So... sorry for no updates recently. I am in the middle of exam hell and essay writing hell. The only thing that has really happened to me this week that is remarkable is that I saw the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu at school this week when they were in Vancouver for a round table discussion on... stuff I can't even remember. I tried to get tickets a while back but they were sold out and I didn't win the contest where they were offering tickets. Its ok though because the Classical Studies reading room looks over the Chan Centre where all the action took place. Only in Vancouver would three policemen consist of the security between the 25 people waiting to see the Dalai Lama. Sometimes I love Canada.
Anyways I gotta go back to studying and writing an essay.... hopefully more soon.

~Denise~

Happy Easter to everyone out there!

I am working on a presentation on the settlement development of Syracuse for tomorrow. Oh happy day!

An interesting little hypothesis ...

Nickleback rips off their own music.

How could I forget this most important newsflash?!

I just learned last week that my next door neighbours, the Frasers have put their house up for sale right out of the blue shocking most of the neighbours on our street. The Frasers have lived on the west side of my house for almost 20 years if not that. It is shocking to think that they are leaving! I vaguely remember the day that they moved in next door because I was excited that there was a girl my age (well one year older) and a baby who was my sister's age. Over the years we never really hung out in the same circles but we were always around to know about each other's lives and I cannot imagine having new people next door. It's going to be rather awkward I think. Many 'originals' as I call them (i.e. people who lived on the street while I was growing up) have put their houses up for sale in the last few years and so technically I barely know anyone anymore except for the people who live nearest to me. It's sad to think that things change like this and people move on. I find it especially traumatic because I have moved across the country from my family and these changes seem to happen overnight. When I go home things have been re-arranged or redecorated within my own home and now the dynamic of the street is also changing almost right in my own backyard. I fear that with the Frasers leaving it's only a matter of time before other close neighbours will be the next to go or even more horrifying... my own family!
I don't know what I would do if our house went up for sale. I briefly remember our previous house in Sarnia, Ontario but I have pretty much grown up in the house that I currently live in. There are too many memories for me to be detached from it willingly. If my parents ever sold it and it was in my power to buy the house I think that I would. We are only the second family to ever live in it if you can believe it. It was built in the 1960's when lots of new development in North York was happening. My mother used to tell me when I was little that she could remember the area being built up because there wasn't much else in the area but farmland. She even once found a horseshoe in our garden while planting some flowers. It is now displayed next to our basement fireplace.
It would be pretty shocking to someone who left Toronto in the 60's to come back and see how much urban sprawl has taken place in only 40 years.
The high school that I attended (and which my mom briefly attended before switching to another school) used to be the end of the line on Bayview Avenue at Steeles in the 1960's and Mom claimed that then it was a dirt road! Today Bayview Avenue goes deep into Markham, Thornhill, and Richmond Hill. I doubt it really has much of that bay view of Lake Ontario anymore either. Thinking about changes always really gets to me. I guess I don't deal with it very well and having an interest in history can sometimes make it feel even more personal especially when my parents generation remember and can describe a different time and place for Toronto than what it is today. I know it has changed a lot since I was a child too. Sometimes I wish innocence could last forever or maybe it's just called naivete when you're an adult.
However, to get back to my original newsflash... my parents say the house has not been sold yet so there is hope that things won't be too far gone (i.e. they will have left already) before I come home for the summer. I couldn't bear to not see them in that house one last time.

So it has been a bit of an eventful week. Well mainly just one event that makes me very happy. Elaine informed me that she is also moving out of this place on May 1st because she doesn't have time to find a roommate right now. I secretly knew she hadn't put any effort into finding a roommate even though she has had almost 2 months to do it. I kept scanning the housing boards at school and never once saw an ad for this place and she had not come to me to ask to show the apartment/bedroom either.
She says she is hoping to get a summer sublet that is close to the school because in the summer we don't have a U-Pass for the bus system so she wants to buy a bike to go back and forth. I think this works perfectly because now I can negotiate with Mary to have this place for September. I suppose the issue right now is if Mary will insist that I pay summer rent or if she will at least try and find subletters for the summer. She told me before that she is usually able to find students from Ontario who come to BC to work with no place to stay beforehand. I hope she will decide to do that... or we can work out a deal where we both do some advertising for the sublet and I will pay for May and she can refund the money if she gets tenants or something. Either way I am sure it will work out in some way.

Potential roommates for next year: I guess I am hoping deep down that Dave can still come out but an alternate opportunity has also arisen in which Greg said his friend Jenny is moving to Vancouver after she is finished her MA (or is it an MSc?) in September and would need a place to live. I think that could be a manageable arrangement so its just a matter of waiting time right now to see how everything plays out. I am sure in the end that everything will be fine. But I am excited by the prospects of not having to live with Elaine next year. Suddenly everything is coming up roses... I suppose that is a bad pun because if you knew the way it was in Vancouver at the moment because it is SPRING and absolutely beautiful. All the trees are in blossom and so are many gardens. Most days are relatively warm and sunny so I am in a cheery mood although April is the worst time to try and do any studying. Ah the life of a student. At least winter is the right time to be trapped indoors and that is most of the school year.

Today I had a day of total slacking off. I meant to start work on a presentation that is coming up this Thursday but somehow that didn't happen and I ended up wasting away most of the day in my PJ's until it was time to go to the pub to see some friends. Afterwards we went out for dinner. I rented a few movies on the way home and just watched 'Something's Gotta Give' with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson and I have to say that it was an excellent movie! I really enjoyed it and though there are some heartbreaking moments in the film that probably shouldn't have elicited laughter, I have to admit that I had a few good laughs. Its a movie that I would totally recommend to anyone out there who needs to waste some time.
I also finished reading 'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown this week. He wrote the Da Vinci Code and so Angels and Demons is like his prequel to the DVC because it is the first book in which the character Robert Langdon is introduced. I found it to be a really cool book and the fact that it is set in Rome was fascinating to me. The main focus is a conspiracy against the Catholic Church and I know surprisingly little about Rome after the Empire. I think it would be something that I should start reading about especially since I am a Catholic myself and am rather curious to eventually see all the Vatican treasures of the Classical World (at least those that are on display -- but wouldn't it be lucky to snoop around their vaults for a day?).
It's a little bit conflicting to know that Christians and the Catholic Church are responsible for so much destruction of ancient culture but in a different light, it's not like these past actions were surprising. One culture's inferiority complex always seems to lead to the obliteration of the preceding culture.
It's all just a little bit of history repeating... so sang Shirley Bassey in that cool Propellorheads song.
Ah... two worlds colliding. I guess we can't hold grudges for the past but it is a mournful topic to dwell on.
Anyhow I just wanted to write an entry because I am getting very bad at not checking in lately. School is still a bit hectic but I will have a bit more time to myself after classes end this week. Well... perhaps that is optimistic because I will have work to do but I can do it all from home without a 5 hour chunk taken out of my day from travel to and from school and class.
I think I am going to try and start up an MSN groups website so I can post pictures that I have taken of Vancouver and stuff from this year. I would love to post them directly onto here but since they have to be hosted somewhere on the web I am going to have to start a page. I think then I will just provide the link onto the main side bar.
Feedback is good so if there is any... you know where to post. Thanks! Good night moon (and everyone).