gargoyles at Yorkminster 

Selected Memories

I've finally loaded my pics onto my computer although my camera went a bit berserk at times.. I think because the batteries were close to dying. Anyways, here are some of the ones that I figured I would put up on the site. I don't have too many on my camera with photos of me in the scenery; I will have to wait for Susan, Erin, Kelly, and Greg to send along their photos. Anyways, here is the extent of my efforts for today.



stonehenge


ta-da


buckingham


Abbey Road


Abbey Road2


Platform 9 & 3/4


The Shambles in York


Where's Mr. Darcy?


largest naan ever (for 3 people)


Lyme Park

Reality Bites

I am back on Terra Firma after more than 12 hours of travel. The plane was more than an hour late in departure but still managed to get into Vancouver 25 minutes early. That I find impressive, but I suppose a good tail wind always helps too.
The plane followed the same route that we took on the way out except this time there was much more of a view since it wasn't dark outside. The views of Iceland and Greenland were absolutely amazing and we saw lots of broken ice on the water as well as some massive icebergs. It was definitely a treat. If I had been smarter I would have packed my camera near the top of my backpack, but it was firmly wedged in the middle and the batteries had been taken out. It was also quite heavy and stowed overhead and I didn't feel like disturbing my neighbour, again. So alas, no pictures.*
The flight was not as uneventful as most. Some woman who was participating in a contest from a radio station called the Mercury in London was dressed up as a bride and competing against another woman (not on our plane) for an all expenses paid wedding. As such, she was dressed up in the most hideous bridal gown ever, but I have no idea why she had to fly to Vancouver. It must be part of the contest because she was accompanied by one of the radio station dj's. Anyways, it was amusing to watch her parade around the airport in this gown and some pink devil's horns.
In keeping with the wedding theme, another man managed to scam the pilot into playing on the television system a taped proposal to his girlfriend. They were sitting up in first class so I couldn't see him in action but I gather from the applause that she accepted. I hope he gave her a big fat diamond but since we were flying a discount airline, that may not necessarily be the case.

I am now pleased to inform everyone that I have finally blown the rest of the black stuff out of my nose. And no I was not ill, it's just a result of the super clean air I was breathing in for the past two weeks. It makes me very glad that Canada has yet to degenerate to that level of pollution. It was very alarming the first time I saw it though, it made me feel as though I had been digging in the fields again. Not very cool at all.

Well I suppose the big news yesterday is that Canada has opted out of the US Missile Defense program. I am kind of relieved but at the same time I am very disturbed by American reaction, as well as the future consequences in regards to government spending. As everyone knows, Canada is not by and large a nation that has a super military or even a good national defense program. We kind of sail by on the protection of the U.S. or NORAD and in general the good will of other nations towards our kind-hearted selves. However, it looks as though the government is now going to have to begin investing much more heavily in national protection. And judging by the American reaction that we have 'relinquished our sovereignty' it looks as though they are a mite pissed off and now want to teach us a lesson the first chance they get. Honestly, if any nation decides not to follow US protocol they get their knickers in a tight twist. Why must others always be giving up their 'sovereignty'? Personally, it's bullshit and I am sick of American pressure on Canada. It's really too bad we share a continent, but maybe this is why we are the nation situated here and not say, China? At least our gut reaction isn't to nuke anybody. Anyways, read yesterday's bit and today's reactions to yesterday's verbal diarrhea.
I am checking outta here for a while. I have some errands to run: student loans to pick up, birthday gifts to send out, bills to pay, all that mundane stuff I abandoned 2 weeks ago. On the bright side, I was pretty happy this morning when I found out that all my Interlibrary Loans hadn't been sent back yet... that's sort of a plus.



*NOTE TO JEN: keep your camera ready on the way home and if your camera sucks than buy a disposable... I want some pictures of Greenland!

Take Me Home

I mean it.

I wonder as I wander

I'm back in London wandering the streets as only a foreigner does, except that I seem to do this in every city I go to, especially the ones I live in, so I guess that I just wander like me instead of a tourist.
Random thoughts aside, today I finished off my tour of duty at the British Museum and I never made it to the Victoria and Albert. I think that is what I will do tomorrow and I will try and make it to the Temple Church (made famous in The Da Vinci Code) and a play. I am thinking that I really want to see 'The Woman in White' which is Andrew Lloyd Webber's newest play and based on the Wilkie Collins novel which is excellent. I believe that the novel 'The Woman in White' was the first mystery novel written in English literature and Wilkie Collins was also friends with Charles Dickens, so sometimes they have similar elements in their work. Michael Crawford who played the original Phantom is part of the cast so it could be quite good; if it is then I will buy the soundtrack. (I think that was an improper use of a semi-colon but who cares?)

