some late night amusement...

my roomate Crystal sent me this link, and I thought I'd share it because I found it very amusing. It's a video by Hayden. very amusing

Home By Saturday

enjoy.

mmmmm ginger mayo....

Had dinner tonight with my long time friend Elaine who's visiting from Edmonton (our dad's were firemen together). We had a delicious dinner at Ferris' Oyster Bar and Grill (veggie nut burger - mmmmm) with amazingly fast service (although, we were sitting right across from the kitchen window...), a lovely (if a bit chilly) walk down by the inner harbour, where some faintly sleazy security guard at the legislative building tried to help me take Elaine's picture..., and a mocha at Starbucks to finish it off (not that I generally enjoy Starbucks, and would rather support local coffee shops... but... it was open). The evening was very nice, some good reminicing. (except that I forgot to get it decaf, and now i'm not sure if i'll get to sleep or not... dang it!)

Elaine and me down at the inner harbour 

after dinner dessert...  

I found this link on Matthew Good's blog, and I definately thing that it's something worth supporting:

Join the million faces.
Demand a global arms trade treaty.
Click to visit Control Arms.

Book Survey Meme
Discovered on Ben's blog

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Chocolat, mmmmmm... melting chocolate. (okay, honestly, i'm not sure I get this question...and I feel really stupid...)
edit: okay, feeling even more stupid! Obviously Fahrenheit 451 is a BOOK, and a political one at that... so, in that case, i'd be "The Fifth Sacred Thing" by Starhawk. definately.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Of course!

The last book you bought is:
well, the last books I bought are Lorna Jackson's "A Game to Play on the Tracks" for my brother, "Breaking the Surface" a collection of poetry by established and up-and-coming poets from Canada, and the winter issue of "The Malahat Review" for research purposes.

What are you currently reading?
I'm between books right now, reading mostly the poetry and short fiction from my workshops, although I have been slowly perusing "The Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women" when I get the chance. Definately looking forward for this summer, the reading list is long.

Five books you would take to a deserted island. (The classic question)
"The Fionavar Tapestry" by Guy Gaverial Kay, technically it's a trilogy, but I've got it in a single volume. One of the best fantasy stories I've ever read. And you have to have a bit of fantasy on a deserted island.
The collected poems of Mary Oliver, because she inspires me, and who better to still the terror by instilling wonder in the world around you?
"Survival for Dummies" because how handy would that be? and I've got to cater to my practical side. (although I'm not sure that's an actual book, but i'm sure there's something similar out there)
"The Pink Book of Fairy Tales" When else are you going to have time to believe in fairy tales?
The biggest anthology of poetry out there, because poetry is what keeps us alive, and I could always burn the pages of poets I dislike.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Tara, because I can. ;)
Norann, because she loves to read, and probably has good psychoanalytic reasons for her choices (hee hee, just kidding)
Emily, because I'd probably be on the deserted island with her.

after several difficulties (which included having Tara come over to help me figure them out) I've managed to add Haloscan for commenting. It wasn't a pretty process, but it's done, and provided valuable procrastination time.

well there was no dancing last night, but there was tons of tastey food, some fun game playing (cranium, and some strange party game called something like "angels and mafia" or "murder"... which consisted of trying to kill others while not getting killed...), and a toasty warm fire. Had a loverly sleep and am now trying to get up the motivation to start writing my last poem, and my last story...
i'm really enjoying this band The Kings of Convenience, which my roomie Tara recently introduced me too. (can you tell, i've just discovered how to link - well i knew before, but i've discovered the easier way) . They are very cute, and there's a video on the site where the guy dances sort of like napoleon dynamite. :)

Happy Easter!

Any excuse to use bright colours.

So far today has been blueberry pancakes with the roomies and good friend Norann, kindersurprise (mine were bumper cars!) a walk to steal branches for my little easter tree (which I ended taking from my back yard...), and still to come is an easter egg hunt. weeeee! And maybe an evening of dancing to Velvet at Steamers. If only it were a little more sunny. But the air smells good, and there's no school tomorrow.

it's the easter bunny!!! 

ah egg decorating, it's not easter without dying something (like my fingers!) 

yes, i'm cheesy, and i'm okay with that... 

Essay done! Critiques done! Stomach growling like demented lion, one! Badly drawn picture by prof wearing increadibly tacky tie, one! Number of essays left to write, none!

