A break, from 4-5 straight posts in the space of 2-3 days of doom and glom

I can now say that I have been sick at least once per month of almost all of this semester. (September: mild strep throat, October: minor eye infection + cold, November: sore throat and a cold. Who knows what December could entail...)

Speaking of said sore throat, I cannot take any of the "traditional" medication (syrup) for my cold (ie. Robatussen, Benelyn, Life...the usual suspects) without consulting my physician/doctor first because of my asthma. So that leaves me with only one option:

Buckley's.

I don't have much choice here, guys. D:

Wow, this week sucks.

Let's see....Quebec's a nation within Canada, snow in Vancouver....and look! Montréal city councillors voted 42-22 in favor of renaming Park Avenue (which has been a part of the city since 1883) to...oh my gosh, Robert-Bourassa Avenue. doesn't that sound wonderful? Oh I bet it does.

Wow. Someone notify all the politicians that when they die, that Montréal's got "Historic Streetnames and Streets" for sale and they'll be guaranteed a street. Watch out, Tremblay will inexplicably still be around and next on the chopping block will be Côte-des-Neiges to....Gerald-Tremblay Boulevard? You know, Park Avenue was one of the few streets that hadn't been named after a Catholic saint or been renamed for dead politician or general AND was named according to geographic position because, it's right beside Park Mont-Royal. Gasp! Or rather, where Park Ave and Mont-Royal cross, there's the base of Mount-Royal. Doubly gasp!. (The brother and the Mayor...and the councillors wanted it. The people did not. There wasn't going to be any public consultation on the matter anyways nor were important groups or the public going to be told about this plan until after it had been voted....Should also note that Robert Bourassa was apparently not liked by those living on Park Ave and in Mile End and that his riding was not near Mile-End or Park Ave, it was next to it. Should also note that there already is a street named after another Bourassa named "Henri-Bourassa" he even got a Métro station to boot. Should also note that Parc métro station is on Park Ave...and that most of the Métro stations are named for the streets in front of them or for someone or just after the area...Did I mention that Park Ave is easily said in either language?)

I'll go in my corner and be bitter and sad. You guys can all look at me in bewilderment. I don't care. Silly, I know but Montrealers have a huge pride and attachment to our history and we just lost a chunk of our history and I'm mad.

I hope he gets voted out. He's been wasting money and doing stuff behind the people's backs. (20K could be better invested in other things, don't you think?)

EDIT: There will still be some of Park Ave remaining apparently but it's in some dingy, questionable industrial area that no one ever goes to.

Re: Quebec is a nation

"When I was your age, Pluto was a planet and Canada had 10 provinces and 3 territories"

That is all I have to say.

I mean come on, are the Québécois (we) celebrating on the streets? Doesn't...seem like it. It looks like this is pretty much a tool by the gov't to keep their seats in Quebec...as to why Duceppe and the Bloc voted in favor...I don't know. I'm confused to the inth degree.

Guys, what just happened?



So....... I guess this makes me a Québécois-Canadian now?

"This is the BBC! Do not listen to the others!"

Having coughs make it difficult to sleep without waking up à plusieurs reprises due to coughing fits. Hm.

If my Psychology textbook didn't weigh a tonne, I'd be definately reading it more and not be this far behind.

In other news, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6175976.stm . Ah, great. At least I understand why Somalis glare at my dad now. Crazy stuff I tell you. (Eritreans get all happy when they talk to dad and me, but then he says he was born and they try to finish the convo quick and leave. Much fun)

With regards to the 'Quebec as a nation within Canada'...thing...

First, everyone out west go watch Air Farce tonight---it is golden. PS. Harper has a blog on Blogger.com. If you don't get that, then you should watch Air Farce. Oh and Rick Mercer has a really good Rant.