Last night, a few hours after I arrived back here from Manchester I went on a Jack the Ripper walk of London with the author Donald Rumbelow who is one of the leading experts on the subject. It was a great tour although the weather was quite cold and at one point it was snowing. In the past week there have been some very cold days and over the weekend, Greg, Jen, and I noticed that it was trying hard to snow in Yorkshire and in Chestershire. Finally, as I was on the bus into London yesterday afternoon, the sky managed to produce a flurry of snow and it seems to have kept on doing so sporadically ever since. It does look quite nice against the skyline but it's just wet and doesn't stick on the ground. So basically I am annoyed that it is cold and snowing here, but it is still winter so I guess I cannot be too pissed off.

My time here is quickly coming to an end and I think that I am alright with that. There is a lot of stuff that I would still love to see and do but I can do it another time. I feel quite settled and comfortable in this country, although it sucks not to have a place that is just mine to live in. I think this is a sign that I am ready to go home since I am certainly not in the (financial) position to move here just yet. Besides, even if I do end up in a British school next year I certainly won't be in London, but I am tempted to rethink putting my application in at UCL or KCL.

Anyways, I am ready to go and sit on Susan's couch and watch pointless British soap operas. Susan is addicted to Hollyoaks so I think we may just be watching that. It's bad I know... at least I can quit it when I go home.

Wuthering Heights

Yesterday we took a day trip to the lovely city of York which was absolutely awesome, although I think Greg, Jen, and I could have done without the biting windchill. It was hard to navigate the streets when all we wanted to do was sit inside the entire day. We tried to get to the Viking exhibition but the line up was massive. Instead we wandered around looking at various outdoor sites -- the Cathedral, a Roman column, the Roman wall, Clifford's Tower, etc. and had lunch in a pub called the Golden Fleece, which is supposedly a very haunted building and will be featured on the British show Most Haunted next month. I have seen this show in Canada but cannot recall what channel airs it. Jen thinks that it must be one of the Lifetime networks.
On the way home last night we stopped in Bradford where we had the largest naan bread ever -- well it was pretty big until we looked over at the group of 8 people behind us and their naan was even larger! I have photos and will post them next week.
Consequently, as we drove home through Bradford I noticed highway signs that stated that we were in Bronte country and I checked the map and saw that sure enough, Haworth, where the Bronte parsonage is, was nearby. Today I shall try and persuade Jen to drive back to Haworth although I have also been informed that we could try instead to go to Lyme Park which is also known as Pemberley in the 1995 BBC version of Pride & Prejudice. Lyme Park is much closer to Manchester and even though we won't be able to go into the house, we will be able to wander the park and see the infamous pond where Darcy swims.
If this were an ideal day, we could do all of these things but I don't think it will happen. We shall see, we shall see...

One last note: I am trying to figure out who has been reading my blog. I have known that Greg, and I think occasionally Sarah, surf past the blog but there is someone else from Ashburne who also reads it. I was wondering who you are and why you read my blog...? I assume you must know Jenny and occasionally since she refers to me on her blog that you check mine then too. Anyways, I was just wondering...

Aquae Sulis, Platform 9 & 3/4, and A Life in the Theatre

Since Tuesday the time has flown by as have the number of sites that I have seen. Tea at the Ritz was fantastic as we were catered to with special attention by the servers. I like to think that this was because we were the only table of young women whereas every other table consisted of families or grandparents. The sandwiches and tea were also ceaseless, until we stuffed our starving selves silly.
After tea I went on a Big Bus tour of London.
Wednesday, I went to Bath and saw the Roman ruins of the Temple of Sulis Minerva as well as other sites from the 18th and 19th century bathing resort.
Thursday, I went around London with Erin to random sites such as the Globe Theatre, Abbey Road and Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross train station. Great fun was had. Last night we attended the West End production of 'A Life in the Theatre' starring Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean Luc Picard) and Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson's Creek). It was an excellent two man play and lots of views of the pair in their skivvies took place.
Today I have met up with Jenny in Oxford and we are now in Manchester visiting Greg and I will be here until Monday. Hopefully sporadic updates will occur... Talk to you soon!!!

