"Welcome to Quebec!"

I had a lovely phone conversation with a gentleman about exchanging my Driver's License. After figuring out the logistics of what I need to bring with me to my appointment (booking one-month in advance!) to get my new driver's license, he told me about how much it cost to keep said license. Turns out QC folks have to renew their license every year on their birthday. And pay a nice little sum of money to boot. "What a horrible birthday present!" I said to my fellow Quebecker. I told him about the differences in Ontario and we had a good laugh. To which he said, well, you can probably guess!
I'm kind of sad to be turning over my Ontario card. I like it. And it'll be an reminder of this big change in my life...and my identity. One that I'm still grappling with.

Amelie

I watched one of my favorite films (if not THE favorite) again last night for the first time in a couple of years. It was perfect.
There's so much about that film that resonates with me, and with how things have been going for me recently (emotionally and otherwise), I'm glad I watched the film again.

Scorched

I recently attended a performance of Scorched by the graduating class of the National Theatre School (NTS).

It was incredible. But brace yourself.

I didn't have a chance to do any research or look into the premise of the play. Of course there are pros and cons to this strategy for seeing productions, but for me, at the end of the play, I was in a little bit of shock. I just wasn't sure how to process what I had watched, and wasn't able to go beyond the surface of what happened.

Content aside, the production was awesome. The acting seemed really good (although, I wonder if I would be able to tell if the acting wasn't good?), but I was most impressed with the staging of the production (which, students of the NTS took care of as well). It was a "theatre in the round" set up, and there was clearly a lot of care that went into the staging and choreography of it all. I liked the use of props in the production. The lighting and special effects were also great.

Well, the run of the production is over, so it's not like you can go out and see it for yourself. I guess the take away is that the National Theatre School has some great productions that I will continue to look into (and you can/should too) and that Scorched is a great play. I've only clued in, after the fact, that it's Incendies which I remember reading about when it made the rounds (during TIFF and otherwise).

Cendre des Pres

I went back to the cheese shop yesterday. I told them about the cheese that we'd gotten the last time and that I wanted to get something similar. I told the salesperson that I liked the creaminess. She asked is there was assez de gout, and yes, the taste was strong enough for me. I'm still a little shy when it comes to pungent cheese.
She offered me a couple cheeses to try. One left too much of a plastic and rubbery taste in my mouth and the other was too salty.

In the end, I decided to go for the Cendre des Pres from the Fromagerie Domaine Feodal.
A description: "Pâte molle à croûte fleurie cendrée au centre comme le morbier. Tres cremeux et leger. 1er service." (Translated by Google for those who need it)
I like that the label from the cheese shop also comes with recommendations for the type of wine that pairs best. It's not specific enough to suggest a specific wine, but to say blanc ou rouge fruite.

I have to admit, the ash throws me off. I think I like everything around the ash the best...which probably defeats the whole point of the cheese. (I'm a work in progress, ok?) But it's not like I'm eating around it. I'm a big girl and eating the whole thing and it's quite good. I like the creaminess of it and (again) the mild flavour. I think I like the Saint-Honore better, but it's good to try different things.

I'm wondering if I should keep trying similar types of cheese or go with something completely different next time. Or maybe try out a different cheese shop too? There seem to be many to choose from here. All of the grocery stores have a better selection than what I'm used to. But I think the specialty shops would be better for me as they will be able to help me select cheeses and I can try them out before committing to a purchase.

Saint-Honore

My first (!!!) experience buying cheese was great. I was intimidated to go into the shop similar to people I know are intimidated to go into the boutiques that I've come to realize aren't that scary (even if you have no intention of buying anything).

While walking around Jean-Talon Market, we had decided that a perfect lunch would be cheese and a baguette, so of course we had to find somewhere to buy the cheese (I already knew of plenty places to get a great baguette). We walked into Qui lait cru and were helped by a friendly and eager young man. I had no idea what was going on and what to buy, but it was decided that we should get a sharp cheddar (I forget the name of it, but we opted for a 10-year old cheddar with salt in the rind rather than a 15 year old one) and a brie.

We a tasted a couple different brie's, but in the end, we went the Saint-Honore. It was really good. It melted in your mouth and didn't have a strong flavour (ideal for a cheese neophyte like myself). It was so soft that we were basically able to spread it on the baguette, so I think I partially enjoyed it for its creaminess like I was eating a good butter on bread (without the actual butter taste though).

I still get a little confused by the rind and what to do with it, but I'm sure I'll get over that pretty quickly. Anyway, this cheese was clearly yummy enough to get me inspired to try to eat more cheese in the future.

An important goal

When I lived in Europe, I conquered mustard. I also tried to conquer olives, but that didn't seem to fly.

Here, I think I'm going to try to conquer cheese. I think conquer is the wrong word. Ultimately, I'd like to get to know more about cheese and expand my cheese repertoire.

This past weekend, I went to a cheese shop in the market. Encouraged by my cheese-loving friend, we chatted with one of the folks and the shop and narrowed our purchases down to a 5-year old sharp cheddar (instead of a 10-year old one) and a brie that didn't have a strong taste (we'd sampled a couple that we didn't enjoy as much) but absolutely melted in your mouth.

Coupled with a baguette and some tomatoes (I've also recently learned of the awesomeness that is salt on tomatoes), it lent itself to an awesome meal (or two) and our goal of having a faux-Paris weekend.

"To justice and all!"

I've had an awesome day, and this video contributed to that awesomeness.
Great choice of background music too!

Lovely weekend

Having weekends to relax is key. Whoever decided that there should be a five day work week really thought things through.
Yesterday, I finally made it down to a street that I wanted to explore and while the weather wasn't great, it was still nice to just be in the fresh air and walk around and take my time. I followed that up with a trip to the market. Lovely, of course. I was able to tidy up my place a little bit and try to reduce the number of boxes that are still scattered around. A quiet evening at home was exactly what I needed.
Today, after a lazy start to the day, I headed out in search of doughnuts. They have three different flavours: sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate and since they're quite small I got one of each to try. By the time I got the the grocery store just a block away, I had finished them all. I'd recommend the sugar and cinnamon ones over the chocolate. Actually, no, try them all for yourself so that you can decide. The place was very busy with a line almost out the door. As I waited, I admired the original art on the wall and felt very, err, square. I was in hipster haven. It was in the Mile End, so I guess it makes sense, but it still throws me off to be smack dab in the middle of the scene. Hipsters have a very unique look.
Anyway, done with my doughnuts, I picked up some items at the grocery store and people were buying leeks like crazy! They were on sale, but some people were buying multiple bunches. Is there something going on that I don't know about? I wonder what they were going to do with all of them?
Heading back to my place, I realized that some cultures go to school on Sundays. Not only do I live close to hipster-ville, I also live close to a Hasidic Jewish community. It's interesting learning more about different cultures and communities.
So now that I'm back at my place, I've decided to have a quiet rest of the day in. I see more cleaning and organizing on the horizon and I think I'm going to make a big batch of soup. Sunday is usually a big cooking day for me!

IE's MP3 Experiment 11

Improv Everywhere is still doing its thing and has posted the outcome of the MP3 Experiment Eleven.
It always looks like a fun time and the 'inventors' always come up with accessible, simple, yet fun ideas.
I hope I can participate in another mission in the future!

Back to "ha ha ha-ing"

Heading back 'home' on another swanky train ride. This train is a little older so the set up is a little different, but the drink cart still rolls by just as frequently.
They just turned off the cabin lights (or whatever you'd call the equivalent in a train) and literally a second later, you see everyone's hand reach up to turn their reading lamp on. I wasn't sure if the delay was people taking a moment to think "What's up with that?!?" or just the time that it takes to send a signal from your brain to your arm. I'd say 95% of the people in this car are on their laptop or iPad and the other 5% are reading an actual book or the newspaper.
The percentage will hopefully change a bit once they bring food out (soon - I can smell it!) or afterwards when I create a new category (people who as asleep). I'm pretty tired.
Anyway, I found it incredibly amusing to see all of those lights being turned on like that.

