Study break

Hello, I hadn't updated in a while so I thought I would. Recently I have been busy preparing for midterms and getting caught up in classes and figuring out majors and programs and courses and what I'm going to study. I finally did figure it all out, but I don't feel like posting about that.

Pretty much every day for the past couple weeks has been libraries, notebooks, and running to and from class. It hasn't been bad though, because I really like everything that I'm studying now. Everyone said "college is better than high school because you can study what you want to" and it came true!

This week I finally realized why my sociology prof always looks so familiar. He looks just like Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He does. Google image search "Robert Brym" and you will see.

Rifqi is trying to set me up with one of his engineering friends. That is fine with me, because I don't have to do any work. Also this guy has a blog that I like so he obviously can type competently (unlike someone...). Points for him.

Reading week is all figured out. On the 12th I take the subway to Yorkdale, where Oma will pick me up, and we will all hang out in Apsley with Carolyn and Jay and Finn and Ollie for awhile, then we'll go to Oma and Opa's house. To get back to Toronto I will take the GO train. I am so looking forward to reading week. It will be a very nice break from all the libraries and Burwash food.

Sorry for the short boring post. I should go back to studying now. Miss you all!
(picture cred: Ryo Tomo)

SKIRTS

Oh hai. I just listened to two Jack Johnson albums and I'm feeling super relaxed now. That guy is soooo chill.
As most of you have heard, Bachan has been teaching me how to sew. I've finished two skirts so far. This is the first one that I did:


That thing on the top left is the zipper, usually it is covered by fabric but I kind of tucked it into my mattress since I was too lazy to put it on and take nice pictures, so the fabric got pulled away.



And this is the latest one, I really like it and it reminds me of Nancy Drew:




There's a belt that goes with it that's made out of the same fabric but I'm not wearing it in the pictures. You can see the belt loops in the first one though.
Sewing has been really fun and Bachan is a great teacher. I made the brown skirt on the same sewing machine she used to make my mom's wedding dress!

Tonight there is a semi-formal chocolate buffet in Old Vic (the main Vic building right outside my res that looks like a castle). I am strategically planning to wear a brown dress so that if I get chocolate on it it won't be noticeable. After that there is a pub night in The Cat's Eye, which was supposed to be closed for reconstruction but apparently is not closed anymore.

I really really like astronomy so far and my Women in Ukrainian Lit course is actually mega interesting. I have to go to at least one "observing session" for astronomy where you meet up in a small group at night and look through telescopes in the astronomy & astrophysics department. It sounds cool. So I will sign up for one... after I finish this post. Which is now. Bye!

Little India and stuff

Hi! Things have been going much better lately, but my workload this semester is large like a sperm whale. Like a sperm whale figurine that is sitting on my magazine holder. That Claire Fro got me for Christmas. Because she knows that I just love whales. What was I talking about?
Anyway, this is kind of olllld news, but the weekend before last I went to Little India with Rifqi and Kara. Here is a pretty bad picture of us:


We all look odd but it was the only one we got where all 3 of our heads were in the frame. Anyway Little India was really cool, it was basically 90% sari shops, 6% Indian restaurants, and 4% random little stores. Here is Rifqi lookin dumb in a sari shop:


Here's some badass icicles on an Indian convenience store:


HAHAHAHAHA:


We came across some kids sledding down this little hill. It looked like sooo much fun. You can see the CN Tower in the skyline!


We went into this little store with a ton of Indian books and statues of gods and bangles. I liked the books best. Especially this one:


Fried food is always fun. Definitely a recipe for happiness. Also this guy:


Badass.
My favorite sari store was this extremely colourful one:



We had dinner at an Indian buffet with really good butter chicken. It was AWESOME. We stayed there for a long time talking, then trekked back to the subway station to go home.

In other news, I don't think I will be doing a linguistics major anymore. I don't like the class or the subject and it's just kind of boring to me. As it turns out, I love studying other languages, but I don't like studying language itself. I think it's mostly because I like to find out about other cultures, and language is a huge part of any culture. So I like to study other languages, but mostly for the cultural value, and not because I'm particularly fascinated by the science of language, phonology, morphology, syntax and all that. Linguistics has been kind of helpful in learning Arabic, and it will be helpful in learning other languages too, so it's good that I have a better general understanding of language now. But I don't feel motivated to pursue it.
My plan before was to do a major in linguistics and a double minor in Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations (NMC) and East Asian Studies. Now I'm leaning more toward a double major in astronomy and literature. Perhaps the Minato haze has started to lift?

