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December 26th, 2006
10:31 pm - Look, Ma, I Didn't Die!
Well! It's been a while, eh? Five months since an update, and although I've still been reading my friendslist, I've been shamefully negligent in commenting. Plus, I think a bunch of new people friended me and I ignored them. Sorry, y'all. Have a cupcake on me.
There isn't too much brand new or dramatic in my life right now, which means my hiatus was probably just born of apathy exacerbated by stubbornness. I moved, and now live in a lovely little superterranean apartment with two friends, old roommate Ana and new roommate Emily. We had a Christmas party earlier in the month, with turkey and decorations and a gift exchange and mashed sugared yams that we ended up donating to the homeless. I'm home now in Burlington for the holidays with my mom, dad, and brother (my sister elected to go straight from her teaching job in Martinique to surfing with friends in Mexico instead of seeing her family. But I'm not bitter. All the more kidneys and bone marrow for me, eh?). The animals are doing fine and little feral Annie is ever-so-slightly calmer, but poor little Zebediah Mabel is beginning to show her age (18.5 years). She had conjunctivitis this fall, but that's cleared up now.
On the school front, I'm halfway through my one-year master's degree, provided I don't screw up too spectacularly. I'm taking courses in Old Egyptian texts and religious and funerary texts, and finished a half-course in Egyptian archaeology. Yep, I had to switch from Assyriology, since they weren't offering enough courses in it. Shame, that - I always wanted to learn Akkadian, but hieroglyphics is pretty damn cool and a lot prettier to look at. To fulfill my teaching prerequisites, I'm also taking two undergraduate anthropology courses so I can have a chance at being accepted to teachers' college this fall. Applications went in at the beginning of December, and I'm fairly confident I'll be accepted, but won't find out til April.
I continue to bemoan my single state, but have had three very enjoyable outings with a really pretty tattoo artist who owns naked mole rats. Haven't heard back from her in a little while, though. There's a bit more to go over re: me in general, but that can wait for another entry.
*waves at everyone*
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July 21st, 2006
08:45 pm - I work hard for my money so you'd better treat me right. And now I have a Dairy Queen craving.
Woo, long time, no update! I finished work at the telemongering job - my last week was actually really stellar. I had a miserable cold and phlegm problem but all the foreign microbes seemed to be making me smarter, stronger, and more competent (just like that Futurama episode) because I sold enough newspaper subscriptions to get myself into the third level of bonus pay, and an open invitation to come back to the job. Rock. I also had some interesting interactions with co-workers - one girl who said she liked the way I dressed because it "denotes simplicity" and a woman in the lunchroom who started in on how we were in the End Times, the deceitful work of Satan was everywhere, and we'd all be doomed if we didn't believe in Jesus. I commented that I thought everyone would have to work things out for themselves, and she replied with "Yes, that's very true. I'm sorry if I was rambling on there. If I ever talk too much about that kind of stuff, just let me know." Whoever heard of such a well-adjusted Doomsday prophet?
I also got my first and only "Fuck you" from a prospect who then immediately hung up the phone, but it hold not even the suggestion of a candle to the following recording. I think the woman here is some kind of personification of pure rage, and I feel bad for laughing at someone with such obviously serious issues, but Oh. My. Fucking. God. Just wait for the part when she starts talking about hernias.
YOU ARE A LIFE DESTROYER!
My new job for the last two weeks has been teaching ESL at the summer camp, and although I'm glad of the short hours and valuable non-porn store experience on my resume, the stress level makes me long for the relative peace of the call centre. The kids are wild. Instead of me and 20 12-15 year-olds like I'd been told, there's me, another teacher, and about 40 9-20 year-olds, of wildly varying English abilities. They range from almost fluent to not understanding anything other than "Brad Pitt" and maybe "X-Box."
These kids are extremely rich, extremely undisciplined, and shepherded by a small crew of grossly underpaid teenage chaperones who basically let them do whatever they want. Our field trip to the zoo was an organizational abortion. For starters, most of the kids didn't even want to go. They had a better zoo in Mexico, they said. They'd rather go shopping, they said. I have never in my life seen a group of kids bored at the zoo. They were slumped in apathetic little clusters, munching bags of chips while the FREAKING AFRICAN ELEPHANTS gallivated right behind them. And because they were uninterested in the animals, they preferred to just wander off rather than take a tour; trying to keep them together was like herding cats. Blind, deaf, intoxicated cats. One chaperone bowed out after ten minutes and just parked her ass at the entrance of the zoo waiting for the day to be over. After about an hour of me being the only one who seemed to care if somebody got eaten by a hippopotamus, I too gave up. I think they all got back to their homestay eventually.
