I just want to say how incredibly excited I am for this:
Because, seriously, Zachary Quinto (aka Sylar from Heroes) is going to make THE BEST young Spock…ever.
And the trailer looks seriously badass: (follow the link!)
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/large_trailer2.html
Growing up, my parents were pretty into Star Trek and I liked it okay, but I think this could be the movie that makes me a Trekkie. Please, don’t let this suck.
For the first two months that Max and I lived in Fairview we were under the impression that our mail was delivered to our door. Not only because there was a mail slot in our door, but we were also never given a mail key. We even asked the front desk, and originally they said yes, our mail would be delivered to our door. Well two months went by, and no mail. We would get packages, but not paper mail. It wasn’t until election day came with no absentee ballot for me that I freaked out.
We went to the front desk and asked again. This time we got a different answer. Turns out we had a mailbox the whole time. Once we located it and opened it up we discovered that my absentee ballot had been here all along, but it was too late to vote. I felt kind of bitter, but my guy won, so it was okay. I was just happy to be able to recieve mail again.
About a month went by and I realized that I still wasn’t recieving all the things expected. It was right around this time that I looked closer at the mailboxes around ours. What I discovered was shocking. Not only did we have one mailbox, but TWO! That’s right, there were two mailboxes marked exactly the same with our house number. I figured half of our mail was making it into that other box. I wrote a note to the postperson asking them to please move the mail from that box to ours, but it went unoticed. We took our claim to the front desk.
After explaining the situation and showing the front desk woman the identical mailboxes, she promised to get it worked out.
So tonight, I ran to the mailbox after getting home from work to discover that our mailbox is now COMPLETELY PACKED with mail. Max got a book from his mom, I got a long letter from a friend, and we both got a lot of bank statements. The duplicate mailbox has been put to rest and the number has been peeled from the front. I can only hope that our mail troubles have come to an end.
So, if anybody wants to send me a letter, I can now recieve it! (I do love having pen pals.)
I spent my whole day studying for my first final, Poetry.
The exam was at 7pm, which was both nice and spooky.
I think I did okay, but now I just feel brain dead and kind of empty.
I think I will work on my Moleskine then go to bed early.
One thing that most people don’t know about me is how much I like Tetris. Yes, Tetris, the video game with falling blocks and a ridiculously catchy theme song. It (at least, the version I play, Tetris DS) looks something like this:
Besides loving this addictive game, it also happens that I am pretty damn good at it. Currently my high score stands at 1,333,789, which got me to level 47. I don’t know why, it’s just something that makes my brain work really quickly, I love the pace and strategy involved.
Anyway, if you are looking for a Christmas Present that will keep you entertained between classes, I highly recommed Tetris. If you do end up getting it, maybe we can duel?
After a week of papers, projects, and exams I am soooo ready for December. As I will have a little bit of extra time this, I have decided that I am going to post once a day for the entire month of December. I have decided to call it Decemblog!, and I have roped Max into this so that I will have someone to keep me on track (also to get him back into the blogging game). The rules are, I must post once a day every day of December. (Though a post can really just be a sentence.)
Now that the rules have been set, I would like to move onto today’s very random entry.
First off, a poem.
The Taking Tree
I carved my tongue
into your trunk
footprints, handprints
my skin stretched
across the bark
You taste of bugs
of burrows and maggots
it consumes me
and I can no longer feel
the cold wind tearing
my flesh from you.
I am seriously looking forward to Christmas. I get to see my dog again for the first time in a year, and hang out with my mom in Washington DC. I miss the states, especially Target and Nutter Butters. Canada should really catch on and open a Target that sells Nutter Butters, then I would never leave.
One Day Down, Thirty to Go!
So now that it is officially the end of term (minus exams) I would like to take a moment to discuss the classes and profs I had this term. I will list the class name (and code), the instructor, the days we met, the time, and my comments. Think of it as Rate My First Term. I think if we all did this, we would be able to take some pretty sweet classes that we may have ignored before. So, the contenders of this term are:
Creative Writing 202 (Introduction to Creative Writing)
Kevin Chong
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
9:00am – 10:00am
As this is the only Creative Writing class open to those not in the Creative Writing Faculty, I would definitely recommend it for anyone who thinks they might want to try Creative Writing out. The timing for the class proved slightly difficult to make it to three times a week, though the one next term is in the afternoon, so that fixes that problem. We were graded on three things alone, a short story, a non fiction piece, and a poetry piece, with no final exam (which is seriously nice). I think my favorite part of this course was all the prompts we received (about once a week) to get us writing. The prof was kind and interesting, I would certainly recommend this course.
Philosophy 385A (Existentialism)
Steven Taubeneck
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10:00am – 11:00am
First off, Philosophy is, by no means, my subject, but Dr. Taubeneck really made it sink in. He is a really interesting prof, one that knows a lot of things about a lot of things, and who seems to really want to get to know the students he teaches. Max and I flipped around our schedules next term just to take another class with him, Topics in 19th Century Philosophy. We were graded on two in-class essay exams, as well as two papers (a personal and a public experience, in which we link what we have learned in the course to our own lives). We were allowed to edit and resubmit anything we were graded on for a better mark, and he really seemed to put a lot of effort into the class. We ended the term with a costume party, seriously, how cool is that? I want everyone to take this course.