I don't know whether or not I should be happy, sad, angered, frustrated, mad, concerned, worried or just confused as Hölle (hell in German). Sure, I may have been 7 or 8 back during the referendum, but damn, despite my crazy imagination (See: Ontario-Quebec border getting jack-hammered and TNT'd and drifting off and crashing into Europe) I remember being incredibly scared that night. The whole "Quebec is a Nation" "Quebec is not a nation" thing annoys me to no end. As one person in the Ottawa Citizen editorial put it (paraphrasing because I gave the free paper to my aunt to read) "Quebec cannot be a nation because it doesn't fall under the two criteria for it to be one (One being it was under violent 'contrainte' rule from an oppressor and the other that it was a nation in the first place)". One writer at the Ottawa Citizen suggested that we let the Etymologists take care of it and said that it's a wonder why Quebec hates the title of "Province" which apparently means something along the lines of a conquered territory (Apparently 'nation' is no better and that State would be the appropriate title here...).

Eleven years later, I know more about the referendum of '95, I know more of the "inside politics" behind the whole thing. And today, I wondered about a "What-if-there-was-another-referendum-and-the-Separatists-won?" situation. Same 50,58% vs 49,42% margin. How would I feel sitting on the couch, perhaps here in Ottawa in my 4th yr or something, watching in horror as I have witnessed overnight my no longer being a Quebec resident or maybe no longer a Canadian, or that I've suddenly become an "immigrant". It'd be weird. Actually, now that I think about it, I would actually no longer be a Canadian if Quebec separated. I'd be technically a Québécois. I was born there. I lived there. (Unless they would bring in some new thing to applying for Canadian citizenship that says something along the lines of "If you were born in Quebec and have lived in Canada for X-years you can automatically qualify for citizenship sans all that immigration jibber-jabber")

Imagine that, loosing my 'citizenship', my right to call myself a Canadian overnight. Imagine that.

Imagine how strange and scary it would be like to suddenly wake up one day to only find out that, the province you were born in was no longer a part of the country you've called home for the last 20 years and that you're no longer a Canadian.

Imagine what it would be like to suddenly find yourself holding a Passeport reading: "Place of Birth: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Côte-St-Luc, Province de Montréal, Québec" as opposed to "Montréal, Province of Québec, Canada" branded with a gold-inked coat of arms reading maybe not the "Je me souviens" but "La belle pays" or something.

Of course, this would all be extremely difficult for you all to imagine. All that anxiety, the fear, the anger, the tension, people fighting and insulting each other over which side they picked, friendships destroyed, families torn maybe, the signs, the posters branded with either the red-white-blue with big letters reading "NON" and the colourful (albeit creative...) OUI posters and signs all around you wherever you looked outside the métro, the dépanneurs, shops, lamposts dotted with them, roads, cars, the constant non-stop coverage of the process, the interviews. Seriously.

Also, I never understood (or really remembered) Parizeau's comment on why the OUI side lost until now saying they lost because of "money and the ethnic vote". Gee, how mad were my parents at him, I wonder.

To finish, and make sense of this all we are no joined by bob from iglooland, I'm a little worried. Something's going to happen again. Don't want it to...but I think it will happen again.

And of course, no one asks the First Nations up in Northern Quebec what they think about this new thing now do they?

And now a recommendation: Try and hunt down, buy, (rent) Breaking Point. A CBC/SRC documentary made last year on the '95 referendum.

*jumps off of soap box*

I attract "famous" leader-type people!!

So this evening on my way out of the Rideau Centre, I saw the former Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord. I was like walking and then I turned around and was like "Woah, what?...that looks like...some Premier from some Atlantic province! Yeah him!!" (after much wiki'ing---it'll be a verb soon, just you watch!---I found out it was him)

So, so far I've seen the PM of Latvia (kind of sort of. I just saw her motorcade park right behind me that day as I walked away from campus and I turned around and saw a woman pop out surrounded my a mass of UofO, CSIS and Latvian security), then Mr. Lord here. I've been within 3 ft of Mayor Bronco while in Houston, Texas (actually he talked with some of us on the ride from our New Orleans trip. He talked with some of us for a bit, then avoided us entirely. I suppose he's afraid of band geeks.not that we'll take over the world or anything) and I've met and talked to fmr. Mayor Al Duerr. He was cool.