I'm already a few weeks into the new semester so I'm kind of late talking about this, but I mostly like my new professors. I have three full-year courses, but even for them I have new profs.

My new linguistics professor is much better than my last one. Instead of showing Powerpoint slides and reading them in a monotone with a heavy, hard-to-understand accent, she uses the blackboard and actually lectures. She doesn't make us print out stuff for homework, and she's obviously really, really into linguistics. She talks like Joan Cusack and when she smiles she looks like Meryl Streep.

I have a new Arabic professor too, her name is Suha and she's short and fiesty. Our class is down to 16 people now. I like her more than the last prof, but the last one was good too.

My new sociology professor is the guy who wrote our textbook. His lectures are a lot more interesting and informative, and it feels more like a real class now. He has a slight Australian accent.

My Women in Ukrainian Literature professor is named Maxim Tarnawsky. He got his BA from University of Pennsylvania and his PhD from Harvard. And his name is Maxim. TOTALLY BADASS

I have two professors for astronomy. The first week we had Dr. Reid, he is awesome. He reminds me of Bill Nye the Science guy! Plus he used to live in Hawaii. He seems really cool and totally not uptight but also not a pushover.
Dr. Mochnacki is kind of boring so far, apparently he does most of the more physics-y lectures. But I've had two lectures with him and so far it's just been going over stuff we read in the textbook already. Mehhh.

But yeah, mostly awesome professors this semester.

That's pretty much all I wanted to post about. I should probably go read some depressing Ukrainian anti-serf literature now. The book of stories we're reading out of is called For a Crust of Bread. I have to read "Artichokes" and "The Accursed Mill." We are also going to read "Marriage Contract." One of our other books is called On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs. It's going to be an exciting class. Baiiiiiiiii

I hate everything

Ughhhh. This goes beyond a bad day. And you all get to hear about it.
Soooo yesterday, I realized that I had procrastinated on some readings for my Ukrainian lit class. I had to read a 65-page story and two 10-page poems (computer-printed, 8.5x11 pages) (it doesn't sound like a lot but HOLY CRAP IT IS!!!). So all day I carried around this thick stack of papers. THIS THICK, IN FACT:

Sorry for the weirdness. But I can't have a pictureless post! Anyway, I read slowly. Especially if I'm reading a poorly translated, extremely depressing Ukrainian tale about village folk in the 1800's. I went to Wymilwood, got a bagel, and read while waiting for Naufil to show up, since he just got back and I told him I'd meet up with him there. Then I went to the Reading Room in Birge-Carnagie and read for about 2 hours. Then I went back to my room and read for half an hour or so, until it was time to go to linguistics at 2. From 2-4 I had linguistics, and I read during our 10-minute break at 3:00. I had Arabic from 5-7, so from 4-5 I was planning on reading, but the building I wanted to read in was having some kind of poster-frenzy and there were loud people everywhere. So I wandered around for a while and found a creepy deserted hall. I sat down and read until the dim light started making my eyes hurt and I felt nauseous. I went outside to get some fresh, freezing cold air, and started walking toward Bancroft Building, where I have Arabic, reading as I walked. There was 20 minutes or so until class started, so I went into the Environmental Sciences building across the lane and found a nice seating area where people were working and reading. Unfortunately right after I sat down, these two girls came in and started giggling and chatting in painfully strident voices about something, apparently oblivious to the many "shutupshutup" looks that were being shot their way. They did not leave. I had barely read a page by the time I had to go to class. After Arabic, I went back to Vic and had dinner in the dining hall with Rifqi before shutting myself in my room at 8:30 and reading nonstop. I read for 7 hours before realizing that I was spending like 25 minutes on a page because I kept reading a paragraph and not getting it, and reading it again and again and again, which I had been doing all day to some extent, because I can't focus on reading anymore (which is a whole other problem...). So I set it aside for a bit and did my linguistics homework, which was due the next day too. I spent about an hour and a half making X-Bar trees and it actually really helped me understand things better. Then I started reading again. At around 5am. I FINISHED EVERYTHING at around 8, set my alarm for 12:30pm and my other alarm for 12:45pm, and fell asleep.
That was yesterday.
My class schedule for today was this:
2-3: Women in Ukrainian Literature
3-4: Linguistics tutorial
4-5: Astronomy
6-8: Sociology

I didn't wake up at 12:30, or 12:45. I slept through both my alarms. When I woke up, it was...
.....
......