Since the update has been largely me bitching, I might as well conclude it in like form: it's not yet nine pm on a Friday in the biggest city in the country. I'm young, single, and have a bit of cash in my pocket. And I'm already in my pyjamas, flicking from one website to another, hoping maybe my sister will call from B.C., which will probably have to be the highlight of my weekend. I'm as bored as a wealthy Mexican schoolgirl, it seems.
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July 4th, 2006
09:21 pm - Can you catch my germs over the internet? Read and find out!
take the WHAT BAD BOOK ARE YOU test.
and go to mewing.net. not as good as reading a good book, but way better than a bad one.
Heheh. Memes. Anyway, I'm hackling and wheezling with a head cold, but pity me not! Things have been going very well lately. I'm still telemarketing, a job that scales the heights and plumbs the depths of human emotion, all depending on whether or not I'm lucky enough to dial a person who A) reads English, and B) wants to. Today I more than tripled my quota, some days I don't sell anything at all. The most amusing part has been the last names that come up on the auto-dialer - so far, Dookie, Poon, Hick, Hussey, Higginbottom and my personal favourite, Dingus.
But I shall soon leave this den of commercialism for some hallowed halls of learning, as I've been hired as an instructor for an ESL summer program, to teach English to 20 Mexican teenagers and show them the sights of Toronto (with the help of chaperones, to make sure nobody runs off and pierces anything - a major fear on all my class trips). I'm really looking forward to this as it is experience I badly need for my application to teachers' college.
Graduation happened! My parents were proud of me, they brought me flowers, I looked pretty rockin' in my dress, there were little sandwiches and some kind of pate at the reception - all in all a good showing.
My first Toronto Pride happened! I went to the Dyke March with Claire on Saturday, and we had a great time taking in all the lovely ladies, followed by some spoken word artists and confusing lesbian performance art (is there any other kind?) at Buddies in Bad Times. Plus there was the Gay Geek Group which was lovely to see, and a woman with a sign reading "Willow and Tara Forever!" All they needed was a Xena impersonator to really complete the ensemble, and perhaps next year I shall offer my services? The next day was Pride proper, and I went with my mom. I especially liked the Jewish queer women's group with the sign "Eat Me, I'm Kosher", the drag king in a wheelchair whose shirt read "My other legs are a Cadillac", Jack Layton and Olivia Chow on a bicycle built for two, and the men in wedding dresses on stilts. Especially heartwarming were the two Mounties in full dress uniform with a sign that read on one side, "Just Married" and one the other "The Mounties Always Get Their Man".
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June 13th, 2006
09:03 pm - My Own Private Ithaca
Hello, native shores, I'm back! The trip was fantastic, it's great to be home, but this entry isn't going to be about Greek stuff as I intend to do a more thorough account of that when I have access to the vacation pictures. My summer in Toronto has officially kicked off with my being hired for my summer job. After serving as a footsoldier in Big Oil's war against the planet, and time spent slinging smut for the sex industry, I have now decided to complete the trifecta of evil and become...a telemarketer. First shift starts on Thursday and apparently I have a day and a half to sell someone, anyone, a newspaper subscription, or I'm sent packing. Please, if I call your house, have a heart and fork over the credit card. I don't want to work in a Toronto porn store. They'll make me clean the viewing booths.
In other news, I've been revisiting my salad days as both a fledgling fangirl and a baby-dyke by watching the first season of Xena: Warrior Princess on DVD. Man, did they have a crappy costume/set budget. I also saw The Da Vinci Code, which has about as many gaping plot holes, albeit not *quite* as much thinly veiled homoeroticism. It's still there, though, enough to create in me a fervent fangirl love for Silas, everyone's favourite self-flagellating, Latin-speaking, robe-rocking, gun-toting, melanin-not-having, nun-whacking, keen-on-Jesus psycho monk. Perhaps because he reminds me of a young me. Minus the Latin, guns, sororicide, and plus some pigment, of course. But where is all the Silas slash? Chop, chop, internet!