PS. They were either sipping on booster juice or coffee...I'm thinking booster juice. They were walking away from one.

UOttawa's website is a maze. Poorly organized. Anyways, 2 hrs after much searching for a complete list of electives we're allowed to take as BSocSc'ers (There's one, but it's for 1st year...you can only take like..4 first-year electives or something crazy and you can't take any 1000-lvl course, has to be one from a list. Otherwise the credit won't count towards your degree) my aunt and I concluded in frustration that the UofO website is just not good.

Anyway.

I'm tired. I want the week to end now, my German-Oral-Exam-mates are having us get together on random days at 8:30am to work on our script. Why? I don't know. But a 2nd yr and 3 yr trump a 1st yr. (Well, one of them lives out far away and comes in early in the mornings all the time so it works. Me, I am non-functional at 8:30a)

And if I change my degree to this one, then I may not be able to take all 6 Japanese language course. I am saddened. :( (Because I'd be doing a double major, plus immersion and I probably wouldn't have room to fit it all...or something) Got to talk to a faculty advisor some time so all is not lost yet. D:

Anyway, definately tired...Wonder how conscious I'll be tomorrow. Hm.

Oh wow...

While on the bus today, I was on my way home because I forgot my wallet at home (thankfully a) when you get your bus pass ID photo, you get a snazzy card holder so I keep that in my pocket and b) I had spare change in my coat pockets and c) home = 5 min busride from campus), I noticed this lady kept glancing at this middle eastern woman who was sitting with her child next to her and me every few seconds. I would look behind me incase there was something else she could be looking at but no, she kept glancing at me standing and the middle eastern woman. Got to the point where I threw her a "raised eyebrow" look and she looked at me funny before quickly turning her head away. Then the other lady on her right left and she immediately jumped (if you will) 3 seats away from her and me.

It was....interesting to say the least.

Oh yeah Devon tagged me in that 6 things about you meme

1. Two of my great-grandfathers were white.

2. There is a "World Traveler" gene in my family. I've definately got it. I really want to go to France, Japan, Jamaica, England and Belgium. Mostly and first and foremostly France. Don't ask about Belgium.

I have the minor version of the "World Traveler" gene. I'm more than willing to explore and commute about or go out several times a day if it means I get to look around at my surroundings and do something remotely ressembling "travel". The hope here, is to go to Paris IX, Univ de la Méditéranée, Strasbourg or Lyon even on exchange. I could go to Todai (Tôkyo Daigaku-Tokyo University) in Japan but Japan = le reserved for travel with friend that's been in the "planning stages" for years.

3. I am a procrastinator to the max. I get distracted. I mean, there's only been one assignment I never did but that was because I had spent two nights in a row dealing with the other nasty results of my procrastination and getting to bed at 3am. Like right now, I'm doing a quick-easy way of doing this final Critical Review of this chapter on Max Weber due tomorrow evening during Socio.

4. I am semi-quinterlingual, but no one cares. Only really fluent in two, forgetting one, can read the other two and translate one of the two and speak that one a bit.

5. I hate Christmas and December. Wait, that's not random. Okay:

I don't really know what my first learned language was. I remember every morning reading the French on my Corn Flakes boxes. I mean, NDG is evenly French-English, but all the signage was French, I could read some things, speak...I talked to my parents in English. School was 80% French in class...I don't think I ever borrowed an English book from the school library nor the city library....Actually, now that I think about it, in Elementary it was French in class at all times. On the playground I recall hearing mostly English. Origami was in English (me=Origami freak), Computer class was in English too...the sports clubs and teams were English unless indicated otherwise (or they were bilingual methinks)...T-Ball team was in English. The super-elaborate Sports Day was...mostly English I think...?

