Goodbye!

I won't be able to continue this blog, due to time constraints and new priorities. I'm sorry to have to abandon it, but I'm looking forward to new and greater things. I enjoyed writing this blog while it lasted, and I loved the comments I received! Thanks all who read and enjoyed this blog.

Sorry.

Major almost-two-months blogging failure.

The rest of Advent went well. The Christmas market not as fun this year as last.

January has been tear-my-hair-out crazy-busy. Lots of work to do, hardly a minute to myself. (For example: I had four meetings on Tuesday of this week, and worked straight through from 9:30am-11pm). Still, somehow I'm enjoying it. Minus the number of nights I've only gotten seven hours of sleep. Which includes tonight.

For your reading pleasure:

Crown of Dust by Mary Volmer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is incredible, mesmerizing, magnificent.



In the late 19th century, a young man arrives in Emaline's town of Motherlode, a small mining start-up near the grass valley. Alex, the young man, is running from a past he doesn't want to remember, and hiding a secret that could ruin his life, and take his freedom. For Alex is not a young man, but a young woman. The story is about Emaline and Alex, and all the other inhabitants of Motherlode, with their many desires, ambitions, dreams, cares, and problems. The setting is a poor town with plenty of water in the creek and enough gold to keep the miners panning, but not much else. A town with an unfinished church, and a wild but mostly decent population.



The story is told through the viewpoints of many of the inhabitants. It is told in the present tense, which is something I just encountered (for the first time?) recently. It takes some getting used to, but it adds a completely different flavor to the story and the plot. It makes the dust and the rain of the town and the cares and hopes of the protagonists more immediate, and separates memories (told in the past tense) from the current storyline.



The writing is more calm than fast-paced, but the book still achieves an un-put-downable quality (there is still action aplenty). The characters are top-notch, wonderful, realistic creations that drive the plot and truly make the story fascinating. Near the beginning of the second half, I started to get a little impatient, and maybe didn't do justice to some of the non-Alex-related happenings. At first I was a little concerned that Alex might have forgotten his origins as a young woman, but she still narrates the story from a young woman's point of view, even though she admits it is easy to think of herself as a young man.



Final word: The ending is So. Good. Sogood.



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Advent, Day Seven

(NB: Days Five and Six were celebrated with mulled wine and carols. Again. Oh yeah, and with that music video.)

Onto Day Seven:

'Nuff said.

The Best Christmas Music Video Yet

Funny AND heartwarming.

Click the title of the post for the original story.

And here's a word from Mariah Carey: 

At home for the fourth day of Advent

You're a mean one, Mr Grinch. You really are a heel. You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr Grinch. You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel! (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2001)

Today I didn't get as much done as I wanted (when is that not true?). However, I have managed to clean most of my kitchen, and once clean, I made pumpkin bread with leftover pumpkin from the Thanksgiving muffins. I mulled wine (hello, winter comfort!), and have started roasting chestnuts for the first time ever. I hope they turn out well. None of them look like they're going to explode, which is a bonus. While I've been cleaning and baking and roasting, I've been listening to my Christmas music playlist.

For a late dinner, following a late lunch, I plan to have whatever is left of the wine, a slice or two of pumpkin bread, and a few chestnuts.

Next weekend I hope to get down to the Christmas Market (see this post and this one for details on last year's market trip).

This year for Christmas, there's something I'd really like. So if you're up there somewhere, Santa, please don't bring me another bike. I don't need any ugly sweaters, and I don't play much basketball. There's something kind of special that I want most of all... I want an alien for Christmas! Bring me an alien this year! I want a little green guy about three feet high, with seventeen eyes who knows how to fly... (Fountains of Wayne)

It's a Wonderful Life: Advent Days Two and Three

Dear George: Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence

 Image of the movie poster believed to be from RKO pictures, found on Wikipedia

 
I had grander plans for today, but life and work intervened. However, I did manage to steal some well-spent time on a walk to the library* this afternoon, where I picked up It's a Wonderful Life, my favorite Christmas movie, probably ever. It's been my favorite since I was a child and we first watched it as a family when it was aired on one of the TV holiday specials. I finally cooked dinner (vegetarian 3-bean chili and whole wheat corn muffins), and I sat down to watch the film. The quote above may be my favorite quote, although it is never actually spoken by any of the characters. This movie always puts me in the best frame of mind for the holidays.