P.S. Quebec City is beautiful. Hopefully I'll have a chance to return to really see the city.

Still ha ha ha-ing...

Overheard from my swanky seat:
"Can you make a Manhattan? Ok, fine, I'll have another gin and tonic."

HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Ha ha ha...

And the drink cart rolls by...again...

"Digestif, madame?"

Ha ha ha...I love the Frenchies...
(yes, I know that it's not just Europeans who enjoy a drink after their meal...but I'll always associate it with them)

Train adventures

I loved taking the train when I lived in Switzerland. I really can't speak ill of the SBB. I mean really, what's not to like? I'm not entirely sure if I had the opportunity to take 1er class though. If it did, I think it was just once. And I think it was because we were traveling as a group and they ran out of spaces in 2nd class or something so a couple of us teachers got bumped up for a portion of the trip. Actually, yes, I'm sure that's what happened.

So here I am, back in Canada and I only rode the train here for the first time a couple years ago. Since then, I've taken it a couple times and I think based on my current location, I'll probably ride it more often.

In fact, I write this post on the train. Sitting in my swanky Business class seat. And this is a first for me. It's pretty nice. I hung out in the Business lounge at the train station beforehand. Waited in a special line to board the train. Have my swanky seat and side table. And then quite soon after we started moving forwards (we actually backed out of the train station and then changed direction to head towards our destination), the drink cart came. I wasn't expecting that. It's almost a shame that I don't drink because their selection look pretty decent. Anyway, my l'eau pétillante (I guess they don't say gazeuse here) avec citron was lovely. So mere moments after I finished my grignote (I'll always think of my colleague from CH when I hear that word, because I remember learning it when we went out for dinner one night), the cart came by again with warm towels. Swanky. And then a voice come over the speaker telling us of our three meal options.

So...I had a relatively large snack before going to the train station because I thought that I would miss a meal tonight. Oops.

In classic 'me' style, I ate the entire meal. Darn it, I definitely was going to take advantage of my new experience! Maybe a train meal isn't anything special, but remember, I like airplane meals too, so I was pretty stoked for this. I even ate the stinky cheese (progress!) that came with the cheese course. It was a nice touch to have cheesecake for dessert. I love cheesecake. And they kept offering wine like it was going out of style. I guess my only issue was that the tray table seemed very far away from the seat. I guess they want to ensure that we have enough leg room and errr, that people of all sizes are comfortable.

So this train ride's been fun. They even asked if I needed a taxi once I arrived to my stop ("We want to make sure that there are enough taxis waiting."). Gosh.

Slowly but surely

This morning was probably the first time since I've moved that I almost got that 'glowing' feeling. Step 1: Wake up when your body tells you to.
Step 2: Don't go in to work (it's Saturday, so many of you would think this is obvious, but it's not)

I finally made it to the Jean-Talon Market which is quite close to where I live.
Just a hop, skip and a jump across the Blue line. The look of the stations, the metro on wheels, and the sound of the closing door alarm reminded me that although I'm in the same country, I can still feel like I'm in a foreign land.
I stopped off at a shop on the way there that did remind me of 'home' (which, in itself, I need to assess my understanding about that word) and then onto the market.
Normally a brisk walker, it's a clear sign of 'something' when I slow down (in stride and in life). And that's when I felt it. It might not have been to the degree that it can be, but it was there and that's the most important thing. I also found a Chinese grocery store nearby and that was another nice moment. I think it's not really the 'home' thing, but a sense of reassurance or familiarity that is nice.
I'm just munching on a sandwich (with dijon mustard - oh la la!!!) that I picked up at a local bakery (I have now tried each of the three bakeries in my neighbourhood that neighbours/locals have talked about - one is meant to go to each for different reasons) before heading off on another adventure this afternoon.

Now why has it taken me this long to have a day like today? Lots of reasons, but one of them was that I decided to take on a task (in true, "Darn it, I'm going to try it all!"). The first deadline was yesterday and there were a lot of hours and worry invested into it before taking a break from it for the weekend. But the stress was worth it. I'm doing what I love (so I lied, after a late night at work last week walking to the bus stop, I got a twinge of 'glow').

But really...has anything changed?

Seven years ago, I thought I should be changing the "bio" section of my blog. I never got around to it (partly because I loved the mood I must have been in to write such a bio). As life went on and my blog waned in priority the bio remained untouched.
It's been awhile since I've actually looked at my blog (usually I just type a new post, hit publish and move on) but just moments ago, I clicked through some of its pages and was reminded of this bio. I read it again and thought...maybe there is no need to change it. It still speaks to who I am and what I am doing.

Life lessons

You know, relocating 10 years later seems 10 times more...I don't want to say difficult. It's not that, maybe, complex?

The last time I sprained my ankle was about 7 years after the first (and only other) time I sprained my ankle. It also seemed more "complex".

Whatever happens as a result of time passing (I hope it's not simply "getting older"?), I'm realizing that more patience is needed.

It's very different when something happens again years later. And really, can you compare the two situations? At first glance, they seem to be identical, but looking a little deeper maybe the situations aren't so alike afterall.

Is it that we're not quite as quick to adapt (so thinking that I'm somehow regressing)? Or that because there is so much more with which to contend that it just takes more time to put together this complex Ravensburger puzzle.

I should think that it would be obvious that I am a different person years later as a result of all of the additional experiences that I have had. But I am the same person. My body still inhabits the same physical space that it did before. As does my mind and soul. I may have evolved in some ways, but I hope that it doesn't mean that I have lost some of what I believe to be my best qualities as a result.

The things you notice/take for granted...

- In QC, you don't have to put a license plate on the front of your vehicle

- I won't be attending TIFF this year and am rather sad about it (but maybe I'll take the opportunity to actually get around to reviewing the film I saw last year) but serendipitously I could attend a different festival going on right now. Friends used to complain about TIFF's crappy website. For the record, I never had a problem with it. And I like it better than The Montreal World Film Festival's website. I think it's unreasonable to have to pick a film based on a one line description (although, I have to say that I've ended up googling the films and looking for trailers and such online to help inform my decisions).

- Muffin wrappers/liners here are squares

Almost there

Just waiting to board my last flight for a little while (I hope). I would have thought that I'd have a different feeling about being at the airport this time around, but for some reason it doesn't feel all that different. Why? What is wrong with me? When will it hit?

The move...update number 'I don't know what'

This move has been three months in the works. More if you count the process of getting the job. But it's been three months of a learning experience and study of how one reacts to stress and change. I can't say that it's been the most positive experience, but it is what it is and I'm still happy to have gone through it because I'm stronger and more self-aware as a result.
Anyway, I'm sitting in the Porter lounge right now (flight got cancelled so I have an extra hour to snack on complimentary tea and cookies and to attempt to catch up on my e-mails - I'm SO behind) but this is only the 3rd time that I've been in an airport (a couple more times to go) this month.  It's only the 7th of the month.
I genuinely thought that I'd have three months of leisure and relaxation due to a change of plans and finding myself with three months that I had originally allotted for other commitments, but that never came to fruition. Partly due to me filling the months with other things (that always happens) and needing to use the time to make plans for the future. I ended up traveling a lot, just not for leisure: three flights and two road trips (well, I guess one of those road trips was for leisure, but it was unfortunately cut short and admittedly we both ended up doing work on the trip anyhow). Lots of sorting, planning, packing...lots of meetings, rendezvous, heartfelt chats, teas, lunches, dinners and desserts. Lots of planning in three or four day increments...lots of living out of a suitcase or weekend bag.
But we're definitely moving forward. It's felt like it's been dragging on, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think I'll reach that light until the end of the month, but having my belongings packed up into a truck (again) yesterday has been a milestone that I was desperately waiting for. Of course, it didn't come without it's share of challenges. An 8.30am call time turned into a 6pm arrival (and resulted in an migraine - which I still have). I'm impressed at the efficiency of the movers once they arrived. They're getting paid for their job for a reason. It was very hard for me to let go and just have them go through my things and put them in boxes (I can imagined that I would be able to sit with them and make an itemized list of contents so that it would be easier to deal with at the other end), but they were way too fast for me to do that. I was expecting to be a little bit more in shock when the movers drove away, but my lack of sleep and level of stress prevented any emotion. I long for a good night's rest. I want to be at my best when September starts.
So I'm at the airport. But this isn't IT. I still have a couple more flights in the next little while before IT is real.