Valentine's Day at Stonehenge

Yesterday we took a fabulous trip out to Salisbury for the day and we managed to get up to Stonehenge, although Avebury was out of the question (too far to get to with the amount of time we had). My first impression was that it was smaller than I thought it would be, but up close it is quite fascinating. I never thought I could take so many pictures of the same circle of rocks but I have quite a few. None shall be deleted until I return home and assess which ones are unworthy. The guided tour, on a weird listening device that you hold to your ear, was also pretty cool. The site is also surrounded by burial mounds called barrows, which you can see on the surrounding hills. There is definitely some sort of vibe happening with the place but I don't know what it is. It's just a really cool place and I loved it. However, the down side was that it was the COLDEST day since I have been here. I am so glad that I had the foresight to pack a hat, gloves, and neck warmer. I wore every single item as well as my rain jacket which can sometimes act as a windbreaker, but didn't at the time. Therefore many of the photos that I will return with show Kelly, Susan, Erin and I dressed up like it's about -40 although there is no snow or any other evidence of coldness. It will look absolutely ridiculous I am sure.
After Stonehenge, we took the bus back into Salisbury and walked around the town eventually making our way to the cathedral which has the tallest spire in England and houses one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta left in existence. It was a beautiful church and I wish we had more time to hang out but we got pretty sick of the chill in the air and headed back to the train for our ride into London.

Today is the day where I am going to CRINGE at the amount of money that will be spent. We are all heading to The Ritz to have High Tea which is going to cost an obscene amount of money as well as require us to dress up like the posh people we all are deep down inside. I don't know why I am doing this all I know is taht I am intrigued and I shouldn't be because it's going to be utterly painful. Must not think about this...

Afterwards, I may catch one of those crazy bus tours that go around town on the double decker buses. Susan and Kelly have recommended a good one to me and I feel the need to at least see most of the major sites even if I don't get a chance to fully explore them. I am not sure if Erin will join me but I think that Susan probably needs some time to herself to have a nap and enjoy the space of her apartment without guests lolling about. Well, we don't loll per se but it's not a large place and there is only so much space for everyone to be in without tripping all over each other.

I have just read Jen's blog and see that she has indeed gone through with her haircut and it sounds like it's much shorter than expected. It probably looks really cool and stylish. However, do you ever notice that the hair always looks awesome the day of the haircut and after you wash it for the first time since the salon, that it gets increasingly harder to imitate that original arrangement? I always find that but then again it could just be due to laziness on my part.
In other good news, Jen has successfully bought us tickets to see the Killers in late April! I am so excited... I have been trying to see this band since last summer and somehow or other I was always in the wrong city at the wrong time to catch the tour. It's definitely something to look forward to after the horror of Comps.

Mind the Gap

So I have been here a few days now and kind of feel a bit more settled. That first day on Friday was quite possibly the most screwed up day I have ever had in terms of tiredness. I can't believe I was able to wander towards locations I had no idea how to get to, and arrive alive and with all luggage still in tow.

Here are some observations so far:

There is a SERIOUS lack of recycling in this city and this may extend into the rest of the country as well (I think it does). I wouldn't say that I am an extremely environmentally cautious person, but it's pretty awful to see trash cans filled with so much recyclable material -- especially when in Canada I feel guilty if I don't make efforts to recycle because there is no excuse not to.
Secondly, guys pee on the street whenever they want and without trying to conceal anything. I saw this occur the other day on a sidewalk and I didn't realize what was happening until I was right in front of the guy. Mind you he looked like a street bum or he could have been drunk. But I am still not sure that that justifies the action.
I am still having trouble getting used to looking the opposite ways for traffic so my solution is to just look both ways as much as possible and try to be aware of traffic light patterns. Let's hope I don't get flattened by a double decker bus.
The Old Vic Theater is situated in Susan's neighbourhood so everyday I sleep within a half mile of Mr. Kevin Spacey himself. I know he doesn't live there, but he works there and I am sure some of our hours overlap. It's a cool thought... *sigh*

