paper copy (but it's 2005!) and then I went in today and there were none left. Boo. So, the posters around Innis (College and Residence) and possibly Chestnut if I can track Anthony down to get him to sign me in, will go up today and/or tomorrow. Of course, this all depends on that bloody form. No point putting posters up if you're not actually on the ballot, right?

Voting is on this Thursday and Friday from 10-4 at Innis college. Everyone in Innis (IVAN!) go vote, drag your friends in to vote, and I will be eternally grateful. Remember, just like "real" politics, it's not getting the people to vote for you so much as it is getting people to vote. Every vote actually does count because we're all lazy bums. SO VOTE, DARN IT!

This past weekend were pretty good, fairly eventful. Friday, as you may have already heard from Stella's blog, a bunch of her friends and I attempted to go clubbing and failed, but popped over to Hooters instead. I feel really bad for Hooters girls - I hope they get tipped well for walking around with the tits and ass hanging out, being ogled by dirty men of varying ages. And they're surrounded by tempting greasy food, and can't eat it or else they'll get fat and get fired. But I pose a question - who brings their children to Hooters? It seems like a great way to develop body dysmorphic disorder in little girls, or ridiculous standards for mates in little boys.

Saturday and Sunday I was at home, while my family went camping in Algonquin park. They left Friday morning and are supposed to come back today, but I didn't go because I didn't want to miss so many classes and a lab. Saturday afternoon, Ian came over to keep me company. Heh heh. We basically subsisted on pizza, juice and apple crumble with butterscotch ice cream all weekend. Oh, and love. I believe if I were a Hooters girl, I'd totally be fired by now. As usual, it was really nice to be able to see his adorable self, and just lie around and talk, or watch TV (which we didn't do that much of, although we did catch Desperate Housewives, which was so cliffhangery! Who has a TV and will let me watch DH with them EVERY WEEK???). We're hoping our schedules will match so he can come down and visit me some time in October - it's been three weeks since I moved in and he still hasn't seen my place yet!

Saturday evening, Tiff dropped by (yay!) to borrow some sporting gear and catch up. She slept over for the night (since it *was* pretty late) and we had fun times trying to figure out how to deal with her contacts. But they weren't really fun. We were going to go to Shoppers but it was 12.06 when we checked for locations and the nearest 24 hr store was more than 30 min away. The stores that were five minutes away had closed, six minutes prior. I called Ian (who wears contacts) for ideas and very luckily, he had left his stuff at my place, and he suggested these crazy lens-cleaning eyedrops that were in his backpack. So we just used them as solution, and it worked like a charm.

Now I'm kind of tired and have lots of homework, but still want to go to a foam party that's being sponsored by Vic. Who the hell has parties on Monday, though? It's not like Thursday, where you can be like "oh well at least I only have to get through Friday and then I have the weekend to recuperate". You have the whole stupid week to slog through, and I have my first chem lab tomorrow. So, I'm kind of wavering, but we'll see.

In summation: Vote for me, bitches! *grin*

Perks of Living Downtown: Weird People (also - who wants to hang out Friday?)

2005-09-22T15:43:00.000-06:00

As I spend more and more time in my neighbourhood, I'm slowly but quickly realizing that there are a lot of crazy/homeless people around. For example, Lillian H. Smith library, just a two minute walk from my house, appears to be the homeless equivalent of a babe magnet. Every day, there are at least two or three homeless-looking people sitting around the exterior of the place. They're not panhandling, they're just sitting there. Or, in the case of one rather old-looking woman wearing big skirts, they're going to the loo. Don't worry, it was number one. Also, there are, at any given moment, at least three people in the library who look like bums. Don't mistake my statement for exaggeration, either.