Reflecting on reflecting

I'm a pretty reflective person by nature. I think about things a lot. Sometimes too much. Someone I know calls me cerebral.
In these three months of transition, I feel like I've been particularly reflective. Thinking about who I am, why I am, what I do, what I want. It's been, errr, interesting. I don't know if this extreme reflection is as a result of an impending change, or a current change of routine. A colleague jokes that he knows when I'm getting bored because I go to him with my 'freakouts'. I'm my own worst enemy.

End of (another) era

Yesterday, I was part of the academic procession for one of our faculty's convocations. It was a wonderful ceremony, with some well written and delivered speeches, fun whooping and hollering, and a fair share of selfies. The Honourary Graduand was superbly chosen having received degrees from both faculties in attendance and not only is he a superstar himself, the fellow who introduced him is another icon of the university and the nation. And our ceremony probably had the best singing of the national anthem, thanks to the faculty that we were matched up with. Score.
It's nice to see students make that walk across the stage. To see their excitement and joy, to meet their support team and hear about upcoming adventures.
It was an enjoyable afternoon and very much a full circle situation having walked across the stage myself (again) just last year. That ceremony last year was the final piece in the puzzle to confirm that I really had ticked that box off my life list. And I think I needed yesterday's ceremony to tick yet another box for me to bring this part of my life to closure and be able to move forward to the next era. With mixed emotions, I move forward, but I will continue to remind myself how awesome my life truly is.

Oh, and speaking of eras gone by, I saw a student from my CH days on the Conan show. Wow.

Moving

It's happening. My beloved place is being emptied out. I'm actually quite sad about it all. I've got a couple months of transition so I don't think I'll hit my high for awhile. I think it's going to continue to be a roller coaster for a little while yet.
And classic moving stress. Had a wee break down last night. Needed a good cry. And then pulled an all-nighter to make sure everything was packed up. And glad to have had someone here to help me through it all.
But yeah, my condo is awesome. I'll miss it loads.

Update - 11.58am - It's really sad seeing everything packed into the truck and then watching the movers close the doors and drive away.

Still here - changes afoot

As I constantly say, things have been crazy. Life is intense and awesome all at the same time. Changes are afoot and I sincerely hope that I'll have some more time to start blogging again. Especially given my original reason for starting this blog.

Blech

Being sick and staying in bed during the holidays is kind of sucky, but watching the 2013 Tony Awards makes it vaguely better.
(Of course, I could also use the time to do all of the updates on this blog that I 'intend' to do...)

I'm back!

I finally have a new laptop. At least, it's mine until July. I'm not sure what's going to happen after that.

How have things been, you ask? Busy.

Here are excepts from a nice little e-mail exchange between a colleague and myself to provide some context.

A: I'm pretty tired, but I am loving it...I haven't had a chance to breathe. With teaching, grant proposals, job applications, and all the non-work things that I load myself up with...like I said, I'm tired. How are you?
B: Pretty much the same; tired, stressed out, over-worked.
A: Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
B: Right now it feels like the other end of the tunnel isn't even open.  I think we're just supposed to dig our way out using our bare hands in the dark, and there's a giant hungry bear who just entered the tunnel at the end we entered from.

Word.

Conduct Us

Love this.


Also, still don't have a new computer. which sucks, because I have a lot of posts that need to get done (TIFF'13!!!).

Ack!

I'm about to go teach my first class of the new year. I'm so nervous I could throw up. Some things never change.
Let's do this

I promise

...to be back soon.
I'm still living my awesome life so there's lots to share and report on, but my laptop is on a transition to retirement and as such it hasn't really been up for blogging.
Hopefully a new laptop will make an appearance sooner rather than later as September is just around the corner and I want to break it in before the kiddies arrive! Well, that and I need to get back to blogging!

Perfect temperature

Tonight is the perfect temperature. I just want to sit outside all night. A little earlier tonight, I had this pretty awesome feeling of just, I don't know, happiness? But not the I-feel-like-my-body-is-beaming happiness, but more like the calm happiness. Maybe contentment? It's been awhile since I've felt that particular feeling.
Anyway, I wanted (maybe want? The night's still young) to just sit on my balcony, bring a blanket out there and fall asleep under the stars. I switched out the lounge chair for a little patio set, so it's not quite as conducive to lying out there, but it is very tempting.
Life is awesome.

Awesome day

Every day is an awesome day, and here are the reasons why today is awesome:
1. A little bit of a lie-in to ease into the day.
2. Picking up produce at the St. Lawrence Market this morning (jumping on the bandwagon and going to try to make kale chips!)
3. Having brunch on a patio at Gusto101 and catching up with friends
4. Going to the Toronto Flower Market and picking out the perfect bouquet (shame they don't have this year round).
5. Kicking it high school styles tonight and watching some HK triad films at the Lightbox.

How to Live with Introverts

I thought that this was a cute representation of introverts.
I never officially learned what the terms 'introvert' and 'extrovert' meant. Even when they were being used to describe people around me, or well, me. And I don't really think that everyone who uses the term understands what it means (I assume this based on my limited knowledge of the terms having done a little bit of reading about it recently).
Anyway, I think the graphic is funny and a neat interpretation of 'introvert'.

Same old thing...

Although I officially bid adieu to 'studentdom' this past friday, going in to work this morning didn't feel much different.

...And I guess it's pretty much status quo when it comes to this blog. Darn it, I really need post more things. It's not like there hasn't been lots going on to share. I'm usually pretty good when I'm on a schedule or when I set some sort of goal. So maybe I should add 'post of blog' to my list of things to do.

Wow

It seems like the past week was the most stressful. I mean, that's probably not true, because I did get quite frantic during other parts of this process, but making sure that I dotted all of my i's and crossed all of my t's was stress inducing, that's for sure. Headings and subheadings seemed to magically change their indentation.
I didn't actually have to make any revisions, really. I'd done that all before the big day. It did take me a couple days to write my acknowledgements, though. And last night, I worked myself up into such a frenzy thinking about APA. I actually had to put it away after a certain point because I got so worked up. Today, it took me WAY too long deciding what keywords to use. And then I was panicking over 1.5 spacing versus 2.0 spacing. And then I stressed over...well, a lot of other things.
I'm neurotic, I admit it.
I don't even want to think about all of the typos that are still in there.
Final count:  241
But that's it. Everything done. Officially.
Well, I do have to walk across a stage at some point.

The penultimate hurdle

Only ~1h15m. We started two minutes early at 9.58am. I was called back into the room at around 10.15am. I should have paid closer attention to the actual time. Maybe is was 10.17am or something like that. I kind of wanted it to go on longer. It was a lot of fun, actually.

What will google come up with next?