In Pre-K, since I was there all day, the mornings were English but had a French lesson in between, then we had nap-time (where me and a friend of mine, Tanzeo, would pass his plush back and forth when the teacher wasn't looking. We got our cots moved several times though. Very sad.), then it was afternoon and that was entirely in French. Kindergarten was bilingual. Afterschool care was in English because at the time there were other ESMB schools who came to the afterschool care sooo.

6. I never get phone calls, I just pass on the messages--I'm a part-time secretary in my own home in Calgary. I have had to answer phone calls at various times of the day from as early as 5am to as late as 3:30am (does that make sense?), run after the phone, do some quick-on-the-spot-translating, dealing with bad phone lines from East Africa (everything is echo-echo). Granted I've sounded less than coherent, I'm a little used to it.

The phone here has a special ring when someone phones my number. But since very few people phone, when I actually do get a call, I have no idea if it's mine or not. So I'm usually like "Auntie, is that mine or yours?"

And everyone I wanted to tag has already been tagged. Hm.

Another Friday. Like all my Fridays, I do nothing so much that when I phone my brother he asks "So...lemme guess: it's Friday again and you're doing....nada? Right?" he's pretty much bang on all the time, it's very shocking. So I attempt phone calling but then after futile attempts, I remember "Haha, people do things on Fridays...unlike me who does nothing. Whoops *dozes off*"

This week was extremely busy. Three nights in a row of staying up until 3am. Never, ever want to do that again. Although, I managed to find myself a home on campus on the 5th floor of Morrisset. Being a library-bummer is a good thing in University. Oh and you should all be proud, I've been communicating mostly in French on campus (Even bought my plane ticket in French)

Okay, so I haven't been entirely doing nothing. Watching old-school late-60s Doctor Who counts, right?

I must say, 60s british sci-fi "tension moment" music is dreadfully catchy.

Can you say merdedetabarnacj'mecâlissecet'stimauditostiquefak'quej'm'enfousmerdedetabarnac? No? Well, me neither.

Lesson #1 of University:
You'll learn about all your 'academic faults' within the first few months. Or some. Most of which you'll have to find ways to fix. Like me and procrastination and my lack of work ethic. Some people have beat out most of the severe procrastination before reaching University. Others, like myself, not so much. *sigh* ah well. I can get as much more finished tonight, wake up early, finish some more, and come back home, finish it off and bring it in before 4p...if he lets us. I need to sit down one day and figure out how I work. Like...for doing work and such. If only today my group for our German oral exam hadn't decided we meet at 8:30am to brainstorm then I wouldn't have dozed while typing. Ah well. (Ah, I now understand the true meaning of the whole "Learning about oneself in Univ"...)

I think the 5th floor of Morrisset library has become my new home and new best friend...I think I'll be camping there for the next 3 years here when i need to study and do homework.

Plane tickets...are so expensive

With my bank account and wallet feeling significantly emptier than before, I now have a plane ticket. I'll be in Calgary the evening of the 21st of December and be leaving the 3rd of January in the morning.

Oh good god. My mind boggles at the expensiveness of this ticket. :(


It cost me 905$ for the 'cheapest' flight after "taxes" tonnerre...

I have had a moment of englightenment

I take it that Swing Dancing is the new ... "in" thing to do these days, now?



(Sadly, I have no desire to dance nor do I ever want to. No, contrary to the stereotype/fact I don't got no rhythm. Don't ever try to get me to dance. If you ask me repeatedly to get up, I will - thinly veiled of course- tell you no. I just don't like dancing. :P

Ok, so I'll admit, I used to dance like a madman when I was much younger. I'd dance, dance, dance. I went to the dances in elementary and danced danced danced. At Afrikadey, mum dad and I went right up to those giant speakers and we danced, danced, danced--in the rain. (No wonder I have hearing problems!) These days I just spend my weekends sitting around at home and doodle, doodle doodle, or sit. Oh and knit. And do homework...or try.)