Emily's birthday party was duly celebrated, with Jenga, malted beverages, a trip to a goth club, and, for me, a disastrous attempt to flirt with a hot pool player. He literally ran from me. Today I went to the zoo with my parents; we saw one tapir, two caracals, three giraffes, four orang-utans, and a whole mess of meerkats. Then my mom and I went to some Trinity College graduation functions; I received a small academic award and we both ate strawberry tarts at the reception. My mom was knocking back the champagne like it was Kool-Aid, but I have yet to acquire the taste. Tomorrow, Convocation! Robes, Latin (no Silas), and the end of my undergraduate career.
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May 20th, 2006
03:22 pm - Live, from Iraklio, capital of Crete!
Kalispera (Good afternoon), everybody! I'm in an internet cafe surrounded by 15-year old Greek boys playing Warcraft while "Lady Marmalade" is on the radio (before that was "My Hump" by the Black Eyed Peas.) We just got into town from seeing the ruins of the ancient Minoan palace at Knossos. I will post more about all the sights (and sites) with pictures when I get back. There are stray cats everywhere, mostly looking pretty well-fed and healthy. They beg for treats at the open-air cafes, and what could I do but oblige? They also surround the plentiful fish markets, at which I saw a box of fresh eels. At the butchers' shops they have sheep's eyes and rabbits still wearing their fluffy tails.
Greece is magnificently beautiful. On Thursday my mom and I walked through the Samaria Gorge, an 18km hike, which is possibly more than I'd walk in a week at home. We're still very sore, but it was worth it. At the end, I swam naked in the Mediterranean sea. I've been living off tyropita (flaky cheese pies) which are the equivalent of hot dogs - cheap, tasty, and ubiquitous. I've learned a few Greek words, which many people seem quite suprised to hear from me - like a dog is talking, or something. I can read all the names on the statues and streets signs too, but my first-year ancient Greek course isn't getting me too much further.
As yet, I have enountered no nymphs and/or satyrs, but am keeping my eyes peeled. Can't wait to see you all again!
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May 13th, 2006
11:42 pm - Greece, as always, is the word
This entry must be short and sweet, for I am off to Greece with my mother in the morning! OMGWTFBBQ!1! This is the trip I've been wanting since I was knee-high to a hydra (what? I was tall when I was a kid, too) and I'm so grateful to be going on it. I probably won't have a chance to get on the internet while I'm there, so no one do or say anything too exciting, okay? Just remain in a gentle stasis til I return, bearing tales and trinkets and maybe a prophecy from Delphi.
My birthday was wonderfully celebrated at the Pickle Barrel with my mom, Claire, Ana, and Emily, and then again at home with my family. I received thoughtful and charming gifts, including a beautiful girly music/jewelry box with a dancing fairy inside. It is the long-awaited replacement for the frilly, lacy, beaded pink music box I had when I was five; iinside it had a little plastic ballerina wearing a tiny tutu. Then our dear young calico Zebby started getting her big-girl teeth, and began chewing on everything. First she ate the tutu. Then she came back for the ballerina. Ate her right down to the plastic toe-shoes.
As for school, I wrote my last exams and essays some time ago, and all that remains for my undergraduate career is the graduation ceremony when I get home in June. I was accepted to graduate school, and my doubts about my desire to go there were mostly quelled by the receipt of an Ontario Graduate Scholarship for a one-year Master's Degree. It doesn't pay for the whole tuition, but most of it, and I didn't want to look such a gift-horse in the mouth, no matter how filled with sharp, pointy, academically intimidating teeth that mouth might be.
It would seem this update is ridiculously full of good things in my life. I should watch out for the scourge of hubris and its attendant divine retribution, especially where I'm going. If I come home with no eyes and a galimony suit from my mother, you'll all know what's gone wrong.
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April 18th, 2006
12:03 am - Catch, Twenty-Two!
It's my birthday today. 22 years of cheating death, and counting! Take that, mortality! It's also apparently Lucrezia Borgia's birthday, the 100-year anniversary of the great San Francisco fire. An auspicious date all 'round.
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April 7th, 2006
12:00 am - You can dance if you want to
Hello, all! Spring has arrived and none too soon - the landlord turned the heat off again and its been mighty cold at night. But I've been seeing so many robins bob-bob-bobbing along. Big redbreasted fat ones, and croci too. So, who wants to take advantage of it and do something this weekend?