Yesterday, nothing special: I listened to some carols by Lionheart and Nat King Cole.



*I have just discovered how convenient it can be to borrow DVDs from the library (of course, they don't have everything, but it's much cheaper than buying when I have no TV to watch the specials!)

My Advent Calendar Begins!

It's becoming a tradition, now... For anyone who is not familiar with the back story behind the tradition, please feel free to read this post.

Yesterday I was having a bad time concentrating on anything. Plagued by the blue devils. So I started listening to the classical podcast I have in iTunes. After a couple episodes, I serendipitously found one:

So I tried to listen to carols in between having a very difficult day. It would have been better if I could have listened to the whole thing without any interruptions, but I'll do that another time.

The podcast covers earlier Christmas music by the male choir "Lionheart." I really like it, but then I enjoy listening to medieval (i.e. historical) carols.

Highlights from the St Andrews Anniversary Ball, Macbeth, and Thanksgiving Dinner

Last weekend was a busy one for yours truly.

Thursday night involved a lot of meetings and work, per usual.

Friday I spent baking an apple pie and pumpkin muffins for the holiday (Thanksgiving) season. I went to dinner with another American in Canada, a friend of mine with whom I celebrated last year. We had yummy yummy food, chicken, and stuffing, and green bean casserole, and gravy... and then apple pie. I wish I had more apple pie.

After dinner, my friend and I went to see the Hart House performance of Macbeth, which was pretty amazing. It's been ages (high school) since I read or watched Shakespeare, so the language took some getting used to, but the play is a powerful one, and was well acted and very well staged at Hart House. My favorite part might have been the way the witches were displayed behind black cheesecloth/mesh screens, and light would shine above them at strategic times so they were hidden and then foggily revealed. Lady Macbeth was fun to hate, and Macbeth was played very convincingly. We dressed up to see it, which just adds to the fun.

Saturday night I went to the St Andrews Anniversary Ball, which was great. Great food, really fun dancing, lots of kilts and sgian dhus, and bagpipes.

Ceilidh Practice, and Wine and Cheese: A Scottish Week

Whew. I have been drowning in schoolwork, supervisor duties, and stress.

Last night I took a brief break from all the craziness, and went to a practice ceilidh dance to prepare for the St Andrews Anniversary Ball that I'm going to on Saturday night (I'm really looking forward to it!!).

I was late due to the schoolwork craziness, but managed to practice four dances, and remembered how fun it is! I also saw some friends I've made in the St Andrews Alumni Club of Toronto, who are some of the most kind people I know.

Last Saturday night the aforementioned Club held a wine and cheese. This was kind of the anniversary for me, since the first event I ever attended was last year's wine and cheese. And I had a great time both nights. This year, one of the men I worked with on the St Andrews Dinner in Honour of the President and Vice-Chancellor, etc. gave me a lot of good advice about networking and getting a job. Getting a career. I really enjoyed listening, and that conversation motivated me to actually start asking people for informational interviews and the like. Anyway, I also had a great time talking to other people, some new, some I remembered from the year before.

It's definitely been fun getting away from the work and stress, but it sure didn't lessen the overall amount of either. Which means I should probably get started on the next thing...

November Resolutions Update:
I just remembered I posted about my November resolutions, and in going back through them I discovered that I have, indeed, managed to follow at least three of them (grad school does not equal life; I will get out more; I will spend less time in front of my computer). Unfortunately, I have hardly eaten five meals at home this month.