For example, yesterday, there was a guy who looked about 30ish sitting at a computer in incredibly dirty jeans and a tshirt, wearing only socks. Incredibly dirty socks. I first mistook these formerly white socks for some sort of odd ninja shoe, that's how crusty and grey they were. Shortly after I arrived and sat at a nearby table to study, he was escorted out of there, yelling and cussing, by police for swearing at some other guy (I didn't see the actual incident, but I gather he didn't want to give his computer up). Plus you'll always find people who are either homeless or just have really poor fashion and hygeine sitting around, reading the newspaper or sleeping in study carrells. That's fine, as long as everybody's playing nicely and nobody's being bothered. As long as you find a seat out of the B.O. radius. I say this also from experience - I came in to use the computers in the lab, and saw two empty ones, on either side of an old shabby guy. My nose soon suggested that perhaps there was a reason for the empty computers, so I finished my blog post with bated breath and left shortly.

Of course, some people are just freaking crazy. There was this one guy, also pretty young-looking, using a computer diagonally across from me. A little Asian girl and her male relative (father or brother, couldn't tell), came in and sat down at the two computers beside him, directly across from me. Soon after they arrive, he inspects his light-coloured jacket sleeve and notices a small dirty grey streak. Somehow, his unstable mind connects this new soil with the little Asian girl beside him, and he begins to give her cut-eyes and stare at her angrily. Never mind that she's wearing a white dress, and there appears to be no way she could have caused the stain. She glances back at him every so often, her eyes get bigger and bigger, and she shrinks closer and closer to her guardian. I felt terrible for her and I still had no idea why he was so distressed, so I started smiling at her to make her feel better and distract her (it totally worked, and we had a lovely little game of computer screen peek-a-boo), and I also began looking pointedly at Weirdo, as in "why the hell are you staring at a little girl? Are you a pedophile? Are you racist? Are you crazy? What kind of asshole picks on little kids? Maybe you should stop, hmm?" Eventually the little girl and her guardian leave, and Weirdo starts staring at ME angrily. By now, it's pretty late and the library's about to close. I get this paranoid notion that he's going to follow me. So I try and stall, waiting for him to leave first, and he seems to be hanging back. Then I notice two guys just leaving, so I tack myself onto the end of their group and take the elevator down with them. He takes the elevator with us. Finally, just outside the door, the guys pause to light cigarrettes, and I wait for him to move off. He seems indecisive, and mills around for a while. Finally, the guys head off in the direction opposite to my house, and I follow. Weirdo finally turns and goes the other way. I breathe a huge sigh of relief, and double back to my house. So, I may have been too paranoid, but I'm telling you it was really creepy at the time.

Anyway, I'm not saying that homeless people are bad people. Weirdo didn't look homeless at all. And I know that they can't help looking and smelling the way they do. And they have a right to use the library just as much as I do. I'm just saying, this sure ain't Scarborough any more, Toto.

An aside: who wants to hang out Friday after 5? Come on! Email me or call me and we'll figure out what we want to do. Otherwise I'm gonna go see the Innis movie *again* by myself.

I can't believe it's not a class of 1000 people!

2005-09-21T17:51:00.000-06:00

Had my first "real" first year seminar class today. We talked about ideology. I think I get it but I'm not entirely sure. This method of teaching (which is not just: here is the topic, here are the three facts related, and here are some details or explanations) is taking some getting used to. This is the only non-science course I'm taking, and it's a small group, so it's really interesting to have classes that sort of meander around the main topic. It's also neat to actually be able to interact with the material (as well as the people in my class), even judge it for validity, instead of having it presented and having to learn it as it is. We talk more about what interests the class, and spend less time on points that don't interest the class as much. Although it would be really spectacular if more people participated in the discussions, I think that will come later on. I hope, anyway. Plus, that's just more time for me to talk, right? And the great thing is that I'm actually making friends in this class, something that's hard to do when your chances of finding people in the crowd is slim to none.

Anyway, I'm off to the study group that Stella set up. I actually think it will be very useful, and I've already got questions that I'd like to ask. Also it forces me to do my homework before study group, so that it'll be productive. Yay, studying!

I <3 Chinatown.

