Here's the thing about rehearsal being cancelled: I don't have anything better to do. I have specifically organized my life so that I don't really have anything better to do. Yes, I got a little homework done, but all in all... here I sit, pondering my belly-button lint, trying to con my responsible friends into slacking off tonight (to no avail thus far as they are clearly a lot less lazy than I am).

I'm not great at killing time on my own. I think this is a skill I need to develop. Perhaps tonight is the night. I know! I will figure out who I'm going to vote for! I will spend the night reading about the political candidates in my riding, visiting their websites to find out each party's platform...
(ok I seriously had to leave that thought process in there, just so that you can see why I suddenly realized what a stupid idea that was).

Hm-

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Psycho-analyze this!

I haven't blogged in a while and I can't think of anything to write, which is probably a good indication of just what's going on inside my head right now: A whole lot of nothing.


you look like a photograph of yourself
taken from far far away
i won't know what to do
i won't know what to say

Or maybe there's a lot going on in my head, and I'm keeping it all to myself for a change. You know, like I'm mysterious.


You do it to yourself, you do
And that's what really hurts
Is that you do it to yourself
Just you and no-one else

I think I remember once saying "I'm the least mysterious person I know!"

One delusion of grandeur meets another

I haven't really seen any of the movies that will (likely) be nominated, but there is no way I am missing the Oscars this year. My boyfriend Jon Stewart is hosting. I will have to make special mention of him in my acceptence speech.

Took me WAY too long to do this

Ani Difranco

Are you male or female?:

quick someone call the girl police
and file a report!

Describe yourself:

I am not a pretty girl,
that is not what I do.
I ain't no damsel in distress
and I don't need to be rescued

How do some people feel about you?:

i'm too easy to roll over
i'm too easy to wreck
i just write about
what i should have done
i just sing
what i wish i could say

How do you feel about yourself?:

It took me too long to realize
that I don't take good pictures 'cause I have
the kind of beauty that moves

Describe what you want:

so no matter what i think i need
you know i can't possibly
have a need in this world

Describe how you live:

i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know
i do it for the joy it brings
because i'm a joyful girl

Describe how you love:

it's rock paper scissors as to whether
i will get over you at all
it's hand against hand and both hands are mine

Share a few words of wisdom:

art may imitate life
but life imitates t.v.

A Surprisingly Not-Crappy Day

Feeling a little better about school all and all- Not quite as self-pitying/ self-absorbed as I was or usually am, which is always a good step.

I was really dreading acting class today. Truthfully I have been dreading this class since before Christmas holidays. Acting was stressing me out unbelievably and I really wasn't enjoying myself. Today, however, I felt good about something I did on stage for the first time in a little over a month. It was just a small thing, but it's a little boost of confidence that I needed. I wasn't feeling like I was actually capable of doing this realism scene, or quite frankly, that I was capable of doing any scene. I just really haven't been in the mood for acting for a while now, something that I hadn't really experienced before. I was glad that I was off book better than I thought for the scene and that I made some actual character progress. Sarah (the TA) is also really great for positive feedback and criticism, so that helped a lot.

I was also kind of dreading Shakespeare class today. 1) Because we were getting a bunch of assignments and crap back, 2) Because of the three vaccant desks surrounding my own, 3) Because I was quite worried we would be quizzed on Anthony and Clepatra, which I recently discovered can not be entirely read in one hour. But this also turned out to be a pretty great class. I got an A on my essay, which is pretty damn exciting. I've never actually gotten an A on "real" essay before, so that was kind of neat.

I rounded off my day by accompanying Steph to Human Evolution (a class that I took two years ago but for SOME reason :P really wanted to re-visit).

Now I am making up a costume plot and trying to figure out what to do for my autorama.
The autorama is supposed to be a one person play (performed by each student) about our own lives. Not that I've ever had a lot of trouble making my life the centre of everyone's attention, but to make my life actually worth watching for 6 minutes may prove more difficult than simply telling random stories everyone's heard five hundred times.