Yesterday, Susan, Erin, and I went down to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Here's a nerdy archaeological fact: Oxford Street is actually on top of the ancient Roman road which led to Oxford. Anyways, lots of good shopping but I held back because I have a whole week and a half to start blowing cash left right and centre. I can tell you that it won't be hard either... the city is extremely expensive, especially for poor Canadians who have a currency that trades for pennies (almost). Last night we also went out for dinner to a cool pub in Susan's neighbourhood that was housed in a converted Firehouse Station. We all had a steak dinner and that was pretty well the first and last time that I will be eating such a meal in this fine country. We have done some grocery shopping so most meals can be eaten at home or made to take with us. It's really necessary to save as much $ as possible. For now I am trying not to think about conversion rates -- it's just too depressing.
We went to the British Museum today and I was in total HEAVEN. I must have taken over 200 photographs so far and I am still not through the Greek and Roman galleries. I think that I will have to go back again next week to finish up my documentation of artifacts. I saw a few works by Euphronios (my favourite Athenian Red Figure painter/potter) and got to see the Parthenon/Elgin Marbles which was FANTASTIC. However, it has been almost four years since I was in Athens so it's a little foggy in my mind to picture the arrangement. Some day I do have hopes that they will return but I can tell you that they are pretty comfortably ensconced at the BM so I cannot see them moving any time soon.
A lot of the Near Eastern and Egyptian artifacts are awesome. They literally have full statues from Tombs and other monuments. They also have the Rosetta Stone which people flocked to, pressing their faces to the glass like they cannot see it from a few feet away. I keep forgetting how much stuff they have here, which is why I was dismayed that time flew by so quickly and I didn't get through all the stuff I wanted to see. We were only there for 2 hours and a bit because the sleeping patterns are still a bit messed up. Basically, I went to bed around 12:30am and woke up at 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep until about 9:30am after Susan had given me gravol and we had eaten breakfast. I tried so hard to sleep but it just wasn't coming to me. I even got up at one point and read in the living room for a few hours but still no dice. As a result, our day didn't really begin until 2pm when we ventured out of the house towards the museum. When we start actually getting up early in the morning and having full days of site seeing, I think we will be more productive.

Tomorrow will definitely be an early day as we are heading out to Salisbury (by bus) to see Stonehenge and Avebury. I am not sure what to expect... It will be cool for sure but I wonder if I will be bored. It's an awful thought but even archaeologists get bored of looking at rocks sometimes.

London Calling: Arrived Alive

It's been almost 24 hours since I last slept. I watched all three movies on the eight hour flight. They were alright... Friday Night Lights, Wimbledon, and A Cinderella Story starring none other than the ubiquitous Hilary Duff. It was just as cheesy as it looked in tv ads and I was oddly drawn to it because I could not sleep and didn't want to read, play the Nintendo DS that I carried on for Jen's friend, or even listen to music. My head is pounding as I have somehow navigated my way through the airport onto a train into the city and through the tube to somewhere in the neighbourhood of Waterloo Stn. Did I mention that I am about 3 hours early to meet Susan? I don't know how this happened but I don't want to pay for two hours of time on the internet even if it is dirt cheap. What I really want right now is to lie in a comfortable horizontal position for at least 9 hours.
The flight was pretty good for being so seemingly endless. We got into Glasgow fairly early and had to sit on the plane for an hour and a half even though we picked up no new flyers who were going to London. Once we hit London, we flew into the most dense fog I have ever seen, the famous pea soup. It seriously rivals anything I have seen out at UBC when the fog very suddenly and rapidly rolls in off the ocean. It's impressive.
While it's not the greatest day weather wise (Drizzly and foggy) today, it is what I expected and the temperature is about the same as Vancouver. I may just have packed appropriately for once in my life. I was glad to learn that I had even packed 4kg less than the weight allowance. I should win the Oscar of Packing or some sort of equivalent award.

I hope Susan gets off work early today since she did mention there is a week long holiday coming up and most people will be eager to run out of school ASAP. She said something about grocery shopping and tonight we are heading to Heathrow to greet her friend Erin who is also going to be with us this week. At least I can say that on my first day I will have toured both airports, if that is anything to brag about (which I doubt it is).
Anyhow, I feel it is time to write to my parents to let them know I arrived alive and Dave may want to hear from me too. I'll be checking in again in a few days. Possibly with photos, but that may just have to wait until after I get back since I don't think I can upload them to a computer without having loaded the program onto it first. And of course I didn't drag those bloody cd's around the world with me.
See you in a few days.