The anti-choice protestors were back on campus today, so I spent some time handing out pro-choice fliers and info. People were quite receptive. Yesterday was a fun day - I met my dad and brother downtown for dinner out before they went to a Blue Jays game, and then I browsed around Yonge Street, buying a wicked-cool Sheila-na-Gig pendant for only 5 bucks, and finding my mom a Rolf Harris CD for her birthday. Which was kind of in January. It's taken me this long to find a CD; apparently vintage Australian folk singers are not the hot commodity I had previously believed. Today, I got a lovely red, blue and yellow cotton print skirt for only a dollar here in Kensington - I'm going to need it to cover my shame in the Orthodox churches and such in Greece.
My volunteering is going well - since last fall, I've been going in to a local vocational girls' school to help out in the special ed math and science classes once a week. The students are working on pretty basic stuff -learning to make change from different amounts of money, and the names of the planets and so forth, but they tend to need a lot of individual attention, so I help them out. It's mostly pretty fun; once the teacher had to leave and I even got to teach the class. Also cute: when I was there last, one of the girls was joking and pretending to be invisible, and I said, "Well, if you're invisible, how come I know you're wearing...hmm, let's see...a red shirt, a black skirt and a black scarf?" And she laughed and said "Because you have a good heart!" *g*
What's new about what's old: apparently a Coptic text containing The Gospel of Judas has been translated. It's not a contemporary source, dating about 300 CE but according to an earlier writer seems to have existed as early as 180 CE. I'm surprised this isn't bigger news, like that ossuary purported to have belonged to "James, the brother of Jesus", which I still wish I'd gone to see at the ROM before it was exposed as a forgery.
Finally, my first official squee about my new fandom, Supernatural, a spooky drama about two ghost-hunting brothers, lackluster in storylines but brimming with lovely angst and slashiness. Tonight's episode was like a dozen good fanfics come to life. SQUEE!
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April 1st, 2006
10:43 pm - April Rules!
It's my babies' birthday today! Luckeeda Jane has turned 17, and her big sister Zebediah Mabel (who is purring on my lap as I write this) is the big 18. My kitty cat's legal, yo! I tried asking her what she wanted to do first, vote, buy a lottery ticket, or watch a skin flick, but she was too busy enjoying her birthday steak. And toast. Baby girl loves her toast.
In other news, I went to the stereotype-defyingly sedate St. Patrick's Day Parade here in Toronto, and met Zanta, a city institution. Claire had told me about him, but I wasn't sure he was real until he offered to let me feel his biceps. Like rocks, I tell you. His back story is, apparently, that he feels he was unjustly denied custody of his daughter, and began doing pushups in subway stations to get her back. So far the courts haven't been impressed. He also has a vendetta against CityTV because they banned him from their premises.
Just two weeks left of class, one more essay, and a couple exams, and then I am finished my undergraduate degree. Woo...hoo? I think I'm pretty excited, but I've heard it's a big scary world out there. My original plan to go for my Ph.D and become a professor has been crushed under the realization that every essay I write kills a little bit of my soul. Now I'm planning on going to teacher's college to teach high school history - it's all about being on the other end of the marking pen. It's also been influenced by how much I'm enjoying the volunteering at the high school I've been doing to plump up my resume - I'll probably post more about that later. I may still go for my Master's degree next year, depending on if I even get into grad school for it.
Been seeing a lot of movies lately. The Hills Have Eyes, V For Vendetta and the best of the lot just tonight, Slither. All you Firefly fans, if you weren't going to see it just for Nathan Fillion, then see it because he's basically playing Mal all over even, if the good captain was a small-town sheriff and allowed to swear in English.
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March 8th, 2006
03:57 pm - Lovely Smarch weather
Ahoy and avast. It's the middle of essay season, but I seem to be holding my own. Got my Egyptian religion midterm test and my Mesopotamian history midterm assignment back; both in the 90s, so I'm happy there. In Baltic folklore we read a Lithuanian folktale about Jesus Christ handing out cigarettes at a funeral, and tasted some really awful Estonian chocolate made from lentils. It's what I imagine the chocolate rations in 1984 would be like. Victory Slab, or something.
Speaking of conflicts of ideology, there's a Googlebombing afoot. The hilarious ladies over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels (one of my favourite sites, incidentally; check out their romance novel cover reviews!) are busy making Republican Senator Bill Napoli into the next Rick Santorum. Please be warned that the link to Napoli's name contains potentially upsetting language regarding rape (and the Santorum one is just plain gross). Why would I link to such a thing? Because he's an evil little fucker who deserves his name dragged through the mud (the article itself is mind-boggling, but Napoli's bloviation is about two-thirds down the page. So, link, spread, mock, and if you're in the U.S., vote like hell! I do feel sorry for the Italian city Napoli (aka Naples); if they ever get wind of this, perhaps they can contact the good senator to ask for their name back?
