Today was such a beautiful day: sunny, clear blue skies, and warm without being too hot. The weather holds such sway in determining my mood. The winter grayness really depresses me, rainy summer days and nights make me lazy and content, and bright sunny spring days add that extra bounce to my step.
I went to see
Jane Urquhart read from her novels today. She's a Canadian author who has quite the reputation. I bought my mother an autographed copy of her latest book,
The Stone Carvers, for a birthday gift. She loved it, and from hearing Jane Urquhart read from it this afternoon, I am officially adding it to my list. There's a lot of historical context to her novels, and quite a bit of it Canadian.
I was also informed this week that I won an NSERC research grant summer position at my University. I've talked about this in earlier blogs: the research council only gives out 13 of these positions for all the natural sciences where you work doing research in your field in a lab for the summer. I got one of those 13 spots. It's good money, really interesting work, and going to put me leaps and bounds ahead of other grad school applicants. I'm happy, and at the same time I'm really pissed that I now have to stay in fucking Waterloo all alone for the summer. It blows. At least Dr. Teather is cool enough to give me some time off in May to go home first.
I'm off to have coffee/cake with some friends now before we head out to Retro Night at the Turret: 70s-80s-90s music, I'm excited.
Listening to:
Hold On - Jamie Walters.
Back, again, in the City of Ass. God I hate this shit town sometimes, especially when directly juxtaposed with Montreal. I don't think I've ever done as much touristy things in Montreal in one week in my entire life:
- Clubbing
- Chez Kora
- Casino
- Downtown shopping
- Visit fancy schmancy restaurants
- Fine Arts Museum
- Canadiens vs. Flames game at the Bell Center
- Massages
- Golf-dome
And now I'm back, in the 'Loo, where it permanently stinks like ass and there's absolutely nothing to do. Hoora.
On brighter notes, I finished
Rebecca, I loved it. Interesting ending, I'm still thinking about it. I'm now reading
No Logo by Naomi Klein, and re-reading
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I read it so quickly the first time around that I've forgotten most of it, so it's almost like reading it for the first time again. I'm very much looking forward to the movie in June.
Turns out I kicked my stats midterm's ASS: 90%. I'm very happy about that, stats normally kicks my ass. I'll be getting it back tomorrow, not a bad way to start the week. Though it gets tougher from here on out, March is my horrible month.
Off to read in bed, night folks!
Last night was loads of fun. It happened to be salsa night at 737, so I was slightly disappointed when we decided not to stay and venture out to another club. I love 737, it's classy and has a wonderful view of the city. Envy turned out alright, though we got a little bored not too far into the night. It was Jen's 21st birthday, so we had a few shots at midnight to commemorate the occasion.
After we got back from the club, freezing in my skirt and bare legs in -10 weather trying not to collapse on my 3 inch heels, Jen, Katina, and I were starving. We drove frantically round Nun's Island at 2:30 am trying to find somewhere to get food. We ended up at some sketchy gas station and Tim Hortons with a guy who couldn't make a sandwich to save his life. Jen makes these very amusing moaning noises in her sleep, though their rhythmic pace did eventually lull me to sleep.
Chez Cora, as tradition following a night of partying, was absolutely amazing. It was so busy that we got shafted with these couches and a pathetic oval coffee table that could barely contain all our plates. Elisa had to put her plate on her knees and try very hard not to pull an Amy and slobber all over herself. Following Chez Cora's, Elisa's car decided it didn't like the cold weather and chose to protest by refusing to start.
All in all, it was an eventful night/morning/afternoon. I had a blast. I miss my home friends, it's nice to see them and have a good time all together. I hope the rest of the week is as much fun.
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, is not typically my kind of book. I have been known to enjoy Pride and Prejudice, or something akin to it from time to time, but romance has never been my favorite sort of literature. I can't really pin point why I'm enjoying Rebecca so much. One, I particularly like the fact that the main character is nameless. I've never read any other book like that before, it's interesting. I also enjoy the manner in which the main character and Maxim de Winter meet in Monte Carlo. There's something about the typical byronic hero that tugs so predictably at my heart strings. I don't really like that it does so, it makes me feel like a typical weepy female who reads romance novels as some sort of emotional porn. I feel the same way the main character feels when Maxim shows her the smallest bit of affection, it's quite silly how I've identified with her so much. We're nothing alike, and thankfully so.
Countdown to Montreal with Amy during reading week continues: 2 days and counting, boys and girls. I really hope all of our plans don't fall through, or shit will hit the fan. 737 should be fun though, if I can find something suitably sexy yet non-slutty to wear. At least I have my shoes already decided on :)
The only thing I can count on is people letting me down. People saying they're going to be somewhere and then they're not. People (i.e. a few nameless roommates) storming loudly through the door at 2:30 am when I was already pleasantly asleep to proceed to be even louder and more obnoxious for an hour and a half, culminating in my not being able to fall back asleep. People ditching me when I need them, which consequently results in that being the last time I'll ever need them again.
In conclusion: fuck you all. That's right, ALL of you.
Me, bitter? Noooooooo!
I fly home with Amy for Spring break next week. I can't believe it's already spring break time in my third year of University. I am getting so frickin' old, it's depressing. It makes me want to act more like a kid, i.e. stealing a Slippery When Wet sign from Tim Horton's to go sledding on. That was fun, even though I practically sled into a pole which was a slight bit scary.
I'm absolutely loving
Survivor by
Chuck Palahniuk, I suggest you all run out and read it immediately. I found
Lullaby a tad too disturbing, though that's one aspect I do particularly enjoy about Palahniuk. There was just too much necrophilia in
Lullaby for my personal taste. But to each their own.
Survivor makes me laugh out loud, which is especially funny when I'm in the ultra-quiet solarium and everyone turns to stare at me for breaking their precious silence.
Women's Studies was very fun this week, we talked a lot about Buffy and Buffy-centered Fan Fiction. In our tutorial, I was the only real regular fan of the show so I was the one bring up the most points, which is not usually the way I operate in classroom situations. In our lecture, there's about 80 girls and only 5 guys, and the guys hardly ever participate in class discussions. This week, there was one guy who was really getting into it, and I quite enjoyed listening to him. Sometimes I forget that there's guys in the class, and it's nice to hear their perspective about
Girls, Women, and Popular Culture.
If there's any guys out there who'd like to venture me an opinion or some thoughts, I'd die of a very pleasant shock. So shock me:
and drop me a line.
The more I listen to this song, the more it hits home with me. Thought I'd share some of my favorite lyrics:
All you need is love is a lie
Cause we had love and we still say goodbye
Now we're tired
Battered fighters
And it stings when it's nobody's fault
Cause there's
Nothing to blame at the drop of your name
It's only the air you took
And the breath you left
So I'll check the weather
Wherever you are
Cause I wanna know
If you can see the stars tonight
It may be my only right
I called
Because
I just
Need to feel you on the line
Don't hang up this time
I know it was me who called it over
But I'd still wish you'd fought me till your
Dying day
Don't let me get away
Cause I can't wait to figure out what's wrong with me
So I can this this is the way that I used to be
There's no substitute for time
Or for the sadness
-
Split Screen Sadness, John Mayer.