4:08pm.

I literally screamed as loud as I could out of frustration and scrambled down my ladder from my stupid lofted bed. Over my pajamas (sweatpants and a t-shirt), I put on socks, a sweatshirt, a coat, and my boots, crammed my notebook and pencil into my bag, and left for astronomy. Classes start at 10 after the hour so I had 2 minutes to get there. Usually in the snow it's a 10-minute walk to Con Hall, but I ran the entire way and got there in 5, and I only nearly died once, when I slipped and fell on an icy patch in the street and almost got hit by a car. I made it to astronomy a few minutes late.
But I didn't make it to Ukrainian literature. Or linguistics.
After astronomy I went back to Vic for dinner, where I realized I didn't remember to put my wallet in my bag during my 4:08 rush. Without my key card I couldn't get into my building, and without my student card they wouldn't give me any food. I went into the dining hall anyway, since it was really cold and I thought maybe if I just told him my student number he'd let me in, since apparently it's worked for other people. There was a lineup in the dining hall, which NEVER happens, except on Indian food night. Which it happened to be. When I got to the desk I asked if I could use my student number instead and he answered with a definitive "NO." Then I saw Molly a few people ahead of me and borrowed her key and went and got my wallet. Lucky! After dinner I went to soc, then came back here and emailed my professors. I know my linguistics homework will not be accepted late and is worth nothing now, and now I have a whole new set of reading to do for lit before Thursday.
Also I just went to Wymilwood with Rifqi where 3 people, including him, commented on how horrible I looked.

Why can't I be a light sleeper?

Oh hai

Hello! I'm more or less settled into university life again and I have some new classes and new professors for the old classes. My suitcase did eventually reach Toronto and is presently all unpacked and stowed away. South House sweet South House. Oh how I've missed the flimsy internet connection and lack of closet space. But here are some pictures from the winter break, featuring B'loonies and the coast. These are from my little camera so I didn't bother editing them or anything. Sahrry.












The top picture is in Queen's Park in the early evening. I walk through there many times a day and it feels cinematic with all the snow. Today I went to lunch with Oma and Opa. I met them in Dundas Square and we went to Salad King, this Thai restaurant. It was awesome to see them and I hope I can figure out the whole Go Train thing well enough to visit them in Burford soon! Also today I went to see Up In The Air, the George Clooney movie. Jason Reitman directed it so of course it had lovely music and enough of an indie-vibe to be quirky without being pretentious. Basically I loved it and you should go see it. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to brunch with Kara and check out the Danforth/Greektown with some people. Yesterday there was a chaotic but fun club night and the day before that they showed Love Actually in the Isabel Bader theater as part of Winterfest week! I'll have a better post later prolly but I really just wanted to put up my winter break photos. Bye!

Yes there's a lot of photos, Yes you will deal with it

HEY GUYS, GUESS WHY I'M SO HAPPY!
NO, it's not because I almost broke my phone while slamming my head into my desk!
NO, it's not because my friends said they'd go to lunch with me and then ditched me at the last minute!
NO, it's not because my linguistics exam is on Friday and I still can't concentrate on studying!

IT'S BECAUSE...
....
.....

IT'S SNOWING YAAAYYYYY!!


At this point I would like to apologize to Claire, who is in Foco right now where it was -13 degrees FAHRENHEIT this morning. And she has to go to aerobics. -13 degrees is not aerobics weather. It is weather for staying in with a heater and a blanket and hot chocolate. Did you know that the lowest recorded temperature in Colorado was -61 degrees, in 1985? What the hell! But that was in Maybell, not Foco. Just some handy weather facts. Colorado is friggin cold.

ANYWAY, it is not actually snowing anymore here, it is more slush-raining, which is really nasty. And I dropped my toothbrush on the disgusting bathroom floor this morning so I have to walk to Shoppers Drug Mart to get a new one, so I'm trying to wait until the slush stops falling for a few minutes. But last night at about 1am I looked outside and everything was white and there was snow falling from the sky!