They really are on the cutting edge... ;)

 1. Google Nose

2. Gmail Blue

YouTube's ready to select a winner

Clearly today's a day for procrastination. ;)

The June Phenomenon: Graduation rates and teacher absenteeism

If they had done a mixed methods study, they would have been able to truly understand the phenomenon at play. ;)

TTC introduces the "personal car"

No matter how many people complain about the TTC, I love it. ;)

Seriously?

Those diss Gods aren't playing around. My laptop is showing signs that the end is near and is doing some really wacky stuff. Hold on little guy, hold on!!!

Clawing towards the finish line

It started with a tickly throat this past Tuesday. I hadn't taught a full class since January, so I thought it was just me overusing my voice. But, no. Sick.
Sinus cold. My muscles ache. My face hurts. My breathing is laboured.
The diss Gods are really making me work for it.

Another step closer!

~36 minutes. That's all it took for my committee to discuss my diss. After they were done, I thought they'd just finish their first round of suggestions/comments, and were just preparing me for the slaughterhouse, but they were done. Like, totally done. And everything that we discussed was awesome. All valid and aimed to make my diss better. I need to do a couple edits, but then it's off. Off to the externals and in six weeks the big meeting!
I can't believe this is happening. And it's pretty awesome.
I told you this would be a roller coaster ride!

The important thing...

Same task as last year, new batch of students. Here are a couple:

The important thing about measurement is that it puts things in perspective.
The speed in which life pulls you from an infant to a grown-up,
How deeply you can fall in love,
How much weight you lost to fit in the prom dress,
How time slips with a tick and a tock of a clock,
How the years of your life are not as infinite as kilometers.
But the important thing about measurement is that it puts things in perspective.

***************

The important thing about a cone is that it holds ice cream.
It has a circular base and a pointy top.
Its Surface Area is (pie x radius) x (radius + height).
Its volume is 1/3 Base x height.
It is a very complicated geometric figure.
But the most important thing about a cone is that it holds ice cream.

***************

...I'm absolutely exhausted, but the important thing about life is that I love what I do. 

Just keep swimming...

I should have posted an excited note that same day, but I was in a rush to live my life and forgot.
At 6.02pm EST on Monday night, I sent off Round 3 to the committee. I think my page counts have been document totals as opposed to a page count without the extras before and after. Anyway, I'm now at 224. Being one page off from Round 2 means that the end is near. Well, so does sending it to the committee.
BLAM-O!

Round 2

223 pages.
At least now I'm within an acceptable range. Who knows about the quality of the document itself, though.
I don't think I'll merrily skip to the TTC stop tonight. I'm looking forward to fresh air, but it's a busy week so I should probably grab a cab and get a smidge more sleep than I otherwise would.

Happy New Year!

Soon, we will end 2012 in the Gregorian calendar.
It's been another action-packed year, and I expect 2013 to be more of the same. I suppose I wouldn't want it any other way.
For all you gents heading out for a nice soiree tonight, here's a fun little video to help you keep things cool. =)

Completely drained

My goodness. There's just so much going on right now. Lots of mundane stuff. Lots of awesome stuff. Lots of tragic stuff. Personally, professionally, and within the community. I'm surviving, and I know my stresses are nothing compared to what some other folks are going through, so although I try to keep a perspective on things, it's me, so I am going through my stress patterns.
Anyway, hopefully at some point I will tend to this blog a little bit more regularly.

For now, I just want to post two things that helped get me through today.
1. Damn You Auto Correct! (Some of these elicited uncontrollable laughter. I was definitely needed.)
2. City Rising (I love my city, and watching this video was timed perfectly because I needed a little zen.)

CeeLo Green "All I Need Is Love (ft. The Muppets)"

I've got the shakes

I'm not sure if my hands are shaky because I haven't eaten anything substantial in over 12 hours or because I just finished a pseudo-draft of my thesis.
I wish I had a Meredith so that I could have a much needed 30 second dance party.
(Current thesis page count: 412 - uh oh.)

Ain't no SBB, but it's still A-OK

See, if you say SBB properly, it'll actually rhyme. =) I'm blogging as I sit on the train. I've only taken the train once before in Canada.
You know what, it's not that bad. The seats are comfy, you get free internet, there's a refreshments trolley that goes by. It would be better if it ran more frequently, but the price isn't atrocious. Oh and of course there isn't that lovely welcome announcement. I can still hear it in my head.
I mean, I don't really need to go anywhere that taking the train would make sense, but for the times that it does, I think I might consider it more often in the future.

If only I had twitter (and an iGadget)

Leaving work at 11pm. Fall air hitting my face. This song would’ve been the cherry on top: tinyurl.com/ybjgxj8 #GameOn #It'sThesisTime

Last skating video post for the day...

Yeah, so word on the street is that Kurt's going to reprise his Singing in the Rain program for his comeback competition. Awesome.

Another goodie...

I just can't resist posting another classic...

Still awesome

Need a break from whatever it is that you're doing? Watch either/both of these programs by Kurt Browning. Truly amazing.
Apparently he's going to be making a comeback as there's a Pro competition scheduled to happen where they've got some big names competing. Kurt's thrown his name into the ring and since I don't follow the Stars on Ice circuit, I don't really know what he's been up to. Not since the glory days when all of those shows of Champions on Ice, Stars on Ice, _____ on Ice, etc. and then all of those Pro competitions ruled the air waves have I really known what all of these pro skaters were doing, how active they are, and the calibre of their programs.
Anyway, these two programs are quite awesome, so I hope you enjoy them.

TIFF'12 roundup

It's taken me awhile, but I've finally posted about all of the films that I saw during TIFF'12.

I ended up watching nine films in total. Here they are in the order that I saw them:
1. The We and the I
2. How to Make Money Selling Drugs
3. Argo
4. The Central Park Five
5. Liverpool
6. The Thieves
7. Venus and Serena
8. 7 Boxes
9. 9.79*

None of my films were award winners. In fact, none of the films that made my short list won an award. Of the films that I saw, I'd say my favorite was The Thieves. 7 Boxes was also quite entertaining as was Argo.
As per usual, I had a great time at the festival. It was nice to see a couple celebs, watch some great films, see more people out and about, feel like part of the action, and all that good stuff. It's kind of funny that I barely watch any movies during the year, and then within the span of a week I'll see so many.

9.79*

The final film of my TIFF'12 experience was 9.79* (official website here, trailer here).
I like documentaries, so this was an easy pick for me. I also seem to like documentaries about sports and people, so I guess that further explains this pick. I guess over time, it's becoming a little bit more predictable to me which types of films I'll gravitate towards.
This film is about drug testing, the 100-metre sprint event form the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the athletes (and other stakeholders) involved in the race. Filmmaker, Daniel Gordon, was able to get in contact with every single man who ran that race and find out their perspective of things.
Since I didn't follow the whole story from that event and I definitely don't know much about track and field and substances used to support these athletes, I think I went into this film with a pretty open mind and of course, you could argue that the filmmaker's story is biased, but I definitely left the film thinking about so many issues that were brought up in the film. The film is skewed in sympathy towards Ben Johnson and leaves you quite skeptical of Carl Lewis.
Those who are interested in what's currently happening with Lance Armstrong, may also be interested in this film. And also with the allegations of the Chinese swimmer from the 2012 London Olympics too.
The film itself was good. It didn't blow me away, but it was a solid, yet run of the mill documentary. I don't think I would pay to see it on the big screen, but it's perfect for a TV special. In fact, since ESPN is behind it, I'm sure it will appear on TV at some point.
Watch it if you get a chance. 

