| Another day. |
[02 Dec 2009|04:12pm] |
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It wednesday and I'm getting out of bed at 3pm. My plan today is to buy some milk and tasty cereal to motivate me to get out of bed. I can't miss tomorrow's exam review in Tutorial, nor Friday's Tintin movie showing. I was supposed to book the television today but the depeartment office is already closed. Fun times.
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| 4:44 am. Time for a serious post. |
[28 Nov 2009|05:25am] |
It isn't often that I don't post about daily events or school related thoughts/qualms. I think I have neglected my writing skills in a way that favours one or two line expression over continuous logical flow.
Cats.
( See what I mean? )
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| 'Tis late, dear friends |
[23 Nov 2009|03:21am] |
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I am in the student centre, it is late and I am working on my first real paper of the year. An all-nighter is looking pretty likely. If anything I should finish by 5am and then get a few hours sleep... that would be nice. Wish me well, friends.
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| Essay Day |
[21 Nov 2009|04:12pm] |
Everyday is essay day! Huzza!
There's also this. I am the Ottomans and frankly, I am kicking butt.
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| Assignments and stress |
[20 Nov 2009|01:22am] |
It is good, to me, that I am worried about my two term papers long before they are due. I am writing my "Detective Fiction" paper tonight - or at the least, a doubly rough draft - which is due the 3rd of December. I only have about 10 source for the whole paper and to be honest, I think it will be pretty weak. I've never gotten a mark higher than a B in any serious french lit course. I'll post my process as I go alone on here.
Introduce the nouvelle
Introduce the genre of detective fiction.
Introduce era relevance of the material (Vidocq + Balzac)
Dissect the story into its elements of genre
Compare to accepted theories and function of detective fiction
Compare to present day construction of the genre novel
Expose somnambulism element of short story, does this speak to audiences? 4th wall breach?
Other genres within MC? Expose crossover literary genres or themes - gothic, historical, folk
Present why this is not detective fiction in the classical sense b/c too complex, therefore diverges too far from the genre, a mélange of genres. Too in-depth for pocket novels, crime literature?
I have to re-read the text and high-light things I will use. First time I've ever done this... so much work. Hope it pays off.
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| Hamilton for all ages |
[18 Nov 2009|02:23am] |
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I came home at 2am from reading in the University Tower to find a woman popping a squat on a lamp-post at the corner of Main and Emerson. My night is truly complete!
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| Bibliographical! |
[16 Nov 2009|09:54pm] |
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I have to find new, better sources for my thesis. The bibliography was not what the prof was looking for... which means tomorrow will be spent at the library. Again.
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| Hobo-awesome? |
[11 Nov 2009|01:29pm] |
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I hobo beard project is fully underway. I almost shaved it off yesterday but it had reached the point where I want to see where/when this will end. Will it drive me mad? Will I no longer recognize myself in the mirror? At the latest, it will be gone by the end of exams (Dec. 9) at the earliest, by next week or the week after. I'm interested in seeing how it turns out, but at the same time... it's a dirty hobo-beard!
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| Craving |
[07 Nov 2009|09:43pm] |
I have a craving for honeycombs. I want to chew and chew until there is no more honey left and all I have is a giant wad of beeswax.
One of my profs was talking about the French Foreign Legion in class week. I looked up their website and wasted a good 1hr or so link-hopping. It looks like, to me, one of the few places in the western world where one can really disappear and start anew. It is mandatory to give them a fake name upon enlistement and to maintain that identity for at least a year. Within 3 years of service, if a soldier lasts that long, they are eligible for French Citizenship. If they are wounded in battle, they are eligible for French Citizenship. The typical contract is 5years, during which time they are the front-linesmen for the French armed forces abroad. All the essentials are paid for by the government with an additional 1000€ per month; at most they make 1400€ a year including their travel and living expenses.
I have a story about the foreign legion, not sure I've already written about it, but I will post what I remember when I'm not supposed to be preparing a presentation on Irony.
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| Router woes |
[03 Nov 2009|10:46pm] |
I tapped into the router tonight to see if maybe something had been modified. I've been getting iffy connections lately and it's when I do have full bars it's generally uber-slow. So in my perusing of complicated terminology and geeky jargon I found that one of the housemates set up a gaming console?? as the DMZ and another had 6 ports defined for portforwarding/downloads. Solution : change the password to something only I would know and make myself the only person able to portforward.
Now everyone is happy.
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| Unions and lame. |
[02 Nov 2009|04:54pm] |
Last night at the CUPE union meeting, I sat around waiting to vote on whether or not to hold a vote to ratify the proposed McMaster agreement. There was a debate filled with circular non-arguments and plaintive whining about the benefits they need. Without the flou flou of the bargaining team's rhetoric, the main concerns of the executive council are : smaller class sizes, more childcare coverage, more dental coverage, more work for laid-off TAs, RAs and PhD students who are "unable" to attain TA-ships, fair wages *cough*gettingpaid38$/h*cough* and lower tuition costs.