Speaking of going on at length about my life, I think shall finish off this post and go try to do something productive. The rest is silence.

(PS: I love using that to randomly end things that I otherwise have no ending for)

If I were a Bunny. And not the Playboy type.

hi. cram it.



Who's Your Happy Bunny?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nerdiness

As an official Stratford Festival "Play-on" member I got a copy of the visitor's guide in the mail. This season is kind of exciting. They will be doing Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night (which is quickly becoming a favourite) and Henry IV part 1 which I only just recently read (not quite in time for class, but just in time for the exam I might add). If I got really ambitious I could actually see all three plays in two days on Labour Day weekend. Although I suppose that might even be too much Shakespeare for me.




Nah.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuhkah, and a great New Year!

Spreading some holiday cheer

If you haven't had a chance to watch this yet, chech out Romance of the Jedi.

It's been a while since I did a Christmas memory, so I thought that in honour of Jenny and Andrew's journey home tomorrow morning I would tell my most recent of favourite Christmas memories.

Around this time last year I got an idea. I thought that since I had friends with a vehicle, surely one of them could give me a ride home (or the general area there-abouts) for Christmas. But as it turned out the only one leaving any time around the date that I wanted to go home was Andrew, who lives all the way in Peterborough. On his way, however, he was going to go through Orillia. Ontario Northland runs a bus out of Orillia, to get to Hamilton it costs about $20. But the last bus of the night leaves at 8pm. We were supposed to leave Sudbury at around 11am, but for SOME reason Andrew's 1972 Comet was having trouble starting when it was -50 or so without the windchill. So after a day of he and Steph trying to get this car running we got out of town at exactly 5pm, giving us JUST enough time to get to Orillia.
This year had also been the first year that I had ever been able to watch Christmas specials with friends (most of my friends in high school thought I was a little odd... more so) and we had been reciting a lot of lines from these specials such as "This is man's work" (clop clop) and of course "Careful of the icy patch!". Sure enough driving down highway 69 we were not careful of the icy patch. In the old Comet full of luggage and presents, Nora on my lap, we hit an icy patch and spun out across the highway into a snow bank. The snow bank of course had a rock in it which the Comet got stuck on.
Fortunatly, no one (including Nora) was hurt but we were a little alarmed that we were stranded on the side of the highway about 45min north of Parry Sound (AKA the middle of nowhere). We quipped several times that if we were in a Christmas special surely Santa would have come by now to pull us to safety. We did however have a lot of help including several people that turned around to see if we were OK, and a tow-truck driver that got us out of there in less than 3 hours (as had been previously predicted). When we were retrieved from the snow and got to Parry Sound we read the McDonald's menus that had lists of "What to bring on a Winter roadtrip" including such useful items as "a first aid kit", "cell phone", "extra food", "warm clothes" and other useful things that we of course did not have.
A lot of things could have gone wrong on our adventure, and all and all we were pretty lucky. I managed to stay calm and collected in the car (miraculously) and Andrew brought me home with him to Peterborough, where I met the Root clan. (I believe the first thing his brother said to me was "so you actually choose to be friends with Andrew?").

Have a safe trip guys! And have a Merry Christmas!

Happy Winter Solstice

For those of you that haven't been following the war on Christmas check out the "Secular Central" video from the Daily Show last week.

It's kind of exhausting actually...

Sir are you wearing a paper bag?

Homer: I have misplaced my pants


The belt buckle on my last pair of functional pants broke off. While it's very nice to have lost some weight and have the rest of my pants falling off of me, it has created a small wardrobe dilema. I went shopping today (something which I hate to do for myself before Christmas), and I managed to get two pairs of decent pants and a dress shirt for $50. And so thankfully I will not be pantless next semester- though I had been seriously considering just wearing my short skirt to school everyday...