Why, oh why, must i leave everything to the last minute?!? A two-page essay shouldn't feel this hard! damn my smug fourth-year self thinking a 200-level assignment would be a breeze. GA!

be prepared! (as sung in the Lion King)

So apparently Mercury is going to be in Retrograde for the next week or so. Be prepared for communication breakdown, screw-ups, all around verbal meyhem. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a little crazy this week. Now I realize that i'm speaking in astrological terms here (well, not really but let's pretend shall we?) but i recall a few times in the past when Mercury's been in this state of retrograde and I was definately having trouble communicating. (kind of like right now!) So, i'm just sending out a warning: may speak strangly, much messing up of words and sentences, much saying of wrong thing at wrong time. watch out. ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

here's one for the little green clover!

now all I need is a pot of gold, and a sexy irish man and I'll be set!

Gaaaa!

How the hell are you supposed to write a six-page "Review Essay" that is neither a personal essay or an academic paper based on your appreciation of a certain poet? It has been a very frustrating evening, that isn't over yet. grrrrr. I would have been much happier writing a 2-3 page review of one book of poetry (ours has to be at least two books). stupid stupid stupid! and to make it even worse, it's worth 20% of our grade! If this were an english class, or even a lecture class on writing, sure it's understandable. But this is a poetry workshop where we're also expected to write a poem a week! as I said, GAAAAAA!
ok. I am calm. I am centred in the me. This is me breathing.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!


ok, so maybe it's not that bad. But I'll be really happy when tuesday's over!

story #2 done!

well, that's one more down. now just one more story, two more poems, two essays, two portfolios (many revisions!), and one exam until I'm finished! wahoo!
The day started out all weird and chilly and me really tired and feeling foggy, had to put up banners at school, a little crabby, worried about my story and critiquing the other stories, but then I got home, and was slpwly pluggin away, but then I looked out the window and the sky was clear and the sun was shining. Then it felt like everything was moving a little easier. I got more cheerful, was bantering wittily with the roomate (well, maybe the witty part was my insert) and the story was feeling good. decided to go toss the frisbee around for a wee bit in the afternoon sun, enjoyed the fresh air and my inability to toss in a straight line (correction, to toss in actual direction I was aiming for), and antics of roomates. Came back inside refreshed and ready for another go at the story. Finished the draft and emailed it to the roomies for their editing skills (which are superb). then made yummy pizza, edited story, ate said yummy pizza, typed up critiques of other stories, and am now haphazardly typing this blog in a haze of tiredness and strange shoulder pain. here's hoping sleep fixes it!

My mom is flying to Egypt tomorrow! i'm going to work tomorrow...

today's ups and downs...

UP
-it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, I even wore capri pants!
DOWN
-had a substitute teacher for GRS, because our prof, Mr Roman, was in an accident and broke his collar bone (ouch! Poor guy!), and while what she lectured on was fairly interesting in itself, it didn't really have anything to do with what we have been discussing...
-then, when I was finishing and printing out my written critiques for Writing 304, I realized that I'd emailed one of the wrong ones, and so had to write it from scratch.
UP
-got to have lunch with my friend Julie, actually made a lunch, so got to eat a yummy sandwich and cookie that Crystal made.
DOWN
-had to read out one of my critiques in class, and for some stupid reason my voice was all shaky and (of course) I turned red... I don't know what my problem is lately!
UP
-finally got to see Tara for an extended period of time, we even went to "Body Sculpt" together tonight (with dear Oona), much laughter was involved.
DOWN
-none of my shows were on tonight. :( stupid repeats
UP
-watched an interesting show on crop circles, played frisbee in the street with Crystal, played Take-Two (a speedy version of Scrabble)

All in all, I think the ups outweighed the downs, so I had a pretty good day. Plus, I have no class tomorrow!!!!

before I forget...

Februween!
A halloween party in february. yup. good times were had (although I'll admit I left early as I had work the next day, I heard some crazy stories... Noah you dirty boy) enjoy the pics. ;)

does it get any hotter? 

The Hosts: two drunk California Raisins, what more can you ask for? 

two raisins and a dead rocker! 

two dead rockers and one hillbilly, yehaw! 

Dave, Super Pajama man!!! 

I think we just got hotter... 

now that's a costume! 

approx. four and a half hours...

just returned from a marathon of movie viewing at the Roxy. "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Closer". Having never seen the play/musical of the first film, I'm not sure how it stacks up. I enjoyed the singing (for the most part) and the Phantom was rather dashing (at least the undeformed half), but it was rather cheesy (although I'll admit to a teary eye when she has to choose the phantom or her lover's death (Ah, drama). I quite enjoyed "Closer" great acting and a quite intense, startling, humourous film. But my ass is still a sleep and my guts are unhappy with the combination of "food" half-consciously consumed throughout the two films. And I am very ready for sleep. I've got a short story due next thursday, and man do I need to get on it. My character's name is Mart(h)a - the h, is silent... we'll see how it goes. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention my incredible flop of a presentation this afternoon. About half way through I did a mental hiccup and lost myself. It was mortifying. utterly. I hope the prof takes pity on me. at least it's over... ugh.