2005-09-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

I just got a whole bunch of fruit and veggies, more than enough for the week, for less than ten bucks at Chinatown. Plus since I'm the only person that I'm shopping and cooking for, I was able to buy small quantities of a whole bunch of stuff. This was the first major grocery trip for the year, and it was an interesting experience. The feeling of independance and maturity to be had from wandering around the stalls picking the best apples, comparing prices, and planning out meals made with delicious fresh stuff was really satisfying. ESPECIALLY since I was buying in small quantities, so I had lots of fun with that. How much fun? Well, I bought: four tangerines, two bell peppers, one onion, one small head of lettuce, a handfull of bean sprouts, a small pack of snow peas, some apples, a box of tea, lychee juice (couldn't find lychee jelly! Fellow asians, where is it?), etc, etc, etc. Then I went home and tossed together a really good stirfry, and had it on rice. I feel so darn grown up.

On the topic of grocery stores: I would like to say that G's Fine Foods (the grocery shop they totally plugged during frosh week) is not fine at all. I popped in today just after visiting Dominions. Everything was relatively expensive, and the selection was pretty terrible. There were entire shelves that were nearly empty, save for a few boxes or bags of stuff. Don't go to G's, folks! And speaking of Dominions, it wasn't that great either. Their prices were also kind of expensive, compared to No Frills or Food Basics, or even Sobeys. Also, they had a full four or five shelves of coffee and no flavoured cappucino! Apparantly they don't stock anything but coffee and hot chocolate anymore. What the heck!? When did sweet and delicious flavoured cappucinos fall out of favour?

By the way, does anybody know if regular coffee has more caffeine than cappucino? Because otherwise I'll need to get the regular stuff, to keep me awake on study binges. But cappucino tastes better. *sigh*

No time, no money, lots of homework. Clearly living the good life over here.

2005-09-19T17:51:00.000-06:00

Decided not to do the College Pro thing this year. Although the money is INCREDIBLY tempting, and it actually intrigues me to no end (running own business, woo hoo!), I just want to make sure I know what I'm getting into, especially with the heavier workload coming up.

In fact, although it's only been about a week into the school year, I'm already drowning in the work. Wait, not drowning, yet. It's the feeling you get when you're out far enough into Lake Ontario (pretend it's not disgusting and diseased) where you have to stand on your tiptoes to keep your mouth and nose above water, except the waves are starting to build. And by the way - your swimming skills are slim to none. Yay...learn to swim or die!

I really have no reason to be behind. Why?
a) It's only been one freaking week!
b) a lot of my tutorial sections haven't even started yet (we get problems and quizzes in them)
c) haven't had a SINGLE lab yet.

And indeed I am behind:
a) one section of calculus that was supposed to be finished last week remaining
b) chemistry problems that were supposed to be done for today remaining
c) am behind in notemaking
d) other stuff that I can't remember, now that I have to go and look up all the dates for stuff myself. *grumble, grumble*

However, I did quite a lot of homework today, so I'm slowly digging myself out of this stupid homework hole. Stupid homework!

An aside: people, don't wear shirts that are too small for your body. Nobody wants to see your rolls. It's incredibly unflattering when your tight pants and short shirt expose your belly to the world. ESPECIALLY if it's a generous belly.

Also: I NEED GROCERIES! Must go tomorrow or be forced to live off own body fat. Downside: will be starving. Will have no chocolate to eat. Upside: will be able to wear tight pants with short shirts w/out worrying about belly.

Feelin' the blues

2005-09-16T11:55:00.000-06:00

It's raining out, it's grey and sloshy. The bottoms of my pants are wet, and I'm feeling rather ill with a terrible cold. My homework's piling up and it's got to be done today and tomorrow. Plus I'm lonely, and tired of eating PB and J sandwiches. I feel like such a miserable human being.

I'll be heading to the 7:00 screening of Sin City at Innis Town Hall; you guys are free to join me and together we can bask in black, white and red violence. Listen for the nose-blowing and you'll find me in no time.