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

7 Boxes

I had this movie on my list of films to see, but by the time I went online to make my package selections, the screening was sold out. It was actually the first time I wasn't able to get a film that I'd selected as part of my 10-pack. Anyway, I decided to take the risk and get a voucher, hoping that I would be able to rush the film. I hadn't been unsuccessful with TIFF rush lines, but I guess this movie broke the streak. I was just a couple people back from the front of the line when they cut off the rush line and was really bummed. I tend to get relatively sulky when things don't go my way. In the end, it was probably good that I had the evening off because I remember being so tired that day. I had a screening in the morning. And then I went home and took a power nap which lasted too long and then I was groggy. And then I had another commitment I had to attend to early in the evening which I ran late for, and then I had to leave earlier than I wanted to try to catch the film...and then I didn't even get in. And that was annoying, but then I went home and went to bed early. Definitely needed.
Anyway, luckily, that wasn't the last screening of the film, so I still had one more chance to watch the film. Clearly, I wouldn't be writing this post if I didn't get in, and I'm glad I did because it was a great film. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone representing the film in attendance, so there wasn't a Q&A, but it was still a packed theatre. Obviously, the screening was rush and people were scrambling to find seats when they entered the theatre.
7 Boxes (trailer here) is a film from Paraguay about a teenage delivery boy getting caught in the middle of something. Suspense, mystery and a lot of chase scenes ensue. I think there was some funny moments too, but I'm sure they would have been even funnier if I understood Spanish and/or knew Paraguayan culture. I think there were a lot of layers to this film. I wanted to see it because I think heist/suspense/thriller kinds of films, but this also had a little bit of a whimsical quality to it too.
Anyway, I'm also writing this post so far after the fact that I don't have it in me to write with any more detail. All I can say is that it's a great film and a classic TIFF movie in that it's a film that I probably would never get a chance to watch otherwise. If you manage to get an opportunity to see this film, I would highly recommend it.

 - picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Venus and Serena

I like learning about athletes and I like learning about celebrities, so Venus and Serena was an obvious pick for me.
I watched the final screening of this film and was quite disappointed with the turnout. The attendance was sparse at best. I wonder what the attendance was like at the previous screenings. The first screening was Premium, after all, so I think they expected a good turnout.
The film followed Venus and Serena Williams during 2011 while providing history about the childhood of the girls and their careers leading up until present day (in fact, there was mention of her recent win at the US Open, so I wonder when they actually officially finished this film).
I don't follow tennis very carefully nor do I know much about the Williams sisters, but I do know that they are successful players and entrepreneurs and come from a tight-knit family. I remember hearing something about their parents being very active members of their careers, but I didn't know much more than that.
I liked the film. After a tiring week, I needed a light movie, and this was perfect. We got to see Serena and Venus as people. We saw them in good times and in bad. And as a whole, I have very positive feelings towards the sisters and their family. I think this film would be perfect for TV and hope that it does get picked up.
Unfortunately, there was no one in attendance representing the film, so I couldn't learn more about the film, but I didn't really feel the need to. I thought this film, while not mindblowing, was a nice, neat package. And it looked well produced as well. There must have been some serious backing behind this film. I mean, obviously, they would need the support of Venus and Serena and their family, but this in itself is probably a big deal based on how strong the sisters and their team is. And in having their support, they probably were able to get others involved as well. For example, the fact that Wyclef Jean was in charge of the music probably as something. And he composed original songs for the film too.
So, good film. Nothing crazy, but worth watching if you happen to come across it. It's always interesting to find out about successful individuals and the dedication and conscious decision-making that goes into such success.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

The Thieves

After reading TIFF's description of The Theives (official website here, trailer here), I knew I wanted to see this film. I basically walked into the theatre thinking that I was going to watch an Asian version of Ocean's Eleven and that was an awesome thought to me.
And it was an awesome movie!!!
Here's part of the TIFF description:
"Although he’s still smarting from when Macao took off with almost seventy kilos of stolen gold after their last job, Popie is ready to let bygones be bygones. He assembles his gang of usual suspects: a "wire team" consisting of the sexy and hilariously self-absorbed Yenicall and her hopelessly infatuated partner Zampano; con artist Chewingum; and lock-picking expert (and Macao’s former flame) Pepsee. Macao meanwhile brings his own motley crew into the mix: the crude and volatile Andrew, seasoned pro Chen, safe-cracker Julie, and point man Jonny. The job: to steal a $20-million yellow diamond called the "Tear of the Sun" from a high-security casino. The elaborate plan requires each member of the team to play a crucial role. But as the stakes rise ever higher and everyone tries to work their own angle —everything that can go wrong will go wrong."
Though stuck to reading subtitles (my one complaint, well two, is that 1. I don't understand Korean as I KNOW that I missed out on some humour as a result and 2. there was some atrocious Chinese being spoken in the film which really made me cringe) I still laughed out loud many times, I love "mission impossible"-type films and this one had plenty of twists and turns to it. I had no idea how the film was going to end and part of the way through I started getting confused who was doing what and who was on who's side. Oh yeah, and action scenes to add to my excitement too!
This was the director, Choi Dong-hoon's, first time at TIFF and I knew even before the screening started that it would be good. There were tons of Koreans attending and they were buzzing. We were told that the film has been number one at the box office in Korean for the past little while, so that's always encouraging. I attended the first screening of the film which happened to be at the Ryerson theatre and although it's a large theatre, it was rush. Like, seriously rush. As a ticket holder, I got there with time to spare and when I joined the line it had wrapped around to bloody Gould and Victoria. That's bananas! The director seemed pretty excited to be there and had a great enthusiasm and humour as he addressed the audience.
My oh my, this film is awesome. So incredibly awesome. People, you need to watch this film.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Liverpool

I knew I had to watch Liverpool (official website here, bande-announce ici, trailer here). A French film, a TIFF description that references Amelie, a shy romance, elements of a suspense/thriller...c'mon!
The beginning was promising. Cute, quirky, and catchy. And the heroine was just as how I imagined she would be. But I think that's what led to the film's somewhat demise for me, personally. Right from the word go, I was comparing the film to my most favorite film, Amelie. And keep in mind, that I never go out on a limb to claim that something is my favorite, so if I am willing to stake claim to Amelie, it must mean that I like it a lot.
You know what? Now, a couple days after the fact and watching the trailer one more time, I have to say, it probably was a great film. I think it just moved too quickly. Reflecting on the characters, the story, the music, the mood and everything else, it can only sum up to a great film. But I think, at the time, I had such high expectations, that it just couldn't compete. At the time, I felt that things in the film happened too quickly. Basically there were too many leaps in the story and that I felt like many scenes were left out. The film was too perfect. I mean, films are supposed to be unrealistic at times, but this one made a couple too many leaps too quickly. I wanted more lead up to certain events. I wanted more tension and back story. things just unfolded too quickly and too effortlessly.
I guess this is a film that I'd like to watch again to find out if maybe it's better than I remember it being because as I watch the trailer, I feel bad that I walked out of that theatre wanting more. I mean, even if you don't understand French perfectly well (because dialogue is never the same in subtitles), you can get a sense from the trailer that there's a certain whimsy to this film.
There were so many elements to the film that make it interesting. The inclusion of social media, a moral and global message...and all those other things I said before. And some good one-liners and jokes too! Sigh, it's almost like I'm disappointed in myself for not having thoroughly enjoyed it.
Director, Manon Briand, was so enthusiastic and gave off such a joyful energy as she introduced the film and answered questions during the Q&A. It wasn't really a Q&A where I got deeper insight into the film, but I always give bonus points for Q&As.
Darn it. I want to watch it again.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