And part two in things I love about the internet, an interviewing meme! Comment on this entry with "interview me!" and I'll ask you 5 questions, then make your own entry and answer them and ask other to be the interviewees.
( Five Questions From Ana )
and
( Five Questions From Emily )
This is an ongoing meme, so feel free to keep me in the hot seat!
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February 27th, 2006
12:39 pm - A, B, Wine-dark C
Last night I had a dream I rented the DVD of Brokeback Mountain, and it came with an alternate "Happily Ever After" ending, and Ennis' wife ran away with her lesbian lover, too. That would rock so hard totally betray the essence and the power of the film, of course. And they were hugging and kissing and oh so happy!
Reading Week, and indeed February, have been a quiet success. I had the nicest Valentine's Day since, well, ever. My parents celebrated their twenty-freakin'-fifth wedding anniversary, if you can believe that, and I got a lot of corking done. Corking: it's like knitting for idiots. I'm making myself a very long, multi-coloured yarn rope that I'm going to coil up and sew into a cat mat when it's done.
My mom and I also spent a lot of time planning our trip to Greece in May. Yes, I'm actually going to Greece! *knows she's a very lucky girl* It's been my dream ever since I could locate the place on the map - over fifteen years now. We're going to spend about five days in Athens and the surrounding archaeological sites, Delphi and Mycenae mainly, and five days in Crete looking at the Palace of Knossos and the Samaria Gorge National Park, and a couple days on Santorini/Thira (one island, two names!) I've been practicing learning greetings and pleasantries in Greek, and making a list of the reference reading I want to do beforehand - my old notes from classical civilizations class, brushing up on my mythology, Mary Renault's Theseus novel The Bull From The Sea, and the Iliad, of course. What? So I haven't actually read the Iliad yet. Shut up. I read the Argonautica!
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February 14th, 2006
12:05 pm - Happy Valentine's Day!1!
Let's hear for looooooooove! And also for this highly amusing and apropos comedy article I found. It's funny because it's true:
Obsessive-Compulsive Valentines
I could have written number seven. But I didn't, and so no internet fame for me. Unless I get fame for stirring up the following situation and possibly instigating gritty, chaotic urban guerrilla warfare. So I've got these two friends, see? Both nice, funny, intelligent girls. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) laruku42 is my roommate and she plans to become the queen of rats. witchnyn is an fellow ancientologist, and she's decided to raise an army of squirrels - Ana's mortal enemies.
This city may be the biggest in Canada, but it sure ain't big enough for the both of them. If the UN doesn't commission some pigeon peacekeeping forces soon, I'm prepared to barricade myself in bunker-like cinderblock closet with half a bag of animal crackers and Sheepo for company. Y'all are welcome to join me if you bring weapons or snack treats.
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February 8th, 2006
12:26 am - Pwned! through the millennia
In Egyptian hieroglyphics class we're translating the stela (an inscribed monument, about the shape and size of a tombstone) of one Senbu-Usertsen, a court steward from the late nineteenth century BCE. It describes offerings for his in the afterlife as well as mentioning his family members by name, which was a common practice. The part I find funny is it mentions his four daughters: "His daughter Nebet-Iunet, whom he loved; his daughter Neferwet, whom he loved; his daughter Sat-Hathor, whom he loved; and his daughter, Sat-Amun." That's it. It takes three little signs to write the words "whom he loved" in Middle Egyptian, and for the lack of them it's come down nearly four thousand years that this guy didn't like one of his daughters. What did she do, step on his favourite cat or something?
It's gotten cold here again, which is good from a global-warming perspective but not much fun. My sister's staying with me for the week while she does her English-as-a-Second-Language practicum in our old stomping grounds, Scarborough to get her Canadian government certificate. She just came back from teaching ESL in South Korea, where the standards are apparently lower, and brought me a stuffed Sheepo. Sheepo is a little naked sheep without any wool of his own, so he has to wear an artificial wool suit with a zipper, but the suit is so hot he has to live in the refrigerator. Eee ees so cute!