Like water for chocolate

2005-09-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

Just got back from visiting Ian, after not seeing him for over two weeks. I feel so much more relaxed and happy right now. The long hiatus really sucked. We had a great time together, and it was nice to just sit, chill, have some quality time to talk. In fact, we had an excellent conversation about everything; school, our lives, religion, etc. It's especially hard because the one phone that's in my house is right in the middle of the kitchen (I've probably mentioned this) and so we can't have decent or lengthy conversations without being interrupted. I plan to run a line to my room, and bring my phone from home, so hopefully this will be a short-lived problem that I will slay after this coming weekend. Still, phone doesn't touch being able to see each other face-to-face.

Hopefully he'll visit me next week; plans are underway and fingers are crossed.

Stalk me!

2005-09-15T08:51:00.000-06:00

No, don't really. I will call the police, I promise. But in case you guys wanted to see my schedule, and complain about labs with me, here it is (at the bottom of the page). The labs (in red) that say conflict aren't really; ROSI is just stupid. Look at all those labs. *sigh*.

Anyway, in other news, yesterday was a busy day in which I ran around to a CollegePro painters manager info session (to decide if I want to work hard and make $17000 in take-home pay in one summer... tempting), and then to my first year seminar, and then to the U of T bookstore where I met Ivan. We hung out and chatted for a good while, and it was nice to catch up, since I haven't spent that much time with individual friends lately - too busy with Frosh and then with conflicting schedules. We must all get together soon, if we can. Certainly you guys are welcome to email me and we can have impromptu hang-out sessions, especially since I'm basically on campus, so you can visit any time (when I'm in).

More on that first year seminar. It was in University College which is pretty large, and I didn't have the room number on me, so I had to go across the street to a computer lab to look it up on ROSI. Then I ran back to UC, and then wandered around till I found my room. When I slipped in, everyone kept talking about China, and I was incredibly confused, since I thought I was taking a history course with a local (think: Toronto) focus. Turns out I apparantly signed up for a different course, about the ideologies and political movements of China. This is okay, since that was tied for first with the course I eventually chose.

I have been very interested in the events leading up to and around and after the Cultural Revolution for a long time, since my mother experienced it all first-hand. We watched a movie called Wild Swans based on the book of the same name, about three women and their lives in China during this turbulent time. I was in a slightly fragile mood (it was raining out, I was disoriented, and moderately lonely and homesick), so hearing about the atrocities and tragedies, forced labour and the state of fear my mother and her generation experienced made me tear up a couple of times. Every time I stop to think about the Revolution, it breaks my heart and makes me feel so spoiled and weak of character. Still, I hope I will enjoy this course, and the small class size (24) is a refreshing change.

UT libraries: and on the sixth day, the Devil created Robarts...

2005-09-13T15:55:00.000-06:00

For the first time today, I managed to make the long and arduous trek to the outer reaches of campus, where Victoria college is located. There, I was generously rewarded by what must be the most gorgeous and comfortable library on campus: E.J. Pratt. It's very new and shiny, and looks like the library version of a sleek loft. Surrounded by lush gardens, including a waterfall, difficult to get lost in (more on that later), and with handy water fountains all over the place. Plus there are tons of windows and natural lighting (so you can gaze at the greenery around you), as well as study carrells and tables all over the place that are actually NEAR these windows. I have to say, I will definitely be making the trek to study there. It's so perfect and comfortable! This also means that I will be visiting Stella more often :D Stella, I'm jealous!

In contrast, I went to Robarts yesterday and almost passed out from starvation and exhaustion trying to find my way out of that behemoth. My mission was to find a nice, quiet, comfortable place to do some studying. I had heard that the upper floors were pretty good for that. So, silly me, I tried to take the elevator up. Of course, the elevators at Robarts make no sense, and only go to selected floors, so you have to take two or more elevators to actually get to where you want. Or go up the escalators. So if you're on the 14th floor, it appears you have to take the elevator down to the first floor and then take another elevator up to the 13th floor, after flashing your TCard. Plus, it's really dark in Robarts, seeing as how it's a huge concrete chunk of ugliness, and the study carrells are largely in windowless rooms, or rooms with two tiny tiny windows. Robarts, shame on you. Why can't you be more like Pratt?

