Ah... another week passes and I have not kept my promise of writing more faithfully than I did in the past few months. I am very sorry. I hope to regain the mental faculties to perform this simple job at the end of the work day at some point. Needless to say I am still getting used to this job and I have to say that I like it very much despite having horribly sore feet at the end of last week. This week the feet were much better but I walked into a bent metal post from a fence that had barbed wire around it. I must have been walking at a fairly brisk pace because I managed to scrape and bruise my leg through my pants without actually tearing them. Let's just hope that my tetanus shot is up to date. I am pretty sure you have to get it every 10 years and the last time I had it was when I was 15 so I am not due for another two years.

I managed to see 'Troy' with Dave and Susan last weekend. Susan and I probably pissed off a lot of people around us by laughing and talking through the movie because we both found it awful. I guess there is a reason it is called 'Troy' and not 'The Iliad'. I knew I was walking into that movie with a classics education bias so there is not much I can do. At the other end of the spectrum, Dave really liked the film and he has never read 'The Iliad'. If anything, his response is probably what the majority of viewers will say about the film. At least it will promote the reading of Homer. Maybe at some point a TV mini-series of 'The Iliad' will be made and redeem the story.
There are quite a few problems throughout the movie such as at one point there was a scene where the sun was shown rising in the west... very interesting since Troy is in the eastern Aegean and its shore faces west. I guess the director wanted a nice sunrise shot over water which won't ever happen with Troy's actual situation. Another factor that I found irritating was the mix of styles in the art and architecture of the city. It was a mix of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern. I suppose no one really knows how the city was embellished so the set designers can get away with this but for some reason it just annoyed me. Anyways there are numerous inconsistencies with the true Iliad but I suppose it is artistic license and considering it is only a story (as far as scholars know) then I will try not to get too up in arms about it.

This weekend is the May 2-4 Holiday also known as the Victoria Day weekend and so I have a holiday Monday. I also happen to have today and Friday off as well. My crew leader Katie has her thesis defense today so we got the day off although we could have opted to work on another crew. I wasn't too interested in that and Katie also got Friday off which gave us (the rest of the crew -- Wes and Carolyn) that day off as well. I am pleased to have 5 days off because I have barely had time to think since I came home from school. In fact I have not had much more than a weekend to really relax since Reading Week in February. School and packing up in Vancouver, flying home and starting my job have all come up right after one another with no time for me to even sit down and think of all that is happening. I suppose it's nice to be kept busy since last summer at this time I was unemployed, broke and bored.
Anyways today I am going to check out some bookstores downtown and get my alcohol for the weekend and then I am going with Dave to his friend Andrew's cottage for the weekend. It should be a nice relaxing weekend... lots of reading, drinking and possibly board games because the forecast is calling for rain. Anyhow I hope everyone has a great weekend and a nice glass of cold beer. Cheers!

So... it's been a few weeks since I last wrote and the time went by very quickly. I was occupied until April 30th with some final essays and then the first week of May I was busy packing up my stuff in Vancouver and writing a presentation for the CNERS conference held by UBC. I did a brief presentation on the Reputations of Imperial Women (mainly Livia and Julia the Elder) in Public Gossip. I think it went over alright considering the theme was 'Fame, I'm Going to Live Forever'. Anyways, since I left Vancouver on May 7th I have been at home in Toronto and started a new job doing excavation work in the GTA. It's been great so far although the physicality of the work was a little shocking at first. I have dug before but frankly I am out of shape and have gained a little weight. Hopefully four months of heavy labour will straighten that situation out a bit. I am happy with the crew that I work on and the frequent change in sites. Right now we are working in Bowmanville on a plot of land that is right on Lake Ontario near the Darlington Nuclear Plant. A little scary but its a nice view and we have a nice breeze on these early muggy days of spring-summer.
Tomorrow I think that I will take the digi-cam and take some pics because this is the fourth site we have worked at this week but by far the most interesting. It was originally a Loyalist farm but god knows where the house and all that was situated. The historical archaeological zone has been identified and we are test-pitting the area. We frequently see people who walk along the cliffs coming to sunbathe nude. It's rather odd since it is the middle of the week and you would think that most people would be at work... but it is a nice spot to come to for lunch.
Anyways more later... I must rest the aching feet in water and epsom salts. It's brutal standing around all day with blisters forming on your feet as you are trying to break in new work boots. Ouch! Ok ... off for now.

Denise :)