Claire came over last week for Quizno's, Rolo cones, the Daily Show, and inexplicably Zionist breath mints. She thinks that last item would make a good band name, but I can't figure out what genre. Not punk, not emo, probably not klezmer. On the weekend, Emily, Jae and I went to see Tristan and Isolde; the movie deviated from the original story too much for me to really enjoy it, but it was followed by the bestest chicken fingers ever.
I have had to admit I am powerless over my addiction to soap. I got a lot of fancy soap for Christmas, and even more with my gift certificate to Lush, and I'm probably getting more for my birthday, and I said to myself, "Self, no more soap until you use up all the soap you already have. There's no need to hoard it for the coming apocalypse, not even if it turns into a Waterworld." But then I saw a new scent from my beloved Bee and Flower brand; ginseng and amber, only 59 cents! It's so good. Somebody sniff me.
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January 24th, 2006
08:19 pm - Democracy: only if people aren't going to be jerks about it
So, yeah. Harper. At least a minority government shouldn't last too long (and I just realized how that might have sounded to people even less familiar than me with Canadian politics; minority government just means they got less than half the votes. Harper's a white boy just like all the other main candidates) and we might get some rocking protests out of it. On the upside, I was actually able to vote NDP this election because I wasn't voting in my hometown riding, where the main priority is blocking out the Conservatives. That's not something we have to worry about here in Kensington.
It's not all leftism and sidewalk booty, though. Some people got arrested in my backyard last week. I was trying to get to sleep at about two in the morning on Thursday when I hear shouting, swearing, and sounds of a struggle out my ground-floor window. I went over to listen to see if maybe I needed to call the cops when the cracking walkie-talkies and the official-sounding lingo indicated that the cops were one step ahead of me. Apparently two guys had been selling drugs out of a stolen car, were spotted by the police, and fled down the lane that leads into our backyard. They were trying to get up the fire escape when the police tackled them done, and one of the, uh, perps shot off a flare gun (which explains the flashing lights, weird smell, and shouts of "Put it down! PUT IT DOWN!" that first woke me up).
I got all this backstory when the cops came back to see if anything had been dropped in the yard; previously they had just left after making the arrest and I was really confused and kind of freaked out as to what had gone on, because I couldn't see anything, only hear. They did ask me what address this house was, and I told them, and they relayed that into their radios which was kind of cool.
I dyed my hair over the weekend with the henna I got from Lush. It's not too dramatic a change, but I have a coppery sheen now. The actual dyeing process was extremely difficult as the henna comes in a solid brick that had to be crushed with a hammer. Then I had to mix in hot water into a thick brown cream, and it got all over everything. It looked like I had anally fisted a Holstein, to put it delicately.
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January 18th, 2006
10:31 pm - Wacky winter windfall
Dude! Guess what I found when I took the garbage out just now! The guy upstairs is moving out, and has dumped what seems to be most of the contents of his apartment on the curb for pick-up (yes, I did have this conclusion confirmed by another neighbour so I'm not just stealing his stuff - plus there was a fair bit of broken stuff and garbage mixed in with it). In other words, free shopping! I snabbed two attractive gift bags, an unused box of black hair dye (L'Oreal), a Canadian flag (for shame!), some scented bath beads in their original packaging, a giant triangular back pillow, a clay vase, an embroidered South American-style sofa throw (which I will wash before using, of course), a Cabbage Patch Kids mug (ditto), one copy each of Maxim and Cannabis Culture (I left the porn alone), and, because I like to think I have a touch of whimsy, a photo of four people at a party and a pencil drawing of a girl with glasses, labelled Kat, Sept. 8, '03 on the back of a menu.
There's way more stuff out there that also isn't garbage but was too big or I had no use for. Furniture, shoes, coats, suitcases, more magazines and books, what might be drug paraphernalia, and a lot of personal notes and letters, some of which bore the name Kat or Katherine. It's like a living room exploded. Lots of high schoolish homework in girlie handwriting, and I'm wondering if Kat lived with this guy or if they broke up or what. If I had more patience and less concern about germs, I'd leaf through all the drawers of papers, try to assemble a psychological profile of this stranger. Most intriguing of all was a whole bunch of dried rose petals at the bottom of a drawer of papers, looking very old and obviously having been saved, but now being thrown out. I can't decide if the whole cache is the tragic detritus of a life outgrown life a hermit crab shell, or just some jackass who'd rather waste stuff than give it to Goodwill.