While on the subject of libraries, right now I'm in the Innis library (using the computer, duh), and not only is it really tiny and moderately confusing to find, it also smells really weird in here. It's like the ventillation system is venting all the "fresh" air from a basement filled with old rubber. Yum. But at least the computers are often available - the smell apparantly chases everyone away.

Perhaps more library "reviews" later, as I continue my search for a library that combines the comfort and style of Pratt with convenience.

Physics is teh suck.

2005-09-12T14:25:00.000-06:00

Had my first two lectures this morning, BIO150 and PHY138. Bio actually looks pretty cool, and thank goodness it's mostly not at the cellular level. I'm really psyched, and the profs seem really nice and enthusiastic. Convocation Hall was totally packed...next time I'll take a photo and post it for you non-U of T kids, although I assume your classes are probably equally huge. At least it's a pretty building.

Physics, on the other hand, sucks like a two-bit whore. In my first lecture, we've already got to do a pre-assessment problem set for Friday, and we have to do chapters 2-4 problem sets for Monday. BOO HISS! And I never even liked physics anyway. Looks like this will be a repeat of grade 12, when everyone was complaining about how they didn't get it and it was too hard. I did see Stella and Xiao in my class, and they also have Bio with me right before Physics. Stella, Xiao, you better understand the Physics and then teach it to me.

One of the good things that I've noticed is that all my classes are fairly near where I live, and the back-to-back ones are all really close to each other (eg. right across the street), or in the same building. And here I was, worrying about having to run across campus to get to class in ten minutes.

Update about my place: last night I actually spent some time with the two other girls that I live with, Amy (exchange student) and Jackie (4th year student, taking history, I think). They're actually pretty cool, and are fun to hang out with. And surprise, surprise, they think Barbara's evil too. In fact, all the students in my house think that she's evil. Apparantly, she will begin to yell at me for small things (like not turning off the lights and not keeping the kitchen immaculate or helping her with the garbage) shortly. We'll see. Anyway, I do have a phone after all, so once I figure out what the number is, I'll give it to people. But first I have to run a line from the kitchen, and no one can call after 9 pm because then Barbara will yell at me. I'm happy though, since now I can finally call Ian without having to sit in the middle of the kitchen. I really miss Ian; seeing him, and our long phone conversations. Although the numerous emails that he sends help, it's not the same. But they do help, so hopefully he'll do both! And hopefully a visit will happen either this week or next.

Anyway, more on the lectures that follow later, and soon (like, today or tomorrow) I'll begin buying my books. Otherwise known as hemorrhaging money!

2005-09-11T13:17:00.000-06:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

My Place v.1.0

2005-09-11T12:27:00.000-06:00

So, it's been a week since I've moved into my basement apartment room (hereafter referred to as "my place") and although I have mainly only stumbled in past 2 am to crash, it's beginning to feel like home. I put up posters from the FQ magazine Robyn brought in to Yearbook last year, that I saved from the recycle. Thanks Robyn! In a way, it's pretty terrible that I'm voluntarily surrounded by advertising now, but look at the pretty colours and pictures. Anyhow, it covers up the dirty wall. I also put up that lovely corkboard (can't remember what they're actually called), and after it fell on my head the first time, I nailed the damn thing in good. Don't tell my landlord. But mostly, I just put everything in order and folded my clothes and organized my bookshelf. Hopefully I can maintain this, but we'll see.

Now, I want to get a really colourful bedspread, some random doodads to hang from the ceiling, and perhaps more posters. Ikea! Maybe I'll poster my ceiling, or would that make it look lower than it already is? Anyhow, I'm trying hard to get more colour into my institutional white room. This would be so much easier if I were allowed to paint. However, have some sort-of-before and after photos (I'd already put up my posters before I thought to take before photos) and let's celebrate the fact that I got off my ass and did something this week besides party!