C.J. Cherryh's Invader: A Book Review

Invader by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a really good "savour" book. The author brings attention to issues such as cultural/biological differences, attitudes, diplomacy, and loneliness. The plot moves at a comfortable pace, not fast, not too slow in most places. The characters are intriguing, especially the protagonist, who is an intelligent man in a complicated and sometimes desperate situation.

The second in the series, this book covers the narrator's post as translator/negotiator/intermediary between two biologically incompatible species, as a human starship returns to the planet they colonized and left 200 years previously. Tensions between the two species escalate as positions of power are negotiated around the growing probability of space travel.

The reason I couldn't put it down: Not for any fault of the book's, but my own - the loneliness and estrangement felt by the narrator as the only human on a continent of this other species got to be too much. I may pick it back up again at another time, to finish it.



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November Resolutions.

I've been neglecting this blog. I feel vaguely guilty, but only vaguely, because I don't actually have time for concentrated guilt. If you've been waiting for a post, my sincerest apologies.

I know most people write down their resolutions on New Year's Eve (or Day), but as I've never really felt a connection with that "holiday", I decided a couple of years back that resolutions were better made during periods of change in my life. So, I made resolutions in February, after I quit my job and applied to grad school. And I made new resolutions when I got to grad school. And now, I'm going to re-do them again, because I'm burning out, and I need a new perspective like tuna need deep water.

I'm not alone, either - a lot of my fellow second years are also struggling with motivation, workload, expectations, and the bleak career future. Lots of us are also struggling to juggle the other brightly colored balls labeled "student jobs" and "volunteering." So. Here are my resolutions, which should last throughout the rest of the academic year, and maybe beyond, but I sort of expect to be making new ones as I furiously hunt for a career-related job after graduation.

1. Grad school does not equal life. This also falls under Keeping Perspective. I will work toward an even work-life balance that includes twice-weekly exercise (soccer and swimming, for now), solitude, recreation with friends, eight hours of sleep, time outside, and household chores, in addition to schoolwork and volunteering responsibilities.

2. I will eat healthily, and at home. For many reasons, most importantly a shortage of disposable funds, and health and comfort.

3. I will get out more. I have a habit of staying home, but that never leads to adventures. I require time outdoors and in the company of others in order to be happy.

4. I used to work only when I could focus 100% on the work I was doing. Meaning, if I was hopping on and off Facebook, Gmail, and Google Reader, I wasn't working efficiently, and I might as well take a break and come back to the work later. This works when I don't have more work than I do focus, which is sometimes the case, but does wonders when I have time for focused work and relaxed breaks.

5. Do you find that music alters your mood? I do. Sometimes, I think it makes focusing more challenging. Thus, I will try to listen only to productivity-enhancing music, such as classical music, when I am working. The latest Florence + the Machine album is reserved for strictly non-working hours.

6. I will prioritize my responsibilities to other people, over responsibilities to classes and assignments.

7. I will spend less time in front of my computer. 

The underlying foundation for all these resolutions? I only have this one life to live.

Primary Inversion: A Book Review

Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Very heavy emphasis on science and technology in this one - neuroscience and the math and physics of interstellar, faster-than-light travel. At times, I had to continue reading without more than a vague understanding of the technology. However, these descriptions, by and large, add to the atmosphere and world-building underlying the story. (Yes, sometimes I also got bogged down in the detail.)

It's a fun, complex, fast-paced, thought-provoking space opera with dynamic and believable characters. Based on racial/species conflict as well as potential uses/dangers of AI and bioengineering, with romantic conflict, family and imperial politics, and really exciting space battles to liven things up.

Recommended for science and science fiction (space opera) fans.







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Why Am I Not Freaking Out? A Short Story.

Why am I not freaking out about the cockroach I found at the bottom of my steps, right out side my front door?  Right. Outside. My. Home? Practically in my home?

You might ask, if you know me well enough to know I hate bugs. All bugs. But spiders, cockroaches, and earwigs most. (Bedbugs terrify me, but that's another story. Oh, and I'm no fan of silverfish or house centipedes, either). That's not in any particular order, by the way, when it comes to finding them in my house.