*fronce ses sourcils*

So, I think if this isn't over soon (which it won't...shock) my eyebrows will be permanently stuck in the frowning position. Either that, or I'll get frowny-wrinkles before I'm older-er.

Oh and with all this dragging out so much and me being taken left, right, and centre and back left again, I think if I could, I would be able to make one of those thick coffee table books with a 600-page collection of my "WTF...." looks. Think I could make monnies? I think I could. Or at least help make a book with a collection of "WTF" looks from around the world...that'd be interesting.

I'll go eat the rest of my fudgecake now, excuse me.

Ohh... definately not liking the 800-900$ for a round-trip to Calgary. Not at all.

Hm.

Hm.

I don't believe it... I'm procrastinating.

Someone smack me in the head, please. *tries to read more on Simmel*

WHAT!

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2006/11/09/bradley-obit.html

Okay, now I'm really not enjoying my week. RIP Ed Bradley. :'(

And I'm probably the only one here who's watched 60 Minutes since they were 3-4yrs old or summat. Yes?

Okay, that's it. I think I should take an Economics/Business-y course

I hate financial....stuff...especially the type I have to deal with. Oh well, at least I'll be learning about loans thanks to this. Yay loans and possibility of loosing things!

Lesson today kids? Finances, loans, mortgages (l'hypothèque en français--now you can impress your FLA teachers too!), er--leans and othersuch much more complicated lingo that I cannot remember to save my life, is complicated and at times confusing. At least you won't have to deal with it until you're way into your late-20s or 30s....or 40s?

At least most of what I learned in Applied Math came in super-handy...and lucky for me, these two employees were very nice and very much willing to help me (They were super-pissed that no one in Calgary explained to me *exactly* what it was I was agreeing to)

And finally, the last question on my mind is this: Why do things like this always get bumped to the youngest member of the family? I'm seeing a disturbing trend here folks.

Oh, birthday was nice, got only...1 phone call from dad (Mostly asking if I had agreed to the fun financial thing) and another from mum's friend in New York plus several calls from financial people sadly not wishing me a happy birthday *sigh*. Other than that, aunt made a birthday fudgecake and we went out to East Side Marios for supper. Oh and my door was semi-decorated, that's never happened before (nor have I had birthday cake in the longest time..."longest time" being....some long time...oh my) though I remember the whole "wake me up early on my birthday" thing mum did lots to me. Good times.

And whoops, I didn't go and get a plane ticket yet. Haha.

And I was hoping to have a year where I didn't have to deal with silly finance idiocies but nooo. That is simply not the case. The Finance Gods obviously hate me. (Funny how around this time last year I was a ball of stress after finding out my newfound responsibilities of which I did not understand. Oooh like Karma kind of)

Ottawa Soccer stores obviously want me spending my money on their merchandise...Like those very nice F50+ Tunit cleats...not that I play outdoor.

oh noes! I'm 19! D:

Dumdeedum.

Woke up at 10am to get my first present from aunt (well, i was woken up b/c she had to go out) which was a new watercolour set with paper and brushes + a turtleneck sweater. Hurrah! (According to dad, he *just* sent out my box of stuff. )

Oh and 20$ from godfather.

Er--what else? I leave you all with a quote from last night's episode of Doctor Who

Who the hell are you?!

I'm The Doctor and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour...Ahahaha!!! :D

I dunno, it made me laugh.

PS. I like phonecalls. Phonecalls are nice to get

Les manchettes pour ce soir...

I'll be 19 in two days? How grand.

don't know what else to say. Oh yeah, I should maybe get a plane ticket soon or something. Yup. Don't know why I'm not looking forward to Calgary...maybe because it's Calgary. Hm. (Don't get me wrong, I love you all but...it's Calgary and Calgary proved to me that it's not the best city on earth...Goodness, I'm strange.)