As for my roommates, I did finally meet them. Briefly. The girl with the room beside me is a sweet, quiet, friendly first-year exchange student from Vietnam. The girl across the kitchen mostly keeps to herself, but appears to be one of those trendy flips, with the blond hair and everything. And the woman who's got the room right by the door is...eh. Let's just say that there's no breathing in this place without her say-so (which is odd because I thought she was just renting like everyone else. Age DOESN'T make her our mothers :P). This is the impression I've gotten, and I'll amend it as necessary.

On the positive side, I totally love the location of my place. Lillian H. Smith library is like, a two minute walk, and Robarts is a five minute walk, so it appears that I don't really need a personal computer that badly. Chinatown is right up the street (and so is Kensington, obviously). We gotta go shopping, people! Of course, there are grocery stores and dollar stores all over the place. If I can avoid it, I'm never moving into the 'burbs (and this includes the far reaches of Scarborough) ever ever again. I love this convenience! I love the vibrance of this place, and the fact that I can walk home at two thirty in the morning and still pass ten people (students mostly) on the way, and have shops nearby that are still open. This place is so great to just explore and wander around in that I don't even care if I have no TV.

Ahhh, life is good. Until class starts...tomorrow.

Packed with that sweet Frosh goodness.

2005-09-10T20:04:00.000-06:00

Frosh is over and I'm incredibly tired. It was the most packed week I've had in a long time, and it was so much fun! We headed up to Hart House farm, in the Caledon Hills on the second last day. It was pretty cool, we played team games, had bouncy castles (SO MUCH FUN! Now I need to find me one of those plastic ball playrooms for more good times), and explored a random network of caves that were really large cracks in the ground with rocky sides. It was kind of creepy when we went, as it was getting dark.

Once that stuff was out of the way, everyone chilled and half the people got drunk and high. So much for a dry frosh. Anyway, a big bonfire had been built up (it was much bigger than in the picture, apparantly, but I missed it while in the caves), and we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores. A little while later, the first of two bands that were playing that evening started their set. Glory Fades was pretty good, catchy music that kind of reminded me of Brand New. The second band, Harpoon Dodger, was super! The lead singer had a really gorgeous husky voice, and the music was mellow without being depressing. I'd go get their CD if I wasn't so poor (and I still might get it anyway, if I can find it). Everyone headed back to the fire after the bands, and most people stayed up talking till about 3 am.

Although it sucked that the washrooms were really gross and without toilet paper, that people stole our mattresses, that we were really smelly from the wood smoke, and that we had to get up early and clean up to leave at around 9:30, it was still pretty fun. And the huge shipment of huge subs we got for dinner makes up for part of it. Mmmm...subs.

On the last day, we had the SAC parade, and the Sloan concert. I'm not a huge personal fan of Sloan, being largely unfamiliar with their music, so it wasn't such a big deal for me, and I left early. However, I did get some free stuff from booths in the area, and I also spotted Jordan, who (as you may know by reading his blog) is actually loving Trinity. The Innis kids had to leave a bit early to head to the CN tower for dinner. The food was delish, mostly salads and pastas. Dessert was cake that most definitely had alcohol in it, and was heavenly. We got to check out the Glass Floor and the observation deck for free, so that was really cool. I haven't been up there for ages!

Finally, we headed back to Innis to have the first Pub Night of the year. I'd gone shopping in Kensington earlier in the day (before the concert) with Debbie, and picked out a cheap retro t-shirt in keeping with the theme. I was surprised that nearly everyone dressed up in costumes, with the eighties being the most well-represented era. Probably because you just take ugly stuff and put it together to create the look. I'd like to point out that most of the girls wearing eighties stuff looked EXACTLY like prostitutes. Still, it was a great way to finish off the week, and it turned out to be way more fun than I expected. After, I was so exhausted, so I crashed at Debbie's, because she lives in rez which is right across the street.