The Central Park Five

From the TIFF description:
"In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from New York City were arrested and charged for brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. News media swarmed the case, calling it "the crime of the century." Journalists popularized the term "wilding" to describe a gang activity of randomly assaulting victims. Politicians, pundits and the public rushed to a judgment that carried a barely veiled undertone of racial and class prejudice. Convicted of the crime, the five teenagers spent between five to thirteen years in prison until, in 2002, the shocking news broke: they were innocent. Another man confessed to the crime, with DNA evidence to support his claim."
The story of The Central Park Five (trailer here) was new to me but how can you not be intrigued? I thought this documentary did a great job of discussing an event that happened in the past using stock footage, narrative recounts of people who were part of the story and other elements to bring this story to life. Hearing The Central Park Five retell their versions of what happened that night, the events that happened immediately afterwards and of the years following was quite powerful. It's such an unfortunate thing that happened to them and not really knowing anything about police protocol and how they're been trained and the tactics they employ to try to get at the truth of the matter, I found myself wondering what I would have done if I was in their shoes? Why did some pieces of evidence seem to not weigh into the outcome of the case? What kind of pressures were the police under? What was the media's role?
The film did provide a good overview of what happened and how the five men were impacted by it. And I think that was the point of the film. But I did wonder why the rape victim wasn't involved involved in the film (because it seemed that the filmmakers attempted to include everyone else that was a stakeholder in the case), and why wasn't the role of the media examined more closely (because the description and the filmmakers seemed to elude to the fact that the media did have a big role in the outcome).
So here's why I like films that have a Q&A. Ken Burns (whom I know nothing about), Sarah Burns and David McMahon (the three directors) were in attendance and shared that indeed, this film is about the five gentlemen and really getting at their stories. Additionally, they decided not to include the voice of Trisha Meili (the victim) in this film because she, in fact, has no memory of the events that happened that night. And her understanding of the case is what she can constructed based on the information that was available to her. And keep in mind, this is information that until 2002 was quite faulty. And although, Ms. Meili has written a book about her experiences, the filmmakers still felt uncomfortable asking her to go back to those events again. So that's issue one covered. The second issue about the media wasn't answered to my satisfaction. I'm not sure that the filmmakers intentionally skirted the question about why it wasn't featured more, they just didn't seem to answer the question as it was intended. They merely emphasized that the media did have a significant role to play. Perhaps, they wanted to pick just one are of focus in this film, and that was the lives and perspectives of the five men.
One of the Central Park Five, Raymond Santana, was at the screening, and received a standing ovation from the audience. It sounds like he is doing well, but I wonder (as they do) what life would have been like had these events not happened. In the film, many of the men spoke of the transition that they faced after getting out of prison. Of course, I can't really compare it to anything in my life, but my experience of moving back to Toronto after living, working, and breathing my life in Switzerland was an adjustment of sorts. Of course, the shock and challenges that I faced were minuscule in comparison, so I just think, if something as small as what I went through made enough of an impact on me to affect some of the things that I did and felt and experienced and how I went about my life soon after returning to Toronto, it must have been quite, I don't know what, for them. Yes, I know that they are completely different situations and as I type, I'm thinking that my experience is so meaningless that I should go back and delete it, but I'm the type of person who like to connect things together and attempt to relate experiences to each other and this post really is just a free write, so that's that. But the point is, a sudden change of someone reality is something interesting to consider. And I guess it happens all the time and and people learn to adjust, but often people get support beforehand or after the change (for example, I think of folks having a baby for the first time, and everyone I know went to some sort of parenting class beforehand and even had support groups once they became parents). I just wonder how much support these gentlemen had.
Anyway, I thought the film was quite good because it gave me a lot of issues to think about. Immediately after the screening, I remember thinking that I enjoyed this film, but didn't love it. But I think it's one of those things that if you got back to it, or just think about it a little bit more, you just start thinking about a lot of different things. I know some educators in the audience were talking about including this in their teaching, and of course I can see it being done in so many ways. If you do get a chance to watch the film, I would definitely recommend it.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

Argo

There are some folks who try to attend big blockbuster films at TIFF so that they might be able to see celebrities. There are others who stay far away because they know that they will be able to see them in theatres soon thereafter. I just pick films that sound good. If I can't narrow down my picks to the top 10 or whatever magic number of films that I end up seeing that year, I might get rid of the ones that will get wide-release, but it's worked out that I haven't had to in the past couple of years.
I really don't stay up to date on films getting wide release. I might watch ~10 movies within the span of 10 days, twice a year (TIFF and Hot Docs), but I probably average 1 or 2 a year otherwise. I did see a movie in the theatres this summer and saw the trailer for Argo (official website here, trailer here) at that time. I thought it looked intriguing, and obviously one of the most intriguing to me in this year's festival.
Based on a true story, here is part of the description from the TIFF website:
"On November 4, 1979, a group of Islamist militants took control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held fifty-two embassy personnel hostage. Six members of the embassy staff managed to escape and secretly took refuge in the Canadian embassy, where they remain in constant danger from the militants’ door-to-door searches. Enter CIA "exfiltration" specialist Tony Mendez, who cooks up a scheme to get the imperilled Americans out of the country. Mendez proposes to enter Iran posing as the producer of a fake Canadian science-fiction film entitled Argo, on the pretense that Iran’s arid rural landscape would make convincing (and cut-rate) extraterrestrial terrain; following the "location scouting," the six Americans will accompany him out of Iran posing as members of the film crew. To put his plan into action, Mendez will need expert advice, which leads him to befriend and recruit veteran Hollywood producer Lester Siegel to the cause. A script is cranked out and the plan is put into action — and once he lands in Iran, Mendez is going to have to play the role of a lifetime."
I thought the film was great. I don't know how true to the real story it was, but that wasn't a priority for me. This could have been a completely fictional story, and I would have been fine with it. I just through the idea of it was really cool and anything to do with hostages or spies is neat-o for me. I liked the characters in the film, I like the action, and I liked the suspense. In fact, I was on the edge of my seat at the climax of the film even though I knew the overall outcome of this story (I'd actually never knew about this incident before seeing the trailer, but thanks to media sources, darn it, I found out more about it.) There were some fantastic one-liners in the film that provided some good comedy relief. As I said the characters were great, and John Goodman and Alan Arkin's characters were especially entertaining.
Ben Affleck, who was the director and played Mendez, was on hand to introduce the film. Shame he didn't stay to do a Q&A. There was another celebrity at the screening. Dustin Hoffman snuck in as Affleck was making his introductions and sat just in front of me. For the first little while, I was a little distracted by this as I was interested in watching Mr. Hoffman's reactions to the film and wondering if he laughed at the same one-liners that I did. I had to control my urge to people-watch because I started missing what was actually happening on the big screen.
Anyway, I thought it was a great film. Very Hollywood, and entertaining. You should watch it. I also thought that it was sweet that in the closing credits, Affleck dedicated the film to his wife and kids.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

How to Make Money Selling Drugs

Half of my picks for the festival this year were feature films and the other have were documentaries. How to Make Money Selling Drugs (official website here, trailer here) was one of those documentaries.
My memory of the write-up about the film by the team at TIFF is pretty much that the film will reflect its name. I thought I would learn about drug dealing and there would be some cameos by some Hollywood celebrities. And who doesn't love celebrities in a film?
So the beginning of the film was exactly what I expected. It was slick and very entertaining. And I really did learn about drug dealing. In fact, it was so convincing, that for a brief moment, as I was watching the film, I considered the feasibility of getting into the game myself. I thought about the people that I knew who are/were involved with drugs, and I thought about my networks and how suitable they are to this 'industry'. And then I forced myself to remember that all of these thoughts were ridiculous. That I should just keep going on the path that I'm currently on. But it does show that the film was compelling.
And then, the film took an unexpected turn. Suddenly, I was learning about the drug wars in the US and how the government is a puppet master of sorts. Full disclosure: I saw this film at the end of a long day and immediately after seeing another film, so I was pretty tired during the screening. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I dozed off for a brief moment, and as a result, I'm not entirely confident about how the transition between themes happened. I think it had to do with the fact that although there's a financial/power ladder in the drug dealing game, there's a secret additional rung to that ladder and that's where the politicians come in. But again, I don't know for sure...errr, I was kinda tired.
The production team (Matthew Cooke, Bert Marcus and Adrian Grenier) and a couple key people in the film were in attendance and participated in a Q&A. During the Q&A, I realized that this film was really more about educating the viewer and encouraging them to take action and be activists for rethinking current drug policies. I also wondered what's going on with this issue here in Canada. This film was very much American but maybe some of the message is applicable to Canada as well. I'm just not educated enough to know for sure.
I enjoyed this film and would recommend it to others, but it wasn't the best film that I've ever seen. It definitely was entertaining and made you think about interesting issues, but I admit I'm not blown away. So, I'd say it's a great film, but not awesome.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