In other news, Claire and I went out on Friday for my maiden voyage to the Pickle Barrel (so good!) and some more semi-free shopping with my Christmas gift certificate to Lush. There, I got a kit of dark auburn hair henna that I'd be coveting for about a year, so if anyone wants the sidewalk dye from tonight, it's yours.
All my marks from last semester are in except for my hieroglyphics exam; I cleaned up pretty majorly but the hieroglyphics probably won't be so good. Also, a squirrel was yelling at me in Queen's Park the other day. I believe it was warning me to stay away from my dear roommate Ana, or be held guilty by association when the revolution comes. Squirrels hate her.
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January 9th, 2006
09:54 pm - From the soapbox to the lamppost
Happy New Year, everybody! I had my first class in Baltic folklore today. Apparently in the Baltic world, mittens = Serious Business. It was a bit of a downer to leave the comforts of home, but before I went my mom and I made modeling clay casts of the cats' paws. They did not enjoy the experience as much as we did (Zebby's cast bears the imprint of extended claws) but it will be nice to have to remember them by when the inevitable happens.
Anyone read the new and completely incomprehensible Chick tract? In it, an proseltyzing lawyer urges a woman to get down on her knees and "receive God's love gift"? And how's about that new postering campaign down by Queen's Park? Lots of yellow flyers asking the government to IMPOSE MARTIAL LAW to quell the increase in gun violence. Seriously. Because nothing promotes peace, love, and understanding like martial law!
I was watching part of the election debate tonight, but no good catfights broke out. Stephen Harper, whose hair really does appear to be all one piece, said "policemen" instead of "police officers" and Paul Martin issued a somewhat garbled sentence that, according to the rules of grammar, said Aboriginal people were the cause of poverty in Canada. On the way to the pub where the debate was being aired, I met a passing leatherworker who complimented me on my firm handshake. Kensington rocks!
In closing, today I ate a baby octopus. No bigger than an olive. It was okay.
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December 29th, 2005
10:33 pm - Figgy Pudding
It was a wonderful holiday season! The festivities started on Christmas Eve with a trip to the Ontario Science Centre; my family used to go every Christmas during my childhood but we hadn't been for about 10 years now. I was stricken with mysterious, intensely painful back spasms but it was still a lot of fun - especially the write-your-name-in-Mayan exhibit (purely a phonetic transliteration, of course) and the 8-question genetic uniqueness test. It would seem I am a very common type among Science Centre patrons. I also picked up a clacking lobster claw pen for Claire which she seemed to appreciate when we exchanged gifts.
Christmas Day featured baked cinnamon raisin French toast and some really great presents both given and received. My brother loved the Donald Trump Real Estate board game I gave him (we played it tonight and it was indeed fun), my sister appreciated the carbolic acid traveler's soap that promised to ward off ringworm and the South African honeybush tea (both finds from Kensington), my mom liked her "Field Guide to Cat Butts" gift set and Harry Potter jelly beans (she asked for those specifically) and my dad is excited about his dried figs and French chestnut spread. Some of the nicest things I got were a Turkish doll my sister got in Istanbul, a gift certificate to Lush, a promise of a half-day llama trekking trip(!) with my mom, and a stuffed Japanese kimono cat.
After all that, we went to the casino at Niagara Falls which gave us a free dinner, a free night in their hotel, and free breakfast the next morning. (These are known as "comps" and are handed out to regular patrons; both my dad and brother are frequent blackjack and poker players - with wildly varying degrees of success). In the morning we went across the border to buy exotic American grocery products like pumpkin spice Krispy Kremes and potato bread.
On Tuesday I visited Claire in Toronto; we watched a movie, danced to my new "70s Disco Hits" cds and ate at a cute little Italian place. I gave her the aforementioned trayf pen as well as some chocolate, miniature Sharpies and a little collection of vignettes about historic lesbians. For her part, she gave me something I've been coveting for years - an I Slept With Xena t-shirt. I've been wearing it for two days in a row now.
Today was more quiet, just with spaghetti, making a snake-sphinx out of modelling clay, and whupping my family's collective ass at Scrabble. Tonight I have some chocolates to eat and Angel episodes to watch. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves equally much.