The answer is, that I'm drinking. A nice, tart margarita with extra triple sec. I'm not freaking out because I'm concentrating real hard on that floaty feeling I have right now, that just erases the creepiness of finding that cockroach on. my. turf.

A toast! To getting over bugs by drinking a cocktail!

The End.

Epilogue
I committed murder on that cockroach, in case you were wondering. I broke a small tree plant pot on it, and then I stabbed it repeatedly with a shard. I admit it. I stabbed a cockroach.

Thank god these aren't the kind you find in Georgia, or Florida. Fixing that situation would have required at least two margaritas. And a cockroach dance, no doubt similar to this one. And a much longer story.

Book History

The Last of the Peaches

On the first Thursday of September, I bought the last peaches of the season at my local (sustainable/organic) farmers' market. Two days later, a friend came over (with her digital camera) so we could bake some of those delicious peaches in a pie. Here's what happened:

photo credit: Sam

 

Although there is no picture of it, then we ate it.

Compass of Pleasure: A Book Review

The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good by David J. Linden

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I learned a lot from this text. In fact, the neuroscience basics I learned in this book are now helping me with a very neuroscience-y science fiction book I've just picked up by Catharine Asaro.

This book is actually about more than addictions. It's about brain chemistry and how naturally humans interact with substances and experiences, before the introduction of addiction into the equation. The author writes in a very accessible style - I only got lost in the acronyms and neuron-specific verbs a few times. Most of the time, the author uses very simplified explanations. Illustrations helped me imagine some of the situations he described, while the case studies enhanced the arguments and my understanding of the text. The author's sense of humor adds to the approachability of the text, which is by no means dry or boring. I didn't find all the chapters equally interesting, but they all made some intriguing and thought-provoking arguments.

Things I found difficult about the text included the case studies performed on rats and mice. Normally, I don't care for either of the species, but reading about the lab experiments that are performed on these animals because no ethics advisory/oversight board would ever allow them to be performed on humans, was uncomfortable. Sometimes, the author's sense of humor is jarring, though often I found it funny. Lastly, whether it is this book or neuroscience in general, I found personally challenging the idea that an individual's personality and identity is entirely contained in the chemical, electrical and physical elements of the body.

There was some overlap between the orgasm section of this book and the book by Jared Diamond on the evolution of human sex practices, which I found interesting - they provide slightly different approaches to ultimately similar conclusions concerning the evolution of sex and reproduction in humans and other mammals.

Overall this book seems a very good introduction to neuroscience, pleasure, and addiction. The idea that addiction (to anything, including food, sex, and exercise, among others) is a disease, a sort of chemical imbalance in the brain, is a compelling argument for a different approach to treatment and judgment of addicts and addiction.



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Mission: Wedding Accessories: Accomplished

Yesterday I finally got around to enjoying some of the secondhand and vintage offerings in Toronto, and it turned out to be a smashing success! I have a wedding to go to next weekend, and wanted a clutch to complete my outfit. Since I have to fly to get to the wedding venue, and even with my long history of traveling and moving, I somehow haven't managed to keep a carry-on in my possession, I was also on the hunt for an inexpensive tote or satchel to act as a carry-on for the things I can't do without on a long weekend away.

At 69 Vintage Collective (new website coming soon, apparently), I managed to find both a unique clutch and a very suitable satchel! The clutch, which wasn't what I originally planned on looking for, is embroidered with flowers, has a small, old chain, and was made in W. Germany. The satchel has no provenance, but it's almost exactly what I've been looking for, in terms of caramel leather (faux or real), cavernous capacity, and sturdiness. I'm in love with both, and they're both perfect, no matter what I thought I wanted originally.

Both were much less than I had expected to spend if I found what I wanted, which is always a bonus. Another bonus? Buying secondhand, which I have missed. Knowing that I'm giving an item a second chance, and not adding to the endless consumer-driven cycle of creation and trashing of material objects, always gives me a pleasant little rush.