~D.~

Out of City, Country, Continent

Woo-hoo, getting the hell outta here for a few weeks. I am very happy to be leaving stress hell for a bit. On my way to ole Blighty (as I hear it is called). Consequently, if Canada ever happened to be called Blighty I would not be impressed. I'll be checking in soon after my arrival in London, since Susan cannot meet me right away. She has directed me to her local internet cafe where I can happily entertain myself until she collects me. I hope they won't mind that I'll be dragging some baggage in with me... I promise to sit in the corner.

Jen and I went to the Olive Garden in Langley tonight for her birthday. The drive was pretty long and the lesson I learned was don't use MapQuest for directions if you want to get somewhere in good time. However, we did drive quickly through Cloverdale a.k.a. 'the Home of Smallville'; they even have the billboard to prove it. Maybe another day I will take a drive down and do some exploring to see what I can and cannot recognize from tv.
Jen is now on the sadder side of 25, inching her way on up to 30. She will probably kill me for advertising such a fact on my blog but I think she is secure with it, or she at least gives that impression. I suppose it helps when you have loads of friends who are even closer to 30 than you are. Ha ha.
Anyways, must pack... but who are we kidding? It so isn't happening until tomorrow morning.

Mardi Gras, Pancake Tuesday

Today is the REAL Pancake Tuesday and as has been my habit in the last few weeks, I woke up around 10am. It's getting to be ridiculous since I am trying to go to bed earlier so that I won't sleep as late, but my body must think it's like a few extra bonus hours or something. I'm sure flying to a different time zone 8 hours ahead of this one will help sort things out in a fucked up kind of way.
Anyways, I woke up to pancakes that Jen had started making so the day started out kind of well. Now that I have had a good serving of fat for breakfast what will I be giving up for Lent? Probably as much junk food as possible, not that I eat a lot to begin with but students can always cut down on crappy food, so I think it is an honourable goal.

There isn't much else to say right now. My thoughts are still kind of jumbled from sleep and I have to get to class in a while. Oh right, I remembered that I want to officially declare that some day I will make it to the real Mardi Gras in New Orleans, just like I will make it to the real Oktoberfest in Munich. I have a little list of worldwide festivals that I want to attend at some point and those are just two. To be honest I really can't remember any others but as I recall them I will let you know. I am sure running with the bulls in Spain must be on it, however, I don't want to participate, just observe, because getting gored in the gut would be a bit of a bummer on holiday.

Oh and I randomly found this blog today I Hate My Flatmate and I cannot help but sympathize with this girl. I kind of feel that last year I probably should have dedicated my blog to Lucy*, the WORST housemate I have ever had. I wonder if this girl has had her flatmate 'cook' chicken feet yet. That is truly one of the greatest moments of absolute horror that I had last year, among many others.

*Lucy was a name that Dave and I assigned to her so that I could safely bitch about her on the phone, just in case she ever came out of her room and could hear me talking or in the off chance she had developed some weird eavesdropping system in her room. I admit it was a paranoid action but she absolutely drove me insane. I am sure she is now engaged in driving someone else fucking bonkers. I did have to laugh when she told me that she was subletting a room in an apartment with a woman who had a 4 year old daughter. There is no way that her standards of cleanliness were even remotely alright for a child to be exposed to. Not to mention she liked to leave the apartment door unlocked and the oven and/or stovetop on all night. MMM... Memories.

Manic Monday

There is a strange man outside my window standing on a ladder and trimming the hedges that line the fence. I am so glad I wasn't naked in front of my window as I often am (j/k, but seriously...). Mel was supposed to pick me up from school today but that just didn't happen. I wasn't that happy since I missed class on Friday also, but what can I do? I just feel kind of silly because I was ready to leave at my regular time and I should have just called her earlier to make sure she was on her way. So I could have gone to school in reasonably good time but I just didn't call her. Stupid me.