I grabbed my little camera and ran out into the quad and threw snowballs at stuff for awhile, and took some blurry pictures from the doorway because this camera doesn't handle nighttime very well.



I also took an incredibly creepy myspace picture.


I went back in and continued studying linguistics until around 2am, when I texted Naufil to see if he had any food. He said we should go to Rabba (the 24/7 "grocery store" about 4 minutes away), and I wanted to go outside so I said okay. Usually I avoid Rabba because it is gross and sticky and there's always a pack of hobos outside the entrance. Most of the food is moldy and the people working there usually look at you as if you're the most exasperatingly bothersome thing they've ever had to deal with. But it was snowing! So we went anyway.
I donned my new black-version-of-the-Michelin-Man coat and put my big camera in my bag and we had a snowball fight all the way down St Mary's street. We pretty much walked backwards the rest of the way because of the violent wind, which made the seemingly innocent snowflakes feel like needles and sparks smacking into our faces.
Rabba was its usual grungy self but once we got outside I started taking some pictures.


I like this one especially because of the apartment building filling up the background and because of the snow on the right side of the pole, and the light flare at the top, and just the overall mood. I feel like it's one of my favorite photos I've taken. But I think this may be one of those pictures that I really love, but other people don't really get, like this one. I freaking loved that photo! I remember exactly where I was and what I was thinking when I took it, and I love the gradient of bright blues and the wispy clouds and how the airplane is small and heading off, out of the frame and how it all looks and seems together. Basically I liked everything that people told me was wrong with it, but I totally get why they might not like it or think it's uninteresting, cause it's also a really personal photo, and when I look at it, it immediately brings up all these feelings. Like when you hear a song you used to listen to a lot but haven't heard in a while? When people first started dissing on the plane photo, I was like "wtf! this is a great picture!" and got all insecure about it but i've realized that it's pretty much the same deal for most photos that I feel that kind of connection with. Not that I'm tremendously concerned with how well other people like my photos... I just noticed this trend and thought it was interesting. Plus I kind of like how a photo can be really meaningful to one person, and the rest of the world would just see it as a mehhh photo. Like a secret between you and the picture! ANYWAYY, did not mean to ramble on forever here are some other photos I took.


Green bike (the same bike that's in the top photo). I like red/yellow/green together (rasta? traffic light? anyway it reminds me of italian food) so I love the little accents of colour of the red and yellow bokeh dots at the top and the green bicycle frame. Also I liked the shadow of the bike on the pavement. But I think I could have done this shot better if Naufil hadn't been rushing me. >:[

Speaking of Naufil, this is his sincere attempt at looking badass:

He is completely serious. I laughed for a long time.


I don't like this all that much, but I thought it was kind of cool. Sushi Club is also a pretty good restaurant. I had butterfish sushi there! :O ("we'll take another round of the butterfish...")

On the way home, RJ hall in the background





Back in the common room... I parted the curtains a bit and took this through the gap. It's weird and I like the blown-out diamond of the light contrasted with the perfectly-exposed, snow-covered tree limb, and I like the negative space a lot. I guess I just like it cause it's kind of weird. Click to make it bigger if you want... cause the mini version looks kind of dumb.


I took some photos of the festive decor in the common room...


This is a closeup of that red shiny tinsel-y string stuff that you can see in the bottom of the bow picture. THIS STUFF. What the hell do you call that kind of thing??

Anyway we watched Seinfeld in the common room for a bit and then I studied more and then Rifqi called and was like "let's go outside it's snowing!" He ended up running around in the quad while I took pictures from the soho entrance. He even fell down once and I caught it mid-fall! Ohohoho!


He wanted his mom to know he hadn't forgotten about her, so he wrote MAMA in the snow.



I will leave you with a couple almost-not-fail shots of my favorite mini Harajuku girl.

Dirty head fail


Not-quite-in-focus fail


Um. Sorry this post was so long and, uh, expository... I've been writing too many essays.

Melancholy vlogging

I'm sorry about this. You may have to turn up the volume cause I was talking kind of quietly so that people in the hall wouldn't hear me talking to myself. The walls here are REALLY THIN.



Soo, here are some pictures of my room! Notice the awesome posters and not-TOO-messy desk.




Hahaha, my side is cooler than Molly's boring side!


So anyway, see you soon.