Here's an image of the clutch, at least (with the rest of what I'll be wearing to the wedding):

 photo credit: Sam

Finally! A Re-purpose worthy of last year's Christmas cards!

It all started with a little plan I had for a little get-together. The setting: my (landlords') back garden. The character: originally Mexican-themed, with tortilla chips, guacamole, and salsa complementing summery margaritas. The change: Instead of margaritas, the event is now planned around peaches.

Peaches, which have become my most favorite fruit in the world. Grocery store peaches, given time to ripen, are delightful, but already ripe peaches from the farmer's market are just about heavenly. I think Ontario must be a better region for them than Virginia, since I don't remember them ever tasting this good back home.

So, since the star of the show is now a little more sophisticated, I decided to edit the invitations, as well. Requiring, at first, fancy stationary. Circumstances, however, have prevented my purchasing fancy stationary. Luckily, in a hunt for already-owned fancy stationary (unsuccessful), I found just enough old Christmas cards to use instead. The second ingredient: Last year, I bought certain antique magazine pages on Etsy (gotta love that site), and haven't found an appropriate purpose for them.

The equation, then, is this: Last year's Christmas cards, plus an antique magazine page with marvelous images of hats and dresses and art nouveau flowers and vines, plus scissors and glue, equals home made cards! Sort of.

Anyway, I love the results (pictures up here as soon as I develop my latest film role, a la 2000), and am utterly chuffed that I found a way to re-purpose two un-purposed items just sitting around my apartment!

Historical Architecture in the Colonial Period - A Book Review

Where We Lived: Discovering the Places We Once Called Home by Jack Larkin

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


A fascinating picture of early houses and their regional characteristics. I've frequently been surprised by how humble the more common varieties were. Unfortunately, many of the houses mentioned in the text are unaccompanied by photographs, plans, or other images. The photographs that are included are invaluable to understand what these houses looked like, when a reader does not have the background to understand terminology such as "gables" and .

I would be interested to know how the American Indians fit into the landscape of early housing and architecture. Descriptions of slavery and slave quarters interesting - especially to note the careful line trod by the author when discussing the varying quality of slave quarters. I would also have enjoyed learning more about the distinctions between early English-style houses and other European styles.

Some of the photographs do not seem to be located on the most relevant pages - some photos of churches are placed on pages that discuss houses, instead of on those that discuss churches.

Overall this book was incredibly interesting and a very good resource for a beginner to learn about early colonial architecture. The images are fascinating and essential. The language was very accessible, though occasionally overly simplified. The quotes from travelers are well-integrated. I found them to be some of the most interesting sections in the book. Primary sources are invaluable in understanding "how things were." Furthermore, the author provides backgrounds, assumptions, and biases for the sources.

Hot Yam! That Gazpacho Was Good!

Yesterday I finally left my apartment to see people, after several days of limiting my experiences to my apartment, my friend's Netflix account (I've recently become hooked on MI-5, known in the UK by its more appealing title, Spooks), the library, and of course, the grocery store.

I meant to get up early, as I always mean to, but when I finally dragged my lazy self out of bed, I had just enough time to get ready for lunch, at the Hot Yam "lunch party" on campus, which operates every Thursday around (you guessed it!) lunchtime. For $4 guests receive an intimidatingly full plate of all-vegan lunch. Sadly, having had breakfast less than two hours before I got there, I didn't have the appetite to do justice to all that food. However, I really did enjoy the gazpacho. A perfect, very well-done complement to a hot, humid afternoon, indeed. We sat on the lawn in front of the building to eat, fending off ants and other small, many-legged critters while catching up on each others' exciting (or not-so-exciting, in my case) summers.

Today, it's back to work, this time drafting a proposal for the student conference.

In other news, it turns out that too many silly people voted for The Tourist at next week's Harbourfront Center Free Flick, so I won't be attending - instead, I'm scrounging around trying to find a place to watch Cairo Time, and in a last-ditch effort to see it sometime in the near future, will no doubt eventually put a "Cairo Time" post-it note on my computer monitor.