Happenings
Ask me for more details. I can hook you up with tickets.
- Audio Adrenaline Farewell Tour @ Canada Christian College (Toronto, ON) - Saturday, November 18th (tickets: before Sept. 1 - $20/$25; after - $25/$30 - so far, I have 3 out of 10 people needed for early bird price)
August 28, 2006
It's been a while here! Anyway, Boston has come and gone. For a 3-day trip, I did not appreciate that 2 of it was spent predominantly on the bus. The only attractions were rest stops along the way. Boo. The whale watching was definitely a highlight (I was more amused by the way people reacted to the whales... it's funny how natural is so removed from us urbanites that it causes so much wonder), although The Breakers was a really, really, really elegant house on Rhode Island as well. But I definitely have ambivalent feelings toward affluence. Hmm...The rest of my summer vacation has been spent being lazy. This house makes me lazy, I say! Motivation goes down the drain. It's that approach-avoidance gradient from personality theory. The closer you approach the thing you need to do, the less you want to do it. I really gotta start prepping myself for my PDL group (and finish up the Cantonese PDL videos), and maybe get some leisure readings done before work starts.
Work strangely starts next Wednesday. Apparently, I can roll in at any time. I think I can go to orientation activities too. Hmm. Time to drag out social Victoria again. I think she went into hiding during the summer. I guess living by yourself in a basement with a 1/2 hour walk away from school and a mound of papers to write will do that to a person. Or just to an introverted person. Work shall do me good.
Until next time... one thing to ponder: ahh, JOY, what will happen to you?
August 10, 2006
Well, it appears that 4A is officially over. Just sent off my little research proposal (we'll see what kind of detrimental effects that has on my marks), and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life. :oP I guess I always need some time shifting from one life (student) to another (work). It'll all fall into place when I go home on Saturday.I want to write something intelligent here, but I think I'm "written out." I think I'll grab Bumpy and see if I can imitate Steven Curtis Chapman's Abbey Road version of "The Walk," among other songs. If you're bored, you can check out Falling Up's "Arafax Deep" from YouTube. *sigh* Gotta love lead singers who also play piano.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
I never took you for a trick but sometimes I don't know what you want
I could take it if you need to take this out on someoneThat little bitch with her head held so high
Talking shit when I cut myself so I can feel something
I know it's not a lie
That one stings a little
I'm always in the middle
I don't expect but try me and you will always find me here
This is where I scream fromYou can take it all away and I'll miss
There's a little bit of you in all this
And you can say you only think you know, yeahPlease, there's a better bit of me to see yet
'Cause you haven't seen any of my best
You know I hate myself without you now, yeahHurts the same when nobody knows
Guess that's just how it goes
And I, I won�t say anything at allI was talking on a dollar sign, anxious, scared of what you need
Everybody wants a piece of you
Everyone takes a piece of me
That one stings a little
I'm always in the middle
I don't expect but try me and you will always find me here
This is where I scream fromThis is the hook
Take it like you took
I'm shaking like I shook before
Never ever getting better off and I can only watch
This is where I stopped before
Not another piece of me
I always slip away from
I always slip away from"Say Anything," Mariannas Trench (from Fix Me)
Minor profanity aside, this is one catchy song. Kept playing it last night (this morning?) while I was finishing up my research proposal. Standard punk rock fare, but quite well-done. Also, the band name is apparently the deepest trench in the sea, and there's no apostrophe (haha, being an English tutor, it bugged me). Oh, and the best part of it is that the band is Canadian. Sweet!August 5, 2006
Got back from Nidus about two hours ago. That was quite an enjoyable day... reminded me of Urbana, but on a much, MUCH smaller scale. The weather was just perfect - a nice cool breeze drifting here and there, the sun doing a good job of warming everyone just nicely.Rachel and Jim arrived around 11am to pick me up, and we got there about 1/2 hour later (thank goodness for the GPS!). Waited a little bit for Evelyn and friend (who turned out to be Emily Shepherd from Streetsville! Emily says hi, Becca), then headed to the beautifully d�cored South Asian Teahouse for Moroccan mint tea and conversation (soo... gooooood, and free!). After that, we had our lunch by the tent where Freedomize had their worship session, and then went back inside for Bruxy Cavey and the panel discussion. He is most definitely a complete, solid pomo. And he did most of the talking (and ALL of the bottle licking...). The panel consisted of two Orthodox church members (not sure what denomination), one United Church Reverend, and Lawrence Lam, titled "Catholic layperson and keyboard player of Critical Mass." Add to that UW student. Anyway, quite an interesting discussion... everyone pretty much agreed with each other. Still, Bruxy pointed out that this kind of dialogue wouldn't even be possible without murder (social and physical). Quite groundbreaking.
After that, we headed back out to Marybeth's workshop on "Movement as Spiritual Practice." Everyone looked nervous around the circle, probably a little scared about the New Age feel of the whole thing (scarves, wooden instruments, candles, etc.). But it was just moving as you feel directed to the music that was played. I personally went a little wooden stick crazy when they put on "More Than Fine" by Switchfoot, but definitely a freeing experience. The conclusion of the workshop for me was "oh, I do this with my door closed already." Haha.