The weekend wasn't very fascinating. I spent most of it holed up in my room and filling out online grad school applications. I loathe the application process. All I kept doing was regurgitating the same information on different forms. It doesn't change that much from one school to the next and I certainly am not giving each school a different thesis proposal, so why can't they have some sort of centralized system where I fill out one massive application with all the information they could ever want and then distribute it to the schools I specify? I know they are able to do it for undergraduate applications, but I think they must feel that if you can get through the graduate application process in a sane manner, then you must be sort of qualified to get into the programs. Let's just hope this theory is correct. My other big problem now is funding... where will it come from and how can I guarantee that I will get it? I will have to do some massive praying that the Government of Canada grants me SSHERC funding. At the same time I already have a nice bank loan that will probably be exhausted by the end of this year. Maybe I should just work and pay it off but I kind of feel like I have the momentum to keep going with school. Might as well get it all done before I burn out and still don't have any career prospects.

Besides the Superbowl, I also watched 'The Village' and 'Maria Full of Grace' which were two very different movies but still very interesting. Both, I found, had themes about escaping one world for another. I have to say that I generally like movies made by M. Night Shyamalan. I like that he explores basic human issues and while the basic plots don't have to be too intricate, there is a depth to them that all people can relate too. It is definitely minimalistic storytelling at its best. My favourite so far has been 'Signs', and since I know that you have not seen it Dave, I will not discuss it at length.

In music news, Cassie passed me a copy of the Scissor Sisters album and I LOVE it! It definitely reminds me of Elton John music from the 70s which reminds me of my childhood and listening to songs on the radio with my mom. I'm going to listen to it a little more and probably listen to the words a bit more carefully this time, rather than revelling only in the sounds of the music. I have a tendency to only focus in on one aspect of an album in the first listen so I usually have to go back and absorb it over and over again before I understand it fully.
However, that does not stop me from loving an album from first listen. A lot of the music I own, I have bought on a whim and I would say that 90% of the time my instincts are right. I guess in the last year the only truly awful thing that I have heard is that album by The Streets that Dave bought in the summer. That was so shitty, I wish we had sampled it a bit before buying it. It just goes to show you that not all buzz is worthy. We should have chucked it out the window on the highway, but it also has beer coaster potential.
Anyways, I better get back to work... there is a lecture later today on Scythian Archaeology given by Nancy de Grummond of FSU, so that is my afternoon accounted for. I may just go back to bed now seeing as I am nowhere near campus and I could use a few extra minutes of sleep. I'll see y'all on the flip side. Take it easy.

~D.~

The Little Mermaid

I think most young girls are totally enchanted by the story of the Little Mermaid, at least the Disney-fied version of the story. However, this poor young girl may always hate mermaids, and I would say she would be justified in that. She may have a very odd life (who doesn't really?), but perhaps she will turn out alright in the end.


mermaid syndrome 

To read more on mermaid syndrome, click here.

Last night I saw The Aviator... I thought it was a good movie but I wouldn't say that I came out with any deep thoughts except for the fact that Leonardo Di Caprio plays mentally ill very well. I think the most horrifying thing about the movie is watching the character of Howard Hughes sink into his OCD and be completely aware that it is happening, but having no bodily control over it. I think it would be truly horrifying to have a disorder/disease which you are aware of but cannot fight because it is degenerative in nature. It brings to mind the recent news of the Pope's illness and even if you are not a follower of the Catholic faith, you have to at least admit that as a man, he has been struck down by a lot of adversity in his time. A neighbour of mine at home has Parkinson's disease and I guess it's going to start causing a lot of problems very soon because my dad who is friends with him has noticed decreased mobility, and other symptoms are beginning to become evident. One of his daughter's and I grew up as good friends and I can only imagine that it must bother her a lot although she has never mentioned it to me. Heather and I only seem to meet up when we are home for holidays, especially since we are in school at opposite ends of the country. It's funny that I went west of Toronto for school and then to the western edge of the country and she went east to McGill and is now in Halifax, so we are literally both on an ocean framing the country. I don't know why that is striking to me but I guess we both took baby steps in one direction and then a giant leap even further. So, yeah, deep thoughts shaking around my brain today.

Yesterday I was randomly inputing book titles at chapters online and I remembered all these crazy awesome books I read when I was a kid. It would almost be fun to have a kid just to get to re-read all those stories again. Some of my old favourites that I found again were the following:

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Wait Till Helen Comes
The Bridge to Terabithia
The House on Hackman's Hill*

There are many more but maybe another day I will seek them out. I was seriously tempted to buy all of these because they were all like $5 each. I know it would seem weird to read them all again as an adult, but I wonder what drew me to them in the first place and if they are as I remember. Maybe it will be a summer project.