A Tribute to Lakewood

(Yes, I'm sorry. This is a series of in-jokes that are funny to only me and two-ish people reading this. My apologies.)

The grassy knoll
High and Dry
I was saying Boo-urns
Snort!

Immediate dismissal, and
Starting something compotently (both things you can do on a beach)

Swea-ea-eat shirt. Redhooded Swea-ea-eat Shirt.
Hour-long search and rescue
I spy with my little eye... a tractor!
The one that wants to be with you
Ending Futures, Destroying Lives: Bakewood

Yes my old camp is going to be no more, because... well that's another rant for another day. I'm sure some chump in the Niagara region will make great use of the beach front property with fully accessible cabins and paved pathways. Such is life.

I suppose MY Lakewood era ended sometime ago, but it's kind of hard to wrap my head around it really being gone. I guess it's strangely appropriate right now...
Pre-emptive apologies to my friends at school who will now have to endure all of my old camp stories as part of my sulking.

I have been really touched by all of the amazing staff and campers I worked with in my four years at Lakewood. I miss so many of them and I often think about everyone and how they are doing. I guess all there is to say is...
Thanks for the day campers!

Blogging politics...

And so in a single day the election was lost once again by the conservatives:

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/leadersparties/harper_speech.html

This might explain it best

I've spent the last few weeks blogging random holiday memories. Each of them sort of a tribute to why this holiday means a great deal to me. I think though, that this particular holiday memory is the most significant.

It will be sixteen years ago today that my Grandfather passed away. It was an unexpected loss in my family and was very difficult for everyone. It was especially tough that it happened so close to Christmas. My Grandfather was a deacon in the Anglican Church, and Christmas was his favourite time of year. My mother often tells me stories about how much he loved the holidays, and there is now a Christmas stained glass window at the church in his memory. My last memory of him is having him come to see me in a Christmas pagent playing Santa Clause.

I was only six years old at the time, with no real concept of death or loss. I can't even imagine how difficult it was for my family. I say that because I had no idea how difficult it was for my family. They worked so hard at being strong through out the holiday for me that I have no bad memories of that Christmas whatsoever. My parents and Grandma and Aunts worked so hard at still making Christmas a happy time of year for me then, that I don't associate the holiday with sadness or pain. I do have some sad memories about the funeral and visitation and other stuff, but I mostly remember that Christmas still came.

Some how or other it came just the same.

I'll take S-words for $500

Confession of a bad femenist: Sometimes I wish I was a boy.
Today as I sat (wearing my Grandfather's old clothes) in the theatre wanting to swing swords around with the guys- and turning to Ian and saying "Oh we learned that in grade 11 PhysEd"- I was once again struck by this thought. This tomboy-thing has lessened considerably in the last few years. My Saturday nights are no longer dictated by Hockey Night in Canada, I no longer feel the need to CHUG beer, and I've even worn a skirt to school... once I think... Ah but today. I wanted to learn to sword fight!
I'm not an overly violent person, I just LOVE swords. And I was absolutely on cloud nine when Paul, the fencing instructor let me join in.

en garde...

THRUST!

SWING!

PARRY!

STAB! STAB! STAB!

Although I have no practical use for it, I now know the BASICS of stage combat with foils. I am certain that at some point I can learn to extend this to broadswords and lightsabers when necissary. Maybe I can play Viola someday and actually do the fight scene...

I guess I don't have to be a boy to have fun with swords :)

Six Geese A-Laying

Rather than finish my production journals...


When I was in grade 6 I was in our classes's Christmas Assempbly play "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I got selected to play Six Geese a-Laying, which meant that for six verses I pretended (dressed as a goose) to go into labour on stage and drop a small plastic egg (one of those ones that they used to put nylons in) out from between my legs. While some twelve year olds may have been embaressed to do such a thing, I just enjoyed being the centre of attention on stage :) Thankfully that need has since left me.