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December 23rd, 2005
07:09 pm - Wassail, y'all
First off, happy holidays to everyone out there, especially those whose major religious and cultural celebrations do not happen to coincide with Christmas. May you enjoy the marked-down Christmas chocolate in January as much as anybody else. I'm feeling pretty seasonal - we've got everyone home this year unlike last when my sister was in Japan, all my Christmas shopping is done and presents wrapped, exams are over, and I'm stuffed full of an early bird. Yesterday my mom used up her annual expletive, when she spilled liquid Jello all over the fridge. It was a race to get it cleaned up before it coagulated.
Nadine and I went to see Brokeback Mountain on Wednesday. ( My impression and semi-spoilers herein. )
It was winter solstice and on the way back from the movie we saw the Festival of Lights in Kensington - a whole parade full of people shouting, banging drums, carrying lanterns, and breathing fire, all to scare the darkness away. Speaking of Kensington life, a while back we received an early morning visit from the Toronto Public Health Commission. They were investigating reports of an illegal bean-sprout grow-op in the building, and wanted to know if the basement was inhabited. I said that I lived down there, and the woman asked me if I'd seen any illegal bean-sprouts. I said no, and she went away seeming satisfied - but isn't that exactly what I would have said if I was the one with the funny farm?
In closing, the elegant getandgot has linked me to a wonderful page of seasonal hilarity: It Came Upon A Midnight Weird: Cavalcade of Bad Nativities! I especially like the belt buckle. To demonstrate the beautiful universal glory of questionable taste, I also present Judaism's answer to the Beanie Baby, The Ten Plush Passover Plagues!
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December 10th, 2005
06:33 pm - Classical Latin: Undead Vampire Language?
Eeek! It's winter all of a sudden. I'd sulk but I've been having a pretty good week. Claire and I enjoyed our movie night - we went with 28 Days Later, my all-nighter essay came back with a reasonably satisfactory 75%, my Mesopotamian history exam went quite well, and I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done. My dad's getting, among other things, dried figs.
Emily's gingerbread party was a smashing success. I want to run away with her brother's dog Tyra and live as platonic lifemates - can someone point me towards a province or state where this can be legally formalized? The dog is an angel made flesh and fur. The gingerbread houses turned out with varying degrees of success; Jae made a gingerbread Japanese high school complete with a tentacle monster and a gingerninja on the roof. Andrew, Maria and I poured our efforts into an ultimately structurally unsound gingerbread whorehouse, complete with gaudily attired gingervixens. We called in the Gingerbrothel, but the roof collapsed more than once. We could have used you on this, Ana!
My mother had a bon mot yesterday. She'll insist I'm misquoting her, but the paraphrase retains the original meaning. We were discussing how the new version of Winnie the Pooh is replacing Christopher Robin with a girl:
Me: He always struck me as pretty androgynous anyway.
Her: Really?
Me: Definitely. That was a fey kid.
Her: But it doesn't meaning anything. He's just a drawing, like Superman, or Jesus.
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November 29th, 2005
04:47 pm - Everyone's a critic!
First order of business: Claire and I are going to commemorate the darkening of the days by renting some horror movies tomorrow night. She likes her horror featuring "disturbing people doing disturbing things", I like twist or shock endings and a few good-startle scares. Does anyone have any recommendations, please and thank you? We're thinking of looking at some Japanese horror films too, maybe.
Egyptian religion class was funny today. The professor was talking about the creation story from the city of Hermopolis which involved the Ogdoad (a group of eight gods embodying the four elements of chaos in male/female pairs) pouring semen onto a lotus flower, from which the sun god then emerged. He called it the Egyptians' very own "Big Bang" theory, but no one else laughed! What, are we all mature all of a sudden? It's a cosmic bukkake!
Also in ancient!history!squee, my name was drawn back home to win a gift certificate for a ancient artifact reproductions store. It was really hard to choose; I never thought I'd be able to afford stuff like this at this point in my life. They're not museum quality or anything, but they're beautiful and I plan to display them for the rest of my please-god-let-me-get-into-grad-school academic career.
In the end I went with a reproduction of the Phaistos Disk and a statue of Isis and Horus that looks like this one. I think it's a reproduction of an actual statue; in any case, it's very similar to one we looked at in Egyptian iconography class when discussing the portrayals of Isis the mother and Horus the child together. These images were common in ancient Egypt and elsewhere, after the Roman conquest and the spread of Isis-worship, and seem to have inspired many of the early Madonna and Child images.
Oh, and Claire took me to my first punk/ska band show. It was the loudest experience of my life. I could feel my diaphragm vibrating from the sound. The diaphragm in my chest, I mean.
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