The We and the I

And TIFF'12 is well underway!
The first film that I saw this year was The We and the I (trailer here). The synopsis of the movie seemed to be interesting because of the subject matter, but the actual description of way the movie would be presented wasn't that compelling to me. From the synopsis, I wasn't completely sure if it would be a documentary or feature film. Nonetheless, I decided to give the movie a chance. The fact that Michael Gondry was the big name associated to the film didn't really make a difference to me. I didn't see any of his previous films.
The movie basically takes place on a public transit bus departing from a high school on the last day of school before the summer holiday and ends as the last couple of students get off and start their break. During the bus ride, we meet different students who all attend the same school and have been on the same bus line for the entire year. We see their interactions and their stories that seem very much 'high school'.
My review of the film...well, I found it okay, but nothing too special. It seemed like I was just watching real life unfold, but since I can witness real life on a daily basis and have lived through adolescence and see adolescence often in my life, the film didn't seem to enrich anything for me. The 'actors' did seem sort of amateur at times and that didn't help matters. I don't usually notice inconsistencies in films, but the fact that I noticed that the time of day and weather around the bus changed randomly from scene to scene might be an indication that I wasn't completely invested in the story. And although each of the storylines were independently interesting, at times I felt it a little jarring how the filmmaker(s) transitioned between them.
Now here's the thing that wants me give the film the benefit of the doubt. This film spawned from a project between Gondry and the 'actors' as an afterschool program. In fact, the 'actors' are students, and from a final piece in the closing credits, we get a sense that the film is inspired by the students and that Gondry was really invested in these students and made a big impact on their lives. I imagine that the students were asked to share topics that were important to them and they helped developed the screenplay. However, I did notice that in the opening and closing credits, Gondry was credited a lot and the students just (?) seemed to be listed as the actors and there was just (?) a small mention of the project.
I was very disappointed that no one from the film attended the screening. I would have been interested to learn a little bit more about the project and what the main message of the film was. I really left this screening wanting to know a little bit more. It was the first screening of the film at the festival, so I had thought there would be folks from the film in attendance, but it didn't work out that way. There wasn't even a message passed along to the programmers to pass along to us. What a disappointment.
So, not quite a rave review, but I like the idea that this film started from a project with students. I just wish the film could have been a wee bit more, I don't know. Something.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net

TIFF is coming!

I was thinking about TIFF today. And thinking about what to include in my survival kit. You know, the basic necessities to keep you going when you've been busy with non-TIFF things all day and then you have to go to two screenings at night and then after a short night's sleep you have to go to more screenings without having a chance to cook and you don't really want to eat cinema food but need to wait in hour-long lines to get a rush ticket or a good seat (as a ticket holder) only to need something to do while sitting in the theatre for 30 minutes waiting for the big show to start and then freezing your bum off because they've cranked the AC? You know, all that kind of good stuff.
Oh man, TIFF is awesome. I can't wait for it to start!

Whoosh!!!

Here. We. Go!
This is going to be a big year. I've felt like I've been on a roller coaster for the past couple of years and this year will be no different.
In student-land, this is THE year.
In teacher-land, although I don't start teaching my classes until next week, this week is jam packed with leading workshops for folks teaching for the first time so the race has started.
Seeing the froshies running around reinforces the fact that it's go-time.
I'm nervous and amped about this year all at the same time.

Empire State of Pen

Empire State of Pen from BigAnimal on Vimeo.

Planning ahead

Next year, if I'm in the city, I'll try to be better prepared for the start of the year so that I can head west on the waterfront and watch the Canadian International Air Show front and center instead of watching it from my balcony.
I watched part of it yesterday as I was going back and forth between my computer and the balcony and the Snowbirds looked like they were having a grand 'ole time out there. It really does look like birds playing in the sky. I'm sure the pilots are very conscientious as they work, but I wonder if they're whooping and hollering just like the spectators are.
Anyway, back to work: it's back-to-school crunch time!

Interesting!

The restaurant we went to last night gave me a black dinner napkin because I was wearing dark clothing. I'm trying to figure out if it was a stylistic decision to continue to use white cotton napkins (and providing an alternative) even though they knew that they were leaving lint on the patrons as opposed to just going with linen napkins. What was it about the cotton napkins that they wanted to keep? And the black napkins weren't cotton so the fabric couldn't have been that important.
Anyway, it was the first time that I'd been to a restaurant with napkin options.

TIFF 2012

I'm trying to figure out my ticket selection for this year's festival. The process is a little different in that we don't have to fill out a booklet and keep our fingers crossed that our 'box' is drawn first. Instead, I was randomly assigned a timeslot to make my selection and it's first come first serve from that point.
I don't remember what my first round of cuts from going through the list of films resulted in, but I've narrowed it down to my final 28 films. I'd usually want to cut it down to about 15-20 before making a spreadsheet of the films to see what overlaps (thereby cutting out some possibilities), but I'm having trouble cutting down from where I am. I usually have a couple films that are on my 'must see' list, but this year, either nothing's blowing me away, or everything on my shortlist sounds awesome.
I will be seeing at least 8 films this year.

High Speed Video of Flipping Cats

Cats are awesome. Well actually, all animals are awesome. I used to do similar 'experiments' with my cat, but I don't have the science knowledge to explain all of the cool things that she could do. I didn't have to have any special knowledge to know that my cat was a princess. An awesome princess.

Huh?

Was I supposed to be flattered when the saleslady asked me if the shoes that I wanted to try on were for my school uniform? Or was it some sort of dig at my taste in footwear?

wallpaper.com and blah

I'm not sure why I didn't have website for Wallpaper* Magazine bookmarked prior to last week. I'm really enjoying what it has to offer.

And vaguely related, why am I posting so much today? Procrastinating on the thesis? Eek. The past two weeks have been good. I'm getting into a groove but my fingers aren't going as fast as I would like them to. Or maybe I should be concerned that's I'm only a third through the themes for my Findings chapter and I'm at about 100 pages. I'm in for a bumpy ride. My thesis is going to be a great doorstopper.

Camping

I've never been camping before. I mean, in the woods. Prior to the age of 22, I don't think I'd slept in a tent. Actually, I might have once when I was a kid. I remember crayons melting in the front pocket of my red backpack from sitting in the sun too long while I was at a day-camp. But I'm not entirely sure if we had a special event where we'd stayed over. Maybe not.
I've been to two cottages in my life. One involved sleeping in a tent in the yard (it was for an initiation), and the other, I slept in a king-sized bed. I think that cottage was nicer than a lot of houses.
The sleepover camps that I've been to (all school-related) involved me sleeping in a bed in cabins. Not terribly rustic.
Growing up, camping just wasn't something that our family did. I don't think that my parents had anything against camping, it just wasn't part of their repertoire of things to do.
I imagined camping to be something where you're in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity nor running water. And you definitely don't have a toilet. Especially not a porcelain kind. I've since learned that there are different types of campgrounds and ways to camp, but I'm not chomping at the bit to go. That's not entirely true, I do want to give it a go, but I just don't know how I feel about having the first time I go be really, I don't know, authentic?
I'm not a total princess. Seriously, I'm not. In fact, I guess I have gone camping before. I slept in a tent (although I did not put it up) in the deserts of Tunisia. And the toilet facilities were "behind that sand dune over there". We did have a roll of toilet paper, but that's it. Actually, I've camped a couple times on my extravagant adventures abroad. I camped in Kenya too.
But camping in Northern Ontario or anywhere else in Canada, I have yet to do. I'd like to!
Oh right, the reason why I wrote this post in the first place - I read this article. I found it amusing, entertaining and brought up some interesting issues about society.