I unfortunately missed all of Hello Kelly's set on the hill, but nonetheless, we went up to the crafts area where I plopped down for a two-hour session of quilt square decorating. My workmanship was pretty shoddy, but I went for the "it'll look good from far away" approach. Kinda cool to know that my little square will be part of a large quilt travelling with the AIDS campaign across the country. It was a nice afternoon, with the sun on my back, live rock music from just down the hill (courtesy of Drew Brown and band), me picking away with my needle, thread, and assortment of beads, buttons, and twine. I hope the thing doesn't fall apart too much.
The day ended with an interesting lecture (because that's what it felt like) on the liturgical nature of U2's music (Brian Walsh, the speaker, called it "A Sort of Homecoming"). You can tell this guy was a big fan. Makes me want to go to a U2 concert to experience the whole liturgical experience (everyone in the room who went to a U2 concert agreed that it was worshipful).
As with any other festival/conference, the day was much too short for the amount of things that I could've done. Heck, I could still be there right now, checking out Starflyer 59 (yes, I was that close to watching a T&N band live), sipping more tea at the teahouse, getting a t-shirt printed, watching some movies. I'm thinking this could be a good retreat alternative, with the camping available and all (*hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink*).
So, what I learned and got out of Nidus Festival 2006:
- Arts (the quilt making), justice (well... picked up a few pamphlets from the Mennonite Central Committee that was mentioned in my poverty class), faith (things to chew on, for sure)
- Meeting unexpected people (Emily, Vanessa from the lab)
- My faith is quite heavily influenced by the Evangelical perspective, it seems, although I'm quite pomo at the same time
- U2 is a cool band, and can be studied as a course (I wonder if the same goes out for Switchfoot?)
- I'll go again, if someone wants to come along... it'll be gooood, I promise :o)
Well, this has been long enough. Time to throw my clothes into the dryer, throw on "Disintegration" by Jimmy Eat World (again - oh, and someone perfectly described it as a "slow-burning, sprawling epic" on Amazon), and throw myself into the 455 midterm.
August 2, 2006
It feels like eons ago when I blogged here, but really, it was just yesterday. :oP I guess making a habit of sleeping at 4-5am and getting up at 1pm is not very conducive to being a part of the normal human world. Oh well. It's exam time. It can be done. Soon will come the day that I can't live like a student anymore. Might as well as live it up.It's sure scorchin' outside. My trusty Weather Network WeatherEye says it's 32 degrees outside, 45 with humidity (and of course - a severe thunderstorm watch). Disgusting! I'm so glad to be living in the basement this term. I hate the heat and I hate humidity - and I can escape both down in my digs. However, I am looking forward to the day that the temperatures dip back down into the low 20's so I can open a window and air out the place a little. We'll see.
Now that I'm done my three exams, it's hard getting the papers done. They're all due next week, which feels far away, but of course, it's not. Also having a hard time coming up with a thesis for PSYCH 455. There are so many ways to take it with cross-cultural psych (because it's so new)! And it kinda sucks that I'm not actually running the study, so I wonder about whether I should spend so much time on it. But then I did so badly on my first proposal that I want to smoke this one. Anyway, my final report for English and the midterm for PSYCH 455 is being neglected. Not good. Also scary is that this time next week, I'll be nearly done.
Hmm... I also get to enjoy my new Waking Ashland I Am For You EP that I ordered from SmarkPunk last night. I seriously need to give buying CDs up... but I just want to make sure I got my paws on a copy of their first EP before it runs out (not that they're flying off the shelves, but still...).
Alright, time to hit up PsycINFO for MORE abstracts and articles. I should really give that up.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
I think I'll be a good ghost when it's time for me to haunt all the people I knew when I was alive
I'll wear designer sheets as my only ghost clothes
And get good scissors to cut the eye holesAnd hey, it'll be nice to be see-through for a while
And hey, it'll be cool to be feather light for a whileI think I'll be a good ghost when it's time for me to haunt all the people I knew when I was alive
But I wonder if the girl ghosts will know that I'm there
Or if ghosts in general don't really care"I Think I'll Be A Good Ghost," Say Hi To Your Mom (from Ferocious Mopes)
Gave Ferocious Mopes another spin... I think I like it more than Discosadness, but Numbers and Mumbles is still the best. The writing is just so utterly random, but quite enjoyable. Good way to shake your head and remember that there is still silliness in the world. I do think being see-through and feather light will be nice for a while.August 1, 2006
How is it already August??? It's creepy how time creeps by so fast!Victoria is giddy right now with the prospects of going to a summer festival (Nidus, see above). FINALLY, SOMETHING TO DO OUTDOORS!!! Yeah, I think I'm through with school for the term. I don't need to fill my needs with videos such as this (Switchfoot doing "Company Car" live - how can you not love Switchfoot???):
To back track a little, I spent the day filling up on youtube stuff - mainly, live footage of bands and songs of theirs I like. There are a few more videos I'll post up later, for your enjoyment (or just mine). Then I spent maybe an hour on my research proposal (I'm kinda scared it'll be the same as Angela's, but I'm getting some ideas of what to do now), then headed out to dinner with Rachel from the fall Alpha group. Dude! I had such a good time with her! And it's good to find a fellow Christian interested in justice, arts, and the like. I'm glad to have found someone who a) heard about Nidus and b) is going to Nidus. The ads on Faith FM and in Echo (kinda surprised that they would advertise a Christian event in an alternative weekly, but anyway...) were quite enticing. I'm glad to get out of the house for the weekend. :o)
However, the academic term still wears on. I hope I can actually finish those papers without killing my circadian rhythm too much! Oh, by the way, screw the PSYCH 356 exam - I'm going to Nidus!