In other news, does anyone remember if we had the lyrics from Patrick Bruel's J'm'attendais pas à toi on our FLA 20 final or FLA 30 diploma? It's a really good song, and it sounds like I've heard it before somewhere.

To conclude the manchettes, I'm liking the whole 40$ for a round trip to Montréal via Greyhound. I'm considering another trip maybe in December? If I feel I'd want to sacrifice studying for Montréal...perhaps not. Maybe if I'm not all up for going to Calgary for a week in February, I'll go to Montréal.

Oh and it was nice to see everyone again in Montréal. Even if I was there for a day. Heck, it was nice seeing Montréal again. :)

Ooh Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. ♪

PS. I'm considering getting myself an I am Canadian t-shirt to see how many odd looks I can garner. Are they expensive?

Uh-oh, university woes ahoy!

Well I'll be damned...

Just got my mark on my Sociologie midterm via email....I've done so poorly on all 3 of my midterms. I am none too pleased. (two more: one on my birthday--English sociology--- the other the week after that---psychology)

So I now know where that NS/S will be used first. (Though, I should maybe check if I can use it on a mandatory course or not)

I'm wondering a bit too if Sociology is the right thing for me to major in right now. Mind, I did have thoughts of wanting to quit the first month in or changing my major. Though the latter I think could likely happen if I so desire to follow through. But my goodness, none of it is really "sinking in" or striking my fancy, Sociology I mean. I'm not getting that "Dang, I like this (name major here)...really am" feeling I get when I know I'm studying or doing something I like or want to do. I know the last time I acted on my intuitions/feelings/that vibe I just mentioned, I got switched to a much, much better workplace at the Stampede than the one I was at before and I absolutely loved working there.

Then again, this is first year too so who knows...But if I were to change, I'd probably mosey along into the Arts like Communications or Modern Languages. (You guys can stick to your BSocSc's, I'll go to the Arts.) My aunt keeps mentioning how I notice all these techniques used in ads and commercials and how I can neatly point out how the positioning of this person according to that object results in a better ad or how I can point out random things in commercials others have given me odd looks for. (Communications Media type stuff)

And for some reason that I cannot explain, I feel like I should be at Concordia or UdeM. But I don't know why.

EDIT: Oh, hahaha...SOC 1501 is now going to be designated a NS right this instant along with FLS 2581. *fills out form*

And what in the world...? I'd like to know howI get a 60-something on that Compréhension du Texte in FLS. Some enlightenment would be welcome.


Wow, what a horrible lead up to my birthday. Then again, I've had worse. This ranks 3rd.

Oh Montréal.

I've done some crazy things this week...

Have had to handle some crazy things and notice some crazy things...but this, my oh my, this is byfar the craziest thing I've done.

Today, while testing out the route 101's superspeediness to the Greyhound bus station (5-8minutes from my place---amazing. Ottawa transportation is my #2. #1 is Montréal's), I decided that after my mini exploration that I'd return to the art store on Loomis and get those markers. And get those markers I did. 60-odd $ spent on a 12-grey-tone box plus 9 other colours of artist's markers from a Korean alternative to this Japanese brand that's near impossible to find. I got paper too. But now, I need a pencil case of sorts to house these markers and a cheap-o box to house my knitting stuff. By cheap-o I mean, I'll go to a Dollarama and buy a box for a 1$.

So on crafts supplies alone this last week or so, I must've spent near to 90$ on stuff or so. Haha.

I'm a weird artist willing to spend much money so I can express my creativity. (But I try and hunt for deals and such :D)

Oh and I'll be in Montréal this Saturday just for the day. As an extra-extra gift to myself. I can't stay the weekend through till Monday (Socio's been cancelled for that day in the morning) because I don't have a place to stay so I've opted for a day trip. I do plan to go to McGill and watch the final rounds in the afternoon though.

Did I mention I hate crazy financial stuff? No? Well I really, really do.

There should a law against 18-19yr olds dealing with this kind of stuff...or at least have some sort of mandatory classes through High School explaining things like this I think.