Hotel --> condo = auction

I had wanted to go to the Four Seasons Hotel auction a couple month ago, but I didn't end up having time to check it out. Now, yet another 'famous' hotel in the city is closing to make way for condos and they're going through the same process. The Sutton Place Hotel is auctioning off many of their items for charity and is currently ongoing.
I'm not sure if I would buy anything, but I think it would be interesting to see what kinds of things that a hotel needs to get rid of and the prices that they are going for. Maybe I'll be able to find some time in the next couple of days to take a look.

Just a guess

I'm thinking that the lady that I saw on the bus this morning wearing all-black might work at Burberry. I mean, I was also wearing an all-black outfit (shocker!), but my outfit didn't consist of Burberry wellies, a Burberry blazer, a Burberry purse, and a Burberry coin purse. I mean, I can't be entirely sure because she wasn't carrying a Burberry umbrella and her black sequined scrunchie (that's right, I said scrunchie) most definitely wasn't from Burberry, but the rest of her outfit looked very Burberry boutique salesperson-esque (I wonder what word they use to refer to themselves in Burberry-land).

Olympic 2012 Doodles

The doodles for the 2012 Olympics have been great. I mean, the doodles are always great, but I've enjoyed the interactive ones from these past couple of days. They remind me of the Olympic Decathlon game that my brother and I used to play on the Apple 2E. Classic.

Fruits and veg garden

I'm a city girl. I've visited a couple farms and gardens on field trips, and I've stayed with a couple people who grow fruits/veg in their gardens. I have seen some fruit/veg on my travels in their natural habitat too, but for the most part, my conception of where fruits and veg come from is the (super)market. Obviously, I know that they were grown somewhere first, but I can't imagine how most of them grow.

Recently, my dad's taken up a hobby of growing random fruits and veg in their backyard. I know that my parents grew some things in the first home that I lived in, but I don't have many memories of it. A couple years ago, my dad started growing tomatoes (cherry and heirloom) and it was pretty awesome. Two years ago he added some winter melon to the mix and that was cool because I had never seen a vegetable that grows on a vine go from seedling to harvest.
Last year, my dad went even more intense. There were tomatoes, bitter melon (testing out a new vine veg), snow peas, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. The tomatoes, bitter melon and snow peas were successful. The strawberries less so, but I've heard that they take a little bit more expertise. The other berries and the grapes - nada. But it was an experiment and fun for my dad to tinker around, so it was worth it.

This year, my dad moves some of the plants around, being strategic and hoping that the new placement would help (especially with the strawberries). The tomatoes are starting to do their thing. The snow peas are duds this year but the duds from last year returned from a vengeance! All of the pictures from this post are from this year. The raspberries were small, but there were a good number and the blackberries have really come to life!

It's, again, been really interesting to watch them grow and to hear from my dad about how he's tinkered around with them. I'm looking forward to seeing how the grapes are going to develop because, as you can see from the picture, it looks promising. The new 'melon' of choice is actually cucumbers and zucchini...along with bitter melon again (blech). My dad had planted them pretty late in the season so he wasn't sure if anything would come of them. When I was there snapping pictures, I saw this wee thing (below), but I didn't know what it would become. Now, a couple weeks later, I've found out that they're pickling cucumbers. And just like the winter melon, the prickles on the outside come right off when they're ripe. Plants are awesome, aren't they?
Way to protect themselves from predators! Anyway, I think the zucchini are trying to grow as well, but they probably weren't planted in the best location. They're shaded by the leaves and vines of the cucumbers and bitter melon that are growing up the lattice in front of them. I think my dad assumed that zucchini would grow a similar way. Oops.
But that's the thing, although it's great that my parents can eat the fruit and veg that my dad's growing, it's more
of a fun hobby and learning activity. My dad and his gardens are proof that there is such thing as lifelong learners and that you can always pick and choose something new to learn about.
Also amazing is the fact that my dad has built planters and various structures in their backyard for all of these 'experiments'. And they look incredible! I'm lucky enough to have a custom-made deck and planters at my place too!

10 Videos To Get You Fired Up for the Olympics

I feel like I'm missing the Olympics. I don't have a TV and I've made a conscious decision not to have a live stream going on my computer. I don't even know what happened in the opening ceremonies other than the fact that the Queen made a cameo in a 007 thing and Mr. Bean did something with an orchestra (factoid: Mr. Bean is completely lost on folks who are visually impaired. Think about it, everything he does is physical. He hardly ever talks and for the most part no one does in his sketches. There's a ton a laugh tracks in there, but that's not what the visually impaired need.).
Anyway, I will linger by a TV when I walk by somewhere showing the Olympics, but I do not watch it at work nor at home. I'm hoping that as a result, I'm probably a lot more productive, but I do feel like I'm missing out on some great things.
But I guess you're always missing out on great things in life. I'm just consciously aware of the fact that I'm missing the Olympics.
Ramble over.
Here's a nice series of video related to the Games and/or sports.

Bloody sponsors

I get that without them, the Olympics might not even happen, but it irks me to no end that these companies are letting prime seats go to waste when there are avid fans who pay big bucks for worse seats and/or can't even get tickets. I saw it first hand in Torino. Before than, I really was naive enough to not realize that that's how the world worked. My earlier post from those games and even notes from that post actually showed that I thought that people just didn't buy tickets. Little did I know. Sigh. It was quite upsetting to me and it seems as though things won't be changing anytime soon.

Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?

Sherry Turkle says everything that I've been thinking these past couple of years as technology innovations have become mainstream. Sure, I deeply respect the benefits of these technologies, but the issues that Ms. Turkle shares really concern me. As someone who is actively bucking these technologies, I thought I was alone in my thoughts. And as someone in a field that is really advocating for pushing forward with these advances (although, I would think that most fields engage in these innovations), I feel conflicted. By no means do I think these advances should be banished from our existence, but I'm uneasy about how it will change our society. As an individual who is sentimental and appreciative of our past and certain values and norms, maybe I'm flawed to not just accept an inevitable shift. I know I can be resistant to change, and I can't help but be reminded of the words of educational theorist Paulo Freire, "Change is difficult, but possible", but these words were written to refer to a positive change. Do the benefits of these advances outweigh the drawbacks? I'm not sure.
Having watched the video, my tension with the matter has not been resolved, but I am glad that the debate is out there. I didn't think it was.

(Thanks b, for passing this along.)
A related post.

Oh wow...

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." 

I came across this saying today.
It just clicked. I kid you not.
Boy am I slow. To give me a little bit of credit, I haven't heard someone say this (or read it somewhere) in years. Decades, even.
Ha ha ha ha ha...I'm so glad that I can laugh at myself. Sometimes I take myself way too seriously. Luckily, this was a LOL moment.
And for that grand breakthrough in understanding, I deserve a weekend. If only I could finish this assignment and those conference proposals...I give myself 2 hours before I call it quits for the week.

Play Me, I'm Yours

I've seen a couple around the city...have you?
What a wonderful idea!