Anyways, I'm heading out to the Frog & Firkin tonight with some friends from school, so I better get the hell out of here. I notice I am developing a very bad habit of being late for class, appointments, meeting up with friends. I have to get my act together and organize my time better. Maybe I will challenge myself to do that tomorrow.

*This book caused me to have one of the worst nightmares in my life. I can still remember Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead, chasing me down. It was freakin' scary for an 8-year-old! In fact, it still bothers me because I can still picture it so clearly and this was before I really had any knowledge of ancient culture, mythology, etc. All representations of Anubis that I have seen since then look exactly as I saw him in my dream. It's really kind of odd.

Pancakes & Nightmares

The last two nights have been utter hell. Yesterday I woke up paralyzed from a nightmare that my father had died from a heart attack. I literally could not move for 45 minutes because I was so shocked, scared, and grieved. This caused me to be late to catch the bus so I drove Jen's car to school and then got a fucking parking ticket even though I was back at my car on time. I think UBC parking services is running a scam where meters run the time faster than they should. Needless to say, I am appealing the ticket. It's not like I wanted to be at school longer than the allotted class time anyways. Jerks.
Anyways, to keep with the death theme in my dreams, last night it was Mary-Anne's mom who had died and she is just the sweetest lady ever. That was also quite heartbreaking to wake up from. I have no idea what is going on with my brain but I am not sure it's doing well at all. Part of that dream included going to some tea room in Stratford where the entire cast of Road to Avonlea now worked. That would suck a lot to go from a cheesy Canadian television show (and a steady paycheque) to working a tea room in Stratford. They all seemed pretty damn happy to be there though, but then again maybe their paycheques were dependent upon their cheery mood.
I also had a migraine when I woke up. It's no wonder I cannot focus on getting anything done lately.

I finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell yesterday. Now there is no excuse for me not to be reading books on the Comps list. I just cannot bring myself to read entire books on Roman mosaics, construction techniques, Greek sculpture, and all the other crap they expect us to regurgitate on those exams. I'm guessing that after Reading Week I will be suitably freaked out enough to start reading frantically.

Jen and I ate pancakes for dinner yesterday. I don't eat them that frequently so I always forget how filling they are. After eating three I felt like the Staypuft Marshmallow man for the rest of the evening. It was truly disgusting but I guess that one meal kind of balances the rest of the day when I didn't eat much at all.
Jen also informs me that Zach Braff has a blog so I am going to have to check it out. We watched Garden State the other day (my third time, Jen's first) and I must reaffirm that I do love that movie. It was definitely the best movie I saw last spring (with an adult theme at least because I did also enjoy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).
Anyways, I just realized my entire morning has disappeared and it's 10 minutes to 1pm. I have class at 2pm and I am still sitting here in my pajamas. Fuck!

Groundhog Day!

In an ode to the rodent called 'groundhog' I may just watch that classic Bill Murray movie tonight. I am not particularly fond of Andie MacDowell, but what can you do? Otherwise, it is pretty damn funny.

Apparently, the Canadian groundhogs are divided on whether winter is coming to an end or not... I kind of feel that Wiarton Willie (from Ontario) is correct because I can already see the flower buds in several garden beds lately. The temperatures are also getting milder and the days are much longer and brighter than they were just a few weeks ago. All in all, it looks like spring is coming early in Vancouver.
If you think Groundhog Day is as ridiculous as it sounds, here is an article explaining this year's groundhog results from various places and a brief history of how it came to be.
Hint: those crazy Germans are at it again!