Marc Ouellette is on the exec, unbeknownst to me before last night. He had some well thought up answers/replies/retorts to some of the best questions, usually repetative and almost always being a downer to the institution that pays his living wage. He compared McMaster University to the Montsou company from Émile Zola's Germinal (1885), and used explicit language in comparing the two - albeit falsely/poorly?. To paraphrase (from memory) 'McMaster is a company town! You pay tuition to them, you buy your food and your books from them, some even pay their rent to them and you have to pay it because you can't afford to go anywhere else! They are taking your money and you are indebted to them! They don't respect you because you are a source of revenue and not people...' and so on.
Yeah there were a lot of cheers after that spraying of bullshit. University education is not coal mining! I may be paying a shit-ton of money to the school but it is my TA-ship that pays for it, and half-over - Which may or may not be right but I am not giving the money back now! mwuahaha.
Lastly, the union made a statement about the school treating us like dirt or something to that effect. A student went up to the mic and said "I don't feel like shit, in fact, I feel pretty good."
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| Lessons in Dundas |
[25 Oct 2009|04:59pm] |
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Today went well, though I think we are going through the material rather slow. Playing the rhythms of the songs that were once intimidating is becoming progressively easier, I'm seeing patterns in all the tunes the more experienced players practice. To end on a low note, my teacher told me I was too old to be a real good jig, reel or hornpipe player. Hrmph.
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| Literature |
[24 Oct 2009|10:26pm] |
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If literature has taught me anything it's that I should kill the lover of my love to make her instead love me. Literature, you have failed me.
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| Blegh day |
[23 Oct 2009|03:58pm] |
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I administered a test today at 8,30 to my students. It was and is such a shitty day outside that I just went back to bed until about 3pm. I also have very little food in the fridge and I will not go grocery shopping in this weather... balls. Gym in a bit. And that's my weekend.
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| Monkeys |
[21 Oct 2009|08:25pm] |
Doctor said I have a swollen rotator cuff that needs physio to make sure I don't get frozen shoulder syndrome. Ok, sounds good. Should not have done the extra military presses but whatever. She also said it was good that I kept it moving, else I would have developped frozen shoulder syndrome. I attribute my avoiding of syndromes to my anti-syndrome syndrome and cheerios, they truly are medicinal!
I had a veggie burger from Sky Dragon today, it was OK. It lacked... juice? It was very dry and were it not for delicious mustard also bland. In it's defence it had some neato colours mixed into it and was, I presume, fried. RE: Sky Dragon - I run into the most interesting people there, many of them quick-wits; some others just stoned. But all in all I prefer it to the usual student hangouts in the West End. This does not mean I will forever abandon the West End (pub and area) but downtown may definitely be a new wandering area.
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| 9 notes |
[20 Oct 2009|06:37am] |
I wonder why one has ever tried to increase the repertoire of notes for the GHB. 9 notes isn't a heck of a lot... I don't know much about woodwinds, but maybe it is the continuous playing and open ended chanter that prevent it from having some means of extending the range. Other forms of pipes are able to play staccato because their chanters are keyed. If bagpipes were keyed, I wonder what they would sound like... fewer embellishments I imagine. Damn them, I will master you yet.
In afterthought, 9 notes is enough for the time being...
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| Spiraling. |
[16 Oct 2009|06:20pm] |
I spent two hours practicing chanter last night and am almost up to speed on my chanter for Run Run Away. It was good and calming, I may go back tonight... I remember my first pipe teacher telling me about the man on the last page of the beginner's book. Oh, he's been dead for a while, she said, too much of the lifestyle. Which lifestyle was that? The booze. Geeze, I hope I am not cursed to play and drink - cause that would be greatterrible? On a related note I may stop by the Phoenix tonight for a drink.
Essays/Projects : After a month of having a general idea of what I want to work on I have begun research. It has proven to be more difficult than anticipated, requiring me submit RACER forms. I dislike requesting forms from places far away because I am not nearby to pressure them or remind them that I need this material. Bugger. Damn Mills and not having current French material!
The pipes are in, being brought up tonight or tomorrow. I dislike school at the moment, I need a more structured itinerary or I feel as though my creativity will take the project 3 moons away and back again. If it were in the cards, I'd drop out and write a novel, then devote myself to music with a brief pause for teacher's college - if it is even what I want to do. Questions. Always end on one. Why are there so many questions?
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| HEATING! |
[13 Oct 2009|08:14pm] |
Someone set the temp to 90ºF
WHAT THE FUCK MY ROOM IS AN OVEN!
In other news: life is about taking chances. I took one today. One. I think the worlduniverse hates me already.
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| Heating. |
[13 Oct 2009|05:51am] |
A candle is heating my room. Yes, the landlord has not turned on the heating yet. Yes, it is almost as cold in here as it is out there. Yes, I disabled my in-room smoke detector. Yes, I have entered a moustachio competition.
YES ALREADY!
but no, I have not sold any more posters.
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