Now it sucks that school is starting soon, and I'll unfortunately probably never again see the people I met in frosh, since UofT is so huge. I did get emails, though, so we'll try to keep in touch. I have to figure out a way to squeeze partying into my schedule. Friday nights, yeah? Also, I haven't had time to do ANYTHING, and I badly need to grocery shop! Grocery shopping in Chinatown and Kensington...wheee!

And finally: gifties or Woburnites that go to UTSG - we have to get together some time. We have no excuse since we basically all live on campus.

Feeling Froshty

2005-09-08T10:32:00.000-06:00

So, frosh week is half done, and I'm managing to snatch ten minutes (literally) on the computer. It's been alright so far. We've mostly played team games, although we did go to the beach and Yuk Yuks. Last night, I and a friend popped into the Engineers party at Guvernment, where I proceeded to witness Xiao Yu, Paul Deng, and Shayak getting their groove on. Patrick was nowhere in sight, and I guess Thuva's just too cool for Skule. It was alright, but I wanted to see more purple people, and more people wearing those jumpsuits! I feel somewhat cheated.

The people I've been meeting are pretty cool. It's amazing to be able to just meet people and then be able to have really interesting group conversations where everyone's actually thinking and adding valuable input to the discussion. Plus they're funny and pretty easy-going, on the most part. Good times ahead, it seems.

In other news, I've cleaned my room all up, and decorated it. Mostly. I mean, you can only do so much with a room like this. Before and after photos forthcoming when I figure out where to find a public computer with a USB port.

Anyway, heading off to Hart House farm for an overnight. Hopefully it will be fun, although it's getting pretty cold in the evenings and it also rained this morning. Better, less cursory posts coming (probably when frosh is done).

Moving

2005-09-03T17:55:00.000-06:00

More hauling heavy stuff into my apartment today. I actually take up residence on Monday, but we moved today in case anything needed to be bought (it didn't). My dresser doesn't work (the drawers fall out when I try to open them) but I figure some thin strips of wood nailed on the inside should do the trick. I'm too lazy to clean out the dresser in my room and lug it all the way over there. Other than that, the place is cleaned and air-freshened into a moderately habitable state. Now I need posters to cover up these dirty white walls.

Already the fun of living in a basement is beginning. My brother spotted three large centipedes in the two minutes he was in there taking a piss, and all at the same time. They were strategically placed behind the towel bar, behind the toilet, and in the shower. Anyone who's heard me tell the story of me trying to get up the nerve to kill a centipede for thirty minutes at 1:00 a.m. or the story of me stumbling in bed to find a centipede on my headboard and whimpering until Addesse came to kill it will realise how much this really sucks ass.

In other news, I still haven't met the three other girls living here, and am beginning to question their existence. Since last week (which was the last time I was there), nothing has been moved. Not in the kitchen, anyway. The exact same dirty dishes were sitting in the exact same locations. One water-filled lasagna-covered baking dish has been languishing on the stove top since I've first been in. Clearly I'm not going to have to worry about the space being too small; it's like a one bedroom apartment which happens to have a really long hallway with three closet doors that are always closed.

Still - freedom! Damn it, but I'd kill a hundred centipedes for you.
(ahem)

New stage, new start

2005-08-30T09:25:00.000-06:00

I have thus far resisted the "lure" of blogging, and it was damn hard. Wait, I lie; actually it looked like a lot of work keeping it updated, and I've been known to be kind of flighty when it comes to projects like this. But this did seem like the best way to keep you guys up on the (ahem) important events of my life. (Possible) future important events to be featured:

finding my first nasty cockroach in my new basement digs
having my lazy ass rescued from a pile of my own clutter and/or assignments
discovering that everyone in my classes is evil
getting lost in nearby Chinatown...repeatedly
getting lost on campus...repeatedly
getting lost everywhere else...repeatedly
sacrificing my grocery money for the month to go thrift clothes shopping in Kensington (hey - then they'd fit better!)

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty psyched about the near future, and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me. Hopefully good things, but I'll take all the new experiences I can get.

(well, not ALL of them...)