Wiarton Willie


Cdn. groundhogs offer contradictory forecasts

CTV.ca News Staff
Winter-weary Canadians eager to know whether Jack Frost is packing his bags received dissenting opinions from weather-forecasting woodchucks on Groundhog Day.
Both Ontario's Wiarton Willie and Alberta's Balzac Billy forecasted an early spring when they emerged without seeing their shadows.
Yet in Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam left the comfort of his heated den, where he is catered to with meals of carrots and broccoli, and saw his shadow Wednesday morning -- which means another six weeks of winter for Atlantic residents.
The world's best-known groundhog weather forecaster, Punxsutawney Phil, also waddled out of his hole in an oak stump in Pennsylvania and saw his shadow -- to the dismay of the booing 2000-strong crowd.
"He's only the messenger!" responded one of the members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club -- the volunteer group in charge of the town's festivities.
Every Feb. 2 on Groundhog Day, crowds gather in anticipation to watch groundhogs make their bogus verdicts.
"It's of particular interest to Canadians, who suffer like prisoners being tortured once a year in the winter," Murray Pomerance, who heads the sociology department at Toronto's Ryerson University, told Canadian Press.
"What Groundhog Day does is give everybody a kind of holiday where they can officially get together and hope for the end of winter, which is a kind of public celebration. So I see it as the true Canadian winter holiday."
Groundhog Day stems from a tradition started by early German settlers in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Penn.
They believed that there would be snow in May if the sun shone on Feb. 2, the Christian feast of Candlemas.

Lest We Forget

One year ago today, the furor and the frenzy was unleashed.



Lest we forget the traumatized children.

Welcome to February

I just spent the last hour messing around with the html on my site to finally input the type of panoramic photo I have always wanted in the header. I am now afraid that both Jenny's blog and mine are beginning to resemble each other in features. We seem to have several things in common (outside of blogging) so I guess it is not surprising that we should both want the same things for our blog. However, I like to be original, so I guess when I move out of Vancouver I will have to change the photo to a different type of 'shadowlands'. It shouldn't be that hard to find a good pic and I will probably get bored of this one soon enough. I think I may consider a nice black and white Ansel Adams print next time.

I kind of had a weird day today... I spent four hours photocopying crap in the library and as a result my feet hurt so much when I got home that I had to forego my plans to go to the gym. Instead, I collapsed on my bed for an hour and a half. Why spend 4 hours in the library? Well, I am trying to collect as much of the research I will need for my seminars as possible. All of which are due for presentation in the first week of March after I get back from England. I guess I have to thank Charmaine for giving the grad students in the course the most obscure buildings ever.

Here is a list of my stuff for my 'long' seminar...

Campus Martius & Via Lata ---> Hadrianic & Antonine temples (I assume these are the Temple of Deified Hadrian and the Temple of Deified Marcus Aurelius & Faustina), the column of Marcus Aurelius (I cannot really complain about this topic since there is a lot of stuff out there), and Antonine Arae Consecratio.

Quirinal & Viminal ---> Temple of Sol, Temple of Serapis.

As far as I can see, there is some controversy over the Temple of Sol and that of Serapis being the same temple and the Antonine Arae Consecratio are quite frustrating because there is no solid identification of what they are and what their purpose is. However, most ideas centre around these so-called altars acting as commemoration monuments of Imperial funerary pyres. Sounds kind of grim, eh? Anyways, the work is just getting started and I hope by next Thursday that my life will be a bit more sorted... My goal is to have those PhD Apps sent in and to have a load of this research done and waiting for my return. Sounds easy enough but when the procrastination bug bites, it seems to bite me especially hard.

On another note, that house that I watched being built on W. 37th Ave. in the Spring of 2004 has been up for sale for ages. It was originally listed at about 1.7million and of course it wasn't sold. To tell the truth it's not that big, but the inflation of real estate in Vancouver is absolutely ridiculous so I guess the owners thought they could push that price. Well, the house sat on the market from early September to about December. When I got back after the holidays, the 'For Sale' sign had been taken down, but it was just put up again last week with a new realty company handling it now. Jen and I took a peek inside the other day, under the guise that her parents were considering buying a house in Vancouver for retirement. The inside of the house is actually quite awesome. Loads of granite countertops and hardwood flooring, central vac, data ports everywhere, gas fireplaces, awesome bedrooms, etc. I guess for a brand new place it may just sell this time around. The price has been dropped to 1.5 million... so who knows? I personally think that the key turn off for many people is that 37th is quite a busy street and the house is right across from a high school and up the road beyond is an elementary school. So basically, Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm, the street is a zoo. Lots of kids from the high school park their cars up and down the street as well. It's kind of sketchy to see it all in action... Anyways, I am going to keep my eye on this sale to see if it goes through. I cannot imagine having the money to toss around for a home that is so small. $1.5 million anywhere else in the country might buy you a hell of a lot more, especially if you are out in the country. I guess I should go back to buying lotto tickets.