Very Fortunate

I have tried to write this like six times. I don't think I have words for what I want to say right now.

Here are some pictures instead:



I have a new great card on my dresser.



I can see why my friend likes this show so much.



She's a pretty extraordinary girl.



I actually know a few extraordinary girls.



I wish you had been in the empty seat at the concert...



So damn lucky...



We're gonna be friends...



The lovers, the dreamers and me.

The most fun I've ever had at the JN Desmaris Library

I probably only think that this is funny because of my most recent post, and possibly sleep deprivation... but do you know the letters for the call number in the Library of Congress classification system for the Bible?

BS.

Yes every library using the Library of Congress classification system (like every major library in North America) has the bible classified as BS!
I went to look it up on the electronic catalogue and snickered the entire way to the second floor.

I wonder if the Dewey Decimal system has it as 666? Probably not.


For my Christmas story today, I just have a message to my father...

You've ruined the winter solstice!


(my brother and I like to tell my father that he's ruined various holidays for no apparent reason... it started with the ruining of Christmas, but he's already done that this year)

Good grief

A story that requires some background to make up for overdue entries:

(by the by, I will make sure that the next story is funny, promise)

In "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" Linus recites from the King James bible Luke 2:8-15 "And there were in the same country sheppherds..." etc. It's one of the most beautiful moments in any Christmas special. It ends with that lovely line "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards man". While I know not everyone who shares the Christmas spirit shares the religious aspects of it, I think the idea of peace on earth and goodwill towards mankind is pretty universal. It's the real essence of the Christmas spirit, and the social consciousness that makes the holiday worth all the price wars and commercialization.
If you read the New Revised standard version, however, you get a different story. At the end of the New Revised Standard passage it reads "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he favours". The first time I read this it totally blew my mind. Holy crap. The New International Version doesn't do a whole lot better: "Peace to men on whom his favour rests". It just about floored me.
Here is the Christmas story. This beautiful passage in the bible that once again "the church" has taken and turned into a judgemental, hypocritical, "God's love is only for us" bunch of junk.
Seriously can you imagine if they changed Tiny Tim's "God bless us everyone" to "God bless us... those of us he likes"?
When it came time for this passage to be read in church, one year, I specifically asked if I could read it for the service. I knew how upset my Mom was that this wording had been changed. I can rant and rave about how offended I am by the change in the ending, but she loves the Christmas story so much. It was more important for her that it be read right.
Our church didn't have a copy of the King James bible so rather than read the new edited text I recited the passage just like Linus. Though I was tempted to say "And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown" in place of "The word of the Lord", I managed to behave myself.
My Mom tells me that it doesn't even bother her to hear the new version read in church again, she just thinks of me doing it for the congregation.

Merry Christmas, and god bless us EVERYONE

There's a 6:30 in the morning now?

Old Christmas memories later, new ones now.

I couldn't log in last night to post, and thus, despite my best efforts, Andrew beat me to posting about the concert. Since most people that read mine will have already read his, I'll be brief.

Here's my two cents. Since this was only the second time I'd seen DMB I was a little bit more enthusiastic. I was also desperate to hear #41 live, but my highlights also included Crash (which I'd never heard in concert) and Ants Marching (which I can never get sick of live). I suspect my enthusiasm for the band will decrease as well, but for now I'm just thrilled to have finally seen them since I became a real fan and to see them with someone who can turn "Satallite" and "Proudest Monkey" into restaurant related puns. Like the Rootman my highlights tended not to come from the set list.
The fact that they played everything we wanted along with everything we didn't want kind of added to the experience. We could totally dig the amazing stuff and then simultaniously bitch about the new crap ("I liked this song a lot better when it was called Halloween"). Bitterness is fun... but so is Crash.

PS: Special Award of the Weekend goes to Jenny for casting The Rock as an entrepeneur in the next Blockbuster smash hit of the Parry Sound area.