Anthropology 227 (Culture, Health, and Illness)
Vinay Kamat
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
11:00am – 12:00pm
Oh my goodness, I loved this class. It was my first anthropology class, but it was so compelling that I am strongly considering taking Anth 100 just so I can take more courses like it. Dr. Kamat is an incredible lecturer, he keeps your interest throughout the whole class, and teaches you some pretty awesome stuff. We focussed on things like, AIDS in Africa, home vs. hospital birth, genital mutilation, and anything that effects our perception of health. We were graded on two exams, a group presentation, and a mini-ethnography (in which we go out and do our own field work to draw a conclusion about a medical issue that our society faces). There was a lot of reading, but it was all incredibly interesting, and I learned so much. You should take this class. Seriously.
English 227 (Prose Fiction)
Gisele Baxter
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
1:00pm – 2:00pm
This class really fed my literary side. We read six books, Frankenstien, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, Mean Boy, and The Prestige. I actually read all of them (something I wasn’t entirely used to following Arts One) and I actually enjoyed them all quite a bit. Dr. Baxter is a really interesting woman, who clearly cares a lot about these books. She asked a lot of questions in class to get us thinking, and really encouraged us to participate. We were graded on two in-class essay exams (including the final), and a term paper. I love this class, honestly, and I recommend it to anyone who might find any of the books interesting. Seriously, this is not your average English class.
English 225 (Poetry)
Stephen Partridge
Tuesday/Thursday
12:30pm – 2:00pm
This was definitely the class I loved to participate in. It discussed one of my favorite subjects, poetry, and managed to cover a great deal of poets, styles, and time periods. Dr. Partridge is a really nice guy, a classic professor that leads the class earnestly and is open to help students whenever we need him. I could tell that he really loved the topic and his interest inspired me to work even harder. He was one of the few profs I had that actually learned all of our names, and he would send out emails every week to keep us on track. We were graded on three quizes, a presentation (on just about anything related to poetry we desired), an essay (again, we had A LOT of freedom when it came to the topic of our essay AND we got points for just submitting our idea for our essay), and the final exam. I realize that the topic of poetry isn’t really for everyone, but if you want to dabble, I highly recommend this course.
Actually, looking over it, I had a really great term. I was actually rather bummed to see it end yesterday. I hope next term is good, though I am a bit worried, because this time Max and I are killing our science requirement with two large doses of Geography. Wish us luck!
The crush of November, with its constant supply of exams and papers, has buried me so deeply that I, unfortunately, have not had the time to update as of late. I can say that the guilt has been weighing on me for quite a while now, and I am happy to get it off my shoulders now.
I was walking to work on Wednesday of this last week, making my way down Main mall, with its sweeping lawns and majestic Canadian flag at the very end, when I realized just how many people I was surrounded by. I realized that there were countless people who I shared a great deal with that I would never know, and I got a small little pain in my heart. It was I then that I decided to start making a conscious effort to make eye contact with as many of my passing peers, and notice as much about them, as possible. In the ten minutes I spent walking down the mall I must have locked eyes with over one hundred people. I noticed small things, like steaming cups of coffee and scratched up cell phones, and big things, like one girl who was clearly on the brink of tears, and another who seemed to glow in happiness.
I realized that there was little more I could do than forcing these tiny periods of eye contact, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to cross that gap. So here it is.
I am going to try to get more people this year, and I think you should too. We are all in the same, rather gigantic, boat together and I think we could all use someone else to lean on. We aren’t strangers, we’re neighbors, classmates, partners, study buddies, and most of all, peers. We shouldn’t spend these four years afraid of each other.
So, if you are reading this, and you happen to see me making my way across campus or sitting beside you in class, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. I will try to start speaking up myself, and maybe, we can jump across that awkward gap together.
(I have yet another four papers to write, it is going to be a long week.)
Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again.
I think this article describes a lot of what I have been feeling. I really don’t think I could have said it better myself.
I can now honestly say that I am proud to be an American.
I am so incredibly honored to live during the age in which the United States of America elected it’s first African American President.
I’m beaming. We seriously did it.
Because I want to keep putting myself out there, because I want to make some sort of life out of my writing, and because I need to stop being afraid to express myself, here’s another poem, this one I wrote as part of a personal experience paper for my Existentialism class, (which I highly recommend, by the way)
Paper
Living in paper houses,
in a paper world,
I have paper clips for hands.
Before you I was made of stone.
My feet dragged on the grass,
and my eyes were stuck to the sky.
Now we dwell in paper factories.
They make us clean
and sharp.
They make us feel like we can be anything,
but forget to mention
how easy we are to crumble and tear.
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